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

Re-entry is going to be weird for sure. I'm worried that a lot of people are going to be surprised by the level of PTSD they have and feel confused, disappointed, guilty, etc. when going back into the world doesn't bring the unqualified joy they've been hoping for.

― Lily Dale, Friday, March 5, 2021 8:01 PM bookmarkflaglink

Yeah I've been thinking about the PTSD aspect. Not sure what to expect

My best guess is that at the very least, a lot of us will know intellectually that things are better long before we are able to really feel normal. Doesn't mean we won't sometimes be delighted to walk into a friend's house or go to the store without fear, but overall, day-to-day, I think it's going to be rocky.

My expectation for myself (which may or may not be accurate, we'll find out) is a brief period of euphoria, followed by a crash as the novelty of going into the world wears off and I start to process all the trauma of the pandemic, followed by a gradual climb back toward normality.

I think it's going to be weird for a week and then very quickly most people who've been rigorously social distancing for a year will proceed with life-as-before as if nothing had happened.

Everyone here has been acting as if things were back to normal for the last two months. The bars are full. Almost no one wears masks. Not good.

In other news, me and my husband have gotten our first shot today.

My best guess is that at the very least, a lot of us will know intellectually that things are better long before we are able to really feel normal

given my reactions to everything lately, this sounds right to me

I just want to say the bee gees rule

In other news, me and my husband have gotten our first shot today.

― Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Friday, March 5, 2021 9:59 PM bookmarkflaglink

<3

Bee Gees certainly did some great stuff late 60s. Beatlesque in places.
Dunno what the young whippersnapper have against either really. Toetapping stuff.
But really both did some great psych era material. What's not to like.

Would think there were more pressing concerns really. Like how many masks to wear post shot.

I'm choosing to see it as a sign of progress that my COVID stress dreams have morphed from being about getting trapped in a small space with people refusing to wear masks to ones where I keep losing the daily "vaccine lottery" and am increasingly forbidden from doing things and screamed at because I don't have one.

Finally felt obliged to get my first-ever COVID test this weekend. Came back negative. Can't believe I made it a year without getting one, everyone else in my household has been tested at one point or another. (I attended an outdoor, distanced, backyard happy hour with a few friends, and the next day one of them found out his wife was COVID-positive, and then found out he was too.)

It was just the nasal swab tho, I didn't get the full brainscrape experience.

Can someone help me with what I think may be a brainfart? A friend suggested I look at the NY BMI requirements for vaccination because they're lower than you might think.

The NY gov website describes "Severe Obesity (BMI 40 kg/m2), Obesity (body mass index [ BMI ] of 30 kg/m2 or higher but < 40 kg/m2)" as characteristics where you can currently get the vaccine.

I'm 5'9" and 190lbs. This translates to roughly 1.75m and 86 kg. 86 / 1.75 = 49 kg/m2, putting me well into the "severely obese" category. That seems like it cannot possibly be right -- am I making some stupid math error?

I mean at those numbers a person my height would be considered "obese" if they weighed 115 lbs!

Try this:

https://www.bmi-calculator.net

Yeah I know that by standard calculations by BMI is around 28. But it looks like the NY website is calculating BMI differently.

fwiw, the BMI is notoriously bullshit... but in this case helpful in making more people eligible for the vaccine sooner.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439

everyone who wants the vaccine should be able to get it

one of my co-morbidities seemed to materialize overnight on the ny eligibility survey ("moderate-to-severe asthma") so i'm trying to get an appointment but it just makes me think the whole thing is stupid, open up this fucking pit

m2 = square meter. 1.75 meters= 3.06 square meters

Yeah, everything seems to be getting even more confusing the more they try to adjust eligibility requirements. It's nuts and just needs to be opened up, hard agree.

