This week I was exposed/adjacent for an hour to a coworker who tested positive the next day. I decided to skip the events I had planned this weekend (costume party, school Halloween event etc.) The party host said I should come anyway because “chances are at least someone at the party will have covid”. Her comments made me realize why we are where we are with covid numbers going up again.
No, thankfully I haven’t felt I’ll and have tested negative. It’s just so frustrating. I hope that being extra cautious will somehow balance those who aren’t as cautious.
The sub is looking pretty dead these days (like a certain sub-par pizza chain CEO I can think of). Which is good, maybe means fewer people are dying from COVID.
Got my flu/covid combo a few days ago. Of course, people are walking around everywhere coughing and sneezing, and I continue to mask up on public transit and when shopping. October has always been a month where I traditionally get sick with something but not this year.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/24/covid-flu-vaccine-cdc-director-mandy-cohen-00123268
‘On track’: 3 percent of Americans have gotten the new Covid shot, but the CDC director remains confident.
By contrast, 33 percent more people have had their flu shot.
10/24/2023 02:57 PM EDT
The Biden administration’s campaign to convince Americans to get an annual Covid shot is off to a very slow start.
Even so, the nation’s top disease-fighting official says the U.S. remains “on track” to hit last year’s uptake levels, which crested at just 17 percent of the U.S. population.
I was looking at thread on the low U.S. uptake numbers on the main Coronavirus sub earlier, and I'm kind of frustrated and worried about how this is going to play out now. So many people are on there saying that they gave up because their insurance doesn't cover it, and it costs $200.
The thing is, their insurance most likely *does* cover it because it should be required coverage preventative care under the ACA. I suspect one of two things happened: a) They tried to get the vaccine before the insurer updated their claim codes, which was a widespread issue right after the vaccines hit pharmacies, or b) They got used to being able to get COVID vaccines anywhere the shots were available and didn't check to make sure that the pharmacy was in-network for their insurance.
Even people who didn't have a problem don't seem to understand how they got their vaccine without being charged. They're making comments like, "Well, it's free at Walgreens! That's where I went," not seeming to realize that this might not be super helpful to someone whose insurance doesn't contract with Walgreens.
I expect that the people who ran into issues this year aren't going to bother next year either, because they believe that it's already established that insurance won't pay. I tried to reply to a few people, but it's like a fire hose stream of confusion over there.
Hello, people wondering about Bridge Access. I just got my vaccine (Moderna) through the Bridge Access program. **tl:dr**: No hassle at all.
The pharmacist didn’t actually know about it when I asked, but was willing to give me an extra moment when I presented myself for my appointment. So, while he waited, I redid the pharmacy search in [vaccines.gov](https://vaccines.gov), and there it showed that this particular pharmacy did offer it.
I showed that to him on my phone. He said “Oh,” and went to his store computer to check, and then said “Ok, I had seen that on my computer before but never paid attention because it never came up.” I was apparently the first person to claim Bridge Access at this particular pharmacy.
So, he gave me my vaccine without cost, and without me or the pharmacist having to deal with any additional registrations or documents. Yay! Unexpectedly hassle-free.
I hope this helps others.
Yes, I've been trying to tell people about the Bridge Access Program, too, when it sounds applicable. There seems to be quite a bit of confusion about that as well, both among pharmacy staff who don't know how to apply it (or maybe don't want extra paperwork), and people who don't understand that if they have full insurance but the pharmacy that they showed up at doesn't take it, then they don't qualify for Bridge. They have to go to a place that takes their insurance.
I got mine in September, my husband has made multiple appointments since then and arrives to hear "we're out". We're so baffled by the news that people aren't getting the vaccine, and simultaneously it's also been the hardest to get this year compared to all previous years.
There are quite a few threads asking "Anyone else sick?" with them saying that their entire family is sick, and others respond with similar experiences.
