I still want to know where the hell the peds booster is at.
You mean like, for under 5s? My kids (6 and 9) got theirs about a month back
Yeah, I'd like to get my toddler her booster but it's nowhere to be found.
My four year old got hers about a month ago from her pediatrician. It took a long time for their shipment to show up from when they ordered it, though.
It seemed like CVS/Walgreens soaked up all the early supply. Our pediatrician and PCPs all got it months after we had gone to CVS with the whole family.
Nearly 1 in 10 new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are from the BA.2.86 variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Monday, nearly triple what the agency estimated the highly mutated variant's prevalence was two weeks ago.
Among the handful of regions with enough specimens reported from testing laboratories, BA.2.86's prevalence is largest in the Northeast: 13.1% of cases in the New York and New Jersey region are blamed on the strain.
Monday's figures mark the first time BA.2.86's prevalence has surged enough to be listed as a standalone variant on the CDC's estimates. Scientists first warned of the highly mutated strain's discovery over the summer.
BA.2.86 is notable for emerging just as the XBB.1.5 targeting vaccines were rolling out, and it is characterized by having more than 20 different point mutations when compared to the nearest Omicron subvariant. BA.2.86 is suspected to evade immunity quite a bit better than previous variants as a consequence, meaning that previous infection or vaccination are unlikely to be very potent against BA.2.86.
Also noteworthy is an additional subvariant of BA.2.86 - BA.2.86.1.1, which is being shortened to JN.1. JN.1 has an additional point mutation on the spike protein when compared to BA.2.86.
BA.2.86 tripling in prevalence doesn't necessarily mean we're going to see a new wave - As it was a small amount that tripled to give the 8.8% prevalence. Time will have to tell.
That being said, given how evasive BA.2.86 and JN.1 are, combined with this past Thursday being the busiest air travel day on record in the US, and I'd say we're going to see a pretty sharp increase in cases starting about.... Oh, now.
Gonna be a rough winter, I fear.
this particular bit of timing is getting quite annoying.
We now report that administration of an updated monovalent mRNA vaccine (XBB.1.5 MV) to uninfected individuals boosted serum virus-neutralization antibodies significantly against not only XBB.1.5 (27.0-fold) and the currently dominant EG.5.1 (27.6-fold) but also key emergent viruses like HV.1, HK.3, JD.1.1, and JN.1 (13.3-to-27.4-fold). In individuals previously infected by an Omicron subvariant, serum neutralizing titers were boosted to highest levels (1,764-to-22,978) against all viral variants tested.
So how long should I expect to test positive with the antigen tests? I started showing symptoms Nov 12, felt fine by the 16, and the test this morning shows a clear positive result. Wearing a mask at work isn't the worst, but it does get close when I have to stick my top half into a chamber set to 50C for 30 to 45 minutes at a time working on a system.
I believe the CDC guidance (I know, I know) says that, in rare cases, you can keep testing positive for weeks without being contagious. They recommend that if you have no symptoms and negative tests after day 10, then you are ok.
In my experience, with mild cases, I was testing negative on day 6 or day 7.
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TetraNitroCubaneThe DjinneratorAt the bottom of a bottleRegistered Userregular
edited December 2023
I always find it baffling that you can test positive and not be contagious.
Those antigen proteins that pop the positive test have to be coming from somewhere - Even though it's not active virus itself, if there weren't actively replicating virus replenishing those proteins, I'd imagine you'd test negative? Your body would flush that garbage quickly, particularly from the upper respiratory tract.
I'm not claiming that's wrong, I'm just confessing that I legitimately don't understand.
I always find it baffling that you can test positive and not be contagious.
Those antigen proteins that pop the positive test have to be coming from somewhere - Even though it's not active virus itself, if there weren't actively replicating virus replenishing those proteins, I'd imagine you'd test negative? Your body would flush that garbage quickly, particularly from the upper respiratory tract.
I'm not claiming that's wrong, I'm just confessing that I legitimately don't understand.
It's possible to make pseudovirus or replication deficient virus where you have the whole virus envelope but not RNA/DNA to replicate. Or the other way around as well. Viruses are very low fidelity so they don't really care if they make a perfect copy each time. They don't have a quality control mechanism.
