Author Topic: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"  (Read 212985 times)

wenchsenior

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #600 on: January 13, 2022, 12:38:09 PM »
I always wonder if people who say “Oh, it’s just the flu!” ever really had the flu. I vividly remember the winter when I and my 3 kids had influenza A. We were in bed for a week, and it wasn’t the fun kind of sick where you watch tv, it was the kind where you take some me Tylenol and drink some juice and go back to sleep. One of the kids was exhausted for weeks.

Frankly, right now I’m missing the “normal” we had in September.

Yeah, I think a lot of people think a bad cold with a fever is the flu.

If you have really had the flu, you would know it 100% without a doubt.

Totally.  A couple days of head congestion and cough is almost certainly not the flu.  Flu is awful, like you've been mangled in a car wreck plus lung involvement.

OtherJen

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #601 on: January 13, 2022, 12:58:39 PM »
I always wonder if people who say “Oh, it’s just the flu!” ever really had the flu. I vividly remember the winter when I and my 3 kids had influenza A. We were in bed for a week, and it wasn’t the fun kind of sick where you watch tv, it was the kind where you take some me Tylenol and drink some juice and go back to sleep. One of the kids was exhausted for weeks.

Frankly, right now I’m missing the “normal” we had in September.

Yeah, I ended up with a lifelong autoimmune disorder after my last bout of flu. The one before that put me in bed for several days. "Just" the flu.

Captain FIRE

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #602 on: January 13, 2022, 01:37:21 PM »
and that preventing an outbreak is worth the downsides of so much time away from the school.

After they removed the mask mandate for 3 weeks, we had a daycare outbreak that impacted 25+ people that I know of and shut the whole school down, so yeah, I have Opinions.

That said there is no quarantine for domestic travel at my school.  (But we're not traveling anyways so that doesn't really affect us.)  But doesn't it make sense to stay away if you've been exposed to anyone with a highly infectious disease or are sick?  I'm not seeing why that part is an issue.

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #603 on: January 13, 2022, 02:06:58 PM »
and that preventing an outbreak is worth the downsides of so much time away from the school.

After they removed the mask mandate for 3 weeks, we had a daycare outbreak that impacted 25+ people that I know of and shut the whole school down, so yeah, I have Opinions.

That said there is no quarantine for domestic travel at my school.  (But we're not traveling anyways so that doesn't really affect us.)  But doesn't it make sense to stay away if you've been exposed to anyone with a highly infectious disease or are sick?  I'm not seeing why that part is an issue.

The issue is that in the Before Times we just accepted that kids would get runny noses for like half the winter and it was part of life, not something to be worth keeping the kid out of daycare (and a parent out of work) for a week every time it happened.

nereo

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #604 on: January 13, 2022, 05:10:03 PM »
I always wonder if people who say “Oh, it’s just the flu!” ever really had the flu. I vividly remember the winter when I and my 3 kids had influenza A. We were in bed for a week, and it wasn’t the fun kind of sick where you watch tv, it was the kind where you take some me Tylenol and drink some juice and go back to sleep. One of the kids was exhausted for weeks.

Frankly, right now I’m missing the “normal” we had in September.

Yeah, I think a lot of people think a bad cold with a fever is the flu.

If you have really had the flu, you would know it 100% without a doubt.

There is also a great disconnect with what is considered “mild to moderate illness.” 

When the medical community describes an illness, they are talking about your body’s systems and their capacity to keep you alive. An illness can give you a head-splitting headache, leave you out of breath after climbing a single thought of stairs, be accompanied by a persistent cough and runny nose and basically leave a person confined to their bedroom sleeping 16 hours a day for several days and that level off illness would be considered “mild-to moderate” simply because there was nothing about it which was life threatening or permanent.

On the other hand, most people would consider that to be “debilitating” and “sick as a dog” because they were unable to move about and live as normal, and their symptoms were quite painful and unpleasant.

Missy B

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #605 on: January 16, 2022, 10:47:02 PM »
Hi folks with very young kids-
just skimming this thread and noted the concern about the 5 and unders that can't be vaccinated with a covid vaccine yet and wanted to offer this: There is strong evidence showing that the MMR vaccine provides a significant degree of cross-immunity to covid. If you've followed the vaccine schedule your child has a level of protection even without the covid vaccine.

https://snohc.com/can-the-mmr-vaccine-protect-you-against-covid-19/

Abe

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #606 on: January 18, 2022, 03:38:43 AM »
Hi folks with very young kids-
just skimming this thread and noted the concern about the 5 and unders that can't be vaccinated with a covid vaccine yet and wanted to offer this: There is strong evidence showing that the MMR vaccine provides a significant degree of cross-immunity to covid. If you've followed the vaccine schedule your child has a level of protection even without the covid vaccine.

https://snohc.com/can-the-mmr-vaccine-protect-you-against-covid-19/

To clarify - there is some evidence in a single small cohort that mumps titers (measure of antibody reactivity) in people immunized against mumps using a specific MMR vaccine was inversely correlated with severity of Covid-19. This was not observed in people who were not vaccinated against MMR due to prior infection with one of the three diseases.

