Will you continue to wear mask?

[AngryGromit]

The infection numbers are way up, and that's not including those that will test positive after the Christmas and New Years eve parties. Are you changing your socializing habits now?  While I wore my mask in stores before, I a lot more conscious of making sure I have it on now, and today when we picked up some dinner, we took it home rather than eat int he restaurant.  We were considering starting bowling again and joining a league, but I think we are going to wait on that. 

[poppyfields]

Yeah I hear ya, I caught the omicron variant a few weeks ago, I felt like I was recovering but then relapsed, fever spiked to 102 but down now, it fluctuates.  

It's crazy here, I just read 6000 new cases last Thursday and we are headed for another shutdown! 

>> County health officials reported just under 6,000 positive tests were taken on Thursday. That’s a new pandemic daily case record.<<

I took really good care, and still caught it, don't even know how or where! 

Some people are saying everyone will eventually catch it, and we will then build up immunity but that could take years!  

I recall when I first felt symptoms and thought it was a cold, my doctor actually said I should assume it's covid, get tested and isolate. 

So scary but it is what it is, we deal with it.

Anyway, do your best, wear mask and stay home if feeling ill.  Get tested.  

Take care!!  

Edited January 3, 2022 by poppyfields

[Pumpernickel]

No changes so far for me. I even had to air travel recently. Got tested multiple times, and no Covid so far, but I’ve got 3 vaccines by now. I agree, we’re all gonna get it at some point. Never got any flu vaccines, and never got sick with the flu, but I don’t know whether or not it’s comparable as far as contagiousness and whatnot. I might start wearing a mask again though if I’m out shopping. 

[ASG]

Haven't changed a thing and don't plan on it, either. 

Still meeting friends and family, still going out for dinner. 

I take the usual precautions of mask and distance. 

I don't want to ge covid, but I also don't want to spend my life cooped up.

[Veronica73]

I’m not really changing anything. I’ve been really careful for the whole pandemic. I did see my family for Christmas, which I didn’t last year. But we all made sure to test negative before getting together.  I started going to the gym again a couple of months ago….and I’m still going. Which is probably dumb. But I guess I’m willing to take that risk.

[Happy Lemming]

One of my girlfriend's doctors (Dr. M) thinks she got Covid-19 (omicron variant) at a New Years Eve party.  "V" had a "ZOOM" appointment with Dr. M already scheduled (for this afternoon), so the doctor is still seeing "ZOOM" only patients.  And told "V" she would have to refer her to another doctor if the "ZOOM" appointment wouldn't suffice for her issue.

"V" and I did go to small Football party yesterday (7 guests) and watched Arizona beat Dallas!!  (which was fun)

We are wearing masks when we grocery shop, but other than that we're not really doing anything different.

[Mrin]

Thankfully I got boosted in early December. Almost everybody I know (including my two offspring - both vaxxed but unboosted) have tested positive in the last 3 weeks. Most are totally asymptomatic. There's literally nothing anyone can do about this now. The only way to avoid it is completely - and I mean completely - self-isolate and get your booster. 

[FMW]

I know several who have had their booster but still tested positive.  Their symptoms have been very mild though fortunately.  

 

[central]

I still avoid large gatherings and parties, but attend smaller ones where I know most people since they're all vaccinated.  I've had the booster shot, so I'm not greatly concerned even if I get a breakthrough case - it would very likely be mild.  I've upgraded to N95 masks when out shopping, though, and will avoid air travel if I can (and absolutely will not go anywhere that has a surge, low vax rates, or anti-mask laws), and I certainly won't book any cruises.

Omicron appears to have milder symptoms and fewer severe complications even though it's wildly more contagious.  Eventually, almost everyone will get it, so there may be herd immunity within the next year [ ] 

Edited January 4, 2022 by a LoveShack.org Moderator
group berating

[spiderowl]

On 1/2/2022 at 10:19 PM, AngryGromit said:

The infection numbers are way up, and that's not including those that will test positive after the Christmas and New Years eve parties. Are you changing your socializing habits now?  While I wore my mask in stores before, I a lot more conscious of making sure I have it on now, and today when we picked up some dinner, we took it home rather than eat int he restaurant.  We were considering starting bowling again and joining a league, but I think we are going to wait on that. 

