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

Ha, my next door neighbors also went to Turkey over New Year's. While they were there, the COVID test they took at O'Hare came back with a false positive for one of them, but then they had to quarantine for an extra week before they could come back. In separate hotel rooms, which is ridiculous because they're a couple and were together anyway. And we had to shovel their corner sidewalks for another 8 days.

Apparently they've logged at least 50 flights in the last year. But y'know, everyone makes their choices. And they haven't actually gotten COVID afaik.

we should have special threads where only vaccinated people can post

I'm OK with the way things are now, as long as everyone is wearing a mask.

Congrats Brad!

That 1/4 statistic is very heartening; it was only a couple of weeks ago that my cousin told me 1/4 of adults in AK had gotten the vaccine, and at the time that seemed amazing and out of reach for the rest of the country.

In terms of immunity I would guess we’re at 50% if not more.

You mean including people who have had it? I think the US has officially had around 29 million cases, and so far 62.5 million vaccinations (at least the first shot), so probably less than 50%, right? But climbing!

the general consensus is that the actual number of cases is ~2-3x the number of positive tests

Could be! But I think there is no general consensus on how long immunity lasts, right? Especially based on getting it. So if you had covid in, say, February of 2020, are you still immune?

True, and I’m assuming people who’ve had one shot are at least temporarily immune. So 50ish per cent seems ball park ish.

an you stop doomposting? it's not helping anything and it's not going to stay this way.

― superdeep borehole (harbl), Wednesday, March 10, 2021 8:27 AM (yesterday)

btw appresh everyone countering jvc's concerns, but there's only one reason why this is the wrong thread for him to vent his irrational COVID-19 fears and experiences in 2021

yes this is the doomer thread so he should be allowed his doomposting.

im looking at the US and UK with envy currently, for the first time during COVID.

Question: can a grocery store or something in TX still insist on masks even if the Gov has killed the mandate?

yes

this just means the order doesn't come from the Governor anymore, it comes from the store, who is much easier to defy of course

I was gonna say, probably makes for some "K-Mart Karen" incidents to be caught on phones

it gets worse of course

This week, after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said Tuesday that he would rescind the statewide mask mandate while the vast majority of residents remain unvaccinated, the tough choice to enforce public health guidance fell to business owners, and Picos announced it would continue requiring masks. But, after such a challenging year, the reaction to their decision was disheartening, co-owner Monica Richards said: Several people sent hateful messages through social media and called the restaurant, threatening to report staffers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/06/mexican-restaurant-mask-mandate-ice-threat/

also this - now granted risk of spread is far less outdoors, but....still don't think this is a good idea whatsoever

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/texas-rangers-plan-to-allow-full-capacity-of-fans-for-2021-mlb-opening-day/

Every place I’ve been inside was still requiring masks and everyone was agreeably wearing one but I anticipate that getting less and less common over the next few weeks as people get lazier and more forgetful.

The Rangers stand a good chance of losing 100 this year so they’ll probably kill more people on Opening Day than win games.

Question: can a grocery store or something in TX still insist on masks even if the Gov has killed the mandate?

― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, March 10, 2021 6:14 PM (forty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes

― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Wednesday, March 10, 2021 6:14 PM (thirty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this just means the order doesn't come from the Governor anymore, it comes from the store, who is much easier to defy of course

― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal),

Neanderthal and I live like this in Florida. The difference is, my MAGA Publix shoppers are triple masked.

btw appresh everyone countering jvc's concerns, but there's only one reason why this is the wrong thread for him to vent his irrational COVID-19 fears and experiences in 2021

― armoured van, Holden (sic), Wednesday, March 10, 2021 6:00 PM (one hour ago)

lol true. i have so many tabs open at all times that i never know what thread i'm on to be honest.

covid-21 more like

I'm purposely trying to pull back from posting in the covid threads since my doomposting seems to bother folks, but I did want to add that I think the source of my frustration yesterday was feeling like I was getting such pushback for being frustrated with my local system.

Like I don't think it's that unreasonable that I can be both pleased with the national numbers and happy that we are, overall, trending in a very good direction and also be frustrated and disheartened by our somewhat chaotic and unfocused local distribution. I don't see that those two thoughts are incompatible or have to be mutually exclusive. But the vibe I got yesterday was that because I was (naturally, because local is what impacts my loved ones the most) focused on the latter, I wasn't on board with the former - which is not the case at all.

nah that was clear. your frustration is reasonable, caek's counterstats are valuable, yin/yang of COVID fears and experiences imo

I started to feel pretty lousy about 36 hours after my first Moderna shot. Aches, pains, chills, plus my shoulder hurting more than I expected. But by the middle of the night it had "broken," even most of the arm pain. I guess as I understand it those who already have antibodies (which I do) are more likely to get a reaction to the first shot than those that don't, for the same reason many have a stronger reaction to the second, though I still may get a relatively strong reaction to the second shot in a month. Fingers crossed that's about as bad as it gets, though at least it was pretty short-lived and could have been worse.

I'm in a Novavax trial. I think I got the real vaccine (66% of trial participants do). No side effects from the first shot, after the second shot my shoulder got swollen and had a red spot that developed about 24 hours latter and got as large as a silver dollar, lasted about 3 days. Very mild headache, barely noticeable, for maybe a day and a half. Feel pretty certain I'm vaccinated, woo?

xp I thought they were saying that people who have already had Covid don't need more than one shot. Are they still having everyone get both shots just in case?