It’s a well-done study but must be replicated to say it’s strong evidence. Regardless, we know that children under 5 have less severe symptoms and this is a plausible explanation.

StashingAway

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #607 on: January 18, 2022, 09:01:53 AM »
I always wonder if people who say “Oh, it’s just the flu!” ever really had the flu. I vividly remember the winter when I and my 3 kids had influenza A. We were in bed for a week, and it wasn’t the fun kind of sick where you watch tv, it was the kind where you take some me Tylenol and drink some juice and go back to sleep. One of the kids was exhausted for weeks.

Frankly, right now I’m missing the “normal” we had in September.

Yeah, I think a lot of people think a bad cold with a fever is the flu.

If you have really had the flu, you would know it 100% without a doubt.

There is also a great disconnect with what is considered “mild to moderate illness.” 

When the medical community describes an illness, they are talking about your body’s systems and their capacity to keep you alive. An illness can give you a head-splitting headache, leave you out of breath after climbing a single thought of stairs, be accompanied by a persistent cough and runny nose and basically leave a person confined to their bedroom sleeping 16 hours a day for several days and that level off illness would be considered “mild-to moderate” simply because there was nothing about it which was life threatening or permanent.

On the other hand, most people would consider that to be “debilitating” and “sick as a dog” because they were unable to move about and live as normal, and their symptoms were quite painful and unpleasant.

Some people might and some might not mean that when they say "it's just the flu". I don't doubt that there are those as you described. But:

Many people are at least casually aware of the dangers of the flu. It's not something to toy around with. It has a u-shaped distribution curve, where the young and old are especially vulnerable. What people are upset about is that

1) We don't shut down almost the entirety of society for a bad flu season. People are frustrated with the seeming inconsistency with risk assessment. We want to see the calculations being made when determining why children should or should not be in school.
2) Covid has an L shaped distribution in that it is more severe the older you are. It is relatively mild for children (especially compared to the flu) and we are interrupting years of their development for something that we can't see the end of. In many ways, we are kicking the can down the road and making some fairly significant interventions to future generations. (On the same token, I have the same things to say to parents who don't vaccinate, risking orphaning their children for the sake of political signaling).

Now, with that said, I am definitely all for trying get Covid to background levels. We need to immunize as many people as we can, including other countries where it is running rampant and therefore has more ability to mutate. It makes ethical and economic sense to do this. We just have to be realistic about it: it will never go away. It can live in animal hosts, so it will be in and out even if we miraculously eradicate it from humans. The extreme level of covid intervention would never be tolerated if we were to apply the same calculus to sugar/diabetes or opioids.

GuitarStv

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #608 on: January 18, 2022, 09:47:46 AM »
At this point in the fight against covid (with the advent of the Omicron variant), immunization doesn't really control the spread of the disease.  It therefore seems unlikely that immunizing lots of people in lots of countries will significantly hinder the virus from mutating.

The purpose of immunization is to reduce deaths and stress on the hospitals.

StashingAway

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #609 on: January 19, 2022, 09:09:51 AM »
At this point in the fight against covid (with the advent of the Omicron variant), immunization doesn't really control the spread of the disease.  It therefore seems unlikely that immunizing lots of people in lots of countries will significantly hinder the virus from mutating.

The purpose of immunization is to reduce deaths and stress on the hospitals.

It reduces viral load, therefore reducing mutation opportunity as the virus divides significantly less.

GuitarStv

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #610 on: January 19, 2022, 09:43:14 AM »
At this point in the fight against covid (with the advent of the Omicron variant), immunization doesn't really control the spread of the disease.  It therefore seems unlikely that immunizing lots of people in lots of countries will significantly hinder the virus from mutating.

The purpose of immunization is to reduce deaths and stress on the hospitals.

It reduces viral load, therefore reducing mutation opportunity as the virus divides significantly less.

Certainly, there's some benefit on that front.  But I said 'significantly'.

As long as vaccinated and unvaccinated people are getting infected alike, the virus is going to continue to replicate in significant numbers.  We know that every time it replicates, it has potential to mutate.  That the vaccine slightly reduces this viral load (and also slightly reduces the chance of becoming infected) is good, but not really going to be significant if our goal is preventing mutations.  At the moment, disease spread is far outpacing the benefits that vaccination is giving us regarding prevention of replication.

Immunizing people is a good path to getting covid down to background levels - not because it will prevent infection/mutation, but because it will reduce the number of people who get very sick and die.

GodlessCommie

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #611 on: January 19, 2022, 09:58:08 AM »
Significantly/insignificantly still seems to be a binary choice, which I suspect the impact of vaccination on the rate of mutation is not.

I don't think we can arrive at any useful conclusions (which, as casual observers, we already have slim chances of) without some quantifiable data of a viral load produced by vaccinated vs unvaccinated population.

