Author Topic: Coronavirus preparedness  (Read 129254 times)

geekette

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1100 on: January 31, 2022, 03:45:13 PM »
I figure I've never gotten the flu, so why should I assume I'll get covid? 

trollwithamustache

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1101 on: January 31, 2022, 03:52:08 PM »
It certainly seems like we’re all going to get this sooner or later. Better to be vaccinated and boosted before that happens.

I've waffled on this idea so far.

My wife and I are vaccinated and boosted.  My son will have his second vaccination in another week.  We know that the shot dramatically loses effectiveness after 6 months, so should we be trying to get infected now as we're likely at peak protection from the virus rather than waiting and likely picking it up several months down the road when we're all less protected?

On the other hand . . . long covid is still relatively unknown, with or without the vaccine.  (There's also still a very small chance of dying by catching covid - vaccinated or not.)

Why worry about long covid specifically? It is either going to happen to you or it won't. How does COVID timing affect long covid?

GuitarStv

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1102 on: January 31, 2022, 04:12:37 PM »
It certainly seems like we’re all going to get this sooner or later. Better to be vaccinated and boosted before that happens.

I've waffled on this idea so far.

My wife and I are vaccinated and boosted.  My son will have his second vaccination in another week.  We know that the shot dramatically loses effectiveness after 6 months, so should we be trying to get infected now as we're likely at peak protection from the virus rather than waiting and likely picking it up several months down the road when we're all less protected?

On the other hand . . . long covid is still relatively unknown, with or without the vaccine.  (There's also still a very small chance of dying by catching covid - vaccinated or not.)

Why worry about long covid specifically? It is either going to happen to you or it won't. How does COVID timing affect long covid?

Theoretically, I could continue isolating indefinitely to avoid covid.  If I'm choosing to purposely infect myself with covid to prevent a later infection where my vaccine given immunity has waned, I'd want to be pretty darned sure that the risks associated with that action are very close to zero.

Taran Wanderer

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1103 on: January 31, 2022, 10:47:01 PM »
We’ve had lots of jokes with family and friends (in medicine) about purposely getting Omicron before an upcoming joint vacation. Everybody is kind of hoping that one of their self tests will be positive, but nobody is actually trying to get exposed. That said, we’re all recently boosted, so now is the time according to @GuitarStv ’s logic. (I happen to agree with that logic.)

We just found out that a family friend (FF) tested positive today. Let’s call it day 6. Presumably FF got it on day 1. On day 3, my mother (DM) was exposed to FF. On day 4, FF began having symptoms.  On day 5, we spent the evening with DM and several others including DB and DSIL who have been part of joking about getting Omicron. So, give it a couple of days and we’ll know if we get to test the logic.

SotI

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1104 on: January 31, 2022, 11:17:37 PM »
I figure I've never gotten the flu, so why should I assume I'll get covid?
I am wondering the same. Never had the flu.
Statistically, everyone will get Covid-19/Omicron.
Practically, I expect it to spread in clusters and waves.

Mind you, I know currently more people infected with Omicron in Jan (4 plus some of their families) than with any older variant over the last two years (2 without their families). So it is definitly hitting closer to home and more widely.

I don't plan to actively expose myself, though.


Linea_Norway

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1105 on: February 01, 2022, 02:00:58 AM »
For me it is more like a normal cold than a flu, like the cold I got every when I worked and communted by train.
A real flu that puts you in bed feels much worse. With COVID I am just coughing, sneezing and using up a pack of paper hankies per day. I haven't spent a day in bed.

DH just got it while acting in accordance to the distancing measures. He met a few people on 3 meters distance, outside. He went into a pharmacy with facemask. And he put petrol in the car, without washing his hands afterwards. The consensus is now that the current measures don't work to prevent getting it. You would need to take much stricter measures. And that is not acceptable anymore for such a mild decease (for the vaccinated).

@Taran Wanderer You might have gotten it during your family meeting. Your selftests will probably be negative for a while. But if you get symptoms you may presume that you have it. The test might show positive a few days later. Testing in nose and throat both might give a better test result.

It is best to get it while your booster is fresh. A few weeks after booster apparently is best.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2022, 02:03:50 AM by Linea_Norway »

Cranky

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1106 on: February 01, 2022, 05:29:49 AM »
There seems to be a very wide variance in how sick you get with omicron, even relatively young vaxed and boosted  people - I know a couple of people who have been sick enough to be in bed for a week and several people for whom it’s been a mild cold. I’m not, personally, ready to roll those dice.

GreenSheep

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1107 on: February 01, 2022, 05:38:19 AM »
hankies

Sorry, not trying to derail the thread, but I just find it so interesting that a Norwegian (I think?) in 2022 is using what I thought was an American slang term from the '50s. I've only ever heard my dad and grandparents use that word. Just curious how it came to be part of your vocabulary?

