Riobard

As of today (Sexta 26th), back to Phase 3 Orange. It happened quite precipitously though a bit of telegraphing ahead considering the new curfew. As this suggests closure at 20:00, it may put a damper on Fragata’’s weekend relaunch, timing of stage show, etc.

Le groan. The above site indicates that their rapid test targets detection of antibodies through serology. This is not a qualifying test for boarding a flight! The result will not be branded as “negative for COVID, SARS-CoV-2, etc”. It will likely indicate non-reactive or positive for IgG/IgM antibodies. Technically that would be indicative of a person not likely transmitting infection, but it is not the required viral test, NAAT or antigen category. If they in fact do offer antigen tests, I have somehow inadvertently missed it. For those considering the viral antigen test format and hoping to acquire one quickly at a drug store chain, with possible losses in language translation, caveat emptor that antigen may be incorrectly conflated with antibody because either are available rapidly. The proprietor may think that your agenda is in common with that of many locals, that is, folks ponying up cash occasionally to assess CoV exposure history but not wanting or able to spend money frequently for a point-of-care viral antigen test that is really only useful for current infection status over a relatively short period of time. In that context, avoid the term ‘rapid’. Ensure that you are getting a nasal-pharyngeal swab as opposed to having your finger jabbed for a minuscule blood sample.

I would likely also do the 2-day advance plan at GRU, taking the Metro ... some of the departures on the airport line are more express than others. If one wants to offset some of the cost of this task. I forget which terminal it intersects but all terminal connections are walkable. CR Diagnostics at GRU apparently also offers the viral antigen test, a bit cheaper and faster, ie, they indicate 4 hours and 2 hours, respectively. Because many travellers may bank on that semi-rapid format, if accepted by their international carrier, and just do it all same day as their flight by turning up a few hours extra in advance, it may be busier. Perhaps the Albert Einstein Hospital option also at T3 would be less busy as I believe they are doing RT-PCR exclusively. In any case, if there is a daunting queue at CR one might scurry over to the alternative. Be grateful and suck up the cost. I can only get to Brazil by Copa thru Panama because foreign nationals cannot transit through USA from Brazil. The COPA connection timings have changed and currently suck with impossible airside wait times. Canada has scuppered flights to Mexico, Caribbean, and Latin America. I would also be dinged $2000CAD for obligatory hotel quarantine upon return to Montreal. I won’t be able to obtain a vaccination passport when they gain traction and when flights resume because I was inoculated with vaccine in a placebo-control trial but my vaccination status won’t be officially unblinded until February 2022. The vaccination passport is a lame and shortsighted idea, too specific. Better to have a broader CoV status document with more equivalency bandwidth that covers states such as recovery with antibody evidence, and maintain stringent negative test verification for the subset of people not vaccinated. Not all folks unvaccinated in the long run would be representative of hesitancy or refusal. There will likely be the need to continue large vaccine research trials, and recruitment of volunteers will be greatly impeded by putting them in limbo without official vaccination certification. Who wants to be a research subject if subject to too many restrictions? There will be whinging and whining about privacy and right to decline vaccination. To me, that is not the problem worth wasting time on. It is more about considering all the practical angles. Defining vaccination as the gold standard for freedom privileges when breakthrough infection can occur just seems silly.

It’s not ‘instead of’, it’s either/or, aka viral antigen as an alternative to nucleic acid amplification ... that may be what you meant. The decision weighs convenience versus accuracy. Someone may want the more accurate RT-PCR to safeguard against transmission while travelling or following USA arrival, accepting of the inconvenience. If you are playing in a high infection incidence setting you may also want to know your status a bit sooner in case you can somewhat forecast possible emerging symptoms that may disrupt your flight plans anyway rather than be caught off guard at the last moment. Just about every flight contains one or more infected passengers and the odds are higher for the traveller having engaged in ample intimacy. Viral antigen format is less accurate, leaning towards more false negatives. But more popular for its convenience in the rapid point-of-care formats. One liability given the greater sensitivity of RT-PCR is that it might essentially detect residual but inactive viral particles, say, you were infected earlier in your trip (possibly unaware) but recovered. Therefore, if going the RT-PCR route and the result is positive you could have had a backup plan to do a subsequent viral antigen test (ie, know where to do it) in order to elevate the chance of a satisfactory qualifying test result in order to make your flight. Then you have the chance that a positive RT-PCR was due to hypersensitivity balanced against “cheating” with the less sensitive antigen test that may yield a false negative when the RT-PCR had actually detected truly contagious viral status. I am not suggesting that it would be highly inappropriate to fly in such a case because the knowledge yet uncertainty of infection along with extra precaution seems no worse than the random inevitable naïvely infected passenger (ie, false negative) behaving with caution thrown to the wind.

The block ... de-leite-d, at least compared to the degree to which it had been accustomed for decades.

Hahaha ... I know. The poster shoulda used the search function, as much has been written here on the forum. But I would personally take the RT-PCR, even if options, because it is gold standard and I don’t follow the American lead on CoV matters. I also don’t know if the OP is going to USA specifically or may be inappropriately grouping the two test versions when most nations require RT-PCR. Additionally, not all antigen test versions are rapid. In fact, the CDC clearly delineates the turnaround range for both versions, antigen or NAAT (umbrella for RT-PCR) as 15 minutes to 3 days because there are so many approved variations on the market. In the unlikely event a flight is diverted and lands elsewhere, also best to have the version universally accepted. I don’t know if tips for finding viral antigen test centres have been provided here. Or if such a version is offered at the airport. But Google search ‘coronavirus teste antígeno São Paulo’ should bring up several options. Be mindful that hundreds of CoV tests are ANVISA-authorized and, again, some antigen tests go to a lab (ie, not rapid) in the same way that NAAT formats are sent to a lab. Parenthetically, I think the USA FDA will grant EUA to the Johnson&Johnson vaccine tomorrow. Yet 1 in 4 infections at the study’s primary endpoint occurred in the vaccine group.

