Hapless Bills Fan

Not sure how rapidly it updates Covid list for all teams: https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/analysis/covid-19-list-tracker-for-players-nfl-policies/ Scroll down for Bills IR: https://www.buffalobills.com/team/players-roster/

I think people under-rate Cole's abilities as a slot receiver. He is very, very good at figuring out how a zone defense is playing and finding the hole. I think he was certainly slowed by his injury, and also by the way teams were playing us. It is a point that Beasley (with his size) can be taken away when Knox and Davis and other tall guys are theoretically open, but they lack his shiftiness and ability to predict where the seams in the zone coverage are going to be. Kumerow, when he's played, seems to struggle to get open and sometimes to hang on. Oh. Not unless something startling has changed. I don't think he has the route running chops. I think it would be McKenzie.

90 days I think was a guideline the NFL put in to account for lower probability of re-infection after infection/recovery. The median time to test negative after even a severe covid infection is something like 20 days. Course median means half take longer Is he hurt too? But I'm told I may be mistaken that McDermott already indicated Sanders would miss the Pats game and I agree that it seems un-McDermott like to provide that info.

Probably Feliciano, who it sounds like was not admitted, just went to the ER then to a hotel.

The standard PCR test amplifies 2 different Sars-Cov2 virus genes, as well as having positive and negative controls. Omicron has so many mutations in one of those genes (S gene) that it doesn't amplify in many of the PCR tests. So a standard PCR test that is "S gene target failure" but otherwise positive is considered presumptive of Omicron. However just as we were wrapping our heads around having an easy way to detect it, there's now a "Stealth version" where the S gene is detected found in S. Africa, Canada and Australia. Normally to tell what strain you have, the genome has to be sequenced. The NFL has been doing this in order to determine whether there is spread within the facility or different introductions from outside.

What you suggest makes sense to me. Yes to playing by the rules, No on the whining. Actually I don't even care if he whines about the NFL's rules, but I wish he and his buddy Mongo would lay off on the uninformed proselytizing about covid and health policy. I think Beasley has very likely been playing with cracked ribs

No question it's more contagious than Delta. It's out-competing Delta very effectively (though Delta is still out there). That doesn't mean the Doctor's estimated Ro in the article to which I was responding (from @Sheneneh Jenkins) is correct or that it's the "second most contagious virus on the planet".

That was not your statement. You said "virtually everyone is positive in every locker room right now if a single guy is positive". In a masked and distanced locker room holding virtual meetings - Baloney. As far as "can't stop this variant from spreading, horseradish - even if it's the "second most contagious virus on the planet", the most contagious virus on the planet, Measles, was able to be curtailed by public health measures before vaccines. It's probably true that all the players will have it by the end of the season, but there's a "cause and effect" going on here. The NFL has made a decision that it's no longer going to monitor all players for infection, therefore unless the NFL has marvelous data they aren't sharing with the world about the lack of contagiousness of infected, asymptomatic vaccinated players (and can count on symptoms to be accurately self-reported), widespread infection is likely to occur, yes.

I think there's a certain degree of alarmism going on. For example, there were people suggesting that Delta variant was more infectious than Chicken pox, I think when the dust settled a little bit, it didn't turn out that way. But either way, assuming that distancing and masking are being observed, even measles wouldn't spread to every single person in an NFL locker room.

I see what you're saying. Yes, you're right, I believe some players would get an IV before the game and at halftime and try to play through the flu in previous years. I guess my point was that vaccinated or unvaccinated don't make a difference to whether a player with symptoms can play.

No, it's not. It is not so contagious that "virtually everyone is positive in every locker room right now if a single guy is positive." The guys in locker rooms right now are supposed to be masked, distanced when unmasked to eat, and having virtual meetings. Actually, I do. I understand how Ro is calculated, what the current study in Japan says about it for Omicron, what UK is seeing, and what Cornell (which tested every one of its 30,000 students weekly until winter break) saw. You? But way to divorce what I said from its context, which was your unsupported assertion that Omicron is so contagious "virtually everyone is positive in every locker room right now if a single guy is positive".