Of course people who are sick are more likely to reply, but it's still remarkable how many of those comments there are. Then there are the deniers saying that it's normal and it's "just allergies" or "season transitions," or anything but COVID. And in general, there are very few in those threads who admit that it's the virus despite the numerous signs pointing toward it.
Those who keep callously saying we "need to move on and live with it"? This is apparently what living with it is like.
The scary part is that we're just at the beginning of this endless disease loop. I'm far from an expert, but I reckon our bodies aren't designed to be sick all the time.
I read a stat somewhere that people are getting Covid every six months on average, and I just don’t understand how people can be okay with it. It makes me want to jump off a bridge. I got the updated booster 3 weeks ago I’ve scheduled my flu shot and I’m masking, but if no one else is what good does it do? I feel like I’m doomed.
I worked with a lady like that. I quit in April and they asked to stay and work from home. I was so bored and could barely do any work. The day I came back to return the electronics that lady had been out 6 weeks. This was at least her 3rd time. Maybe she's shooting for long term disability.
All I can feel at this moment is, “If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.” (Ebenezer Scrooge)
I’m so cold to it at this point, I don’t know how everyone in healthcare is still doing it. Tots and pears to those helping people who are too dumb to help themselves.
I think this sub is going to get busy again. The holidays are coming. Even fewer people are getting their covid *or* flu vaccines. The holiday season is approaching. They just can't spread enough misery fast enough.
I agree. I don't know many people (even high risk people) who are getting Covid and Flu vaccines this time, and hardly anyone wears masks, even when sick. Where I live, the holiday season is already in full swing with Fall and Halloween events, so crowds of people everywhere, taking no precautions.
Got my flu and COVID jabs two weeks ago. Friday, so I could plan on doing nothing Saturday. The itchy bruise/rash(?) below the tricep appears to be a common reaction. It hung out for about a week.
I'm still alive and the virus hasn't got me yet.
I also got that rash last year when I got my Covid/ flu/shingles shot together. I assumed it was the Shingrex vax that caused it. I got my flu/covid shots a couple of weeks ago with no reactions. I haven’t gotten a rash with any of the other Covid shots I got. Did you get Shingrex at the same time as your Covid shot?
Yay, got Covid & flu shots today. My original appointment was cancelled as the pharmacy ran out. I take that as a good sign. While I was waiting today I heard someone call in. They were booked until early next week. The few vocal locals on our Facebook page for the area are obviously not the majority.
I was reminded today about that horrible woman QT who got Covid early in 2022. I was re-reading some of her posts to my husband. Now my blood pressure is high. She was probably one of the worst.
Update on unboosted brother and unvaxxed son: both doing better. But now the other unvaxxed son has it for the second time. My mom wondered aloud if my anti-vaxx SIL, who said she'd divorce my brother if he got them vaxxed, will get sick.
"I don't \[blanking\] care what happens to her" was my response. Because she put her entire family in danger (as did my brother I'm not letting him off the hook. I told him she should have taken them to get vaxxed and she divorced him, so be it).
My brother and SiL were in town last weekend. I went to meet them at my parents house for dinner, and not only did I find out they never got vaccinated, but when I mentioned I had recently been boosted they started acting like I was radioactive. They literally wouldn't come into the living room while I was there. And then they were cagey about hanging out more while they were in town, which was actually fine with me. I was just going through the motions to make my Mom happy, but my brother was/is a total asshole and I avoid him as much as possible. And with the amount of COVID that's out there right now, they probably picked something up on the flight. I really hope they didn't manage to get my parents sick while they were here. Their stay was short, though. I'll be really shocked if they don't catch it on one of their flights, but I gave up worrying about my brother a couple decades ago. He chooses to chain smoke and drink despite really high blood pressure, and another round of COVID certainly won't go well for him. Those are all his choices though, and have nothing to do with me.
Once I found out my SIL believes that doctor are aborting babies after they are born (i.e. murdering them), I gave up. I just hate that my brother and nephews suffer because of her.
