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

Ok, will do. Thanks, everyone, for the advice and reassurance.

More good news

New: The FDA just approved Pfizer’s request to store its Covid-19 vaccine for two weeks at temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers.https://t.co/7tfvuzeVTk

— Berkeley Lovelace (@BerkeleyJr) February 25, 2021

That should reduce a lot of logistical tightrope walking and make distribution much easier.

And I'm thrilled to learn my sis will get her first shot Sunday, so that'll mean all my immediate family will be covered.

Lily Dale, get that stuff done-- speaking as someone who had cancer in his thirties, I kick myself for not getting regular scopes and blood work done, mostly because I either didn't have health insurance or was frightened of what tests would reveal.

I’ve been going to one doc or another at least once every two weeks bc of some stuff that happened to me in the summer and the only thing that makes me uncomfortable is weirdo patients in the waiting room, and that’s only been once or twice. I otherwise feel way more safe there than any other indoor situation other than home!

xp Thanks, table, I will, as soon as I can. I guess I hadn't really thought about how long it had been until I saw Josh's post.

I've been taking my partner to get blood tests done to rule out some stuff recently and I've been blown away by how meticulously strict both the GP surgery and the bigger health centre have been. The former has a security guard operating a strict regime and it's made me feel much more confident about going along. Even though all I do is walk them to the place so they don't get anxious and then just wait outside, I can see how efficient and thorough everything has been.

Make those appointments and go. And if you are worried about feeling unsafe, practice saying things out loud before you go so you've got some stock phrases ready. "I'm not comfortable with this any more so I'm going to have you to stop and we can reschedule" isn't a phrase any reasonable person can push back on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fNmw3e1LHQ

i dig the kid pointing out the dicknose librarian and shaming the cop

i have definitely been in quarantine too long because him saying "agent J... well done" got me a little weepy.

so:
mother-in-law second shot - serious fatigue on the day after, wiped for the entire following day but was up and out and about the day after (moderna)
mother - no symptoms, no reactions (pfizer)
partner - we're currently in her "day after" and it's been rough. she got woken up during the night with headache that has stuck around since then. she has since developed (for the pat 12 hours or so) a light fever, a huge lump and red rash at the injection spot, bad fatigue, body aches, chills and overheating switching back and forth, difficult focusing, the whole menu basically (moderna)

So my Friday night ritual has evolved to 1) watching a silent movie while drinking; then 2) watching 80s and 90s music videos on YouTube while drinking some more. Tonight I got into the U2 back catalog. Will I sleep again without heavy sedation?

Will I sleep again without heavy sedation?

their back catalog isn't THAT bad

"Bad" is not the relevant word. I knew what "Two Hearts Beat As One" meant to me as a yearning adolescent, and I re-listened to it anyways.

Tonight I got into the U2 back catalog. Will I sleep again without heavy sedation?

So would you say you're...

https://magnetmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/U2.jpg

Mom got her first jab two days ago. She's survived five bouts with cancer, including stage iv ovarian, and like the tough lady she is, she told me today, "I slept for a day, read on the couch for a day, and today I feel fine— we need groceries, so I'm going to Costco."

i'm sorry for posting this here, because it's overtly political. i don't know where else to put it.

are there any U.S.-based groups for people who lost family members to COVID? any political-minded groups, I mean? I very much want to stand with other people who are sick of hearing the GOP mock our grief, mock masks, mock the whole goddamn thing. they would never do that to a group of cancer victims, heart, lung, pancreas, any kind of "normal" horrific death. but it's ok for them to do it on Covid, and they get rewarded for it - laughter, applause for Ted Cruz's stand-up routine about how wearing masks "is dumb".

are there any people here that would stand with me, some day? i want to get a large group of people together, masked and socially distanced, and demand that ted cruz speak publicly with us (or me. it'll probably just be me, still)

my dad is on ECMO, i hope he survives. but i'm getting ready for what's likely, and the perpetrators of the crime are still getting rewarded

Karl, much love to you.

Good luck ZS, your fury is righteous. Without presuming to know your situation or be preachy: please try to make sure you find time to take care of yourself and get some sleep, eat a little, get a bit of a walk in and find a few moments to disengage as best you can. This shit can demolish you just by being near it.

thank you forks, i appreciate it. not preachy at all, it's just good advice. luckily it's about time to take my dog out and it's a nice day, so i'm going to do that in a minute, eat a snickers bar, and play some dragon quest XI. i've already done my ted cruz chores today, including writing to my reps. i saw 2 typos after i had already sent them all individual, but i'm trying not to beat myself up on that. i will shut up about this for today, but it would me a lot if anyone can retweet or like this, just to keep it in the algorithm for a bit longer

My letter to my reps @DickDurbin, @SenDuckworth, @RepMikeQuigley, and the nearby @Marie4Congress, regarding @tedcruz's mocking of COVID victims and masks. Please read, retweet, and help me get their attention. pic.twitter.com/hxpxoV28lA

— Z_tbd (@weinventyou) February 28, 2021

"it would me a lot if anyone can retweet or like this" is kind of like the ultimate accidental typo truth bomb

heh, yeah, but rarely for such good purposes

ZS, so sorry

There's a meme on Twitter about whether you've been in a restaurant since late February/early March of 2020. I haven't, but that's gonna change this week.

