There are many cases around me, but I don't know anyone who is really sick. doctors are advising patients on boosters on a case by case basis.
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There are many cases around me, but I don't know anyone who is really sick. doctors are advising patients on boosters on a case by case basis.
My sibling just came down with a case of it; it seems pretty mild.
Considering that my 3 covid shots made me much sicker than Covid did I will pass unless it becomes more virulent and starts killing large numbers of people again.
I'm a master of sequestering. :~)Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
My partner, her sister and brother-in-law, and one of their children apparently have come down with it due to attending a small family birthday party this last weekend.
The numbers are pretty high on the mainland nearby, and climbing here.
Another cold. Yawn.
Well, given that two of the people involved are in their 80s...Quote:
Originally Posted by Yppej
Nevermind, what am I thinking?
Do you know how many thousands of viruses there are on the earth? Are you going to worry about them all? The worry will never end, and you'll lose a lot of life fretting.Quote:
Originally Posted by bae
Secretary is out for the week with it.
At least I get paid for it, and don't waste my time pointlessly acting out in front of the local Board of Health.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yppej
https://i.imgur.com/xo2VE6v.png
I'm not sure what a good metric for tracking would be these days, but hospitalizations with confirmed Covid in my state have not changed much over the summer and are at an all time low. It could be anymore that anecdotal information from friends and acquaintances could be as good a source as any. I've not had any real concerns over the summer, but know of people who avoid crowded public places and airports. Those are easy places for me to avoid without effort.
I actually don’t know anyone that is still wearing a mask or limiting their activities no matter their age or health status.
I still see masks in the city of St. Louis. Sometimes I get a vibe that it’s a bit of a fashion statement with the urban youth.Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
I still see a few masks around while shopping. Their wearers look like they could be at higher risk.
For those with access, the NYT had a few articles the last couple of weeks about the new uptick, how one could track things, and the risks of long covid from multiple infections.
I still see the odd person wearing a mask, including outdoors or riding alone in a car. A certain percentage of the population suffer from OCD/germaphobia and will never return to normal.
[still see the odd person wearing a mask, including outdoors or riding alone in a car. A certain percentage of the population suffer from OCD/germaphobia and will never return to normal.]
Or are immuno compromised, going through cancer treatment...
DH and I still wear masks in crowded public places, e.g. Costco, Market Basket. We both have crappy lungs and are at greater risk for poor outcomes if we get covid.
It's also been nice to not have so much as a single head cold since 2019.
Having recently been diagnosed with having some breathing/lung/immune deficiency issues, I tend to mask depending on the circumstances. Since I'm seeing a rise in COVID in my area right now, I will be trying to remember to mask more often.
Masks only protect against droplets. They don't keep you safe from airborne respiratory viruses. But lots of people need a religion or mythology to believe in. A mask is a like a magic amulet to ward off evil/sickness. Maybe there's a little placebo effect.
Amazingly I haven’t had a cold since 2018 which is good because they really kick up my asthma. If I had cancer I’d be masking and avoiding crowds. None of us know what someone is going through.
My question is, now that this virus seems to have essentially toned down a great deal - have we as a society learned anything at all from this experience? What do you think? Rob
My employer’s dislike of WFH for the desk level employees has come out big time. If you’re out sick with COVID, but still have to quarantine on doc’s orders, they want you taking sick time, not WFH, even though you being out is putting your coworker(s) in a bad way, workload wise. You think they would have learned from Covid. Sheesh. Friends report the same sort of attitude.
Other friends report the pressure to come into the office when sick is bad, as it was pre-Covid.
I had no idea that such a large percentage of our population had, or has, such an overwhelming distrust in the science of traditional medical institutions. And faith in medical or science conspiracy theory.
It seems like in the end the experts warned this would not be the last pandemic and we should be better prepared for the next. As far as any information I've seen, it's mostly been out of sight, out of mind.
If only a fairly high percentage of conspiracy theories during the height of Covid hadn't turned out to be true the general public might have a greater degree of trust in science. If we can learn something from that experience and separate out the political influence we could probably respect science again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogar
I suspect your version of political influence differences from mine, but it was not one sided. What comes to my mind is when Donald recommended everyone go out to church on Easter Sunday before there were vaccines or other effective precautions and recommended bizarre chemical preparations as remedy like the injection of cleaning disinfectants. A lot of people died because of disinformation contrary to mainstream science, especially around the refusal to get vaccinated. Masks and lockdowns could be up for debate, but [possibly the best they could come up with at the time and a learning experience.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
It helps to review the context of things like that. As I recall an Under Secretary for Science and Technology at Department of Homeland Security mentioned a study showing disinfectant and sunlight easily killed the virus on non-porous surfaces. Trump then ad-libbed something to the effect that wouldn't it be nice if we could find a way to have the same effect inside the body, using light or some other medically approved substance, possibly by injection. Social media and the mainstream media then went crazy alleging he was suggesting people should inject bleach or other cleaning products into their bodies. Now, several years later, that's what most people remember, including yourself it appears.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogar
Not sure we seem to learn to separate them. Apollo missions, until the fire killed three astronauts, seemed to be driven more from politics then science. So did the Challenger accident investigation, until Sally Ride and Richard Feynman said censored to politics. Not to mention politicians tend to not necessarily follow science or the fact that things change as we learn more (they get their mind set), or the fact that even scientists don't always agree.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
I remember in March 2020 right before the lockdown arrived here in Arizona, I went into a post office to drop off some mail in Central Phoenix. This was before masks became widely available so I had a dish towel around my face - seriously. We knew little about the virus and as a US citizen, of course trust is almost non-existent at this point - so I did the best I could with a dish towel.
