Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

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Nanobots running Windows 95

Big step up from 3.11 iyam

2.0 is the fun part.

woohoo, great news onimo!

agree with Ned - second one's the doozy, but the peace of mind of knowing you're protected is so amazing.

Yeah pretty sure I said it upthread somewhere but to repeat it -- basically go in knowing that the following day (or if you get it early morning later that same day, maybe) you'll be hit with a wave showing your immune system has kicked in, fatigue and body aches galore. But -- assuming you're not sick from anything else -- nothing else will be off or strange. No cold, no snuffles, etc, just massive antibody production. It lasted for about nine hours or so for me and then it literally ebbed away while I was watching something on TV for an hour or two.

But yes, peace of mind, no question. I'm not doing a single thing differently right now for obvious reasons when it comes to going out, etc., but I'm less immediately jumpy than I was, and you find yourself thinking of where things will go. At this point I'm keeping a close eye on city/county vaccination rates because the further and faster we go the better off we'll all be. As it stands I may -- may -- allow myself an outdoor dining stop next Saturday when I get my hair cut at a spot I like that's nearby, but I'll play it by ear and see how I feel, how the weather is, etc. (Though I am glad I got a haircut last in October, because if I hadn't then it would be almost fourteen months at this point!)

Ned, if you consider outdoor dining, may I recommend lunch instead of dinner? Much less crowded. That's generally what I've done without anxiety (Miami is full of late risers).

and this is MOST encouraging:

The rate of coronavirus vaccinations in the United States is accelerating, and the number of people who have received at least one shot is now higher than the number of reported U.S. infections — a hopeful milestone that comes amid a vaccine rollout at times marked by complexity and frustration.

The vaccination uptick — which comes as new U.S. coronavirus infections, deaths and hospitalizations have been falling in the last week — signals the situation may be improving. Seven weeks into the country’s immunization campaign, the states racing ahead on the rollout seem to be keeping it simple.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/02/04/coronavirus-covid-live-updates-us/

I slept for an hour immediately after my shot but my radiotherapy sometimes makes me sleepy anyway. No signs of anything else yet.

We're on the UK's 12 week mass vaccine experiment so looking at May before I'll consider myself protected.

Ned, if you consider outdoor dining, may I recommend lunch instead of dinner? Much less crowded.

That was definitely the plan. And again, I'll see how I feel when I'm there.

I suspect your city, like mine, is one of the few where outdoor dining is comfortable but not comfortable enough for customers who insist on heat, therefore stay home, so it's a best-case scenario.

Yeah the heaters are definitely out as needed. But this being SF, a lot of people just go for it regardless.

So here's a thing: a friend of mine who works at an NYC hospital suggested that I look into the option of volunteering at a POD (point of dispersal) station as they apparently offer vaccinations for volunteers. There's no training involved and the work is mostly of the untrained "ushering people in" "getting boxes of gloves from the truck" "signing people in the line up" and rotates between indoor and outdoor work to process as many folks as you can. You're obliged to put in three sessions and they give you the first shot at the first session and the second at the third session. The catch is that each session is TWELVE HOURS of active and on your feet work and, unsurprisingly, the spots that need volunteer help are deep in queens and the bronx.

I've signed up for my first session, about an hour and a half away and running 7am to 7pm, this Monday; the idea is to be fully inoculated by the start of March. My partner had her first shot last week and is likely to go back to hybrid schooling in the upcoming month and the potential of one of us being more at risk than the other was making us pretty terrified. Even so, the inequities of exchanging a 40 hour work week for a life-saving vaccine is simultaneously maddening and a deep relief.

For other NY types curious to check this option out, here's the document they shared with me when I wrote to them:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fnrhzfepmclxreu/ServNY%202.0%20Registration%20Guide.docx?dl=0
once you go through all the steps in that document, you have to make an account here:
https://mrcvp.cityofnewyork.us/custom/501/volunteer_home
Then wait till the next business day for them to process your account, log in and then pick a volunteer option.

I feel a bit like this is a set up for a Blumhouse horror movie? Like I show up with six other people and we have to fight our way to the top of the hospital for a hypodermic? Anyway, paranoia aside, I think this is legit and encouraged by the city in that they are desperate for administrative help at these sites.

wow that's wild. let us know how it goes!

sigh. I really need to contact my oncologist to see about getting the jab, since I technically fit two of the criteria for getting it in one of the earlier stages.

There was a work Zoom team meeting today and my boss was saying that 'a couple more' people had died of COVID - though I should point out that thousands of people work for this organization and they're not all in London. It comes the day after we got an email about how a Polish girl who worked here had died at the start of January, which floored me a bit because she was around when I was working there in the first half of December. No cause of death given. She was probably in her late 20s. Very quiet, introverted young woman. Very sad.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the death rate among younger people appears to be higher in the UK for some reason. In Quebec, out of 9973 dead, 1 was 10-19, 6 were 20-29 and 13 were 30-39. If memory serves, all of them had underlying conditions.

New variant? I have no idea what this poor girl died of tbh, so I shouldn't speculate.