I've not seen that. The Moderna and Pfizer, as far as I know, are two-shot vaccines, and I don't think there's been a study of the effectiveness of a single dose, or how long whatever immunity a single dose provides lasts. I also think the antibody protection vaccines provide is exponentially higher than natural antibodies, which in my case have declined over the months, anyway. The only thing I've read about vaccines vs. natural antibodies is that if you've recently had Covid you can and should probably wait three months before getting a shot.

https://www.sciencealert.com/more-research-emerges-suggesting-one-shot-strategy-for-people-who-ve-had-covid

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/health/have-you-had-covid-19-coronavirus.html

Looks like it's just a couple of studies, it's not any kind of official recommendation yet. I just remembered seeing a couple of back-to-back stories on it, so I thought it was more of a thing than it was.

Promising for sure, but I'm not blowing off my scheduled second dose, and neither should anyone else just yet. Assuming my single dose is enough at this point is more or less on par with me assuming the antibodies I had already (from what must have been a nearly invisible case last March) were enough. Makes sense, but I'd wait for more confirmation.

anecdata in case it's of interest-- I'm in London, mid 40s with no underlying conditions. Vaccine calculators estimated my first jab would be mid April to mid May. Got a text on Tuesday from my GP with a link, clicked and was offered two sites, booked in on one yesterday. Got the AZ, have a sore arm but so far no other side effects yet. Now another 12 weeks until second dose.

Booked an eye test for April to celebrate.

Wow, I'm still jealous of that system of having a GP just notify you when it's your turn. Seems so very logical and reasonable, not to mention takes out the confusion of trying to register at multiple sites and tracking multiple locations.

It's all kind of inscrutable right now. I was talking to a friend yesterday who was complaining that other states were opening up vaccines to everyone but ours was still lagging. I said, are you sure, I could have sworn Alaska is literally the only state that has opened vaccines up to everyone. And she said yeah, she had a bunch of rando friends in New Jersey that got their shots, despite not being in any of the classes designated by early vaccine phases. And I forwarded her the official NJ guidelines that afaict showed the state still in a comparable stage to ours (elderly, healthcare workers, frontline and essential workers, etc.), meaning her friends found some way to scoot themselves up in line. She wondered if they all were or claimed to be former smokers, which is a vaccine-worthy thing in NJ, for some reason, and doesn't require any sort of documentation.

And JVC, I think they do that here, too. At least, our doctor does via My Chart (or I assume your medical portal of choice). You put in your info and when it's your turn, and the vaccine becomes available, they apparently send you a confirmation slot/email. Same with the Village of Oak Park, for that matter. I think it's really just still a matter of weekly vaccine availability.

Afaik our doctor doesn't, my wife had an appointment for someone else and asked. They told her that they don't yet have enough vaccines to even think about that yet. Our City has a list, which we are both on, but that's the one that is still stuck on Phase 1A while the rest of the state is into 1B+.

"for something else" that should have read

Your doctor notifies you here in Seattle, too. That's how my housemate got her appointment; on the first day she was eligible, her doctor's office emailed her. There's a headache clinic I go to that's attached to a medical center here; I don't go there for any other medical care, but I still got an email from them as soon as they had available slots.

Our rabbi participated in a vaccination event for faith leaders through one of our local hospitals, and as part of that they opened up a pile of 1a and 1b vaccination slots for his community, and those of other faith leaders. He just sent out a new email about more slots now being available, so vaccines are definitely out there and making their way to people. It's just that there are a lot of people!

I am definitely impressed with how smooth it was, I love the NHS!

I keep seeing more and more rumors that Illinois is going to forget the idea of Phase 1c and just open it up to everyone else (Phase 1c and Phase 2) in the near future. While undoubtedly opening it up for more people to be eligible is a good thing, I'm wondering if suddenly tripling (or more, depending on which stats you look at) the number of people angling for the same number of appointments is going to make things a lot more challenging in the short term. Doesn't seem like that's the best way to instill confidence in a system that still hasn't worked out the kinks.

second shot today, 1 1/2 to get there and 1 1/2 to get back but hey!

congrats!

arm soreness from the moderna vaccine has been like a really intense version of flu shot for me. i can't drum! which is fine

Someone told me that if you pump your arm like you're doing bicep curls for the whole time you're sitting in the observation area, it helps, so I did. I had some soreness for a couple of days but nothing major. Purely anecdotal of course, and I have nothing to compare it to.

self xpost - although, in reading more recent articles, it sounds like maybe Illinois is backing away from combining Phases 1c and Phase 2. Per the latest, it looks like Phase 2 won't even begin until June:

Arwady has said Phase 1C would likely begin March 29 and Phase 2, which includes all residents over the age of 16, could begin May 31.

Someone told me that if you pump your arm like you're doing bicep curls for the whole time you're sitting in the observation area, it helps

it also just makes you look like tough badass so thats good enough for me

Real toughies do bicep curls *while* they're getting the shot. "Oh, you think you're so good!? You think you've got a steady hand!? Well, try jabbing this, assuming you can even get that pitiful little needle into my massive deltoid!"

Shot-givers appreciate that sort of challenge, gets the adrenaline flowing and makes them feel like superheroes.

Accidentally left off the last part of my previous post, which was to say that seeing Illinois is currently planning to open up Phase 2 on May 31st explains why I bristle at caek's repeated insistence that everyone who wants it will be vaccinated by the end of May.

jvc has fully convinced me that the rollout in Illinois is extremely badly run relative to the way it's going where I am!