There are probably many options if you dig. Along with CR Diagnostics at GRU T3, Albert Einstein Hospital has also opened up a testing clinic in T3. Make sure you ask for a discount that may be associated with your particular airline. Personally, I would find it a hassle to go there two days ahead of the flight ... Therefore, the CR Diagnostics branch a bit closer to town, at Shopping Mooca Plaza, might have less of a wait and be more convenient. Probably also right at Albert Einstein Hospital in town.

This project is planned for the part of the block where Lagoa and one or more adjacent properties stood ... replace the ‘o’ with ‘e’, what do you get? Home Spot.

This project is planned for the part of the block where Lagoa and one or more adjacent properties stood ...

Gov Doria seems to be trying a bit of trade-off bargaining. In a few days a state-wide curfew commences, 23:00 - 05:00, hospital capacity again the predominant worry.

While CoV infections taper globally, an opposite trend is spreading across Brazil. Natal is also struggling.

Yes, for at least 2 months now. Could not sustain a profit at the enforced reduced capacity.

More of Pardo and Mayans MC, 2 consecutive episodes FX channel Tues March 16th.

Oopsy oopsy oopsy ... might be better for each guy with a planned visit to start his/their own thread and maintain it for reporting during and after as well. (Do not know if you’ll get blanc&noir clarity about Belmond Copacabana Palace. I have never hosted at a regular hotel. Even when staying in a conventional hotel or rental platform home I have always preferred to use ‘love/sex motels’. Hassle-free. They are essentially hotels with short-term date options. For example, Alameda across from Clube 117 or LoveTime a 10-minute walk south bordering Gloria and Catete district. It’s not a Gere/Roberts film.)

It’s on Amazon Prime in Canada. I think I am on Ep3 but I have almost a dozen series on the go across many platforms. My first related death of a friend was 1985 ... that’s when it really started hitting home in Toronto and I adopted safe sex likely about just in time. He was a blue-collar worker, very popular in the ‘scene’ and much loved. It all happened very quickly. In contrast to the bleak endings early in this new series there were dozens of relatives and hundreds of community members at a huge church service and cemetery burial. Twelve years of devastation before highly active antiretroviral therapy started kicking in.

... a wholly holy for you tuber with endless hits.

Maniacal for cassava manioc -fed fantasies ...

My Ouro Preto excursion from better times ... cloudy but not cold; no precipitation. FullSizeRender.mov

São Paulo municipality just eased restrictions a bit, from Phase 2 Orange to Phase 3 Yellow, though there’s lacking a solid basis for it epidemiologically. Places like Lagoa 40% capacity but closure extended from 20:00 to 22:00 hrs. Its social media seems to have been silent for about 6 weeks. I wonder if that means shows and thematic activities have been suspended but the facilities otherwise operate. Perhaps, as well, some establishments are keeping their heads down and not openly advertising in the context of ever-shifting rules.

Yes, you are obviously paying attention, but it is being politically pushed. One in 3 symptomatic CoV cases in the Brazilian study cohort (about 6,500 subjects each of the two randomized group assignment) occurred in the vaccine recipients. Even then, the incidence rate for vaccinated subjects was similar to that of the general population over the approximate same time period. The variants also introduce a wild card. In a way, the Serrana study is good even if misguided, assuming more honest than the Butantan original selective manipulation of efficacy data. If CoronaVac is going to ‘crap out’ the evidence may come out in the wash in this small municipality in the centre of São Paulo state. I am keen for incontrovertible evidence of regional community immunity that accompanies the reassurance of personal inoculation prior to venturing back to Brazil. Thousands of volunteers also seem to be missing from the analysis. On a rigorous intent-to-analyze all subjects’ outcomes the efficacy results may be worse. Here is the main slide (below) on which ANVISA made their emergency use authorization. There are attempts ongoing to import alternative vaccine candidates.

I recently stumbled across this site that seems to offer very specific forum posts / commentaries with less of the restrictions that this Board’s show runner felt, certainly legitimately, are imperative. So there are options elsewhere.

I find this to be a very interesting and innovative idea, finally Brazil ahead of its time on something, in addition to its advances in what we visit for [wink]. Too bad the the vaccine selected did poorly in its clinical trial in the country, but this seems to be another way to evaluate it.

Apologies, the 3rd paragraph above refers to the South African variant. If vaccination regarding some of these variants is only as good as the protection level given between the two doses on the recommended schedule, as you can see from the large Pfizer/BioNTech human trial’s symptomatic cases of infection it is not very good. Good luck and enjoy while staying safe.

Can we now agree to retire both this and the ‘Bye, Felicia!’ meme since they are long past being overly played out? lol

My calculated judgement is that piping in here is not hijacking, since vaccination is mentioned throughout. Lab studies wrt Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine are ongoing. For the SouthAfrican variant a brief report dropped in NEJM yesterday and a similar study of antibodies neutralizing the Brazilian spike protein variant (similar in mutations as the SA one) is occurring. The antibody levels generated by this mutation, artificially engineered and introduced to blood samples of subjects in the study that had been inoculated for original wild type virus, were several times less than neutralizing antibodies produced against that initially circulating first generation CoV. The main problem is not knowing the threshold of neutralization antibodies for preventing infection and illness. The vaccine might be protective, analogous to the kind of reduced level of efficacy conferred in the earlier period following a single dose. It cannot be determined without human trials.