Linea_Norway

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1108 on: February 01, 2022, 05:57:26 AM »
hankies

Sorry, not trying to derail the thread, but I just find it so interesting that a Norwegian (I think?) in 2022 is using what I thought was an American slang term from the '50s. I've only ever heard my dad and grandparents use that word. Just curious how it came to be part of your vocabulary?

@GreenSheep At my first ever lesson in the English language, in primary school in the Netherlands (I used to be Dutch), we learned the following words first: a cat, a dog, a bird, a mouse and a rabbit. And then some sentences like: The rabbit sits on a hankie. That was in 1982, I think.

I don't really know how hankie was spelled, hankie, hanky, henkie or henky. I just clearly remember the voice in the lesson using that word. I later learned that everyone else uses handkerchief, so I got used to using that instead. But yesterday I had a blackout on how to spell handkerchief (I just had to look it up again, as it is not intuitive). Then I chose to use the word I learned in school, in the hope that it was easier to spell. No idea that was outdated American slang. I thought we learned British English.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2022, 06:00:18 AM by Linea_Norway »

Moonwaves

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1109 on: February 01, 2022, 06:21:18 AM »
hankies

Sorry, not trying to derail the thread, but I just find it so interesting that a Norwegian (I think?) in 2022 is using what I thought was an American slang term from the '50s. I've only ever heard my dad and grandparents use that word. Just curious how it came to be part of your vocabulary?

@GreenSheep At my first ever lesson in the English language, in primary school in the Netherlands (I used to be Dutch), we learned the following words first: a cat, a dog, a bird, a mouse and a rabbit. And then some sentences like: The rabbit sits on a hankie. That was in 1982, I think.

I don't really know how hankie was spelled, hankie, hanky, henkie or henky. I just clearly remember the voice in the lesson using that word. I later learned that everyone else uses handkerchief, so I got used to using that instead. But yesterday I had a blackout on how to spell handkerchief (I just had to look it up again, as it is not intuitive). Then I chose to use the word I learned in school, in the hope that it was easier to spell. No idea that was outdated American slang. I thought we learned British English.
Still in use in Ireland. Or at least by people my age and older - no idea what the young 'uns are doing these days. I'd say there is a slight tendency to use hanky* to mean a cloth handkerchief** and tissue to mean a paper/disposable one but perhaps that's just my family.


*Hanky is one, hankies is plural. Hanky-panky is something else entirely and now I want to know if there is a connection. :-)
**Kerchief is an old word for a type of scarf that would be worn around the neck or to cover the head - a handkerchief is just a smaller sized kerchief, as far as I know.

LightTripper

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1110 on: February 01, 2022, 06:24:38 AM »
I still use hankie (I also don't know how to spell it!) as a UK native.  I would normally use it for a fabric handkerchief - and use "tissue" for the paper variety (e.g. "box of tissues")

BikeFanatic

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1111 on: February 01, 2022, 06:33:38 AM »
Here in USA it is called a handkerchief the fabric tissue you carry around to blow you nose. I used to have a monogrammed one my sister gave me one Christmas,  Others call it a hankie. Rarely do I see one used in real life. At home I use my old underwear as a hankie when no one is looking. The younger generation while very into environmental concerns may not be aware of the use or just haven’t discovered the old fashion hankie yet.

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1112 on: February 01, 2022, 06:45:58 AM »
For anyone thinking that they can go out and get covid and be done with it all, about 10% of current covid infections in the UK are people getting infected for a second (or more) time.

It does mean they survived the first infection, if you are looking for the good news.

LightTripper

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1113 on: February 01, 2022, 07:21:52 AM »
Yes I was just feeling there was a silver lining to our family having just come through it (almost certainly Omicron BA.1) when a friend told me about a family they know who had Delta in November and then Omicron in January....  Given the closeness of their two sets of infections they won't even be showing up in the reinfection figures (which require the two infections to be at least 90 days apart).

That does not sound fun, and I am not a volunteer for BA.1 in January (which was definitely "mild" but on the other hand 2 weeks later I am still not feeling fantastic, so not costless) and BA.2 in February or March.

jrhampt

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1114 on: February 01, 2022, 07:23:30 AM »
Yes, my sister's household has had three rounds of COVID now, although they are all vaccinated and boosted now, other than the youngest two who don't qualify for the booster yet. My sister-in-law's household just finished up a second round of COVID (most are unvaccinated), and I know several others who have had it 2 or 3 times now.  Sometimes it doesn't kill you until the 2nd or 3rd go round, either, so even if you survive it once, you don't necessarily want to get it again because there are no guarantees.