Another totally uneducated suspicion is that a virus will not mutate the same when it can penetrate all the way to the lungs and stay there for weeks vs when vax-boosted immune system kills it off well before that.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2022, 10:17:06 AM by GodlessCommie »

GuitarStv

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #612 on: January 19, 2022, 10:19:08 AM »
Another totally uneducated suspicion is that a virus will not mutate the same when it can penetrate all the way to the lungs and stay there for weeks vs when vax-boosted immune system kills it off well before that.

Mutation is a replication error.  If the virus replicates enough times it will mutate.  The mode of infection doesn't really matter.  The ability of the mutation to infect someone else definately matters though.  Vaccines are also a benefit in that they reduce the length of time a person is infected reducing chance of transmission of the mutation.  (Remdesivir, monoclonal antibodies, and likely the new antivirals being produced should also help on this front.)

Cranky

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #613 on: January 19, 2022, 10:58:09 AM »
However, one of the new antivirals works by causing replication errors and there is some concern among clinicians that overuse may lead to new variants…

(I am not the person to explain this, but I did listen to an explanation from someone who is.)

GodlessCommie

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #614 on: January 19, 2022, 11:16:49 AM »
Another totally uneducated suspicion is that a virus will not mutate the same when it can penetrate all the way to the lungs and stay there for weeks vs when vax-boosted immune system kills it off well before that.

Mutation is a replication error.  If the virus replicates enough times it will mutate.  The mode of infection doesn't really matter.  The ability of the mutation to infect someone else definately matters though.  Vaccines are also a benefit in that they reduce the length of time a person is infected reducing chance of transmission of the mutation.  (Remdesivir, monoclonal antibodies, and likely the new antivirals being produced should also help on this front.)

I'm not talking about mode of infection, though. I'm talking about length of time virus stays (and replicates) in one body. That higher length of time should lead to a higher number of replications, thus increasing a chance of a successful mutation.

Which is where a vaccine should be helpful. Shorter time to replicate in one host * shorter period a host is infectious = lower overall chance of a successful mutation, no?
« Last Edit: January 19, 2022, 11:19:34 AM by GodlessCommie »

GuitarStv

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #615 on: January 19, 2022, 11:55:24 AM »
Another totally uneducated suspicion is that a virus will not mutate the same when it can penetrate all the way to the lungs and stay there for weeks vs when vax-boosted immune system kills it off well before that.

Mutation is a replication error.  If the virus replicates enough times it will mutate.  The mode of infection doesn't really matter.  The ability of the mutation to infect someone else definately matters though.  Vaccines are also a benefit in that they reduce the length of time a person is infected reducing chance of transmission of the mutation.  (Remdesivir, monoclonal antibodies, and likely the new antivirals being produced should also help on this front.)

I'm not talking about mode of infection, though. I'm talking about length of time virus stays (and replicates) in one body. That higher length of time should lead to a higher number of replications, thus increasing a chance of a successful mutation.

Which is where a vaccine should be helpful. Shorter time to replicate in one host * shorter period a host is infectious = lower overall chance of a successful mutation, no?

Yep, that should also be of benefit.

Villanelle

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #616 on: January 19, 2022, 02:09:38 PM »
My answer to "where I stand on living with Covid" has shifted slightly, as it seems that I am probably on the list of those with Long Covid. (According to the doctor, there isn't really a formal definition of Long Covid, other than just basically "some lingering symptoms lasting weeks or longer after the illness has passed and the infection cleared.")

That sounds dramatic, but really it is more weird and irritating than anything. Now, I didn't actually get a Covid test when I was sick. They were starting to be hard to find and I didn't think knowing for sure was actionable, since I could easily stay home and isolate.  So I won't be on any actual accounting, if there was such a thing.  But I was pretty sure it was Covid, and my doctor thinks it was as well (after the fact) based on the timing, symptoms, and the Weird Thing, which is inflammation-related and Covid is known for being inflame-y. 

It seems I have dermatographia, aka 'skin writing'.  It's an inflammation reaction, most commonly caused as the result of an infection. Can last weeks or months.  Basically, my skin gets really itchy (like the worst mosquito bites ever; it is sort of a hot itch, different than just a usually itch one experiences).  If I scratch it--not hard, just like one would for a normal itch--or even just bump it, there is a shooting fire under my skin.  Like someone has injected burning oil and it is spreading.  But the really freaky part is that a few minutes later, angry, hot, red welts appear in the exact pattern of the contact.  I can run a fingernail fairly gently over my arm in the shape of letters and 5 minutes later, I'll have an angry-looking red word appear on my arm in raised letters.  It will also hurt.

I was sick for about a week, and this started at the end of that week.

Thankfully, it has been well-managed with Zyrtec, though my sense is that the Zyrtec is lasting less and less time, and where I used to be able to take every other day, now at the end of the day, just before the next dose, I'm feeling itchy again and occasionally get the welts (which Doc says are a form of hives). That's a bit concerning because without the Zyrtec, it is entirely miserable. Like, I don't quite know how I'd function.  But we aren't to that point and I'm hoping we never get there, and that if we do, there is something else or a higher dose of Zyrtec's active ingredient, or something else. I'm also taking Quercetin, a supplement known to help with inflammation, suggested by my doc as a "can't hurt" thing. 