They might have sufficient RNA/DNA to replicate but not all of the envelope to leave a cell. Or they can leave a cell but not enter a new cell. Lots of different scenarios.
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TetraNitroCubaneThe DjinneratorAt the bottom of a bottleRegistered Userregular
edited December 2023
That makes a lot of sense - particularly given how quick and dirty viral replication mechanisms seem to operate. Thank you for that explanation!
Doesn't that mean that some manner of replication is happening, though? I'm just thinking about the people who test positive for weeks - That seems to imply that even these imperfect copies are perpetuating for several generations.
Yeah, I only got the Tdap because we've got another little one due here in a few weeks so I wanted to make sure I was up to date on the pertussis vaccine. I did this same thing 2 years ago before my daughter was born and I hurt for a week afterwards. By about 9 tonight I'll probably be a miserable human. I get the full spectrum of side effects from the COVID booster, tiredness/headache/muscle aches/joint pain you name it I get it.
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With its expansion, the Home Test to Treat program will now offer free testing, telehealth and treatment for both COVID-19 and for influenza (flu) A and B.
For those indicated, treatment must begin within a limited window from onset of symptoms, underscoring the importance of continuity of care, from diagnosis to treatment. In addition, providing these services virtually, while individuals remain at home, is intended to expedite the time to treatment and the convenience of accessing services virtually from home.
Any adult (18 years and older) with a current positive test for COVID-19 or flu can enroll to receive free telehealth care and, if prescribed, medication delivered to their home. Adults who do not have COVID-19 or flu may enroll and receive free tests if they are uninsured or are enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs health care system, or the Indian Health Services. If recipients test positive at a future time, they can receive free telehealth care and, if prescribed, treatment.
This looks like a way to more rapidly gain access to both testing and Paxlovid (And other medications) - It's telehealth and home delivery, too. Also, it appears the tests they're giving out are hybrid COVID/Flu tests.
The continued growth of JN.1 suggests that it is either more transmissible or better at evading our immune systems.
COVID-19 activity is currently increasing in the United States. We expected this increase because COVID-19 has had a pattern of increasing and peaking in late summer, and then again peaking around the new year. Right now, we do not know to what extent JN.1 may be contributing to these increases or possible increases through the rest of December like those seen in previous years. CDC will closely monitor COVID-19 activity and the spread of JN.1.
Current sewage monitoring numbers indicate that JN.1 is now the dominant strain in the US. While current vaccines are known to offer some protection, that protection is relatively lower than it would be when measured against the targeted XBB strains - meaning there's a higher likelihood of breakthrough infections with JN.1.
It remains to be seen how severe it will be, but there's almost certainly going to be a large peak in infections shortly after the Holiday season.
Well my step mother just tested positive. She had a work holiday party on Friday and started feeling symptoms on Monday evening. Unfortunately for us she was around my girls all day Sunday. So here's hoping it's a quick recovery especially with Christmas in a week.
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
I'm on the upswing and this has been the worst of the two covid infections I've had. Just exhausted and sore and tired but often can't sleep no matter how tired.
I got COVID. Not from a gas station, a grocery store, a university or even a hospital. I haven’t tested positive but my pregnant wife has.
I got it because a parent said “fuck it?” and took their sick toddler to daycare. The daycare thankfully warned us after said kid had been there all week with my daughter, who nearly died from complications of an RSV infection a month ago.
I’m so fucking tired of 2023.
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Well my step mother just tested positive. She had a work holiday party on Friday and started feeling symptoms on Monday evening. Unfortunately for us she was around my girls all day Sunday. So here's hoping it's a quick recovery especially with Christmas in a week.
As an update to this. My 5yr old daughter had SOMETHING going on starting on Tuesday (lots of coughing) which then progressed to a fever and even worse coughing on Wednesday. We tested her and it was negative. I then started feeling something hit me too where I just felt emotionally and physically drained but couldn't sleep. I also tested negative. Ugh this fucking sick season is the worst.
Youngest is no longer coughing and feeling 100%. She had a fever for like 8 hours and killed the bug.... I want her immune system so bad.
e: My parents are on the mend I think. They say they sound awful today but feeling better so at least it's progressing. Going to put a pause on Christmas until they feel better.
urahonky on
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MichaelLCIn what furnace was thy brain?ChicagoRegistered Userregular
One of my co-workers said on a call to another who's never had COVID, "you should just go get it, get it over with."