I'm extremely frustrated that my parents (70+ but in good all around health) can't get a covid shot in the small town where I grew up, but at least one old friend of mine (30+, afaik in good all around health, not a health care worker) got one somehow. Like I'm guessing it's because she's a lawyer and knows people who provided access, because when I inquired how she got the shot, she said she called the health department directly, and that's what my mom has been doing to no avail. It's such a fucked up process.

guy in shop this morning ignoring the mask sign and the one-way system to buy his cigs, skyr and redbull.

Dunno what skyr is, gonnae guess it's a protein bar

Fake Icelandic yoghurt stuff, because, er, Icelanders are sort of Nordic and healthy. Apparently. It must be all the fish. And yoghurt.

You can eat skyr with a spork near a fjord.

Wearing a skort.

With Bjork.

(skyr is an actual icelandic thing, mentioned in the sagas. uses 4x the milk of normal yoghurt so it's high in protein. but yes, just fancy yoghurt)

Skyr is expensive but good... great texture and has like half the sugar most yogurts do, and no artificial sweeteners.

(less healthy if you breakfast consists of it, Red Bull, and cigarettes though)

Skyr might be an actual Icelandic thing but I'm think the stuff they sell in supermarkets is from Denmark?

Fwiw we've got two different brands of skyr in the fridge right now (we received one for free at the supermarket) and both were made in Canada so I have no idea how it compares to the stuff they sell in Iceland.

the article i just saw was them opening up a skyr processing plant in Yorkshire

Yeah the most commonly available Skyr is from Arla. I liked it at first but I'd rather get Greek yogurt with at least some actual fat in there like Fage's 5%.

^^ seconded. I go through several litres of Greek yoghurt a week. I don't like Skyr's consistency (or lack thereof)

Fat-free yoghurt is an abomination. Turkish 10% fett all the way!

I’m gonna make some with 8x the milk of normal yogurt! Call it skyrx2

the skyr's the limyt

Skyrim.

Frozen condensed milk ice cubes, pill-sized for easy “no more tears” swallowing

Skrillex

I guess our rational/irrational covid fears must be subsiding a bit. maybe that's a good thing.

i was genuinely worried about the guy in the shop fwiw, he blatantly didn't care, worst case i've seen in a month.

Read this in a National Geographic article:

"Changes that are beneficial to the virus can also drive its spread, leading to a variant that out competes other local varieties and may send cases surging. That seems to be what happened in the U.K., Brazil, and South Africa. In the United Kingdom, variant B.1.1.7 likely drove the region's record-setting spike of COVID-19 cases in January. The variant is now circulating in more than 60 countries, including the United States—and projections suggest it will become the most common virus variety in the U.S. by mid-March."

Nobody really thinks the high death rates in the UK and Brazil are related to a *variant* (rather than policy), do they?

The policy is to say they are.

New variant "news" emerged 3 months after it was first identifed as circulation but almost exactly as cases were surging everywhere, pubs were open, and we were being urged into 5 day Christmas get-togethers with elderly relatives.

Ah. I feel like I've only heard the words "new variant" since, um, around Xmas.

I switched cell phones recently and it didn't copy over my login data for the app I use to fill out my eDiary for the COVID-19 study.

getting help to get back in has been next to impossible. I've called four different numbers five times since last Friday, nobody has answered, and I've left voicemails with everybody I know, including my coordinator. I also called the number they provided when they called me and left a voicemail asking me why my diary wasn't done yet.

nothing. i don't care so much about the small reimbursement amount I don't get but the gaps in data I'm supplying! urrrgh.

my coordinator used to call me back same day, so I am guessing they're up to their ears in work at the moment.

My Dad is getting his vaccine (well, first dose) on Monday, which is a relief. He only turned 65 a month ago, so that was lucky. He only has one lung, and diabetes, so I was worried about him, and it took a lot to get him to take it seriously.

So here's a thing: a friend of mine who works at an NYC hospital suggested that I look into the option of volunteering at a POD (point of dispersal) station as they apparently offer vaccinations for volunteers. There's no training involved and the work is mostly of the untrained "ushering people in" "getting boxes of gloves from the truck" "signing people in the line up" and rotates between indoor and outdoor work to process as many folks as you can. You're obliged to put in three sessions and they give you the first shot at the first session and the second at the third session. The catch is that each session is TWELVE HOURS of active and on your feet work and, unsurprisingly, the spots that need volunteer help are deep in queens and the bronx. For other NY types curious to check this option out, here's the document they shared with me when I wrote to them:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fnrhzfepmclxreu/ServNY%202.0%20Registration%20Guide.docx?dl=0
once you go through all the steps in that document, you have to make an account here:
https://mrcvp.cityofnewyork.us/custom/501/volunteer_home
Then wait till the next business day for them to process your account, log in and then pick a volunteer option.

Anyway, paranoia aside, I think this is legit and encouraged by the city in that they are desperate for administrative help at these sites.

this worked out and i got my first shot last night. AMA

How do I do that in Minneapolis?

I have no idea! It seems like a replicable program and a smart one to champion as virtually every dispersal unit is undermanned or under administrated.

Great job, forks, and good luck.