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

https://twitter.com/BristOliver/status/1419193587170959361

do tweet not auto-embed anymore?

I'm seeing "You’re unable to view this Tweet because this account owner limits who can view their Tweets."

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - I guess you have to be a follower to read.

that's fairly ridiculous when you're a Tweeter actually sharing helpful information on the pandemic. I guess he's getting attacked a lot but geez.

will see if I can share a screenshot.

Would anyone stop me if I went to Walgreens and asked for a third shot?

I've definitely been considering layering some AZ on top of my pfizzer.

walgreens won't do it if 1) you gave your insurance details for the first two shots, and again attempting to get a third 2) your name is recorded in a state database vaccinated people database (e.g. california).

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-07-01/reports-of-some-getting-pfizer-moderna-boosters-after-j-j-vaccine-prompts-calls-for-more-guidance

but my freedom

we have a billboard here that says "The Covid-19 Vaccine: It's Up To You". it means to say "it's up to us to end the pandemic" but instead comes off like "get the shot or not, whatever"

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/26/1020866546/infectious-disease-specialist-discusses-whether-the-u-s-is-over-testing-for-covi

Early in the pandemic, there were not enough coronavirus tests to keep track of the disease. Now the U.S. might be facing something like the opposite problem. Dr. Monica Gandhi argues that too many vaccinated people are getting tested and finding out they have a breakthrough infection even if they don't have any symptoms. Dr. Gandhi studies infectious diseases at the University of California San Francisco and joins us to explain.

Dr. goes on to say, yeah, people are testing positive despite viral loads too small to really spread. But then she is asked about the Delta variant and says:

I think the delta variant is a different beast. I think that it is something that has a higher viral load, which is why we are seeing now more symptomatic breakthroughs in people who are vaccinated - not that they're severe breakthroughs. It's still true that 99.6% of people in the hospital right now with SARS-CoV-2 in our country are unvaccinated. But there are more symptomatic breakthroughs. You're all hearing this - more of a mild cold, or even can feel like you have a flu. We need to know if those people can transmit. It's likely that they can, though, because there is higher viral loads with the delta variant - so another reason why viral load is incredibly important now when we discuss breakthroughs at this point with the delta variant.

So what the fuck was the point of the initial piece?

i know four friends with breakthroughs now.

really sad to see the vaccines don't work.

getting unvaccinated as we speak

I would get unvaccinated but I'm really loving this 5G

we have a billboard here that says "The Covid-19 Vaccine: It's Up To You". it means to say "it's up to us to end the pandemic" but instead comes off like "get the shot or not, whatever"

― frogbs, Monday, July 26, 2021 11:22 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Looked into this and found an article about the campaign:

That night Pereira sent a slide deck of the concept to campaign coordinators at the Ad Council. They quickly signed off on the idea, though some were initially incredulous that such a deferential tagline could be the pillar of an energetic public education campaign. “ ‘It’s Up to You’?” Bridgeland of the Covid Collaborative remembers thinking. It was so different from, say, the rousing spirit of the campaign to build volunteerism after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “What about, ‘It’s Up to Us’? ... We need a greater sense of we.” But he was persuaded by the research showing that wasn’t how to talk to an atomized, mistrustful America.

Pereira’s team began drafting scripts and scenarios for how “It’s Up to You” could be customized for different audiences. Apaliski designed a logo in the shape of an adhesive bandage with “It’s Up to You” in the center. Much of the creative material and underlying research would be open-source on the Ad Council site, meant to be borrowed and co-branded by allies in the education effort. “The only way to tackle a problem this big is to create something almost like the DNA of a campaign that we can give to the entire marketing and publishing and tech ecosystem and say, ‘Go do it,’ ” Pereira says. “If we go the traditional route” of a top-down, one-agency campaign, “we are not going to be able to go as deep and as fast as we want.”

As a final check that the slogan would resonate with hesitaters — and that they wouldn’t interpret “It’s Up to You” as “It’s Optional” — Nunez tested it in a survey squeezed between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The message clicked. “Everyone was thrilled,” Nunez says, “because we didn’t have much more time to come up with something else.”

sad lol

I wish I could get unvaccinated so that I can get revaccinated and win an empanada or a gift card or lottery ticket. I feel ripped off that when I got vaccinated all I got was likely protection against a deadly disease for me and my loved ones.

I know people who said there was coffee and donuts at their vaxx place and I'm like, why did I even bother?

at Cabaret Lido they give you a free facesitting with your shot

When my daughter got her first shot she could I guess get a free Krispy Kreme donut, but then I heard that anyone could get a free donut, vaxxed or not, and I was, like, why bother?

Just in the last week I've seen a noticeable increase in mass wearing here.

Three weeks after restrictions lifted here, cases in Seattle have increased 130%, and twenty separate restaurants were identified yesterday as breakthrough infection sites (ie vaccinated ppl catching it). Local health depts covering 58% of Washington State's population formally recommended people individually going back to indoor masking, in lieu of being able to mandate.

