Rogar….it may not have caused the flu but did not prevent it either. Some years the effectiveness is very low…I remember 29%. Not thrilled to keep injecting all these “medicines”. Will bite the bullet this year though.
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Rogar….it may not have caused the flu but did not prevent it either. Some years the effectiveness is very low…I remember 29%. Not thrilled to keep injecting all these “medicines”. Will bite the bullet this year though.
I've never been impressed with the effectiveness of flu shots, and have never had one. I'm becoming equally unimpressed with the efficacy of the COVID vaccines. Everything considered, social distancing works for me. :)
I had a bad case of the flu about 30 years ago and ever since I've had the annual flu shot and never had the flu again and never a reaction to the shot. So there you go.
My once a year or so common colds dropped off significantly when I quit work, so there's something to be said for that.
My doctor recommended getting the flu shot early this year.
Starting to see more scary news articles about new Covid variants that escape immunity. Who knows what is so anymore? Makes my stomach turn to think we might go through this once again. More shots...
I may have had the flu in '94, but I think that was just a heavy cold. I don't remember having had a cold since. I believe I caught the flu once or twice in my salad days, but I don't remember it being life-changing. Yes--retirement is an affective inoculation against most ills, I've found.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogar
My sister forwarded me an article a week ago about one of the high schools in San Diego where almost half the students are out with the flu.
Two of my acquaintances think they have had it recently. Both fell under the description of "sicker than a dog" and thought they might have Covid, but tested negative a few times including one PCR test at the doctors. One called in sick for about a week but bounced back pretty well. The other has fibromyalgia and says he was pretty much laid out flat for a week and felt poorly for another week or more and still isn't up to speed. I'm not sure whether they had the flu shot or not, but it probably was too early for a lot of people to think about it.
I was wondering... are the COVID tests that I got "free" through the mail able to test for the newest variants?
The home covid tests do work with the new variants but because they aren't as sensitive as the PCR tests one has to go to a healthcare provider for the home tests give false negatives some of the time. The NY Times had an article a few weeks ago about this and what is believed to be happening is that people who are fully vaxxed/boosted tend to generate a quick immune response so the viral load when they do become infected is not as high. My SIL had a moderate case around that time and never tested positive, even with PCR tests but the symptoms were classic covid, including loss of taste/smell. One of the nurses administering the PCR test to her said the same happened to her and then on day 8 of feeling awful she finally tested positive.
Thanks, jp. Good info.
I'm wondering if people are taking any special precautions over the holidays?
I'm getting the impression from any social contacts or the media that it's maybe 90 percent or something back to pre-pandemic life. Schools and gatherings like sporting events are back to the usual. My local theater than I have season tickets for has dropped the requirements for proof of vaccination and of course, masks. I went to the first of the season last month, but am uncertain about winter performances. Last year the annual Holiday performances were cancelled mid-way due to the actors getting covid. Just examples and not to mention other family and social gatherings.
The news is saying the dominants strains are new have some immune evasion of vaccinations or previous infections and may be resistant to anti virals. I know of two people who have had covid in the last few months. No one got very sick, but both were vaccinated. What they are calling community transmission in my county has been low for some time. I've thought to keep an eye on that as an indicator. I'm not comfortable in relatively crowded indoor places where there are strangers of unknown health precautions, but maybe just behavior from recent conditioning.
I was going to go to a Christmas music event that’s a fundraiser for a Chicago Maritime Museum. Folk music of the Great Lakes. But the room is long and low and people are packed in - or at least they were in 2018 and 2019. This is the first time doing the event since 2019. I really wanted to go but then I remembered how everyone is packed in, and so I’ll not go this year. Cases are starting to increase here again.
That would be the only special event I go to at the holidays that is somewhere I don’t usually go. Church as usual and I’ll be at friends’ for T’giving. I’ll be driving back from cave diving in FL on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so no gatherings. I’ll be with friends a lot in FL, but they have a camp and we hang around outside and have potluck meals.
Tradd, I surely do not want you to get sick before your Christmas diving event that would be tragic.
I’m sure people around here are Going back to normal. I’m living a normal life. I see lots and lots of masks in St. Louis. I don’t see any masks in Hermann other than at the hospital, and that’s not even required it’s just required if you as a visitor have been sick or fevered or whatever the list is. The staff wear masks but they pull them down to talk.
I still exercise reasonable precautions when in public spaces and will continue to do so for a while.
After just getting over the "common cold" (negative covid tests), it was so awful that I am increasing my vigilance over being in groups. Had a scare that almost involved an ER visit so I do not want to get it or anything like it for awhile. I am fully vaccinated and got the flu shot too.