Really, I'm fine.  As long as the Zyrtec continues to work, it's just a minor annoyance, really.  But maybe it is also a reminder that there are so many things with this disease that we just don't know or understand.  And that "very few healthy people are dying" isn't the only factor we need to consider.

(FTR, I am fully vaxxed and boosted. I got sick before the booster's full efficacy was in effect, if that matters.)

Abe

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #617 on: January 19, 2022, 07:36:42 PM »
That sucks, hope it resolves with time. try Benadryl at night if Zyrtec isn’t enough. Another thing to try is Pepcid or another H2 blocker. Either way, see a dermatologist at some point, too. I’m sure you’ve been told all this, but just in case you haven’t.

Abe

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #618 on: January 19, 2022, 07:38:51 PM »
However, one of the new antivirals works by causing replication errors and there is some concern among clinicians that overuse may lead to new variants…

(I am not the person to explain this, but I did listen to an explanation from someone who is.)

That is correct. It is also not very effective so unlikely to be used. The others are more effective and work in a different mechanism that theoretically is less prone to inducing mutations.

frugalnacho

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #619 on: January 20, 2022, 11:23:13 AM »
In 2016 and, then, again in 2018, I got the flu really bad. Since then, I've started getting the yearly flu shot. Somehow, though, I managed to make it through the first 50 years of my life, without ever getting a single flu shot.

I noticed that not even a single dead person from the estimated ~20M flu deaths over the past 50 years has rebutted your claim yet.  Check-mate you pro-vaccine idiots.

HPstache

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #620 on: January 20, 2022, 11:31:22 AM »
It was bound to happen sooner or later, our family has covid in all sorts of different stages right now.  I tested positive with a rapid this morning have developing a sore throat and headache last night.  I think it came from one of our kids at school. From the symptoms I am nearly certain its Omi

OtherJen

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #621 on: January 20, 2022, 11:37:50 AM »
It was bound to happen sooner or later, our family has covid in all sorts of different stages right now.  I tested positive with a rapid this morning have developing a sore throat and headache last night.  I think it came from one of our kids at school. From the symptoms I am nearly certain its Omi

I'm pretty sure that we have it, too. I haven't had symptoms beyond several days of heavy fatigue and an increase in sneezing. Husband's symptoms are worse; he stayed home from work today and has spent most of the day in bed.

Since we rarely go out around people, I blame the guy who walked from the parking lot into the grocery store behind me last Friday. He sounded like he was trying to cough up a lung. He wasn't at the store by himself and hadn't driven, so I'm pretty annoyed at him for not keeping his sick ass at home.

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #622 on: January 20, 2022, 11:55:29 AM »
That sucks, hope it resolves with time. try Benadryl at night if Zyrtec isn’t enough. Another thing to try is Pepcid or another H2 blocker. Either way, see a dermatologist at some point, too. I’m sure you’ve been told all this, but just in case you haven’t.

The doctor didn't mention Pepcid, so I will keep that in mind. Thanks! To be fair to her, at the time the Zyrtec was working beautifully, so much so that most of the time I just took it every other day (as a way to test if the problem was still around, since that allowed it time to start rearing its itchy head a bit between doses).  So looking for additional or alternative treatments wasn't really something we discussed.  She did mention Benadryl, and that's what I used initially when I self-diagnoses it as some sort of immune response based largely on the fact that the sensations really reminded me of what happens with my bee sting allergy.  It works, but I am super sensitive to it and basically a drunken fool for a few hours, so not ideal, but okay for bedtime.

Anyway, thanks for the Pepcid rec.  I've got a busy month ahead and it this thing is still around then, I'll do more than just an online doc visit, though it seems there isn't much treatment for it, based on Dr. Google and what the tele-Doc said. 

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #623 on: January 20, 2022, 02:43:14 PM »
Our two offspring both had COVID last week. DW and I tested negative. Symptoms were indeed mild. Hardly a cough between them.

We think we know where offspring #2 got it - from school friend whose parents are very social these days. They were part of our "trusted" vaccinated friends but social media has pictures of them going all over sans mask lately. Friend had a bumpy few days.

Offspring #1 either caught it from offspring #2 or from primary friend #1 who has had a hard time of it too. That friend refuses to get vaccinated. Surprising that friend didn't get it sooner due to employment in the service industry.

Meanwhile a coworker of mine is suffering through COVID for the third time. Says they've had their shots even. Even came to work sick one day! I was scarce until they were told to go home and stay home until they recovered. Geez.

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #624 on: January 20, 2022, 03:05:14 PM »
In 2016 and, then, again in 2018, I got the flu really bad. Since then, I've started getting the yearly flu shot. Somehow, though, I managed to make it through the first 50 years of my life, without ever getting a single flu shot.

