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

I somehow got on haque’s email list a couple of years ago. Went from hilarious to infuriating to unsubscribe in about 60 emails/a week.

:( sorry to hear about that PBKR

There's one of those mobile testing vans parked across the street from where I sometimes pick up empanadas. The last few days the lines have been significantly longer (like, from 1-2 people to 6-7) but today there were about 30 people in line, all the way down the block. Some were couples and families, so I gotta figure they were trying to make sure they were safe to travel and see family, but there also seems to be a real fear of omicron in a way there wasn't for previous variants. The message about extreme transmissibility has definitely sunk in in NJ.

i'm getting an antigen done today at a proper lab. their website has gone back to advertising only "self pay" options, but when I logged in via my existing account and looked for products, only then could I find the 'free' insurance option.

wtf

did a name check on duckduckgo

I’d say do one on ilx but the photos are probably linkrotted

today I learned that lower back pain is apparently a new covid symptom? wtf?

That's so weird and random to bring up. Like, back pain and large muscle cramps are a symptom of running a fever in general.

My cautious friend that tested positive? She first felt like crap so took a rapid test. Negative. Then another rapid test. Negative. Then felt better. Then felt worse a couple of days later and took another rapid test. Positive! Then took a follow up PCR test. Negative! So weird. She figures she's close enough to 10 days that she's just going to wait out the last couple.

Happy to report that, as IL celebrates its second day in a row of breaking its daily infection rate record, right across the border in IN pretty much everyone is maskless or (at best) dicknosing in places like gas stations, right alongside lots of interstate travelers. There's a really rough winter encroaching on a whole bunch of feckless people.

incredible how back in march 2020 everyone was talking about how unprepared the US is to handle a pandemic and now it's 2 years later and the US is still completely unprepared to handle a pandemic

i know more people than ever are getting tested but there's no reason to not have a massive stockpile of testing infrastructure by now, is there? people around me are waiting 4+ hours to get swabbed at urgent care clinics. at that point if you didn't have covid when you walked in you walked in you probably will by the time you walk out.

when my dad got tested once after an exposure at his adult day care months ago, we made the mistake of going to a Centra Care (there were free rapid places nearby that we didn't know existed), and the doctor said "60% of the people who come here test positive, so you're probably going to have to get tested again after this"

i am thankful for the place 0.1 miles from us, as I got myself and my mother tested there on Xmas eve when I couldn't find rapid tests.

my brother also informed me (for US folk) that you can order free PCR tests through your insurance from Labcorp.com - not good for rapids but I ordered one. you just swab yourself and send it to da lab.

for those of us playing at home, that URL is
https://www.ondemand.labcorp.com/covid-19

thanks forks - should have included that!

just ordered mine, was relatively easy.

for anyone without insurance, you'll need to provide a drivers license ID/SSN

but it's worth noting that if you're uninsured, it's listed as free up front!

i mean, let's see when i get the kit and then get the results but here's what's on their site:

We currently offer three payment options for an individual at-home Pixel by Labcorp COVID-19 collection kit on the Labcorp OnDemand website:

Bill insurance ($0 upfront)*
Access public funding for uninsured ($0 upfront)*
Pay out of pocket ($119 for COVID-19 or $169 for COVID-19 + Flu)

*Individuals are eligible for $0 upfront cost if they meet one or more of the clinical guidelines for COVID-19 testing:
Experiencing mild symptoms
Exposed to someone with COVID-19
Live or work in a congregate setting
Asked to get tested by a healthcare professional, contact investigator, or public health department

Your health insurance is not billed until after testing is complete.

I'm confused about this lack of test kits. My company has provided us with test kit every week, per the Gov's mandate 100 plus employees. The box we get has two test that we take at the start of every week. Has this not taken effect on a large scale?