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1115 on: February 01, 2022, 07:34:42 AM »
Here in Scotland we have still been wearing masks and until last week there were restrictions on numbers in public places. I still haven't had it, am vaccinated and boosted, as is everyone i know pretty much. Over the last 2 months nearly everyone I know got omnicron. Most said it was a bad cold, 1 was bedridden for a week but a close friend seems to have developed Long Covid and has been off work since New Years Eve. I definitely don't want to get it, especially as I am an overweight asthmatic 50 year old. I'm still working from home, wear an FP2 mask if I go anywhere, wash my hands etc. I live alone so exposure has been minimal, thankfully.

trollwithamustache

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1116 on: February 01, 2022, 10:06:28 AM »
It certainly seems like we’re all going to get this sooner or later. Better to be vaccinated and boosted before that happens.

I've waffled on this idea so far.

My wife and I are vaccinated and boosted.  My son will have his second vaccination in another week.  We know that the shot dramatically loses effectiveness after 6 months, so should we be trying to get infected now as we're likely at peak protection from the virus rather than waiting and likely picking it up several months down the road when we're all less protected?

On the other hand . . . long covid is still relatively unknown, with or without the vaccine.  (There's also still a very small chance of dying by catching covid - vaccinated or not.)

Why worry about long covid specifically? It is either going to happen to you or it won't. How does COVID timing affect long covid?

Theoretically, I could continue isolating indefinitely to avoid covid.  If I'm choosing to purposely infect myself with covid to prevent a later infection where my vaccine given immunity has waned, I'd want to be pretty darned sure that the risks associated with that action are very close to zero.

But can you point us to a study on long covid that recommends this? I think I agree that purposely infecting yourself now increases the likelyhood of a mild case, but not sure I agree on the long covid conclusion.  Long covid seems to remain a bit of a mystery.

HPstache

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1117 on: February 01, 2022, 10:26:12 AM »
With all the attention that has been given to Covid symptoms over the last 2 years, is it possible that there was such thing as "long colds" prior to 2020 but it was just not well documented or was brushed off by the medical community?  Not that it makes it any less annoying / severe to get long Covid, but are we really just worried about something that's always existed?

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1118 on: February 01, 2022, 10:37:35 AM »
With all the attention that has been given to Covid symptoms over the last 2 years, is it possible that there was such thing as "long colds" prior to 2020 but it was just not well documented or was brushed off by the medical community?  Not that it makes it any less annoying / severe to get long Covid, but are we really just worried about something that's always existed?
Post-viral effects, such as ME, have been recognised but on nowhere near the scale of long covid.  There's a support group for people with loss of the sense of smell that has gone from hundreds of members to tens of thousands of members.

GreenSheep

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1119 on: February 01, 2022, 12:35:12 PM »
Thanks, @Linea_Norway , for satisfying my curiosity! Like others said, when I have heard it used here in the US, "hankie" (yep, short for handkerchief) is for the cloth kind, and "tissue" is for the paper kind (although when I was a kid, we mostly just used the name brand Kleenex and everyone knew you meant a tissue of any brand). Most of my family, several generations back, came from Ireland, so now I'm wondering if it was carried over from there and then carried down the generations. I think some huge percentage of Americans have some Irish/English ancestry, though, so I suppose most Americans could say the same!

GuitarStv

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1120 on: February 01, 2022, 02:14:04 PM »
It certainly seems like we’re all going to get this sooner or later. Better to be vaccinated and boosted before that happens.

I've waffled on this idea so far.

My wife and I are vaccinated and boosted.  My son will have his second vaccination in another week.  We know that the shot dramatically loses effectiveness after 6 months, so should we be trying to get infected now as we're likely at peak protection from the virus rather than waiting and likely picking it up several months down the road when we're all less protected?

On the other hand . . . long covid is still relatively unknown, with or without the vaccine.  (There's also still a very small chance of dying by catching covid - vaccinated or not.)

Why worry about long covid specifically? It is either going to happen to you or it won't. How does COVID timing affect long covid?

Theoretically, I could continue isolating indefinitely to avoid covid.  If I'm choosing to purposely infect myself with covid to prevent a later infection where my vaccine given immunity has waned, I'd want to be pretty darned sure that the risks associated with that action are very close to zero.

But can you point us to a study on long covid that recommends this? I think I agree that purposely infecting yourself now increases the likelyhood of a mild case, but not sure I agree on the long covid conclusion.  Long covid seems to remain a bit of a mystery.

There's no study I've run across that recommends infecting yourself with covid on purpose.

But if we're accepting that it's inevitable that everyone will be infected, then you might as well try to choose the best possible time to be infected.  I figure that the best possible time would be soon after your vaccination/booster when your immune response to covid is highest.

Note that I'm not recommending that anyone else do this, and probably will continue trying to avoid getting covid for as long as possible.  If I was not willing to do the isolation though, that's definitely a path I'd be considering though.