I noticed that not even a single dead person from the estimated ~20M flu deaths over the past 50 years has rebutted your claim yet.  Check-mate you pro-vaccine idiots.
First time I ever got a flu shot was when I was 50 years old. Since then, I've gotten vaccinated every year. Not 'claiming' anything. Just stating a fact. What would there be to 'rebut'?

GuitarStv

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #625 on: January 20, 2022, 03:12:35 PM »
In 2016 and, then, again in 2018, I got the flu really bad. Since then, I've started getting the yearly flu shot. Somehow, though, I managed to make it through the first 50 years of my life, without ever getting a single flu shot.

I noticed that not even a single dead person from the estimated ~20M flu deaths over the past 50 years has rebutted your claim yet.  Check-mate you pro-vaccine idiots.
First time I ever got a flu shot was when I was 50 years old. Since then, I've gotten vaccinated every year. Not 'claiming' anything. Just stating a fact. What would there be to 'rebut'?

I believe that FrugalNacho was trying to point out the survivor bias in the statement he responded to.

BeanCounter

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #626 on: January 20, 2022, 05:01:20 PM »
My answer to "where I stand on living with Covid" has shifted slightly, as it seems that I am probably on the list of those with Long Covid. (According to the doctor, there isn't really a formal definition of Long Covid, other than just basically "some lingering symptoms lasting weeks or longer after the illness has passed and the infection cleared.")

That sounds dramatic, but really it is more weird and irritating than anything. Now, I didn't actually get a Covid test when I was sick. They were starting to be hard to find and I didn't think knowing for sure was actionable, since I could easily stay home and isolate.  So I won't be on any actual accounting, if there was such a thing.  But I was pretty sure it was Covid, and my doctor thinks it was as well (after the fact) based on the timing, symptoms, and the Weird Thing, which is inflammation-related and Covid is known for being inflame-y. 

It seems I have dermatographia, aka 'skin writing'.  It's an inflammation reaction, most commonly caused as the result of an infection. Can last weeks or months.  Basically, my skin gets really itchy (like the worst mosquito bites ever; it is sort of a hot itch, different than just a usually itch one experiences).  If I scratch it--not hard, just like one would for a normal itch--or even just bump it, there is a shooting fire under my skin.  Like someone has injected burning oil and it is spreading.  But the really freaky part is that a few minutes later, angry, hot, red welts appear in the exact pattern of the contact.  I can run a fingernail fairly gently over my arm in the shape of letters and 5 minutes later, I'll have an angry-looking red word appear on my arm in raised letters.  It will also hurt.

I was sick for about a week, and this started at the end of that week.

Thankfully, it has been well-managed with Zyrtec, though my sense is that the Zyrtec is lasting less and less time, and where I used to be able to take every other day, now at the end of the day, just before the next dose, I'm feeling itchy again and occasionally get the welts (which Doc says are a form of hives). That's a bit concerning because without the Zyrtec, it is entirely miserable. Like, I don't quite know how I'd function.  But we aren't to that point and I'm hoping we never get there, and that if we do, there is something else or a higher dose of Zyrtec's active ingredient, or something else. I'm also taking Quercetin, a supplement known to help with inflammation, suggested by my doc as a "can't hurt" thing. 

Really, I'm fine.  As long as the Zyrtec continues to work, it's just a minor annoyance, really.  But maybe it is also a reminder that there are so many things with this disease that we just don't know or understand.  And that "very few healthy people are dying" isn't the only factor we need to consider.

(FTR, I am fully vaxxed and boosted. I got sick before the booster's full efficacy was in effect, if that matters.)
OMG. I have  Dermatographia too! As far as I know I never had COVID. The hives started a week after my booster shot. Initial case of hives was horrible, even my ears swelled. I went to Urgent Care and was given a shot of Benedryl and Steroids and then a week of steroids. As soon as I finished the steroids they started back up again. I am managing with Zyrtec plus a Benadryl on the nights it gets bad. It’s been almost 2 months and I’m just starting to see long periods without outbreaks of miserable hives.

Shane

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #627 on: January 20, 2022, 08:19:42 PM »
In 2016 and, then, again in 2018, I got the flu really bad. Since then, I've started getting the yearly flu shot. Somehow, though, I managed to make it through the first 50 years of my life, without ever getting a single flu shot.

I noticed that not even a single dead person from the estimated ~20M flu deaths over the past 50 years has rebutted your claim yet.  Check-mate you pro-vaccine idiots.
First time I ever got a flu shot was when I was 50 years old. Since then, I've gotten vaccinated every year. Not 'claiming' anything. Just stating a fact. What would there be to 'rebut'?

I believe that FrugalNacho was trying to point out the survivor bias in the statement he responded to.
Maybe when you and FrugalNacho were growing up it was normal to get flu shots every year. I honestly never knew anyone who ever got vaccinated for the flu, until I was well into my thirties and had a friend who worked as an ER nurse. My not getting a flu vaccine was never a political statement. It certainly wasn't because I thought anyone who got a flu shot was a 'pro-vaccine idiot.' It just never occurred to me that a flu vaccine was something that a young, healthy person, who didn't work in healthcare, needed. Right around the time I turned 50, I got the flu pretty bad, a couple of times, and that's when I started getting the yearly shot. Probably, I'll keep getting it every year for the rest of my life. If I can avoid it, I don't want to get that sick again.