Naive question: is it possible to get re-usable FFP2 face coverings?

wifes parents visited for xmas and we asked them to take rapid tests when they arrived (wife & I also got PCRs a few days before). much to our pleasant surprise they complied without a fuss, but were very bemused & befuddled at the whole idea and process, eventually revealing that they had never taken a test before(!), and had no idea there were different kinds of tests. on the one hand it warmed my heart that they tested for us & we were able to enjoy a holiday without transmitting covid to each other (apparently/hopefully). on the other hand part of me was v depressed at the thought of people who do not think of themselves as "covid deniers" spending the last 20 months travelling, working at their jobs, etc & never once thinking about seeking out a test, and being reminded of how normal that attitude must be. idk, maybe they will be more likely to try a test another time now that we demystified the process for them.

xp i don't know where you are but i haven't heard of anyone getting their hands on rapid tests that they didn't have to personally seek out. instead we have this and this. pathetic!

xxps thank you forks and neanderthal that's good to know about

Never tested, is everyone testing now, is not testing covid denialism now, seems a jump

sure, didnt mean to directly equate that with denialism, just the dispiriting dissonance btw how informed they feel vs how informed they actually are: dad kept remarking that they probably tested him for covid when he had surgery a few months ago, seems like a waste to test again a second time, if nobody has symptoms anyway whats the point, doesnt it take many weeks to get the results back, etc.

i felt exactly the same when my dad did his first ever test a few weeks ago. it's just not on a lot of people's radar.

same re relatives who don't even consider testing when they have a temp or lose sense of smell, because when it happens to them it's just because of a cold/flu/virus, not covid.

I only got tested for the first time a month ago prior to travelling across the US border. Prior to omicron, there was no free rapid testing system here in Quebec--you could only get a free test if you had symptoms. It was a bit of a surprise to see free testing facilities everywhere in Chicago tbh

I've taken my temperature a whole lot for the past many months and the one time it was ever elevated is the only time I've gotten tested (and pretty sure the elevated temp was due to the booster). I don't think I would personally bother testing unless I had an elevated temp plus another more conspicuous potential symptom, because soreness and tiredness and the like are pretty run of the mill for my age.

I'm super thankful my mom is both safe/cautious (relatively speaking) and as angry and frustrated as I am about those that are not safe. My UK family is all boosted, but their kids are still too young; dunno how much proactive testing they do. My Aussie family is all vaxxed and boosted as able, afaik, but testing there is currently a shit show.

it's just in the UK every public place has had posters up saying you must get a free pcr test if you have one of: a temp, a continuous cough, or a change in sense of smell or taste. for nearly two years.

so I thought it would be odd for it not even to occur to you if (as per this person) you were ill enough to stay off work with a fever. but actually I think it's fairly common.

in the US prior to the pandemic, we were pressured to go to work with fevers all the time, so I think that's ingrained in us.

so my brother works at Universal Studios and a lot of his co-workers have COVID. he mostly works outside and they have masks, but Universal makes them wear cloth masks (I gave him KN95s and told him to wear them underneath the cloth mask).

but he visits my folks tonight while I'm out and he's here when I get back, and he has two cloth masks on. folks aren't masked. a little frustrated cos I think the best way to mitigate the risk of his potential exposure (we don't know that he's been exposed for sure), everybody should have been. he kept his distance, but he was indoors with them so y'know....

so now I wait and see if they get sick. I'm guessing it's low likelihood, based on all the unknowns, and two cloth masks are better than zero msks. and while I've been worried about them, chances are they would fare ok because they're triple vaccinated, neither are immunosuppressed. but I don't want to TEST that damn theory, ya know?

Definitely feel this wave inching closer - as noted we had 23 months without a scare, then two in one day. But my little tribe remains lucky. On Christmas day we delivered some cookies to my sister, who we felt needed cheering up. Spent ~15 minutes distanced/masked/outside. Two of her kids are positive now, with one sick.