JFC.
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TetraNitroCubaneThe DjinneratorAt the bottom of a bottleRegistered Userregular
We had an email sent near the end of the school day on Monday that our daughter's daycare class had an exposure with someone who tested positive. We were concerned about our daughter getting sick since kids are germ factories and they touch and share everything, and then first thing Tuesday morning we got another email that someone else in her class was positive. So we made the executive decision to pull her from school this week despite that putting a huge strain on us trying to wrap up end-of-year work and unpacking from a house move the week before. But I didn't want to have to cancel visiting my family for Christmas since my brother and his wife were flying in from across the country and this is probably going to be my grandmother's last Christmas. Luckily we managed to dodge it with a negative test today and no sign of illness.
Not trying to "just ask questions" but.... is there evidence right now that Covid as it stands is a lot worse in terms of outcome/etc than other respiratory viruses? I ask because I've had a large number of those since 2019 that all tested negative to COVID, then we had a big one around Tgiving (can't remember if before or after) where kids stayed home for about a week from school but we didn't have tests and it was just a "rough cold". Found out later that my nephew tested positive for COVID like 1-2 days after Thanksgiving (when I was there, but my kids weren't).
To this day, me, my ex, nor my kids have ever had COVID per a test, but we've had a number of "normal" colds... Obviously if we'd tested positive we could have gotten on antivirals or what have you) I guess what I'm asking is, is there evidence and I'm just missed it, that at this point in time, COVID has worse outcomes than other respiratory viruses?
I'm hard pressed to hold John Q Public responsible for self regulating when the .gov has given up, but at the same time, if we spend a few years doing some quasi hardcore social distancing can we eliminate a lot of these viruses? (I'm assuming not with the animal sources) and if not, if COVID isn't much worse than others, do we need to just give up on COVID as it's own special thing in terms of testing/isolating and just make it "generic illness" or do we need to make an effort to start isolating more on EVERYTHING (which, going back to earlier, really requires gov't and/or societal buy in.)
I don't know how much anecdotes are helpful in trying to assess that -- probably best to rely on data regarding health outcomes.
I have a hard-time self-assessing because I've been vaccinating at semi-regular intervals, and I nonetheless have had COVID provably 3 times (once pre-vaccine). The worst case for me was the first (no-vaccine), I had a lot of trouble breathing at night especially for about 10 days -- I've not had asthma but I imagine it would be what asthma was like.
The second time, I didn't parse being sick (in the traditional sniffles, sore throat, fever type of way), but the brain fog was real, I was forgetful of common items (keys, codes, pins, passwords) stuff I am used to using daily, multiple times a day, I'd just blank -- and that was about 6 weeks, honestly.
The third, most recent time was this past mid-November, I was *intensely* sick: fever, chills, leg/foot cramps, for about 24 hours (I figure it was my immune system recognizing a significant presence of COVID, trained from the vaccine and going full HAM on it). and then basically a week of normal sniffles, no brain fog or longer lasting complications.
So I don't really know, anecdotally. There's been so many strains, and just because one is prevalent its tough to ever be complacent that you won't get one of the bad ones... which, well listen long-COVID is a thing and I have to imagine that the risk for it is non-zero even in against the mildest version of COVID for someone who was vaccinated.
Now that people have baseline exposure from vaccinations, prior infections and the like it isn't as bad as it could be. Which is good because current spread rates with original death rates would be uh, very bad.
That said, the initial infection can still kill or cripple you, and so can long COVID. If you want a rough guess figure double flu (real flu not "oh I have a cough it's the flu).
My personal experience was COVID itself in Feb was 5 days of blah, annoying but nothing major. However! it also set my physical condition back a lot. In January, I did a short but steep trail. About a mile at 15% grade. It sucked, I'm out of shape, but I did it.
The next time I went after COVID I got 10% of the way in and had to throw in the towel.
I got COVID for the first time six weeks ago and it fucking sucked and I'm still not completely recovered. Got it a month after the latest booster so I was theoretically as protected as possible, too.
