Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

[Beer can]

Honest question: are any of you wearing a mask when you drive alone? If so, please explain why.

I just saw a 20 something alone in a Volvo masked up. Makes me curious.

I think you'll find a lot of people will still wear masks even after this is all over (if it ever is over, maybe it will never be IDK? and neither does the 'experts' know)
I wear a bandana like a old western bank robber. Actually had a woman at a gas station today say she never thought it would be normal working on the other side of the counter dealing with people all day with masks on. I said I never would have thought I could walk into a bank with a bandana covering my face Lol! I don't go to our bank very often but they have a picture of what is not allowed on their door, no hoodies, no backpacks, no hat's. Always was worried about that last one because I wear a ballcap hat they never gave me any probs for it. Just thought it weird to have to take my hat off to enter a bank, I take it off in a church, I take it off in a restaurant.
Now I can walk right into the bank with a bandana covering my face and they say nothing

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

I wouldn’t try to “cheat the system.”

My response was about a health care worker over age 65 in direct contact with COVID patients who clearly already qualifies to be vaccinated.

If that was in response to my suggestions, I apologize for how it came across. I was only suggesting those ideas because she clearly qualifies and should have been prioritized, and I was trying to think of ways she could overcome technological/bureaucratic hurdles.

I'm sorry if that sounded like suggestions to jump the line in general...that was not my intent at all. I used to work in a government bureaucratic position, and sometimes stuff like what I listed did work - WHEN you legitimately qualified, and the only issues were things like computer problems or one office being overloaded when another wasn't, etc.

Anyway, I hope no one was offended.

 

[Hayden Goseek]

I have often said in the last year, I hope I live long enough to read 'THE BOOK' about this disease. It will be at least 10 years from now. We have learned a lot but right now, we don't even know what we don't know yet.
John Barry wrote the landmark book, The Great Influenza (1918) in 2004. He's a professor here at Tulane. I hope he is taking notes.

 

[hispoptart]

I don't mean to jump in late but I just found the thread.
I worried that the lone, masked highway driver was misinformed and wondered what else they may be thinking.
As far as vaccinations, I'm a 66 yo Critical Care RN working on a Covid Unit and can't even get on the waiting list.

Are they not vaccinating in house where you work? At the hospital I work at, they vaccinated all employees that wanted it. I still can't get mine due to the side effects of having covid.

 

[KarynVA]

There is an article in the NYT today that talks about how we will never be fully free of covid; but we will be able to manage it the same way we have been managing the flu all this time. Here is an excerpt that I found very informative:

Israel, the country that has vaccinated the largest share of its population, offers a case study. One recent analysis looked at 602,000 Israelis who had received Covid vaccines and found that only 21 later contracted the virus and had to be hospitalized. Twenty-one is obviously not zero. Vaccines are almost never perfect. But the Covid vaccines are turning it into the sort of risk that people accept every day.​

Here’s a useful way to think about Israel’s numbers: Only 3.5 out of every 100,000 people vaccinated there were later hospitalized with Covid symptoms. During a typical flu season in the U.S., by comparison, roughly 150 out of every 100,000 people are hospitalized with flu symptoms.​

 

[BDutch]

I managed to get about 100 pages behind.
So glad that vaccinations started and in some countries they are already effective.
I do hope that with the upcoming spring (lot’s of sun , dryer and warmer temperatures) the virus it will be easier to stop spreading and letting us live a normal live again with just a few restrictions.

But for now we have a demissionaire government that is making strange choices because it seems that lot’s of people can’t wait to go to a nail salon or want to sport in teams

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Same here @BDutch. I try to catch up when I can but this thread moves so fast. I just dropped in to post an update. I finally got my second COVID shot after a weather delay. The first shot was a piece of cake, no side effects at all, at least anything noticeable. Not true for the second shot. Almost exactly 12 hours after getting the shot I woke up with a fever and some serious aches. I'm resting today and taking ibuprofen. However, I feel better knowing I had some side effects because I heard that's how you can tell the vaccine is starting to work. From what I have read and heard from the "experts" on TV is this will likely become an annual shot just like the flu shot. We will also likely need to continue to wear masks for quite a while. Which seriously I don't mind. I have not had an upper respiratory illness since this pandemic started, which is a very good thing. I tend to develop bronchitis very easily so I'm looking at this with a "glass half full" attitude.

 

[IamRainey]

I have often said in the last year, I hope I live long enough to read 'THE BOOK' about this disease. It will be at least 10 years from now. We have learned a lot but right now, we don't even know what we don't know yet.
John Barry wrote the landmark book, The Great Influenza (1918) in 2004. He's a professor here at Tulane. I hope he is taking notes.

PRECISELY! Which is why the people who make a case based on one outlier incident or rail at medical authorities and researchers for what they are honest enough to say they don't know are behaving like unreasonable brats instead of intelligent responsible adults, in my opinion.

 

[Hayden Goseek]

Same here @BDutch. I try to catch up when I can but this thread moves so fast. I just dropped in to post an update. I finally got my second COVID shot after a weather delay. The first shot was a piece of cake, no side effects at all, at least anything noticeable. Not true for the second shot. Almost exactly 12 hours after getting the shot I woke up with a fever and some serious aches. I'm resting today and taking ibuprofen. However, I feel better knowing I had some side effects because I heard that's how you can tell the vaccine is starting to work. From what I have read and heard from the "experts" on TV is this will likely become an annual shot just like the flu shot. We will also likely need to continue to wear masks for quite a while. Which seriously I don't mind. I have not had an upper respiratory illness since this pandemic started, which is a very good thing. I tend to develop bronchitis very easily so I'm looking at this with a "glass half full" attitude.

Good for you and the positive attitude. Sorry about the flu symptoms. I believe there right, that this is the body fighting the 'virus' even if it is just a facsimile.

 

[IamRainey]

Same here @BDutch. I try to catch up when I can but this thread moves so fast. I just dropped in to post an update. I finally got my second COVID shot after a weather delay. The first shot was a piece of cake, no side effects at all, at least anything noticeable. Not true for the second shot. Almost exactly 12 hours after getting the shot I woke up with a fever and some serious aches. I'm resting today and taking ibuprofen. However, I feel better knowing I had some side effects because I heard that's how you can tell the vaccine is starting to work. From what I have read and heard from the "experts" on TV is this will likely become an annual shot just like the flu shot. We will also likely need to continue to wear masks for quite a while. Which seriously I don't mind. I have not had an upper respiratory illness since this pandemic started, which is a very good thing. I tend to develop bronchitis very easily so I'm looking at this with a "glass half full" attitude.

Sorry for the miseries but glad to hear you're protected now!

My doctor here tells me they are w-a-y down on ordinary flu and bronchitis infections since people heave been masking up.

Stay well! And I'm sure your confidence will be way up too!