Captain FIRE

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #628 on: January 20, 2022, 08:34:47 PM »
I’m low 40s and I started getting the flu shot at my first job after college. They held a flu clinic, it was easy to go so I did. I think I missed the few years I was in grad school, but started again afterwards through work. Once I was pregnant with my first I made sure to get it every year though (and started getting some out of work) and not miss one by accident.

I don’t worry about anyone in my family dying from COVID. I worry about long COVID. We don’t really understand it right now or the long term consequences.
« Last Edit: January 21, 2022, 08:10:28 AM by Captain FIRE »

pdxvandal

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #629 on: January 20, 2022, 10:05:22 PM »
This, 1,000% vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv


"I don’t worry about anyone in my family dying from COVID. I worry about long COVID. We don’t really understand I right now or the long term consequences."

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #630 on: January 21, 2022, 03:08:13 AM »
I’m low 40s and I started getting the flu shot at my first job after college. They held a flu clinic, it was easy to go so I did. I think I missed the few years I was in grad school, but started again afterwards through work. Once I was pregnant with my first I made sure to get it every year though (and started getting some out of work) and not miss one by accident.

I don’t worry about anyone in my family dying from COVID. I worry about long COVID. We don’t really understand I right now or the long term consequences.

This, 1,000% vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv


"I don’t worry about anyone in my family dying from COVID. I worry about long COVID. We don’t really understand I right now or the long term consequences."

Same here.  The medics have come up with a possible disease mechanism (micro clots in the blood surrounding infectious material) and solution (a sort of dialysis) but even so that can't guarantee no permanent damage to lungs and brains.

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #631 on: January 21, 2022, 06:46:50 AM »
This, 1,000% vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv


"I don’t worry about anyone in my family dying from COVID. I worry about long COVID. We don’t really understand I right now or the long term consequences."

This is where I am, too. A person I graduated HS with (same class) was vaxed (not boosted), but got Covid anyway. He was in the hospital for almost a month, and then after another month of therapy, his lungs are now at 75% capacity. And that’s as good as he’s gonna get. Forever.

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #632 on: January 21, 2022, 07:33:19 AM »
Ditto on long covid. It freaks me out. I know of at least two people who are adjusting their career paths because of it. I have a pretty small social circle so the number of people I know who have died, been hospitalized, or been long term affected really seems like a lot to me.

One person feels unable to continue her career and is trying to figure out how to retire early. She caught covid from her eye doctor back in May of 2020 and is still not okay. She has shown a marked cognitive decline and she is only in her mid 50s. She had a "mild" case and was never hospitalized.

Another friend is a full time gigging singer and her breath support is shot 3 months later. She can't currently sing at the level required of her. She is pulling out of her spring and summer contracts. She had a case that felt like a mild flu. She is sure she caught it at her church job.

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #633 on: January 21, 2022, 07:47:41 AM »
My niece and her boyfriend have covid.  He's unvaxxed and pretty sick, she's vaxxed and asymptomatic.  She only tested because she was exposed to him.  No one else in the household tested positive.  They are having a birthday party with the whole family (9 people minimum) despite her being positive.  We were invited but obviously declined.  Also the entire family has been going about their daily lives and going to stores and whatnot even as they were awaiting test results. 

mm1970

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #634 on: January 21, 2022, 10:24:58 AM »
This, 1,000% vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv


"I don’t worry about anyone in my family dying from COVID. I worry about long COVID. We don’t really understand I right now or the long term consequences."

This is where I am, too. A person I graduated HS with (same class) was vaxed (not boosted), but got Covid anyway. He was in the hospital for almost a month, and then after another month of therapy, his lungs are now at 75% capacity. And that’s as good as he’s gonna get. Forever.

Ditto on long covid. It freaks me out. I know of at least two people who are adjusting their career paths because of it. I have a pretty small social circle so the number of people I know who have died, been hospitalized, or been long term affected really seems like a lot to me.

One person feels unable to continue her career and is trying to figure out how to retire early. She caught covid from her eye doctor back in May of 2020 and is still not okay. She has shown a marked cognitive decline and she is only in her mid 50s. She had a "mild" case and was never hospitalized.

Another friend is a full time gigging singer and her breath support is shot 3 months later. She can't currently sing at the level required of her. She is pulling out of her spring and summer contracts. She had a case that felt like a mild flu. She is sure she caught it at her church job.

+1000

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #635 on: January 21, 2022, 10:29:27 AM »
My niece and her boyfriend have covid.  He's unvaxxed and pretty sick, she's vaxxed and asymptomatic.  She only tested because she was exposed to him.  No one else in the household tested positive.  They are having a birthday party with the whole family (9 people minimum) despite her being positive.  We were invited but obviously declined.  Also the entire family has been going about their daily lives and going to stores and whatnot even as they were awaiting test results.

unbelievable. 

