Thank you for the compassionate response.
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Yes, I agree. I think that if kindness and concern for our fellow humans were more in evidence, many aspects of today’s world would be different, and for the better. This topic is a tough one, though…
I couldn’t agree more.
My comment is more about vaccination than masking, so it is not strictly on topic, but related. I have a very hard time practicing tolerance for those who simply chose to not get vaccinated because of “freedom”. This is why we are where we are today. If we all practiced more compassion and care towards others, maybe we wouldn’t need to have this conversation now.
So, I will continue to mask for myself, but also for my immunosuppressed mother-in-law, my niece who is too young to be vaccinated, and for the random stranger that I interact with one day who, unbeknownst to me, is vulnerable in some way.
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Me, too. Toleration of the intolerant is one tough lesson for me to learn. The Biblical exhortation to “turn the other cheek” encapsulates this idea, one few of us can successfully accomplish. I find it even harder to respond respectfully to those with hate in their heart.
@beacher Thanks! Two very interesting articles. It makes sense as you are not supposed to get as sick when you are vaccinated, so you wouldn’t be as contagious for as long. I had just wanted to make sure @George49 knew that you could still get sick from someone that was vaccinated. Kids are going to be contagious when sick whether vaccinated or not, because frankly in general, kids are never going to be good at following any protocols strictly. Pacifiers, toys, food all gets shared easily.
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“Booster effectiveness relative to primary series was 50.1% (95% CI: 47.3-52.8%)” against symptomatic infection.
People who are vaccinated + boosted do have a level of protection against symptomatic infection and since neither you nor anyone else can prove that all of the other 50% were asymptomatic (this is impossible), I think it is a pretty sure bet that they’re still offering some level of protection against asymptomatic infection.
A coworker of mine with 3 doses of vaccine who had breast cancer in 2020, ended chemo and radiation in 2021, and her husband with type 2 diabetes never tested positive for covid despite both of their kids having it and her doing tests regularly because she was worried about her high risk with her kids being positive. The only positive ones were her kids.
Eric Topol has a piece on how it is false to say that vaccines are not providing any protection from infection.
Hi Marie, Yes I do realize that there is a risk either way. My anecdotal experience in life has been that all of the beautiful children that we see and interact with seem to almost always have a stream of liquid/mucous running from their noses. In the pre-pandemic days we would think, “yeah, it’s just a cold”, so we never really worried too much when we picked them up and enjoyed them. Now, though, my concerns are heightened. Children have been shown to handle the virus very well with very minimal symptoms. However, that’s not to say that we’re not just as concerned about gatherings with adults. We had close friends whose daughter got married a couple of weeks ago. They had a huge wedding. We hated doing it but we ended up passing on that event. Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Terry, thanks for bringing this topic to the fore. I think the discussion has been respectful, as it should be. The trashing between so-called friends that has occurred on social media sites on various topics is absolutely shameful.
I recently read an opinion piece by a NY Times Editorial Board Member which basically called the majority of residents of a huge development in Florida “village idiots” because of their political views and, among other things, their approach (or lack thereof) to COVID. Even though I don’t agree with this community’s narrow view of the pandemic problem, I thought that inferring to them as idiots or that their political leaders were encouraging them to tell everybody to bleep-off was uncalled for, hateful and divisive. I wrote a letter to Editorial Board complaining about the intolerance of their board and they informed me that they are going to print my rebuttal.
My point is to say that we should be able to interact without becoming disrespectful and resorting to personal attacks. We, as T1’s and the like, are all part of a special group of survivors that know a lot about being behind the eight ball, as they say, and still have managed to prosper and survive by searching/finding learned technical support and sharing our gained knowledge with each other, as well as, having the sheer will to survive.
So don’t hold back on these topics. They are vital during these tough times.
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My doctor wanted me to Get a different vaccine on the third one, but I ended up getting the Moderna vaccine for the third shot , so she sent me back to get a Pfizer so that makes 4.
Se thinks that mixing vaccines is better for diabetics in particular. I don’t know if it’s true. I’ve read a lot of differing opinions. I figured it couldn’t hurt so I just got it.
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You all are discussing the Abbott covid test?
You gotta stick that swab 1/2 way up your nostril (up to where its uncomfortable and makes your eyes water). Make circular motions for five seconds along the interior of each nostril.
They might have two tests in each box to help decrease the likelihood of false positives/negatives.