Yes, around 1 in 20 people have it in my area.  The risk of catching it when going out is very high.  I have not been going out.  I could go out and I've been vaccinated but I am not sure how effective that will be.  Having lost members of my family to Covid, there could be a genetic vulnerability in my family.  I don't see the point of taking the risk if I do not have to go to work.  My son goes out sometimes and also mixes with me so it is probably a matter of when not if he (and I) and I will catch it, but I see no point inviting it in.

At the moment in the UK, the hospitals are overrun and in a critical state due to a surge of patients with Covid and staff being off sick with Covid.  I am not confident I would get appropriate treatment if I did go down with it.  The situation is pretty bad.  I feel for anyone who gets ill or injured with anything at this point because the hospitals may not have the resources to treat them.  It is a serious matter and I blame our government for mismanaging the situation.  They have just let omicron run rife through the population.

Edited January 5, 2022 by spiderowl

[BaileyB]

We are staying home and not socializing only because our health care system is in a precarious place right now. Thank goodness, ICU numbers are not rising like they have in previous waves… That said, our health care system has no surge capacity and staffing shortages due to staff illness are compounding the problem of what has long been an underfunded and understaffed system. 
 

I have my two vaccinations and I’m getting my booster next week. Not that it matters, I know many people who have had three shots and still have Covid. But thankfully, it’s been a mild illness for most. Grateful for my vaccines - they are not about preventing infection at this point, it seems rather inevitable now that we will get it at some point. If my vaccine keeps me out of the hospital and makes this a milder illness, I’m very grateful for that! 

Edited January 7, 2022 by BaileyB

[FMW]

Friends are getting married in March and willl be having someone check for proof of vaccination or negative test from within 48 hours for guests. Hopefully by then the current surge will have considerably lessened.  

Almost all my friends are both fully vaccinated and boosted and wear masks when out, but a few have still been testing positive.  Most thankfully have had very mild symptoms.  But our local hospitals are at record levels of COVID patients while simultaneously suffering from staff shortages because of staff testing positive.  

[jah526]

Nope. Doing what I’ve done throughout the whole pandemic. When all this started in early 2020, I had a germophobic friend who was pregnant at the time. She was starting to get really concerned about the virus, while I was downplaying it. N95s were starting to disappear from the stores and she couldn’t find any in her area. She had a mutual friend buy a carton of them from a local Lowes to ship to her. She let me take one box from the carton, maybe about 20 in all. Well, I’ve been using those masks throughout the whole pandemic, and even sent some to family members. Not sure how effective they are now since I’ve been reusing them, but they make me feel safer.

I have to have “the talk” today with a close family member who is planning to come visit and was initially a vaccine skeptic. I don’t know what his current vaccination status is, but I don’t feel comfortable with him staying with me if he’s unvaccinated. 

Yesterday was the first time I actually saw a confrontation between a non-mask wearer and a mask wearer, with the non-masked guy telling the masked guy “you don’t have to wear that mask you know”. Thought the masked guy handled it very well. He just said “thanks for the advice “.

[Pumpernickel]

I had to air travel recently & had to get a negative PCR test before returning. The test had to be done within 24 (!!) hours of departure, otherwise they won’t let you fly back. It’s stressful to get your results that close to departure, but I’m glad they’re being strict. What I don’t understand is that they’re not strict at all wrt domestic flights. Makes no sense. You don’t even have to be vaxxed, not even once, to take a plane from ORD to LAX. Ridiculous.

…. Anyways - I am 3 times vaxxed & now I feel sick. Been sick since Wednesday & can’t get any tests anywhere. I am assuming I don’t have Covid, but a better testing infrastructure would be helpful. Tests are literally sold out everywhere in certain areas. Even online. Ridiculous. 