Not trying to "just ask questions" but.... is there evidence right now that Covid as it stands is a lot worse in terms of outcome/etc than other respiratory viruses? I ask because I've had a large number of those since 2019 that all tested negative to COVID, then we had a big one around Tgiving (can't remember if before or after) where kids stayed home for about a week from school but we didn't have tests and it was just a "rough cold". Found out later that my nephew tested positive for COVID like 1-2 days after Thanksgiving (when I was there, but my kids weren't).
To this day, me, my ex, nor my kids have ever had COVID per a test, but we've had a number of "normal" colds... Obviously if we'd tested positive we could have gotten on antivirals or what have you) I guess what I'm asking is, is there evidence and I'm just missed it, that at this point in time, COVID has worse outcomes than other respiratory viruses?
I'm hard pressed to hold John Q Public responsible for self regulating when the .gov has given up, but at the same time, if we spend a few years doing some quasi hardcore social distancing can we eliminate a lot of these viruses? (I'm assuming not with the animal sources) and if not, if COVID isn't much worse than others, do we need to just give up on COVID as it's own special thing in terms of testing/isolating and just make it "generic illness" or do we need to make an effort to start isolating more on EVERYTHING (which, going back to earlier, really requires gov't and/or societal buy in.)
Short answer: yes COVID is still very deadly
Long answer:
it has no "season" like flu so we'll have spikes even in the summer months causes, for lack of a better term, "attrition" to rack up more deaths than flu could hope to.
Also the myriad of long covid symptoms that if it does not outright disable a person on its own can also lead to various co-morbidities that will also negatively impact and usually cut short lives that are affected by it. We already had shit healthcare before the pandemic, it's gonna get even worse and until even more studies are passed to take long covid seriously there are going to be a lot of folks unable to get the care they need.
Yes, our government has failed us by not continuing policies that would mitigate these issues or at least help us take steps to prevent further spread. It's up to people if they want to roll the dice where they know rolling a 2 = death but don't realize rolling 3-6 means long covid.
Speaking for myself, I am also tired of all this, but I have mostly kept to my masking policy and the only time I've eaten at a restaurant is when I could sit outside. I have been lucky to never test positive though I have had a few "colds" myself so I dunno, so far so good. But when you've basically seen everyone give up it's especially draining.
Another short answer is that we don't know if COVID's latest dominant variant is super bad and may not know until after the fact because it's harder to collect data now.
Marty: The future, it's where you're going? Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
All these anecdotes are exactly why it's so frustrating. When I got it all I had was a headache. My kids all tested positive and they didn't have a single symptom. We tested them because I was positive. If every time someone got it and it was "double the flu" strength I'm willing to bet that people would be more likely to mask and get vaccinated. But there are lots of people who get it and don't even know it lol.
Part of the problem is also that even for Influenza, which we have probably the most in-depth and enduring public health surveillance... we don't have that great or precise data. The CDC is currently estimating the present flu season as having caused 3,200 – 9,500 deaths. That's a hell of a range.
All these anecdotes are exactly why it's so frustrating. When I got it all I had was a headache. My kids all tested positive and they didn't have a single symptom. We tested them because I was positive. If every time someone got it and it was "double the flu" strength I'm willing to bet that people would be more likely to mask and get vaccinated. But there are lots of people who get it and don't even know it lol.
Again it is the dice analogy, lotta people are scoring high so it doesn't seem so bad lets keep rolling.
MERS was as deadly as it was obvious and so was clamped down on quick partly because there was no second guessing about it. People still cancelled vacation plans because of not wanting to get it, I remember, foolishly in retrospect, being on our annual vacation to San Francisco and seeing how nice it was when not super busy--while maskless.
That's why MERS never became a thing on the level of COVID.
Last night my friend sounded hoarse and he told me he was definitely not sick and since he smokes like a chimney I was like, oh okay.
2 hours later he began coughing like he was on his deathbed or about to spawn a monster in a horror film.
So that's neat. He asked me to come over today and I'm halfway between "Fuck no" and "Eh, damage is done."
Amount of exposure also matters. ie, imagine getting exposed to 1 single virus particle, vs breathing in a billion particles. Both the strength of infection and your odds of being infected are likely to be affected by how much you're exposed to it.
All these anecdotes are exactly why it's so frustrating. When I got it all I had was a headache. My kids all tested positive and they didn't have a single symptom. We tested them because I was positive. If every time someone got it and it was "double the flu" strength I'm willing to bet that people would be more likely to mask and get vaccinated. But there are lots of people who get it and don't even know it lol.