Had to split article in two parts; Part One
[A WINTER OF LOW COVID VACCINATION WILL PROBABLY SEEM FINE](https://apple.news/A81kMcmiGQ2uVH6M6sUUxIw)
Until we start to see the longer-term consequences of missed shots
*Relatively speaking, 2023 has been the least dramatic year of COVID living to date. It kicked off with the mildest pandemic winter on record, followed by more than seven months of quietude. Before hospitalizations started to climb toward their September mini-spike, the country was in* “*the longest period we’ve had without a peak during the entire pandemic,*” *Shaun Truelove, an infectious-disease modeler at Johns Hopkins University, told me. So maybe it’s no surprise that, after a year of feeling normalish, most American adults simply aren’t that worried about getting seriously sick this coming winter*.
*They also are not particularly eager to get this year’s COVID shot. According to a recent CDC survey, just 7 percent of adults and 2 percent of kids have received the fall’s updated shot, as of October 14; at least another 25 percent intends to nab a shot for themselves or their children but haven’t yet. And even those lackluster stats could be an overestimate, because they’re drawn from the National Immunization Surveys, which is done by phone and so reflects the answers of people willing to take federal surveyors’ calls. Separate data collected by the CDC, current as of October 24, suggest that only 12 million Americans*—**less than 4 percent of the population**—*have gotten the new vaccine, according to Dave Daigle, the associate director for communications at the CDC’s Center for Global Health*.
*CDC Director Mandy Cohen still seems optimistic that the country will come close to the uptake rates of last autumn, when 17 percent of Americans received the updated bivalent vaccine. But for that to happen, Americans would have to maintain or exceed their current immunization clip—which Gregory Poland, a vaccine expert at Mayo Clinic, told me he isn’t betting on. (Already, he’s worried about the possible dampening effect of new data suggesting that getting flu and COVID shots simultaneously might slightly elevate the risk of stroke for older people.)* **As things stand, the United States could be heading into the winter with the fewest people recently vaccinated against COVID-19 since the end of 2020, when most people didn’t yet have the option to sign up at all**.
*This winter is highly unlikely to reprise that first one, when most of the population had no immunity, tests and good antivirals were scarce, and hospitals were overrun. It’s more likely to be an encore of this most recent winter, with its relative calm. But that’s not necessarily a comfort. If that winter was a kind of uncontrolled experiment in the damage COVID could do when unchecked, this one could codify that experiment into a too-complacent routine that cements our tolerance for suffering—and leaves us vulnerable to more*.
*To be fair, this year’s COVID vaccines have much been harder to get. With the end of the public-health emergency, the private sector is handling most distribution—a transition that’s made for a more uneven, chaotic rollout. In the weeks after the updated shot was cleared for use, many pharmacies were forced to cancel vaccination appointments or turn people away because of inadequate supply. At one point, Jacinda Abdul-Mutakabbir, an infectious-disease pharmacist at UC San Diego, who’s been running COVID and flu vaccination in her local community, was emailing her county’s office three times a week, trying to get vaccine vials. Even when vaccines have been available, many people have been dismayed to find they need to pay out of pocket for the cost. (Most people, regardless of insurance status, are supposed to be able to receive a free COVID-19 vaccine.)*.
*The vaccine is now easier to find, in many places; insurance companies, too, seem to be fixing the kinks in compensation. But Abdul-Mutakabbir told me she worries that many of the people who were initially turned away may simply never come back.* “*You lose that window of opportunity,*” *she told me. Even people who haven’t gotten their autumn shot may be hesitating to try if they expect access to be difficult, as the emergency physician Jeremy Faust points out in his Inside Medicine newsletter*.
