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

lol hugs

feeling you back, tabes :)

Well, turned out my dad got it last week, for the first and hopefully only time, though he is already on the mend and said the impact was more like a very bad cold. I was rather curious, since he's been fully vaxxed up and boosted and been very careful this whole time. Turns out he and a couple of fellow track coaches and their students went to a meet in a shared van and they assumed that because the students were tested daily and the coaches were all vaxxed and etc. they were fine. That...was not the case. Half the van caught it. I refrained from giving my dad grief since I know he would have already done that to himself. But I expect not to hear a story like that again. (My mom apparently doesn't have it, which is good as she was NOT amused by any of this.)

As with any virus, it fascinates me how you can, like, share the same bed yet not catch it entirely.

I hope your dad's okay, Ned.

Based on the chat yesterday I'd say so. But given everything we know and don't know about it, I'm going to retain at least a slight worry given his age (81) for some long while to come.

Deservedly. It's another example of how, more than two years later, the urge to return to some kind of normality has mental health benefits worth risking potentially disastrous physical costs.

Good luck, please.

Echoing what others have said, I know more people who have it now than at basically any point.

I've got Boy Harsher and Stereolab tickets over the next few months and I really don't know if I'm going to feel like being around so many sweaty strangers in close confines... particularly since like 8 of us would be wearing masks.

Mm. It's a wrench to not see Six Organs of Admittance this Sunday, since I try to never ever miss any show by Ben, but given the circumstances, I'm probably avoiding it. After that, aside from one show I was iffy on in early June, I'm not planning on seeing anything until at least late August.

My wife is supposed to go to her niece's college graduation and her brother and SIL have covid, but everything is still on because some doctor said they were fine to participate (even though still symptomatic) five days after testing positive provided they are masked. I haven't heard this exact permutation of advice but hope she reconsiders.

Hope you are still doing better tables.

Really appreciate the *chef's kiss* timing of our spike around here peaking (I hope) right at the exact same time as allergy season kicking into overdrive.

PBKR, if you go to the CDC website, at least as of last week, thats the advisement— after five days you are good if you wear a mask everywhere. It’s wildly stupid, imo, but oh well.

I am doing fine, jvc, thanks for asking. I will say that I also have horrible allergies and woke up this morning with a face full of snot—luckily, this seems to be due to the fact that one can literally see the pollen floating through the air right now in Philly, as the rest of me feels better than it has in days, and I also slept like a rock last night.

Huh. Good luck everyone!

Well not even a week since my last post and I've lost track of new COVID infections in our circles. Learned of five more just today alone.

Pandemic party planning:

Our local numbers have still been low but starting to go up. We had a party at our house over the weekend, mostly outdoors, and had windows and doors open in the house for when people were inside. I think we timed it about as well as we could, we planned it right when our local numbers had hit all-time lows and managed to get it in before they climbed up again. We had probably about 50 people here over the course of the evening. So far have not heard of any cases resulting from it. I realize this is an inherently risky thing to do, but not having social occasions for the last two years has been killing us. (Well, not literally. Not like COVID is killing people. But you know what I mean.) And we heard from everybody how happy they were to get out and see other people. Some of the crowd were people who have already returned to being quite social, but for others this was their first real time out in two years.

We take risks as much based on our mental health as anything else, tipsy. I sympathize.

Two years is a lot of life. If you are a person that thrives on socializing, it can really take a toll to just not be able to do that freely (or at all) for so long. Even moreso for kids for whom that two years might be a quarter, a third, or half their life.

Oh, the end of my relations with various bartenders around town during the pseudo-lockdown killed me, I realize, as banal as it sounds. I'm single and a hermit for the most part during the week; bringing a book to a bar or bar-restaurant on a Saturday and wiling away a couple hours while chatting to the bartender refreshed me. I returned to it when positivity rates bottomed out in late February; I've retreated, slightly, in the last couple weeks, preferring outdoor joints. But man...

I had an interview yesterday for a once/week bartending gig at an outdoor seasonal spot near me, and the people interviewing me were like, "Oh yeah, totally recognize you— you always tipped well. Haven't seen you in a while, tho," and I had to explain that I'd basically stopped going to indoor bars during the pandemic. I hope I get it, would be nice to make a couple hundo under the table once a week.

(That is, Alfred, I feel you, tho once again, because 2019 was "my cancer year," I've hardly spent time in any bars since late 2018 (!!)

I've been feeling that too. the few occasions I've gone out or had get-togethers it's really been amazing, like there's this whole part of my personality that just went dormant for 18 months. had also forgotten what it felt like to be drunk :)

unfortunately everyone in my house has got it. annoyingly it wasn't all at once, I got it first, then my wife 3 days later, then my son a couple days after that, now my daughter. all told it's gonna be about 2 1/2 weeks out of school, coming right at the end of the year. the house is a mess, the furnace AND the dishwasher broke (and we can't exactly have anyone come in to fix them), I'm not getting much work done, and obviously no one can help us out. as for the virus itself I was pretty knocked out last week, now it just feels like I've got a cold that's been lasting forever. shortness of breath, still coughing, etc. etc. it sucks.

yeesh frogbs, sounds brutal, hoping everyone recovers soon.

i'm a person who definitely does not thrive on socializing, and even i found myself doing stuff over the last few months that i never would have allowed myself to do last summer when rates in my area were 1/20th what they are now, like going to a few bars and indoor music shows. i truly thought i could stay locked down forever, but it turns out 2 years was my breaking point. now, though, feels like a good time to count my blessings that i was able to do that stuff without falling ill and go back to being more cautious.

Ugh sorry frogsb

frogbs I mean!