Again it is the dice analogy, lotta people are scoring high so it doesn't seem so bad lets keep rolling.
MERS was as deadly as it was obvious and so was clamped down on quick partly because there was no second guessing about it. People still cancelled vacation plans because of not wanting to get it, I remember, foolishly in retrospect, being on our annual vacation to San Francisco and seeing how nice it was when not super busy--while maskless.
That's why MERS never became a thing on the level of COVID.
All these anecdotes are exactly why it's so frustrating. When I got it all I had was a headache. My kids all tested positive and they didn't have a single symptom. We tested them because I was positive. If every time someone got it and it was "double the flu" strength I'm willing to bet that people would be more likely to mask and get vaccinated. But there are lots of people who get it and don't even know it lol.
Again it is the dice analogy, lotta people are scoring high so it doesn't seem so bad lets keep rolling.
MERS was as deadly as it was obvious and so was clamped down on quick partly because there was no second guessing about it. People still cancelled vacation plans because of not wanting to get it, I remember, foolishly in retrospect, being on our annual vacation to San Francisco and seeing how nice it was when not super busy--while maskless.
That's why MERS never became a thing on the level of COVID.
MERS was also a lot less contagious, wasn't it?
Yes it appears to be close contact instead of droplet.
But you are also more likely to stay away/mask when some is coughing their lungs out.
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My four year old got hers about a month ago from her pediatrician. It took a long time for their shipment to show up from when they ordered it, though.
Looks like there is evidence the booster is still effective against JN.1.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.26.568730v1
In my experience, with mild cases, I was testing negative on day 6 or day 7.
Those antigen proteins that pop the positive test have to be coming from somewhere - Even though it's not active virus itself, if there weren't actively replicating virus replenishing those proteins, I'd imagine you'd test negative? Your body would flush that garbage quickly, particularly from the upper respiratory tract.
I'm not claiming that's wrong, I'm just confessing that I legitimately don't understand.
Doesn't that mean that some manner of replication is happening, though? I'm just thinking about the people who test positive for weeks - That seems to imply that even these imperfect copies are perpetuating for several generations.
This will be fun!
Congratulations! Good for you!
Hope you’ve got plenty of snacks and video games!
Via the NIH:
This looks like a way to more rapidly gain access to both testing and Paxlovid (And other medications) - It's telehealth and home delivery, too. Also, it appears the tests they're giving out are hybrid COVID/Flu tests.
Actual test to treat website can be found here.
Current sewage monitoring numbers indicate that JN.1 is now the dominant strain in the US. While current vaccines are known to offer some protection, that protection is relatively lower than it would be when measured against the targeted XBB strains - meaning there's a higher likelihood of breakthrough infections with JN.1.
It remains to be seen how severe it will be, but there's almost certainly going to be a large peak in infections shortly after the Holiday season.
The CDC are already warning that hospitals are under considerable strain due to flu, COVID, and RSV this year.
Stay safe, everyone.
I got COVID. Not from a gas station, a grocery store, a university or even a hospital. I haven’t tested positive but my pregnant wife has.
I got it because a parent said “fuck it?” and took their sick toddler to daycare. The daycare thankfully warned us after said kid had been there all week with my daughter, who nearly died from complications of an RSV infection a month ago.
I’m so fucking tired of 2023.
As an update to this. My 5yr old daughter had SOMETHING going on starting on Tuesday (lots of coughing) which then progressed to a fever and even worse coughing on Wednesday. We tested her and it was negative. I then started feeling something hit me too where I just felt emotionally and physically drained but couldn't sleep. I also tested negative. Ugh this fucking sick season is the worst.
Youngest is no longer coughing and feeling 100%. She had a fever for like 8 hours and killed the bug.... I want her immune system so bad.
e: My parents are on the mend I think. They say they sound awful today but feeling better so at least it's progressing. Going to put a pause on Christmas until they feel better.
JFC.
I see this attitude quite frequently, and it's mind boggling.
Oh, you think you can only get it once? Honey, you're in for a rude awakening.