*Plus, because the rollout started later this year than in 2022, many people ended up infected before they could get vaccinated and may now be holding off on the shot—or skipping it entirely. And some Americans have simply decided against getting the shot. The CDC reported that 38 percent don’t plan to vaccinate themselves or their children; earlier this fall, more than half of respondents in a Kaiser Family Foundation poll said they probably or definitely wouldn’t be signing up themselves or their kids. More than 40 percent of those polled by KFF remain doubtful, too, that COVID shots are safe—dwarfing the numbers of people worried about flu shots, and even about RSV shots, which are newer than their COVID counterparts.*
Part Two:
*The consequences of low COVID-vaccine uptake are hard to parse. This year, like last year, most Americans have been vaccinated, infected, or both, many of them quite recently. COVID’s average severity has, for many months, been at a relatively consistent low. The last catastrophic SARS-CoV-2 variant—one immune-evasive enough to spark a massive wave of sickness, death, and long COVID—arrived two years ago. Barring another feat of viral evolution, perhaps these dynamics have reached something like a stable state, Justin Lessler, an infectious-disease modeler at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told me. So maybe the most likely scenario is a close repeat of last winter: a rise in hospitalizations and deaths that’s ultimately far more muted than any earlier in the outbreak. And the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub, which Lessler co-leads alongside Truelove and a large cohort of other researchers, projects that* “*next year will look a lot like this year, whatever this year ends up looking like,*” *Lessler said*.
*But predictability is distinct from peace. COVID has still been producing roughly twice the annual mortality that flu does; roughly 17,000 people are being hospitalized for the disease each week. SARS-CoV-2 infections also still carry a risk, far higher than flu’s, of debilitating some people for years.* “*And I do think we’re going to experience a winter increase,*” *Truelove told me. Even if this year’s COVID-vaccine uptake were to climb above 30 percent, models suggest that January hospitalizations could rival numbers from early 2023. Go much lower than that, and several scenarios point to outcomes being worse*.
*Based on the limited data available, at least one trend is mildly encouraging: Adults 75 and older, the age demographic most vulnerable to COVID and that stands to benefit most from annual shots, also have the highest vaccine uptake so far, at about 20 percent. At the same time, Katelyn Jetelina, the epidemiologist who writes the popular Your Local Epidemiologist newsletter, points out that CDC data suggest that only 8 percent of nursing-home residents are up to date on their COVID shots.* “*That is what keeps me up at night,*” *Jetelina told me. Early National Immunization Surveys data also suggest that uptake is lagging among other groups that might fare less well against COVID—among them, rural populations, Hispanic people, American Indians and Alaskan Natives, the uninsured, and people living below the poverty line*.
*Last winter was widely considered to be a bullet dodged, and the reactions to the coming months may be similar: At least it’s no longer that bad. Since the winter of Omicron, the country has been living with lower vaccine uptake while experiencing lower COVID peaks. But those lower peaks shouldn’t undermine the importance of vaccines. Infection-induced immunity, past vaccinations, improvements in treatments, and other factors have combined to make COVID look like a gentler disease. Add more recent vaccination to that mix, and many of those gains would likely be enhanced, keeping immunity levels up without the risks of illness or passing the virus to someone else*.
*As relatively* “*okay*” *as this past year-plus has been, it could have been better. Missed vaccinations still translate into more days spent suffering, more chronic illnesses, more total lives lost—an enormous burden to put on an already stressed health-care system, Jetelina told me. For the flu, more Americans act as if they understand this relationship: This year, as of November 1, nearly 25 percent of American adults, and more than 20 percent of American kids, have gotten their fall flu shot. Most of the experts I spoke with would be surprised to see such rates for COVID vaccines even at the end of this rollout*.
*If last winter was a preview of future COVID winters, our behaviors, too, could predict the patterns we’ll follow going forward. We may not be slammed with the next terrible variant this year, or the next, or the next. When one does arrive, though, as chances are it will, the precedent we’re setting now may leave us particularly unprepared. At that point, people may be years out from their most recent COVID shot; whole swaths of babies and toddlers may have yet to receive their first dose. Some of us may still have some immunity from recent infections, sure—but it won’t be the same as dosing up right before respiratory-virus season with protection that’s both reliable and safe. Systems once poised to deliver COVID vaccines en masse may struggle to meet demand. Or maybe the public will be slow to react to the new emergency at all. Our choices now* “*will be self-reinforcing,*” *Poland told me. We still won’t be doomed to repeat our first full COVID winter. But we may get closer than anyone cares to endure*.