Sorry to hear all that frogbs, that sounds like a lot to have to deal with all at once. Good luck!

i'm in a play right now and wished I could bail out for weeks, but there are no understudies, so it'd sink the show. Plus I REALLY need the paycheck that comes with the production to help reduce my mounting debt.

the COVID levels were extremely low when we started and the original outlook for BA.2 wave here was rosier, and things didn't really tick up to concerning here until 2-3 weeks ago. it's part of Fringe Festival so can't just 'postpone' it, plus this producer, a dear friend had to cancel a production earlier this year that caused her to take a big hit. Her company might sink if it happens again. she and the costumers/set builders would be out 5k in expenses if we went under.

I masked with a KN95 at every rehearsal. I got boosted (again) two weeks ago to try and reduce the risk. lots of the cast got Omicron BA.1 before rehearsals started, all are vaxxed and boosted (requirement to be in the show). and yet the fear someone eventually gets it still looms over us. not just because of the show, but none of us want that shit.

I'm not enjoying myself at all and just looking forward to it ending.

frogs, really sorry your fam is having such a bad go with it.

thanks all, looking forward to doing this 1-2x a year from here on out :)

I have tickets for Dry Cleaning tonight at the Ottobar bought in a fit of optimism but: I’m old and tired and it’s a Thursday, and I haven’t been in a rock club for years now and masks in Baltimore are not required. Even if I mask up I’m not feeling comfortable. I’ve avoided Covid this long it would suck to get it now.

I’ve been to classical concerts for months now but they all require mandatory masks and vaccination checks and the audience isn’t young and yelling and drinking.

hope this all clears for you and the family soon frogbs

i have the worst cold i've had in five years! just pints and pints of stuff. it's not covid apparently which seems unlikely.

I hope you all get to feeling better, frogsbs.

Yes, sorry frogbs, good luck with this. Caek as well.

feel better frogbs and caek!!

Yes, please.

How are you, table?

Fine! still become nasty tired once or twice a day, but otherwise I am doing great. Went through boxes of old poetry books with my bookseller friend for 2+ hours today ( we were outside and i wore a mask) and it was a real treat, plus i got some neat stuff out of it.

Fine! still become nasty tired once or twice a day, but otherwise I am doing great. Went through boxes of old poetry books with my bookseller friend for 2+ hours today ( we were outside and i wore a mask) and it was a real treat, plus i got some neat stuff out of it.

https://i.redd.it/ppkvi4q0potx.jpg

A good friend of mine was scheduled for bottom surgery _tomorrow_. She's been taking all the precautions - avoiding too much contact with other people, masking, etc., etc.

Her surgeon tested positive for COVID today.

Like, we have enough stress about this shit already, right? I was a wreck for weeks before bottom surgery, on the regular I would have flashes of panic like "What the hell am I doing, am I really doing this, why me", because literally my whole life I was taught that it was the worst thing I could possibly do, that I had to protect that thing at all costs no matter what. As soon as I was through it everything was fine, but right before? A wreck. If I didn't know that cancelling wouldn't solve anything, that I'd just have to go through the whole process all over again, I definitely would have cancelled.

Scheduling has been terrible throughout this whole thing. It's just a fucking mess scheduling "elective" surgeries like this, and there's no communication, no transparency on when or if it'll happen, until one day somebody calls and says "So we have an opening next week, can you do it then?" NO I CAN'T FUCKING DO IT NEXT WEEK, I can't just take a month off work with three days' notice. It goes like this, the constant uncertainty, and you call them and _everybody_ is calling them and they can't deal with all the calls so they tell you whatever will get you to stop calling them. But nothing will get us to stop calling them because we fucking need this and we need to at least know _when_. Because we're putting our entire fucking lives on hold waiting for them to have some availability for this.

I mean I guess the people who don't take precautions against COVID, who have made it impossible to keep this fucking thing under control, most of them want us all dead anyway, so I can't even be mad at _them_. I am mad that none of these people face _consequences_ for their bullshit, that they fuck around and we find out. I'm done. Completely done living life under those terms.

that's terrible regarding your friend :(. i'm so sorry. and for all of the distressful things you've experienced above.

I really don't know how I haven't gotten COVID yet. I was at a show last week where the performers and apparently a decent portion of the audience tested positive afterward, but I dodged it again.

(actually my theory is that the band had COVID, and my friend whose whole family got it all moved up to the front row in a small venue, while we stayed in the back. But who knows.)

I spent about 5 hours in a crowded club full of knuckleheads on Saturday night. If I somehow dodge it, I'm declaring myself indestructible.

The friends who got it the same time as us— who perhaps exposed us, but who knows?— were also at the Low and Divide and Dissolve show that we went to, and they dodged it then, too. That was when I thought I was totally going to get it.

The friends who got it the same time as us— who perhaps exposed us, but who knows?— were also at the Low and Divide and Dissolve show that we went to, and they dodged it then, too. That was when I thought I was totally going to get it.

apologies for double post

I don't want to link to give it any additional clicks, but I've been several usually considered folks in my feed retweeting some account called "COVID News Network (CNN)", which seems to be twisting the most alarming possible takes out of any "update" they share. Considering the account just popped up in January of 2022 and claims absolutely zero authority, I'm assuming its safe to file right next to EFD where it belongs. Just annoyed that it seems to be getting traction.

lol I've seen those clowns on Twitter. just report every one of their tweets as misinformation and move on.

for that doomer crowd, facts don't matter, the message is correct if it's:

a) bleak
b) gives them an opportunity to act superior to everyone else

i'm sorry, but "COVID News Network (CNN)" is like the very first question on a test measuring your bullshit meter, in a test that dynamically increases the challenge every time you get one right

You aren’t wrong! I was just surprised to see at least two level headed people retweeting them.