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My niece and her boyfriend have covid.  He's unvaxxed and pretty sick, she's vaxxed and asymptomatic.  She only tested because she was exposed to him.  No one else in the household tested positive.  They are having a birthday party with the whole family (9 people minimum) despite her being positive.  We were invited but obviously declined.  Also the entire family has been going about their daily lives and going to stores and whatnot even as they were awaiting test results.
That is insane. I must be naive but I honestly didn’t know people did this.


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My niece and her boyfriend have covid.  He's unvaxxed and pretty sick, she's vaxxed and asymptomatic.  She only tested because she was exposed to him.  No one else in the household tested positive.  They are having a birthday party with the whole family (9 people minimum) despite her being positive.  We were invited but obviously declined.  Also the entire family has been going about their daily lives and going to stores and whatnot even as they were awaiting test results.
That is insane. I must be naive but I honestly didn’t know people did this.


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I've been dealing with crushing fatigue, headaches, and a scratchy throat all week, and my husband is currently in bed with head cold symptoms and a fever. I'm pretty sure it's because when I went to the warehouse club last Friday, the idiot who came in just after me sounded like he was about to cough up a lung.

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #638 on: January 21, 2022, 11:41:05 AM »
My niece and her boyfriend have covid.  He's unvaxxed and pretty sick, she's vaxxed and asymptomatic.  She only tested because she was exposed to him.  No one else in the household tested positive.  They are having a birthday party with the whole family (9 people minimum) despite her being positive.  We were invited but obviously declined.  Also the entire family has been going about their daily lives and going to stores and whatnot even as they were awaiting test results.

unbelievable.

...is it though?  How do you think it's spreading like wildfire everywhere? Because people are being super responsible and wearing masks and social distancing and isolating when they're supposed to? 

I mean it's absurd, and it's absolutely bonkers, but I totally believe it.  They are not the first, or second, or even hundredth time of me hearing about people I know parading around town and going about their normal lives while knowingly positive with covid.   I know a ton of people who got a positive test, then mysteriously were able to get a bunch of shit accomplished.  My BIL tested positive like 2-3 days before he was scheduled to get his second dose, and without explicitly telling anyone they broke protocol and went to a mass vaccination site...he somehow got his second dose of the vaccine at a mass vaccination site right on schedule.  A long time friend flew into the state to see his sick mother, and contracted covid while he was here.  He's in the military and was getting sent overseas so going on an international flight so he required a negative PCR test...which he didn't get until right before his international flight after he was back home, which means he flew from Detroit to Los Angeles while covid positive because there is absolutely nothing stopping him from traveling domestically while positive.  Others I know aren't even trying to be sneaky about it because they think it's just the flu and absolutely do not give a fuck, no one is going to tell them what they can and can't do, so they just do whatever they want and have the mindset that if YOU don't want to get sick then YOU should stay home because they have a right to go to applebees anytime they want. 

There is nothing keeping these people out of grocery stores or walmart, or out of work places, or off of domestic flights.  It's all completely voluntary and most people don't seem to volunteer to follow restrictive guidelines when they are sick. 

Unlike some of the assholes I know, at least my family informed me about a positive test and didn't try to trick us into getting together by hiding it, even though they are totally downplaying it.  Yeah I get it SHE doesn't have symptoms, but she has enough viral load to test positive and could be contagious.  I'm vaxxed and boosted, but I still don't want it, and I don't want my 2 unvaccinated children to get it either, and I don't want to be responsible for spreading it around to other people even if I personally have a low likelihood of being very sick.

frugalnacho

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My niece and her boyfriend have covid.  He's unvaxxed and pretty sick, she's vaxxed and asymptomatic.  She only tested because she was exposed to him.  No one else in the household tested positive.  They are having a birthday party with the whole family (9 people minimum) despite her being positive.  We were invited but obviously declined.  Also the entire family has been going about their daily lives and going to stores and whatnot even as they were awaiting test results.
That is insane. I must be naive but I honestly didn’t know people did this.


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Yes very insane.  Yes you are naive, because at least half of the population is insane.  At this point I would just assume a good portion of people you see going about their business are positive.  Some don't know it, but many do and just don't care.  I mean what are they gonna do, isolate at home for 10 days with their entire household? lol

ETA: I mean the USA is still averaging like 3/4 of a million positive tests each day.  That's like 1.5% of the entire US population that tested positive just this past week. That doesn't include all the at home positives, and doesn't include people that either couldn't get a test or didn't even bother.   
« Last Edit: January 21, 2022, 11:49:59 AM by frugalnacho »

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #640 on: January 21, 2022, 12:13:15 PM »
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"I don’t worry about anyone in my family dying from COVID. I worry about long COVID. We don’t really understand I right now or the long term consequences."

I worry about both: I have several family members north of 80, including my 90 year old grandfather who’s already on oxygen. Covid will very likely kill him if he’s exposed. For the rest of my family I worry about long term effects - SIL contracted about a month ago and is still too ill to really leave the house, so I’m not hopeful she will fully recovery this year. With unvaccinated little ones running around we have a constant vector source nearby.