I wouldn't otherwise be doing this but it's part of a job interview.

I may still beg off, I dunno. I don't want to hurt my chances.

Probably overthinking but it's weirding me out a bit.

I got my vaccination appointment. Getting the Pfizer jab on Thursday through the city.

On the other hand, I also got a jury duty notice today, my first ever (!), and wrote on the remarks section that I'm immunocompromised and don't want to risk getting Covid...hopefully the courts and the public health department aren't talking to each other about such things :-P

awesome tabes! glad to hear :) (the first part at least)

jury duty is fun and interesting (but I wouldn't want to be locked in a room with complete strangers rn)

good luck dan

mother-in-law second shot - serious fatigue on the day after, wiped for the entire following day but was up and out and about the day after (moderna)
mother - no symptoms, no reactions (pfizer)
partner - we're currently in her "day after" and it's been rough. she got woken up during the night with headache that has stuck around since then. she has since developed (for the pat 12 hours or so) a light fever, a huge lump and red rash at the injection spot, bad fatigue, body aches, chills and overheating switching back and forth, difficult focusing, the whole menu basically (moderna)

was fine on my first moderna shot, got fucked up for a couple of days by the second this week: nausea, stomach pain, mental exhaustion* without being able to sleep, one 3am bout of seizure-level tremors combined with freezing chills

* good to know this can be worse than regular pandmeic brain, 50 weeks in

I'm really stoked that I might be able to hug my mom again sometime soon.

Ooops, I'm crying.

Very happy for you table!

Good for you table.
sorry you're having it rough sic

my partner was laid out for about two and a half days, she's about 90% now.
i had a sore arm for sometime after but that was it. looking forward to an exciting array of terrible symptoms ahead.

Last week I heard the phrase "Moderna Arm" for the first time.

I kinda want the J&J vaccine now because it's one and done.

In about three weeks my mother, father, and the inlaws we see most often will all have had their second shots. Based on my mother-in-law's ancestry my spouse and i are both eligible for vaccinations via a tribal medical clinic (and she double checked to make sure we weren't depriving anyone more in need if we did this), possibly in two weeks or so.

Assuming all this works out, can we actually be in contact with our family members some time in the next two months? Is there any hard data on this yet? Do we have to wait until my aunt and uncle - who live next to my parents - get their two shots as well, since my parents are incapable of being in contact with them?

I've been living under such a sense of dread and fear for so long that I don't want to blow it now, but how much more vaccinating would we need?

Vaccinated people can hang out with other vaccinates with reasonable certainty. They shouldn't feel frightened.

i think you should be fine.

congrats btw!

Yay!

Yay!

I posted on the KIP thread that I became eligible for the vaccine yesterday, and I was briefly stoked, but today I've been trying to book an appointment and there is no availability anywhere and I am bummed. Kicking myself for not having gotten a new primary care doctor as soon as mine retired, because that seems to be the only way anyone is getting the shot here.

Following some electrical safety check (is this a new UK thing?) that determined that the fuse box and some other unspecified things need replacing / fixing I've had the contractors trying to arrange a day in the next week to do the work.

Now... I live in a small one room apartment ('studio') and I don't g to an office. There is barely room for one person and the power will be off so I can't be in the flat while that's going on.

Why is this relevant here? Nothing is open, not even (and especially not even) public toilets, and it's still not warm outside. What the fuck am I supposed to do for a day, hang around in the park shivering, pissing up trees and hoping the police don't catch me? They've also suggested two people could do the work in half a day which until I've had the vaccine I'm even less enthusiastic about.

This is fucking ridiculous timing isn't it? The electrics have worked fine for the last ten years. This is causing me a lot of anxiety and they really are going to have to come up with an alternative, mainly when the fucking lockdown is over and I can actually go somewhere.

Teacher friend drove four hours to a small town CVS that had a vaccine appointment this morning.

xp

If you are just getting a mains board change and some minor works done it shouldn't more take more than a few hours, unless you get a slow sparky!

i had my fuse box changed and a *lot* of other things (socket replaced, two unused switches changed for blanking plates, bathroom light replaced, kitchen light replaced, carbon monoxide alarm fitted) and that took him ~6 hours including the trip to the shop to buy everything he needed

(and yeah, i think the regs have changed for rental properties, hence needing all that. he did mine ~2 years ago though)

blimey, when I used to do house-bashing we could finish a full rewire of a 2 bedroom flat by 12.30.

but that was price-work, when people are on hourly rates they are often motivated to eke jobs out.

I'm so out of the loop now, it was 16th Edition of the Regs when I qualified and can barely remember anything. My main philosophy was: try not to cause any electrocutions or electrical fault based fires and you'll be reet!

We're going to start seeing ad campaigns for a post-vaccine world. Suit Supply just sent this out under the heading, "The New Normal is Coming."

Too soon? Not soon enough? Thoughts? (And let's keep it clean, folks.) pic.twitter.com/rHuA9iZ42x

— Andrew Ross Sorkin (@andrewrsorkin) March 4, 2021

Can't wait till someone licks my nose again

It seems like years since it's been here