Here we go again, be safe out there.
we are so fucked
And the bivalent vaccination rate is.... less than 50% for the elderly, who basically have over double the rate of everyone else
To this day, me, my ex, nor my kids have ever had COVID per a test, but we've had a number of "normal" colds... Obviously if we'd tested positive we could have gotten on antivirals or what have you) I guess what I'm asking is, is there evidence and I'm just missed it, that at this point in time, COVID has worse outcomes than other respiratory viruses?
I'm hard pressed to hold John Q Public responsible for self regulating when the .gov has given up, but at the same time, if we spend a few years doing some quasi hardcore social distancing can we eliminate a lot of these viruses? (I'm assuming not with the animal sources) and if not, if COVID isn't much worse than others, do we need to just give up on COVID as it's own special thing in terms of testing/isolating and just make it "generic illness" or do we need to make an effort to start isolating more on EVERYTHING (which, going back to earlier, really requires gov't and/or societal buy in.)
I have a hard-time self-assessing because I've been vaccinating at semi-regular intervals, and I nonetheless have had COVID provably 3 times (once pre-vaccine). The worst case for me was the first (no-vaccine), I had a lot of trouble breathing at night especially for about 10 days -- I've not had asthma but I imagine it would be what asthma was like.
The second time, I didn't parse being sick (in the traditional sniffles, sore throat, fever type of way), but the brain fog was real, I was forgetful of common items (keys, codes, pins, passwords) stuff I am used to using daily, multiple times a day, I'd just blank -- and that was about 6 weeks, honestly.
The third, most recent time was this past mid-November, I was *intensely* sick: fever, chills, leg/foot cramps, for about 24 hours (I figure it was my immune system recognizing a significant presence of COVID, trained from the vaccine and going full HAM on it). and then basically a week of normal sniffles, no brain fog or longer lasting complications.
So I don't really know, anecdotally. There's been so many strains, and just because one is prevalent its tough to ever be complacent that you won't get one of the bad ones... which, well listen long-COVID is a thing and I have to imagine that the risk for it is non-zero even in against the mildest version of COVID for someone who was vaccinated.
That said, the initial infection can still kill or cripple you, and so can long COVID. If you want a rough guess figure double flu (real flu not "oh I have a cough it's the flu).
My personal experience was COVID itself in Feb was 5 days of blah, annoying but nothing major. However! it also set my physical condition back a lot. In January, I did a short but steep trail. About a mile at 15% grade. It sucked, I'm out of shape, but I did it.
The next time I went after COVID I got 10% of the way in and had to throw in the towel.
Short answer: yes COVID is still very deadly
Long answer:
Also the myriad of long covid symptoms that if it does not outright disable a person on its own can also lead to various co-morbidities that will also negatively impact and usually cut short lives that are affected by it. We already had shit healthcare before the pandemic, it's gonna get even worse and until even more studies are passed to take long covid seriously there are going to be a lot of folks unable to get the care they need.
Yes, our government has failed us by not continuing policies that would mitigate these issues or at least help us take steps to prevent further spread. It's up to people if they want to roll the dice where they know rolling a 2 = death but don't realize rolling 3-6 means long covid.
Speaking for myself, I am also tired of all this, but I have mostly kept to my masking policy and the only time I've eaten at a restaurant is when I could sit outside. I have been lucky to never test positive though I have had a few "colds" myself so I dunno, so far so good. But when you've basically seen everyone give up it's especially draining.
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
2 hours later he began coughing like he was on his deathbed or about to spawn a monster in a horror film.
So that's neat. He asked me to come over today and I'm halfway between "Fuck no" and "Eh, damage is done."
Again it is the dice analogy, lotta people are scoring high so it doesn't seem so bad lets keep rolling.
MERS was as deadly as it was obvious and so was clamped down on quick partly because there was no second guessing about it. People still cancelled vacation plans because of not wanting to get it, I remember, foolishly in retrospect, being on our annual vacation to San Francisco and seeing how nice it was when not super busy--while maskless.
That's why MERS never became a thing on the level of COVID.
Amount of exposure also matters. ie, imagine getting exposed to 1 single virus particle, vs breathing in a billion particles. Both the strength of infection and your odds of being infected are likely to be affected by how much you're exposed to it.
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MERS was also a lot less contagious, wasn't it?
Yes it appears to be close contact instead of droplet.
But you are also more likely to stay away/mask when some is coughing their lungs out.