Although I can understand the sentiment, and the US has done horribly, it is not the worst. What I would agree with is that considering what we could have been done, the US failed. As for the US’s actual ranking - there are many ways to slice this, so just looking at deaths per million - by some metrics it measures as one of the worst.
Source: COVID-19 pandemic death rates by country - Wikipedia
As a separate topic, one could think about how systems failed, and this is a great overview comparing a variety of types of political and social systems, although a bit dated:
I will continue to wear a mask for now. I feel it is better to be safe than sorry.
John
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In Ontario, our mask mandates end on March 21, although they’ll still be required on public transit. My daughter takes the train and bus to her college, so she’s happy about that. In general though, all my family members have decided we will continue to wear masks in public. I haven’t had a cold, sore throat or regular flu since the mandates started and neither have they. We’d like to keep it that way, as much as possible. I’m going to a “Happy birthday, we turn 65 this year” class reunion in May and I haven’t decided if I’ll wear a mask there or not. I probably will because I don’t like taking chances. On the other hand, I know we all have to learn to live with Covid, so at some point, I may feel ok about being maskless. I’ll make decisions based on what’s going on in the healthcare system.
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I saw my primary care physician this week via a telehealth appointment. My final question to her was what she planned to do regarding masks when the statewide requirement expires on March 12, 2022, two days from now.
She immediately responded that she plans to keep her mask on when visiting indoor public venues, on public transportation, and health care settings.
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At my job site, the mask mandate has been gone since monday, but 85% of people still wear them. I keep mine on most of the time and take it off at my desk.
I’m really surprised more people don’t take them off, but I’m 100 percent good with people wearing them.
It real weird to see peoples mouths. I didnt recognize one guy without a mask. Very odd brain recalibrations.
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It’s going to be difficult for me to give up the mask in indoor settings with semi crowds of people I don’t know.
The issue as I see it is are we on a permanent decline of cases or are we in between surges? If it’s the latter then I think I can relax, but only for the time being, and we should anticipate resuming once cases start to go up again. Other countries are fluctuating lately more than we are. The US has been on a pretty steady decline for a while. But - we’ve been here, psychologically, before. So, I don’t know.
Otherwise, I work in healthcare and we will probably have to wear the mask longer than most, possibly “too” long. Pros and cons about that. For doing wound care, I love the mask! I love not breathing into people’s exposed wounds. Wow, why weren’t we doing this all along, LOL?! So many things to love about it. Many of the patients wear their masks too, some more faithfully than others. What I will like about discontinuing the practice is being able to make and see the full range of expression again. Looking into mouths or noticing lips on a regular basis. We took care of someone with active TB - and didn’t know it for a while - but we’re all fine [knocks on wood] - so thank you masking.
But one (unrelated) essential thought/idea/fact/truth overrides most others, for me personally. And that is, we as a country have failed utterly in delivering the healthy lifestyle message and regulating foods that can lead directly to severe metabolic consequences (because - profit). That truly makes me sick. ETA: and the thought I have here is, without the huge chronic disease burden that we bear in this country because of that, I would say we’d have had maybe half the number of Covid deaths, and that’s being conservative.
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I’m not diabetic, but I got 2 Modernas and “boosted” with Pfizer in the (vain) hope side effects would be milder. It was still pretty bad!
I l-o-v-e the mask when walking outdoors in cold weather! Another thing that I can’t believe we didn’t think of previously. I mean, we did - ski masks, but with those the nose and mouth are exposed (or just the nose?), so the effect is not nearly as strong.
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I have a few balaclavas bought for skiing and inclement weather, but don’t feel comfortable wearing them around Manhattan, worried that someone is going to think I’m a terrorist, or just creepy. Masks are a nice alternative.
I live in Flori…duh. I will continue to wear my mask, but I will also continue to limit my exposure to crowds indoors and out.
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It was absurd all the lies and nonsense that went around about vaccines, and even the real side effects, while rare, were often blown out of proportion, but I see something like this on most days, some harm that came from being infected, even lightly…
The infected group also displayed a 0.2%-to-2% greater reduction in brain size compared with those who hadn’t been infected and showed greater cognitive decline based on their performance undertaking complex tasks. This was associated with atrophy, or shrinkage, in a specific part of the cerebellum – an area at the back and bottom of the brain – linked to cognition. Differences between infected and non-infected participants was more marked in older people.
Covid Cases Linked to Brain Shrinkage, Cognitive Decline Months Later - Bloomberg
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