There was one man in line at the post office who turned around and looked at me and laughed and shook his head and then there was a woman who smiled my way and clapped. I remember thinking then and there to not be so upset about this country's many moral and ethical failings, scams, cash grabs and outright lies and insane inequality - as I realized this country will eventually split. That moment at the post office made this crystal clear to me and I must say it's easier to deal with this country with the belief that it will be splitting up not too too too far down the road. And good riddance!
But I digress. I don't believe society has learned much from covid BUT the silver lining? Covid pushed this nation close to splitting up. It's not all bad in other words. Rob
What political influences do you think obscured a respect for science?Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
We learned how many wanna be petty tyrants desire to deprive other people of medical and bodily autonomy and punish them for not falling into line. We learned that the ACLU and other organizations supposedly devoted to civil liberties will stand by and do nothing. We learned big government will conspire with big tech to censor even well respected scientists like those who signed the Great Barrington Declaration. We learned that consent does not exist, as in Massachusetts the government conspired with phone companies to install secret spyware on people's phones to track their movements. We learned that you can lose custody of your children, be denied an organ transplant, be fired from your job, be expelled from college, or any other number of draconian things for not taking an experimental vaccine under emergency use authorization. We learned young males collapsing on athletic fields of myocarditis is normal now. As lawsuits related to these cases wind their way through the courts the plaintiffs are usually winning - we saw a court case get rid of the mask mandate on planes, now many people unjustly fired from their jobs are getting damages. We learned how our government, a gerontocracy, acted in the interests of their age group at the expense of children. The average age of a person dying of covid was HIGHER than the average life expectancy in the country, and we all have to die of something, but we shut down schools as if education isn't essential. Learning has not recovered. Attendance has not recovered. Many elites sent their own children to private schools that stayed open. We learned that the poorer and the darker you are, the less important you are in this country. We learned that Karens sitting at home on Zoom in their pajama bottoms "working from home" could get delivery drivers fired for not wearing a mask. We learned that the cruelty shown in this video is acceptable to our gerontocratic society if it spares them the tiniest bit of anxiety about a virus we all got and will all continue to get throughout our lifetimes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hPxawPNeN8
yes, it was DJT, Alan, in, one of his off the cuff comments, and I remember specifically his tone and words. It was at one of Fauci’s daily press conferences.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
We can still make fun of Trump for it but it’s just The Donald being Donald. It’s not like he ordered The FDA to certify anything weird for consumption to attack coronavirus.
the conspiracy theories that turned out correct are stuff like covid is airborne, and it wasn't even conspiracy theorists pushing that, it was some scientists some journalists etc. (but granted the WHO took forever and maybe never got on board)
In the early 20th century, before antibiotics, the sanatariums would put people out in the sunshine for TB and it seems to have worked to some extent. I am a massive believer in fresh air and sunshine to kill germs and try to hang out laundry all the time for that reason.
And I recall a cabinet secretary, Housing and Urban Development, if I recall correctly, who stupidly went to what was obviously (at least to any of us in the reality based world) going to become a super spreader event, despite being a doctor who should have known better, and then nearly died as a result. The dumb****ery of republicans during the pre-vaccine days of this tragedy were shocking. I do also recall though that he had a really nicely decorated office. So at least he had that legacy to be proud of...Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
Rob, to answer your question on a more mundane level, we learned that we can take some basic precautions like masks and hand sanitizer to avoid spreading germs from the common cold, etc. In our clay studio, it's become the norm to mask if there is a virus in one's household.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
Trump touted hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, as possible treatments. They are antimalarial drugs with absolutely no medical evidence they would work, plus serious side effects. Remdesivir was part of his treatment and I know people who asked for it. He also tried Regeneron's monoclonal antibodies. I don't think anyone took the suggestion to inject disinfectant seriously, but it showed his lack of any scientific knowledge and an idiot for even suggesting it. It was overplayed by the media. But as you say, it's interesting that people only remember those things that support their political or cultural leanings, case and point.
I can vaguely recall actual physical altercations in hospitals where patients were on ventilators and dying and relatives were insisting upon some of these unproven and unsupported treatments, but refused the vaccine. I can't recall where the anti-vaccine movement started and what conspiracies were behind it, but RFK Jr. didn't help the issue. I also put the anti Fauci movement as conspiracy.
I do still see people wearing masks occasionally. Especially clerks in stores where there are a lot of people. I have friends with pre-existing conditions who still avoid crowded places like restaurants and big public events. I'm a little cautious about that myself. I had Covid last spring, which wasn't all that long ago. I probably picked it up while visiting a person in a long term care facility where it was going around.
My coworker went to ER just last week and ended up with a 2-3 day hospital stay due to COVID. It's still out there and it is still hitting people differently - some have no symptoms while others end up in the hospital.
Covid is still killing people at dramatically higher levels than the flu does. I realize that this is awkward for the anti-maskers but sometimes reality is awkward... My best friend had covid in the summer of 2020 when she lived in NYC during the first big wave there. Her only symptoms at the time were loss of taste and smell. A month after she thought she'd recovered she developed long covid. The headaches. The fatigue, etc. She has been dealing with it ever since. Three and a half years of not being able to walk more than a half block down the street before becoming exhausted.Quote:
Originally Posted by happystuff
But masks don't work. Did you watch the video I posted of a toddler "wearing" a mask? Masks work a little bit in a lab setting on a stationary dummy having particles shot at it. They don't work in the real world.Quote:
Originally Posted by jp1
According to the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, WHO, the CDC, and Harvard Medical, masks are effective at reducing the spread of Covid. It's possible they missed your video.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yppej