Omy

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1121 on: February 01, 2022, 03:21:40 PM »
We feel that by continuing to be careful to avoid it, we will be more likely to have access to better vaccines and medications to prevent or cure a serious case in the future.

Both of my siblings are vaccinated and boosted - and endured fairly rough cases of covid in December. One sibling is still easily out of breath. The other is still dealing with vertigo 6 weeks later.

LightTripper

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1122 on: February 02, 2022, 05:07:16 AM »
I actually thought about this recently - I was coming out of the tail end of Covid, had done my mandated 10 days isolation but was still testing positive, and was supposed to see my parents that weekend.  They are vaxxed and boosted, and I did wonder if it might actually be better for them to be exposed to my "tail end" dose now while their boosters are still fairly effective than potentially in a couple of months when they may be less so.

All the same though, I know many triple vaxxed 40-somethings for which even Omicron has not been a very pleasant experience (no serious illness, but plenty of coldy symptoms and fatigue, headaches) - so in the end it just couldn't feel like a sensible plan and I didn't suggest it, and cancelled meeting up with them until next time.

So yeah ... I can see the logic but actually doing it is a bit of a leap of faith that I for one was not prepared to make!

BikeFanatic

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1123 on: February 02, 2022, 06:19:30 AM »
I had Covid over Christmas and was vaccinated and boosted 4 month prior. I isolated myself ten days, once I got notified that I was exposed, and I was symptomatic. It took 5 days to develop symptoms and 2 per tests to become positive. I had symptoms of a bad cold, and an unusual residual exhaustion that lasted 2 weeks or so.
I still don’t have my sense of smell and taste back 100 %. ( and I have a friend who lost her smell and it never came back from a year ago). My mother was also sick at this time, and died unexpectedly in her sleep. Although likely heart attack was the doctors primary diagnosis, there was suspicious of a possible clot from Covid, she was negative once by home test, but very sick, got better, stayed at home, then died. It is tough to live with the guilt that I may have given a family member Covid!
We postponed the funeral due to the fact that so many people had gotten Covid over the holidays and her siblings are very fragile.
Don’t want to be an alarmist but consider carefully if you really want to give some one Covid.   

LightTripper

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1124 on: February 02, 2022, 06:38:58 AM »
I'm so sorry @BikeFanatic that must have been really awful and I'm sorry if I inadvertently stirred up bad memories.  It sounds like you did everything right re: isolation etc. so I hope you know in your logical brain that you weren't responsible for your Mum's death in any way.  Realistically close to everybody is going to be exposed to Omicron between now and the summer (if they haven't been already), so for people for whom it will trigger a fatal health consequence it is a matter of when rather than whether I suspect.  I can imagine however that it's really hard to *feel* that is true even if you *know* it is true, and I'm sorry if I triggered those thoughts again.

BikeFanatic

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1125 on: February 02, 2022, 08:23:50 AM »
Thank you for the condolences I felt really guilty at first, but she could have caught it in NJ on Christmas, or even may not have had Covid. But initially I did second guess myself but as you say, she maybe would have gotten it at any point. And really after talking to her primary care MD the possibility of heart attack was the highest probability.
There is a lot of denial out there, the close personal friend who likely transmitted to me says she had Covid and didn’t give it to anyone, I don’t blame her or anyone really Covid it is out there, and if you go out you can get it and you can transmit even if Vaxed  and boosted.
« Last Edit: February 05, 2022, 06:29:16 AM by BikeFanatic »

Cranky

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1126 on: February 05, 2022, 06:09:31 AM »
And not quite 2 years after the first post in this thread, we’ve passed 900k deaths in the US, and I’ll be surprised if we don’t hit a million. So that math was right all along…

A friend’s dad died this week, 3 weeks after he got sick. I’m pretty sure he was unvaxed, which in some ways makes it extra sad.

Taran Wanderer

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1127 on: February 05, 2022, 10:38:33 AM »
We lost a family member this week. Early seventies, vaccinated and boosted but several underlying conditions. They were living their lives, traveling, not being ultra careful, but to be fair, they could have stayed home and died of the underlying conditions, too. So, I’m just sad for their family and disappointed that the vaccines weren’t enough. Strangely I feel no judgement, which is a relief. Just genuine sadness.

Cranky

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1128 on: February 05, 2022, 10:44:50 AM »
And looking back to February of 2020, my only regret is that I didn’t buy a hell of a lot more groceries.

former player

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Re: Coronavirus preparedness
« Reply #1129 on: February 05, 2022, 12:07:49 PM »
And looking back to February of 2020, my only regret is that I didn’t buy a hell of a lot more groceries.
I wish I'd started dog training classes in January 2020 instead of waiting until he had settled in a bit better.