Actually it does. Literally the current contract with the US Gov't is 100x higher for a monoclonal antibody treatment than for the most expensive of the vaccines (>$2000 vs <$20). Cost to administer is also greatly higher - requires a 90 minute supervised infusion vs. a 5 second jab. This isn't just profiteering - monoclonal antibodies are significantly more expensive to produce as well as more expensive to package, transport, store, and administer. The source of Beasley's Covid infection has not been publicly identified, and Beasley may not even know.

The NFL stopped daily tests of everyone for the reason that vaccinated players were less likely to be infected and less likely to spread covid if infected. They were doing weekly testing. It was working. They were playing games, infection rates were low. They didn't drop "daily testing" because they're still doing daily testing of unvaccinated players, and they haven't been doing it on vaccinated players all Fall. The new variant is not that contagious, especially if everyone is masked and distanced as they are supposed to be.

Vaccinated players with symptoms aren't playing either.

There's a lot of data on this, and this isn't the place to discuss it, but vaccination is pretty well established to decrease spread to others in several ways: 1) less likely to be infected 2) more rapid decline in titer - shorter infectious period 3) less viable virus when infectious (may be neutralized by antibodies) Whether this is still true with Omicron is yet to be established, since antibody neutralization of Omicron appears to be lower in vaccinated (and previously infected) people. Feel better soon

So I understand where you're coming from, and "test everyone every day" would have been my approach if I were "NFL Covid King for a Day" and was trying to limit infections on teams. However, Stills (NFL CMO) said their data pre-season supported that vaccinated players were 7x less likely to contract covid and they weren't seeing intra-facility spread. I believe the claim was, that's been the case most of the fall - they've not been seeing intra-facility spread (they can tell by sequencing the virus from different infections). Recently, Stills implied they are now seeing intra-facility spread, which is why they went to everyone masked, distanced, etc. But he also stated asymptomatic infected players don't spread the virus, nor do recovering players with Ct >35. I do not know what those data are or how conclusive they are, because the NFL isn't sharing it. So they are claiming to be driven by science, but it's their own internal science so 🤷‍♂️

Two different statements. McDermott said "single digits". Beane said "91% vaccinated".

Boettger was out with the Covids in the pre-season. At the time he returned, he did the "I'm going to keep that to myself" response on being asked whether he was vaccinated. https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/after-surviving-covid-ike-boettger-heats-up-battle-for-time-at-guard/article_ef814f6a-0447-11ec-a6d9-07f19a9acdea.html He may have been vaccinated since, I could be mistaken. I seem to be there a lot today.

Well, not quite. There are a couple of things uninformed about it, though. Preventive medicine like vaccines are always less expensive than disease treatment, and this is no exception. Vaccines (like Prevnar) normally sell for about $200/dose. The various Covid vaccines are being sold to the US Gov't currently for between $4 to <$20/dose. A single pharmacist can administer at least 20 doses/hr, more if it's a clinic where one person is checking the paperwork and filling out vaccine cards, another is drawing up doses, a third is administering them. 6 doses fit in a tiny vial, and racks and racks of vials can fit in a freezer box. Monoclonal antibodies are far more expensive to produce, store, ship, and administer. Regeneron is currently selling its mAb treatment to the go'vt at a discount- $2,100 dose (a mAb treatment may normally cost $5,000-7,000). The treatments can be given on an out-patient basis, so they don't take up a hospital bed, but they do take up a treatment room and the attention of a nurse for 90 minutes. The patient to staff ratio should be something like 1:5 to be sure the IVs are all running smoothly, no air, no blown veins, no adverse reactions.

Feliciano said he needed to go to the hospital on Sunday for the Covids, out and at a hotel today but got a monoclonal Ab treatment. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

If we make the playoffs

Didn't see a thread on a quick glance, I'll delete if I find one buried somewhere

Then you weren't the target audience for Feliciano's tweet, I'm just explaining what I believe he meant. And I don't think he intended to be using it as an argument to not get vaccinated.

Except they are - they are tested if 1) they self report symptoms 2) they have a fever 3) they are selected as part of the "random sample" designated by the testing company.

I mean, he's gone on and off of how many teams now this season? 3? Either he's unhappy with the expectations of a PS player, or he's not himself anymore.