Rep Stephen Lynch D-MA must be the unluckiest guy in the world

[Laura PourMeADrink]

Gets Covid 9 days after second Pfizer vaccination. And he practiced social distancing and wore a mask.

Articles about his timeline may be like one of those math problems that can't be solved because data is missing, but that's what I got out of it.

My SIL who manages drug trials said that her only guess was that he had the virus before his nine day window was up, but not enough to show a positive.

https://www.axios.com/stephen-lynch-positive-covid-19-vaccine-055c1595-0215-4ada-94ee-1e0d749ea061.html

[gratuitous]

1. Vaccines take time to reach full efficacy

And even then, there's still a certain percentage of people who will get the infection anyway. The good news is that because of his vaccinations, Lynch will probably not have a severe case.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

3. Yes, but he surpassed that time and also wore masks and kept

distance.

Perhaps it will forever be a mystery but wish we knew more about how exactly people are getting infected. I really don't think there are many people anymore that get truly close to people like we used to -- hugs and kisses close. So that must mean there's got to be something wrong with the precautions we're taking.

I think it would be really interesting if some scientists got together with investigative journalists to do a handful of specific studies. For instance a very detailed description of the circumstances of when they were infected. Of course that means they'd have to find people that know precisely where and when they got it.

Lots of factors would play into it the kind of masks they're wearing, the way they were talking to the infected person, the size of the room, the air conditioning system, etc.

[Mariana]

6. The precautions and the vaccine vastly reduce the chance of getting infected

but they do not reduce the chance to zero. While the virus is spreading out of control, as it is now, some people who get the vaccine and take every precaution will still get infected.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

8. So back to my original statement, he's the most unlucky guy ever.

[Mariana]

10. Pretty much.

He may never know who he caught it from, or how it got to him.

[LisaL]

18. A staffer in his office tested positive.

So it would appear where he got it from is not a mystery.

[LisaL]

17. Really?

He is asymptomatic.
The way clinical trails were designed, they watched for people developing symptoms and tested people with symptoms.
We don't really know how effective the vaccines are in preventing actual infections.

[gratuitous]

7. I agree about data gathering

There's a LOT of damage from the Trump administration to be undone, and part of that is the testing and tracing shortcomings. Trump's misrule about the basics of public health will require a lot of education on the part of local and national public health officials.

Just f'rinstance, the Today Show had a feature this morning about the Australian Open tennis championship. The players who came to the continent for the tournament were isolated for 14 days, but after that they're pretty much free to go out without taking precautions. Australia has had less than 30,000 cases and fewer than 1,000 deaths because of the countermeasures they've been taking. Testing, tracing, isolating, and treating have all gone as directed by the public health professionals. Right now, Perth on the west coast is in lockdown because one person tested positive. Australians value their freedom and independence, but they also know what to do in the face of this emergency, and that the better each person follows the rules, the more open their society and economy can be. We have a lot of unlearning and learning to do to catch up with Australia.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

9. How enlightened Australia is. Poor Biden gets in when the

Team is losing 70-0.

You mentioned tracing. Look at the column - % of tracers hired by state. Haven't heard anything about why this never happened.


https://covidactnow.org/?s=1575515#compare

[LisaL]

19. People put a cloth mask on and then go around thinking they are protected.

The filtration of the cloth mask is likely nowhere near enough to be protected. And never mind there are gaps all over the place with most people wearing their cloth masks, and they constantly have to keep it from falling off their nose. Protection from masks is not a 100 %.

[smirkymonkey]

2. He's my congressman.

I'm sorry to hear about this. I hope he recovers soon.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

4. Ha, my friend's too. She calls him Lynchie. Guess he's ok

No recent news. Posted on twitter couple hours ago... Nothing about covid-19

[roamer65]

5. He would be a hospitalization case if he didn't have the vaccine.

If you have a subclinical or light case after vaccination, you can pretty much assume it would have been a LOT worse if you were unvaccinated.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

11. Interesting. I also read that the number of days it takes

you to get sick once exposed is directly related to your susceptibility. You get symptoms very quickly if your immune system isn't strong enough to fight the virus... Why there's a range of days overall.

[roamer65]

14. After the second shot, the immune system kicks into high gear.

That is where you get the flood of antibodies. For the immune system, it’s all about how fast and how much it can do it.

The more antibodies you have, the longer and stronger the infection has to be to overcome the immune system.

I remember I felt “fluish” after the H1N1 shot circa 2009. That told me I did the right thing by getting it.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

12. What about people who are getting flu symptoms from

the vaccine vs. those who don't? Do you think there's a correlation there?

[roamer65]

13. Possible.

My physician assistant relative said they are seeing more reaction to the vaccine from those who have had COVID already, or that they suspect had it. So much so they are calling it an indicator of past exposure.

Makes sense. The reinfections in Manaus, Brazil are worse than the initial ones.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

15. Another case

https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/02/08/orange-county-man-tests-positive-covid-19-vaccine/

[roamer65]

21. Not surprised.

The main goal of these vaccines is to keep people out of the hospitals and off ventilators. There will be subclinical and very minor cases in vaccinated people. I plan to still double mask and keep the same protocols after I get the second shot.

[LisaL]

16. He is asymptomatic.

Pfizer vaccine doesn't necessarily prevents all infections. It prevents 95 % of people developing symptoms.
He didn't develop symptoms.

[Ms. Toad]

20. Nothing in the article I see indicates he was practicing social distancing and wearing a mask.

(Nothing in any article I can find says he routinely wore masks and socially distanced.)

My guess is that, assuming he is masking and practicing social distancing most of the time, he (or people he lives with) aren't being thorough about it. (See the current thread in which several members of DU think it is perfectly fine to eat in restaurants with people they don't live with.) He obviously wasn't wearing his own mask 100% of the time, or there wouldn't be a photo of him in public with it around his neck (in one of the articles about his diagnosis).