[BaileyB]

On 1/8/2022 at 9:30 AM, Pumpernickel said:

I am assuming I don’t have Covid

I wouldn’t assume anything. I know several people who have their three shots and still tested positive for covid.
Yes, testing infrastructure sucks.
I hope you are feeling better very soon.

[Els]

We are fully vaxxed and boosted, so we follow social distancing precautions and the laws of our jurisdiction (mask-wearing, checking-in to locations for contact tracing, etc), but aside from that we're not really doing anything different. I suppose we tend to avoid super-crowded areas and large "mega-spreader" events, but that's about it.

If the health advice changes where we live, then we will change what we do.

[Lotsgoingon]

Yep ... I'm not eating out right now ... I'll wait for cases to decline ... and man do I miss restaurants and coffee shops ... I really do. I'm a part of a dance community that was just getting back up and going and then Omicron struck ... now they're hoping to resume in February ... We'll see ... Everyone has to be boosted and wear masks at the dances and I've got a stack of good N95's ... so I might be willing to go.

BTW: I visited a relative for about 5 days over the past two weeks ... a relative who is in a care facility that had a serious covid outbreak. I wore the N95 the center required people to wear ... and visited my relative with peace. I kinda felt good ... like OK, I'm being careful in the rest of life, so I can take this risk to see someone who badly needed visitors. 

[Eternal Sunshine]

I am basically staying at home the entire time with family visits. I occasionally go to the shops with N-95 masks and walk for exercise but avoid all other social outings, basically a self-imposed lock-down. I am waiting for Omicron wave to pass somewhat (numbers are already declining but need to decline a lot more). Our hospitals are full, ambulance waiting times are out of control and I really don't want to risk it right now.

I have also not received a booster even though I have been due for ages due to pericarditis after the second Pzifer shot. I have decided that if it comes to that, I will take my chances with Omicron rather than risk another bout of pericarditis and struggling to walk to the mailbox for 2 months after...

[elaine567]

On 1/4/2022 at 12:40 PM, central said:

  Eventually, almost everyone will get it, so there may be herd immunity within the next year

It won't happen as the virus keeps mutating. We cannot develop herd immunity against a virus that keeps changing.
Omicron is already a virus that has the ability to evade vaccines and dodge natural immunity.
It is just lucky that it seems to be  a "milder" strain and the vaccines confer some protection.
We will just have to wait and see what the next variant will throw at us.

[central]

2 hours ago, elaine567 said:

It won't happen as the virus keeps mutating. We cannot develop herd immunity against a virus that keeps changing.
Omicron is already a virus that has the ability to evade vaccines and dodge natural immunity.
It is just lucky that it seems to be  a "milder" strain and the vaccines confer some protection.
We will just have to wait and see what the next variant will throw at us.

You're right.  I was being too optimistic. 

[Alpacalia]

I admit that after receiving my initial vaccine, I became lax with wearing a mask, but now I wear a mask in public venues.

My school is pretty strict about vaccination and mask requirements, so I'm thankful for that.

Now, the gym requires proof of vaccination (which I'm totally OK with). Everything else I pretty much do from home.

I purchased N95 masks and one of those plastic shield thingies for volunteering just to be extra safe. Maybe I'll put some cute little stickers on the plastic shield just for fun.

 

 

 

 

[Alpacalia]

12 hours ago, Eternal Sunshine said:

I am basically staying at home the entire time with family visits. I occasionally go to the shops with N-95 masks and walk for exercise but avoid all other social outings, basically a self-imposed lock-down. I am waiting for Omicron wave to pass somewhat (numbers are already declining but need to decline a lot more). Our hospitals are full, ambulance waiting times are out of control and I really don't want to risk it right now.

I have also not received a booster even though I have been due for ages due to pericarditis after the second Pzifer shot. I have decided that if it comes to that, I will take my chances with Omicron rather than risk another bout of pericarditis and struggling to walk to the mailbox for 2 months after...

That's awful.

Covid-19 can be associated with pericarditis too.

Hope you feel better.

