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

sorry, table. wishing the best for you and your mom.

shit table, sorry

After months of virtual-only, my kid's school is going hybrid starting on Monday--against all guidelines--almost solely due to pressure from asshole parents. The principal held a virtual meeting yesterday, during which the news broke that one of the teachers had just tested positive, and he tried to avoid all the questions about it.

Thanks all. Turns out it's not Covid but a UTI. Which still sucks, but you know.

anyone gone to the pub yet? feels a bit mad tbh

Glad it's not the 'vid, table.

No, but I plan to get food from Chang’s Noodle tomorrow.

Anti-vaxx Twitter seems to be up in arms that there's a disclaimer that the effect of the Pfizer vaccine on fertility is unknown. Isn't that just a pretty standard disclaimer for new vaccines as I imagine would take years of study to determine any effect?

― groovypanda, Friday, December 4, 2020 5:26 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Correct. Drugs and vaccines without disclaimers about things we don't know pretty much don't exist. If "we don't know" is a problem, these people should stop taking all drugs.

The same is true for these vaccines and pregnancy btw, and as a result there's some actual good faith debate about whether pregnant doctors/nurses should get the vaccine this month. See https://emilyoster.substack.com/p/vaccines for more. It sounds like pregnant doctors/nurses will end up receiving it, but they may end up recommending the general population of pregnant women wait until after delivery.

There are pregnancy disclaimers on the vast, vast majority of drugs (including vaccines afaict) because it's unethical to test on pregnant women in particular, unless the drug treats a condition related to pregnancy.

See https://www.drugs.com/pregnancy-categories.html for the US situation. There are five groups.

Group A is "we've tested on pregnant women and it's safe". Almost nothing is in this group. I think the only vaccine they routinely give pregnant women is here though (Tdap).

Group B is "we've tested this on pregnant animals and eh, no sign of any problems, but who knows. We haven't tested it on pregnant women." Most stuff is in this group, including stuff we all take, incl. pregnant women, all the time. common antibiotics and painkillers, etc.

Group C is "there were problems when we tested this on pregnant animals, but we haven't tested on pregnant women. we think it sometimes make sense to give this to pregnant women."

Group D and X are the only ones where there's actual evidence from systematic trials or long term data that the drug is bad for pregnant women or their fetus.

Hugs, tabes.

anyone gone to the pub yet? feels a bit mad tbh

probably bcz it is mad?

"You have a child", said a random woman in town today, "would you like a leaflet about the vaccine and the blundemic?" I surmised that this might not be a reliable source of information and said "absolutely not". "Good luck" she said.

the
..the...
the
blundemic???

oh wait did she say "plandemic"?

Probably plandemic. Blundemic is pretty good though.

As far as vaccine names goes, I think Russia win this; 'Sputnik' remains a great word.

Blundemic more apt yeah

pretty sure it was blundemic, maybe I should have taken a leaflet! and a free book from another guy telling us all about the new world order.

Unbelievably, there are no google results for 'blundemic'

Almost a bit too unbelievable

#googledemic

Feels weird now that we've all been told we can now go maskless everywhere cept crowded stores/public transport. Social shaming is suprisingly powerful in this country and everyone got onboard with masks/staying home real fast - people are still waering them a lot!

Now theyre allowing overseas flights to Melbourne again so I hope it doesnt go pear shaped. 2 months in severe lockdown has given me agoraphobia and Ive become so isolated and unfit.

I will miss occasionally shouting at the dicknoses and the maskless.

This weekend I saw my first bunnings sausage sizzle since February, which is surely a sign that everyone thinks everything is back to normal and will be back in lockdown well before we get a sniff of the vaccine.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/07/on_the_uk_governments_covid19related/

"IT workers join elite sports stars, fat cat biz execs, celebs and posties for special treatment under England's COVID-19 travel isolation rules"

woot!

well done, headline writer

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Does the entire Register aesthetic strike you as deeply fucking irritating?

i have always liked their headlines

Looking forward to my post-vaccine transformation into a cyborg for socialism!

I just got back from a run of the mill supermarket. Most people were wearing masks, but - and I know correlation is not causation - literally everyone I saw wearing a mask improperly was in a high risk group, or some combination high risk groups.

the olds, or the sicks?

Elderly, obese, or African-American. Or two or three of those categories. I just don't get it. If you know to wear a mask, how can you still not know how to wear it properly? Especially if you are in a higher risk group.

My uncle's funeral service was webcast on Saturday. I mostly held it together until the photo montage, at which point I wept a little when I saw pictures of him together with my mom.

So sorry, Dan.

JiC, a lot of older people don't have masks that fit them properly, and surprise surprise, the messaging about masks in my majority minority city is not being broadcast to the poorer, Blacker neighborhoods.

If there was any sort of coordinated, national effort to get people to wear masks and wear them properly, we wouldn't be having these problems.

It would be nice if the uncoordinated national effort to spread disinformation, fear, uncertainty and doubt was tamped down to a quiet murmur, too.

Sorry again, Dan.

This disease is terrible and how it is forcing us to grieve and attempt to find or offer comfort via screens just adds to the toll it takes.

I came here to moan about taking my third covid swab in three days but maybe a wee bit of perspective...

My father in law has needed of heart valve surgery for the last year, but it was delayed due to other health issues and then covid in March. His health deteriorated further and he just went to the ER because of how bad he was feeling and it ends up what he thought was a hernia is likely a sarcoma the size of a grapefruit. We're three hours away and my wife couldn't get in the hospital to see him anyway and he is too weak from the heart/other health issues to have chemo/surgery so things aren't looking good. So he's probably going to die soon, alone, and my wife won't be able to see him or give him a hug and it won't be listed as covid, but fuck this shit.

How awful, I'm so sorry.

Fuck, PBKR :(. I'm so sorry - nobody deserves to go through that

PBKR and DJP, hugs.

Jfc. So sorry PBKR.

My mom is still in hospital with what they say is pneumonia, and she seems to be responding well to antibiotics. They say she's getting out tomorrow...my fingers are crossed because the longer she stays in....

I know that anxiety, ttitt. COVID has a lot of ways to get at you, including how it fucked up PBKR's father-in-law.

Major hugs to DJP and PBKR.

Seconded

my condolences, DJP... and sympathy for PBKR and everyone else

<3 DJP & PBKR

i'm sorry this is happening, for you both. <3

Thanks everyone for the well wishes.

Covid is complicating things absolutely; just not being able to see him and having to get information over the phone are difficulties. Btw, this is in Eastern PA and we have been hearing that the hospital is basically at capacity (I wonder why). He spent 36 hours in the ER partially because they had no place for him.

Thanks, everyone

on a related note, people are evil and stupid: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/08/us/los-angeles-super-spreader-party-arrests/index.html

the most evil and stupid person in that article is the LA county sherrif btw, who is refusing to enforce the county and state's public health measures, while calling press conferences about "public safety" in non-white parts of the county.

I'm now on 4 covid tests in 4 days

hopefully I'm doing my bit to keep overall test positivity levels low enough to get the pubs open for Christmas or something

onimo, I'm sorry you're still stuck in COVID limbo. Any progress on getting the scans done so you can get out of there?