Chicago opened up a big site at the United Center, home of the Bulls and Blackhawks, yesterday, but apparently changed the requirements like an hour or two before the appointment website went live and caused a whole bunch of chaos.

xpost 86/3.06 = 28.1

well, it's official:

Federal health officials released guidance Monday that gives fully vaccinated Americans more freedom to socialize and pursue routine daily activities, providing a pandemic-weary nation a first glimpse of what a new normal may look like in coming months.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people who are two weeks past their final shot face little risk if they visit indoors with unvaccinated members of a single household at low risk of severe disease, without wearing masks or distancing. That would free many vaccinated grandparents who live near their unvaccinated children and grandchildren to gather for the first time in a year. Long-distance travel is still discouraged, however.

The CDC also said fully vaccinated people can gather indoors with those who are also fully vaccinated. And they do not need to quarantine, or be tested after exposure to the coronavirus, if they have no symptoms.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/03/08/vaccinated-people-cdc-guidance/

BMI is horseshit but if you can use it to get a shot, go for it!
i do think we're going to move to "sign up if you want it" before the end of April in most major cities at least; the 24/7 Javits Center opening in NYC is very heartening

IMO just inject boxes of Captain Crunch with vaccine

m2 = square meter. 1.75 meters= 3.06 square meters

― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Monday, March 8, 2021 12:21 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ok, I saw the m2 and thought "maybe it's square meters" but then I couldn't figure out how I would calculate my personal square meters (I'm not a square obv). Didn't occur to me that they literally just meant your height squared.

most elite athletes would qualify as obese because of their muscle mass iirc

man alive perhaps you are just swole

(I'm not a square obv).

O RLY

built like a brick shithouse

Mighty mighty, just lettin it all hang put

my bmi is 29.9 so i'm currently drinking a pint of water to push me over the limit.

I'm choosing to see it as a sign of progress that my COVID stress dreams have morphed from being about getting trapped in a small space with people refusing to wear masks to ones where I keep losing the daily "vaccine lottery" and am increasingly forbidden from doing things and screamed at because I don't have one.

lmao congratulations

Haha, it literally was some Hunger Games type shit where each state aired a drawing every morning where they pulled names out of a gigantic tumbler. I guess even COVID stress dreams have to realign themselves.

spotted in jersey city

http://i.imgur.com/Y5f1xHf.png

what's their method, man?

Covid Results Everywhere Around Me

get the jab, 'derna derna vax y'all

Hut 1
Hut 2
Hut 3
What
Ole Dirty Vaxxer
Live and uncut

Ironically, at the outset of the pandemic I weighed just enough to qualify for the vax today, but I lost about 10lbs due to no longer being in the gym lifting.

i.e. this:

most elite athletes would qualify as obese because of their muscle mass iirc

man alive perhaps you are just swole

― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, March 8, 2021 1:02 PM (forty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

so uh I got my first jab 40 mins ago

Congrats Alfred!

way to go!

CVS and Publix, using fed guidelines, have offered the vaccine to K-12 teachers and staff. Thinking "what the hell" and because I teach duel enrollment students every semester, I put in my info, my university name, and the portal allowed me in without a hitch. Didn't even get asked for ID to confirm my DOB ("We checked you out," the lady said, ominously). Out in 20 mins, counting the 15 mins you're required to linger.

The university I work for tried to lobby for their employees (faculty and staff) to get bumped up to an earlier group, but apparently got shut down.

Stupid. We're slowly getting the seniors jabbed, time to start mass vaccinations

jabba dabba doo! great news alfred!

Lovely! My hospital sent me a msg that I quality and should make an appt for the vax but I'm 2 hours away and not going back for weeks yet. Rats.

Congrats Alfred! That's how my cousin qualified as well.

I am really itching to get the vaccine, even though objectively I am low risk (able to wfh and not in a situation where I need to encounter high-transmission settings) and low need (no relatives nearby I need to see to) and we're talking a matter of weeks (I expect) until doses are available to everybody who wants them, willy-nilly, but I am developing a Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fear that after a year of not getting it, some of it under much higher-prevalence conditions than now, i"m going to catch it like a week before I would have been vaccinated.

I got my first dose yesterday, but there were so many people in one (very big) room getting vaccinated at once that I'm not going to feel really good/not anxious about it until a week or so goes by.

Though some part of me must be hugely relieved, because I've been down with a massive tension headache since yesterday afternoon.