 

Edited January 21, 2022 by Alpaca

[Foxhall]

A return to normality is not necessarily a good thing for introverts,

had a call from someone this evening with whom we often confide in other over the years,

This person would describe themselves as introverted and enjoying time on their own,

all of a sudden now the old pressures to be socialising and things are back,

I found it interesting the anxiety she was portraying at the prospect of "having" to go to social engagements again,

So in a way covid restrictions have been good for introverts and they may need a little reassurance getting back out there again,

 

[Taramere]

On 1/21/2022 at 9:33 PM, Foxhall said:

A return to normality is not necessarily a good thing for introverts,

had a call from someone this evening with whom we often confide in other over the years,

This person would describe themselves as introverted and enjoying time on their own,

all of a sudden now the old pressures to be socialising and things are back,

 

A lot of people have also got used to working from home, getting pets during lockdown who aren't likely to take well to suddenly being left at home alone for most of the day etc.  There's a risk that people might encourage compliance with over authoritarian rules because life under those strict rules is really suiting them quite well.  I imposed a lockdown on myself, masks etc from about late January 2020 when we first started talking about this pandemic.  There were enjoyable aspects to it (in terms of the reduced pressure to socialise when I didn't feel up to it).  I did find myself laughed at by a few people who are now (in my view) overly officious about the rules.  Initially we were being told by experts that masks wouldn't help us, so if you wore a mask people thought you were being silly.  Those people who accept whatever the government's experts tell them to think and think anybody who doesn't is a crazy anti vaxer.

In the early stages we were being told we didn't need to wear masks because there was a shortage of PPE and they wanted to discourage people from buying it up for their own use.  Misleading commentary like that should have alerted people from an early stage that overreliance on government selected experts might not be the best idea.  I had ordered N95 masks (from China) and remember a shop assistant making disapproving comments about me doing so on the basis that any available PPE when it was needed by health workers.  The science on this has chopped and changed at times, for reasons that sometimes seem related to convenience rather than science - and in ways that rightly reduce a lot of people's confidence.

 I've had the vaccinations, because the alternative of not having them seems worse...but people who are fervent "stay the eff home...accept that life will never be the same again" etc etc scare me with their eagerness to comply with the most authoritarian measures we've ever seen.  With some of them I think it probably does stem from an enjoyment of introverted lifestyles becoming the norm.  And while I get that, having a tendency towards introversion, it's a tendency to be resisted due to its potential to manifest as unquestioning support for authoritarianism so long as it's packaged in ways that seem caring and nurturing.  When it starts to look less of those things and more of the far less palatable things we traditionally associate with authoritarianism, are they compliant too because they're so thoroughly invested in trusting these institutions that are getting more and more power over what we can do, who can go out shopping, who's allowed to take a flight etc?

Although they're certainly in the minority in my friends group, I know a few people who haven't been vaxxed and spend a lot of time making antivax comments.  I worry for them in terms of being at higher risk of getting seriously ill if they get covid, but if there's nobody out there cultivating that rebellious spirit, the authoritarianism will creep further and further into every aspect of our lives - until it's at a point where even the most introverted people find it's gone way further than they would have consented to.  This authoritarianism is delivered in soft, caring "in your best interests....only thinking about what's good for you and society" tones, and a lot of people readily accept that brand of benevolent sounding authority.  A lot of them will carry on accepting it as the authoritarian tones get more strident. I think we have more than just the pandemic to worry about right now (big concern though it continues to be).

Edited January 25, 2022 by Taramere

[Trail Blazer]

A few buddies of mine have caught Omicron in the last month, so I know it's out there and I'm probably going to get it at some stage as I believe we will all get it at some stage.

Have I changed my routines?  No, I haven't.  Other than thinking about whether I really need to go to the shops, I might go fewer times to get more things, but other than that, it's life as per usual.

I work interstate and have to fly to work, so I'm at the airport every three weeks.  I can't avoid the airport, or planes.  I also go to the gym and train in multiple martial art disciplines.  I do not want to give that up indefinitely.

If my state decides to lockdown at some point (at this stage there has been no indication to do so) then I will fully comply with all public health orders.  However, when the state is open, I will not limit my movements too much.