GodlessCommie

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #641 on: January 21, 2022, 12:13:21 PM »
Just wanted to remind everyone that the beginning of this topic was, like, 90% "screw everything, I'm going back to normal".

GuitarStv

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #642 on: January 21, 2022, 12:25:17 PM »
Just wanted to remind everyone that the beginning of this topic was, like, 90% "screw everything, I'm going back to normal".

Yeah, we kinda ditched our hopes along those lines when the extent of Omicron became known.  Hopefully no new variants pop up when Omicron dies down in a few months and we can reconsider.

GodlessCommie

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #643 on: January 21, 2022, 12:44:01 PM »
We had what, three waves already? Four? After each wave, we dropped precautions. We treated each wave as the final one.

It seems pretty clear to me that good times between the waves are exactly when we have to *keep* precautions.

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #644 on: January 21, 2022, 12:52:01 PM »
We had what, three waves already? Four? After each wave, we dropped precautions. We treated each wave as the final one.

It seems pretty clear to me that good times between the waves are exactly when we have to *keep* precautions.

Which... like... has kind of seemed obvious to me from the beginning?

I honestly don't get it.

nereo

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #645 on: January 21, 2022, 12:59:54 PM »
We had what, three waves already? Four? After each wave, we dropped precautions. We treated each wave as the final one.

It seems pretty clear to me that good times between the waves are exactly when we have to *keep* precautions.

Which... like... has kind of seemed obvious to me from the beginning?

I honestly don't get it.

Each time someone says something like: “well chances are if you catch Omicron it won’t make you very sick if you are vaccinated” I want to respond: “do you think Omicron will br the last widespread variant we see this year?”

I hope Onicron is the end of it - but I doubt it will be.

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #646 on: January 21, 2022, 01:09:57 PM »
We had what, three waves already? Four? After each wave, we dropped precautions. We treated each wave as the final one.

It seems pretty clear to me that good times between the waves are exactly when we have to *keep* precautions.

Which precautions do you want to keep?

School closures, business closures, and preventing gatherings do a lot of damage to people when they're in place and not absolutely necessary.  Mask mandates make more sense if we can do away with pointless security pageantry mask wearing rules (wearing a mask to walk to a table in a restaurant, then taking it off when you sit down to eat, for example).

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My niece and her boyfriend have covid.  He's unvaxxed and pretty sick, she's vaxxed and asymptomatic.  She only tested because she was exposed to him.  No one else in the household tested positive.  They are having a birthday party with the whole family (9 people minimum) despite her being positive.  We were invited but obviously declined.  Also the entire family has been going about their daily lives and going to stores and whatnot even as they were awaiting test results.
That is insane. I must be naive but I honestly didn’t know people did this.

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My mom just told me about one of her coworkers who went to a small indoor concert (maskless) after going for her covid test last Sunday, and at least one other person in her house had already tested positive for covid.

Coworker got her positive test back on Tuesday and is subbing in a classroom today (5 days). She only wears cloth masks.

People are absolutely the worst. And at least in some parts of the US (apparently at least Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan) they really do make up 50% or more of the population.

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #648 on: January 21, 2022, 01:13:43 PM »
Which precautions do you want to keep?

School closures, business closures, and preventing gatherings do a lot of damage to people when they're in place and not absolutely necessary.  Mask mandates make more sense if we can do away with pointless security pageantry mask wearing rules (wearing a mask to walk to a table in a restaurant, then taking it off when you sit down to eat, for example).

Why are we doing this again? We went through it 10 times already.

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Re: Where do you stand on "living with Covid", "getting back to normal"
« Reply #649 on: January 21, 2022, 01:15:37 PM »
We had what, three waves already? Four? After each wave, we dropped precautions. We treated each wave as the final one.

It seems pretty clear to me that good times between the waves are exactly when we have to *keep* precautions.

Which... like... has kind of seemed obvious to me from the beginning?

I honestly don't get it.

I guess it depends on the precautions.  I understand some places eliminated things like mask mandates and people were really quite back to normal as far as going to busy indoor spaces every day for long periods, etc.  But here in the Bay Area, we only briefly stopped our mask mandate, I feel like it was like 1 or 2 months or something and even during that time, 98% of people were wearing them even walking down an empty street alone. And for every(?) event there was a vaxx + mask requirement and people were super compliant.  And we do have more flexibility, I think, in our local healthcare system than other places, but I'm not sure it made a big difference in how hard it hit us, for example, vs. Florida.  I'm glad we kept the precautions we did, and I expect we will continue them basically indefinitely, but it's not like we escaped the Omicron surge or anything.

Or maybe the precautions to keep pseudo-permanently is lockdown?  No going anywhere except grocery stores and other "essentials"?  Close down the hairdressers again and the dance performances and the get togethers with anyone outside your 3-person bubble?  Likely to be more effective but not realistic, IMO. 

(posting even though I can see other responses on point, but because I personally don't know the answer even though I read this thread and am interested in the discussion.)

 

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