My immediate fam all tested negative this morning, but as close calls mount, we're getting anxious, ngl

are there any figures on how many boosted individuals have died of covid? have any at all? might be nice to have this sort of thing in the news. my suspicion is that the risk of serious illness for triply jabbed individuals is essentially zero.

There was news early last week of a dude in Texas but was unjabbed.

are there any figures on how many boosted individuals have died of covid? have any at all? might be nice to have this sort of thing in the news. my suspicion is that the risk of serious illness for triply jabbed individuals is essentially zero.

oh yes i recognise all sorts of people will continue to be very vulnerable. i mean for reg’lar folks.

I don't think I've come across any reported cases of someone triple vaxxed who still died of infection, and even those triple vaxxed that have been hospitalized I think are often also dealing with some pretty serious co-morbidities.

We all flew on the 20th and came back on the 27th. No one got or felt sick during our stay, no one feels bad now (jetlag aside; or is it covid!?). Both kids want to hang with friends/have sleepovers on New Year's Eve, so we'll give them each home tests, and ask that their friends be tested, too, just to be safe(r).

I seem to recall seeing a chart recently that said something like 0.1% of infected, boosted people have died? They might not have been reg'lar.

From personal experience, of the 19 of us who caught Omicron at my running club Xmas party, 4 had had their boosters and were virtually asymptomatic.

The rest of us were double jabbed and were pretty rough for around 2-5 days before feeling better again. All recovered at home without needing any external treatment.

I feel like this is the endgame we’re striving for, bar another worse variant. Everybody’s just got to get vaxxed (if they can).

Wait, there are vaccines?!

From the Independent:

"NHS hospitals have been asked if they can host temporary “field” hospitals amid fears over bed capacity as Omicron admissions rise. The plans, first reported by the Health Service Journal, comes amid rising concerns over the coming wave in Covid admissions in January. According to the HSJ report, trusts were also asked to review their mortuary capacity."

what happened to the Nightingale hospitals? afaicr they didn't have enough staff to make them have any impact?

It's amazing how quickly things change. In heavily vaccinated Miami-Dade County two weeks ago I'd see about 60 percent of store customers masked; now we're back to eight or nine out of 10 masked.

masking is utterly shot here. maybe 20-25% in our stores is my guesstimate, in places that even during Delta were maybe 80-90%.

wow -- that high during Delta but not now?!

x-post to kinder: my impression was a combination of a) not enough staff and b) too basic (that is, the treatment was more complex than expected so needed more equipment than you'd realistically put in a field hospital. (With a disclaimer of not a health care professional in this field so might be chatting nonsense).

(UK) Prior to it becoming law again, face-covering wearing had seemed to increase dramatically, here ... in my local supermarket. It had become unusual to see anyone without a face covering, after a period of it seeming to slip a lot.

I think Omicron is moving so swiftly that it hasn't yet sunk in with a lot of people. I heard various holiday anecdotes of friends or relatives making "now that COVID is done" remarks. Masks will probably continue to ramp up as more realize how widespread it is once again.

Masking is so inconsistent, we spent the holiday with family in Ann Arbor and though we didn’t go many places at all, saw very consistent masking. That is until I had to run into the local Meijer to pick up a prescription for my mother in law and maybe 40% of the people in the shop, employees included, had masks on. A few had masks pulled down below their chins, but most didn’t even appear to have masks at all. Didn’t click until the way out that they had no signage posted about masks.

I think Omicron is moving so swiftly that it hasn't yet sunk in with a lot of people.

Where I'm at in NJ it's very much the opposite. I'm seeing more masks, and I'm seeing block-long lines outside pharmacies and lab vans for tests. People are scared here.

x-post to kinder: my impression was a combination of a) not enough staff and b) too basic (that is, the treatment was more complex than expected so needed more equipment than you'd realistically put in a field hospital. (With a disclaimer of not a health care professional in this field so might be chatting nonsense).

Boston area is pretty hard-core these days, I'm seeing runners and bicyclists wearing masks, single people in cars, etc.