CDC expected to recommend masks for everyone in K-12, regardless of vaccination status, and reverse indoor mask policy for COVID hot spots. I know I'm a minority here on this opinion but, jesus, it's almost as if those numbnuts shouldn't have jumped the gun on telling everyone to rip them off in the first place.

in fairness, they did establish at the time that masks could come back if conditions changed. people heard it as a permanent edict though.

xpost Nah, I'm right there with you. I thought it was grossly irresponsible at the time and well (gestures wildly at increasing number of people falling ill)

Of course people thought it meant 'masks off forever!'. Of course unvaccinated people figured that it applied to them, as well. People are primed to hear what they want to hear after a year and a half of this shit. Which is why people in a position of authority need to err on the side of caution when issuing guidance.

^^^^ OL otm. I don't think it's fair to blame the average vaccinated Joe for going unmasked when that was largely the message being sent and reinforced. I'm sorry that it's hard for them, but they need to think how the messaging is going to land.

thing is, though, unless everybody upgrades to K95 or N95 masks, it's not going to put a significant dent in Delta due to the 1000x increased viral load and the rate of transmission right now. which isn't to say cloth or surgical masks aren't effective, but cloth are about 50% effective, surgical about 60%, and K95/N95 masks about 95%. i'm going back to the latter.

i'm not saying don't do it, because it will offer personal protection and to the people around you, just saying things may not have turned out much differently with Delta if the mask guidance had stayed in place the whole time.

I guess?

But to me, the concern is not so much which type of masks (though they do undoubtedly make a difference), rather that the "masks off" recommendation gave cover for the vaccination averse to waltz around with no mask at all.

I will say that when I wear a mask (which I just did earlier today, getting my haircut, as did the haircutters) it's a KN95, otherwise I sort of feel like "why am I bothering?"

That makes sense, and I get it.

I'm just not sure why folks are so ready to frame the CDC recommendations through the lens of obedient mask wearers. That's not the concern! It's the 40% of this country that are actively and vocally anti-mask and/or anti-vaccination being given free cover to waltz around completely maskless.

Yeah, for much of the past year it felt like, "think of others, wear a mask." Now it's more like, "thanks to others, wear a mask."

Having just been to the supermarket and chemists I can report that mask wearing is definitely in decline. I'd say the majority of men under 50 aren't wearing masks anymore (because they're so hard and their balls are so big) - also, I've never really understood why people with children have pretty much never worn masks. The staff in Morrisons seem to have given up on masks too.

So weird, like I said, anecdotally the total opposite here. Then again, I've always figured those already vaxxed are also likely the ones to remask, and we live in a heavily vaxxed area.

I can report I am in the 1% of people at my gym wearing a mask (i.e. I see someone else once a week wearing a mask).

this is why I've stopped going to yoga class for the time being

I get it. I can't bring myself to do that, especially since I'm going into work 3 days/wk now.

Starting Monday I'm back in the office full time, every day. As far as I know everyone in our open office area is vaccinated, but not one of them is wearing a mask. Even if I wear a mask every day, I'm worried about how helpful it will be if no one I spend time with day after day will be wearing one.

I'm apparently back in the office next week. I'll be wearing a mask even if everyone else abstains. Particularly since there's no vaccine mandate at my place of work. Who knows how effective it'll be. If cases skyrocket again, I might tell 'em where they can stick their job because I don't trust them to handle it responsibly.

Although I'm more concerned about being on the train two hours a fucking day.

As much as I hate contributing to more climate change, as long as my son is still unvaccinated the train is a big no from me and I'm back to driving.

yesterday my employer announced plans to reopen in september were postponed until further notice

a non-circumstantial biologically motivated argument (i.e. better than my numerology looking at waves) that this is going to be a short, sharp burst:

Excellent pictorial explanation of what a "shorter serial interval" (almost certainly true for Delta in my view) means for delta from @wanderer_jasnah. https://t.co/f7GkzdKs4w

— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) July 27, 2021

Makes sense, and sucks that you have to make a choice around it.

also, I've never really understood why people with children have pretty much never worn masks

Have consistently, from March 2020 til now, seen families with masked kids and unmasked parents.

do to jvc

A masked kid is a rarity where I am.

and that’s the anecdotal conga

Returned from epic trip to island off the Maine coast. Masks in decline but still quite in use, particularly in Western Mass, where we stopped on the way up and way back so I could do some serious book shopping.

On the island, of course, no one wore masks... except in the general store, where nearly everyone was masked up while doing their shopping.

do to jvc

thanks autocorrect

ha, wasn't sure if you were blaming me for something ("due to jvc") or confirming the same thing ("do too jvc")

Masks coming back in Vegas. Masks back in Savannah. Masks back in Provincetown. Disney mask situation ... evolving. Name a vacation destination and I can probably tell you which direction this is going in.

Incidentally, here's part of the Savannah mayor's fed-up statement:

"I know the question will come - are we effectively punishing those who did the right thing and took the vaccine? And the answer is yes, we probably are," Mayor Johnson said. "The minority is being punished because of the inaction of the majority. We have the ability to determine our own fate, our own destiny, by doing what we can to improve our vaccination rates. As for me, the short and long-term health effects associated with COVID-19 are too high, so I chose vaccination. And I hope you will, too."