Same here. No large gatherings are planned, but those aren't my favorite even under pre-Covid circumstances.Quote:
Originally Posted by bae
Ditto. Still masking for stores, which are starting to fill with holiday shoppers.Quote:
Originally Posted by bae
Last week I got a flu shot and second Covid booster.Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetana3
Thanks. Got my second booster and flu shot a few weeks back.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
We’re not traveling at all this holiday season for various reasons not directly related to covid. Other than that we’ll only be going to two holiday parties. One will be small (maybe ten people) and the other will be outdoors (a lighted boat parade on the canal behind a friend’s house so the party will take place on her deck that has a propane fire pit and basket of blankets.). There are a couple of work related holiday parties that I will get invited to but I am not planning on attending.
We’ve both been bivalent boosted and flu shotted so hopefully if we do come in contact with covid we’ll be defended. My phone has informed me twice in the past six weeks that I’ve been exposed but neither time resulted in me having a case of covid. (Based on when the exposures occurred both times were when I was traveling for work and likely someone in an airport or on an airplane in which case I would have been KN95 masked the whole time. )
Hoping I get exposed to a normal number of viruses. I don't want to be like those poor kids who never were because they were locked down for two years and now RSV is exploding and threatening to overwhelm hospitals. The immune system needs to be exposed to germs to develop normally.
We are having a parade of people through our house. Two lunch parties and one overnight guest so far.
Today friends come from out of state for 3 days. Will have several people in for that visit including an overnight guest.
And then, my brother and wife are coming for Thanksgiving to stay a few days.
I have been back to normal since 3/21 and mask less unless required. I have a trip to Europe booked for 4/1.
Oh where are you going!?? I want to get to Europe but I’m having to dodge flower shows now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
Headed to spend T'Giving with grand-twins so who knows how we will hold up - they are little vectors for whatever is going around. They are on the mend from either RSV or flu though it wasn't too bad. Just read that a new strain of Ebola is spreading in Uganda so travelers from that area to the US are supposedly being monitored. That disease scares me far more than Covid.
I am taking a 11 day trip staying 2 nights in each city except for one. Starting in Zurich, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna and Prague. I am going in April.
Great message to give kids - you are disease vectors. If you breathe on your grandparents you can kill them. While adults including politicians partied maskless in bars and restaurants and stadiums filled with tens of thousands of people (including doctors at medical conferences) even if you had special needs that made wearing a mask difficult, you had to so all day long in school, because the vast majority of the pandemic response fell on your tiny shoulders, including in New York City that for the better part of a year masked toddlers and only toddlers. Schools were closed as nonessential but liquor stores and pot shops remained open. Why do we hate children so much in this country?Quote:
Originally Posted by pinkytoe
My comment about kiddos is based on my experience raising and being around them - especially those under a certain age. They put their fingers in their noses and mouths and touch everything they can. Perhaps they are busy building their own immune systems but most are real good at catching whatever is going around.
Excited for you Teacher Terry. I really want to get back to travel. It has been a long dry spell since 2020.
Thanks Simple mind. I am excited. Pinky, yes kids are little germ carriers. We all love kids but can recognize the obvious.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yppej
oh for heaven’s sake, jep, the little snot nosed ones just ARE worse at spreading any communicable disease. We dont hate them, instead we recognize their differing habits.
That sounds really nice!Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
A former manager once described them as "little petri dishes" breeding all kinds of germs. Anecdotally, I've noticed that people with little kids seem to get a lot more colds and viruses.
I wish you a wonderful time, especially after your illness in Ireland.Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
Okay---I'm gonna add this one to the kid-hating pile-on. In my years o' working at numerous businesses, is what you have are the guys who drag themselves into work, even though they are sick. The story is that the kids brought home the bug that Dad caught, but he can't afford to miss work, or the boss might sanction him. Plus, he needs the $$$ to support the little buggers. And then--you get sick, too. Yep. They are vectors o' communicable disease, all right. Employers needta insist sick people stay home. That's what sick days are for. Hope that helps you some. Thankk Mee.
Thanks everybody I am really looking forward to my trip in 4 months:)).
Little kids get more colds because that is how the body works, immunity is learned through exposure. They are doing exactly what they need to do for the survival of the species.
But yeah, if you don't like kids and think they are germy, definitely stay away from them.
Just heard dear friends in Canada now are very sick with Covid. The talk here is that the flu is rampant and respiratory ailments for kids and elders is on the rise. May be time to don masks again?
https://www.statnews.com/2022/11/21/...hree-years-in/Quote:
Originally Posted by frugal-one
That's pretty interesting. I'm probably more conservative than the infectious disease experts, but I suspect I'm in a higher risk age group.Quote:
Originally Posted by bae