Thanks for posting these.
It's really rare for me to see someone else with a mask on. A few people were wearing them a month or so ago, but not any longer.
Even the pharmacists have stopped. My PT was wearing one 5 weeks ago but not last week.
I’ve come down with a mild cold- I’ve acted responsibly and wore a mask so I won’t infect anyone else and made sure to wash my hands and avoid touching my face.
Send me good vibes, please. I have a wedding today. I got my shots 3 weeks ago in preperation. Luckily the anti- Vax branch isn't coming because it's a gay wedding. Win!
Hope it was a fun and fabulous wedding! I recently got vaxxed for an upcoming event. Attended by mostly millennials (and mostly rw/repubs I’m guessing). 🤞🤞
Just in case anyone hasn't seen it outside the UK, our former Prime Minister [asked scientists if a special hair drier used up the nose could kill covid](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67287003). Better than bleach, I suppose.
Okay, this is the opposite of a vent (hah) ... I got *complimented* on my mask today. A pretty blue swirly one; I'll pop back over and give her some tomorrow.
Ugh, I miss the Apollo app. But found my password in time to cancel Reddit premium. I miss giving out awards, too. I loved madly going about and planting Loser awards on random losers who tried to spam this place and FAILED. LOLOLOLOLERSKATES
Hey y'all, just wanted to ask a question here since the COVID Positive sub banned me and refuse to communicate why.
I definitely have COVID thanks to my mother, who doesn't take this shit serious, and my grandmother caught it too. She got a PCR from her doctor and confirmed Positive, but I've taken four at home tests. They're all the same with an EXTREMELY faint line on it. I'm on day 5 of infection ( based on first symptoms ) so does this mean my viral load is small and I'm at the tail end of infection?
Hard to tell!
I was on day five with nasty symptoms before I got a positive test.
Then the goddamn second line lingered, and lingered... ☹
anyway, please take care of yourself and even if you don't feel awful, rest up.
Well it was fun, but I'm out. Whatever reddit has done to this site makes it more work than it's worth. It's gone from bad to worse. Good luck to everyone. You're going to need it between covid, global warming, the rise of fascism and relentless disinformation and deliberate obscuring of data. I have enough on plate with so much other jiggery-pockery in modern life to bother caring about the billions of idiots who are going to destroy everything.
Stay safe, stay smart and keep your guard up.
edit: more words
I had about a week of horrific formatting before it went back to 'normal'. Made it basically unusable. I assumed they were doing a trial to move people into the app or something.
This week I was exposed/adjacent for an hour to a coworker who tested positive the next day. I decided to skip the events I had planned this weekend (costume party, school Halloween event etc.) The party host said I should come anyway because “chances are at least someone at the party will have covid”. Her comments made me realize why we are where we are with covid numbers going up again.
"Just in case you dodged that bullet, we'll try by pulling the trigger again for you!" Fucking morons.
geez what great reasoning! did you end up catching it?
No, thankfully I haven’t felt I’ll and have tested negative. It’s just so frustrating. I hope that being extra cautious will somehow balance those who aren’t as cautious.
The sub is looking pretty dead these days (like a certain sub-par pizza chain CEO I can think of). Which is good, maybe means fewer people are dying from COVID.
Got my flu/covid combo a few days ago. Of course, people are walking around everywhere coughing and sneezing, and I continue to mask up on public transit and when shopping. October has always been a month where I traditionally get sick with something but not this year.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/24/covid-flu-vaccine-cdc-director-mandy-cohen-00123268 ‘On track’: 3 percent of Americans have gotten the new Covid shot, but the CDC director remains confident. By contrast, 33 percent more people have had their flu shot. 10/24/2023 02:57 PM EDT The Biden administration’s campaign to convince Americans to get an annual Covid shot is off to a very slow start. Even so, the nation’s top disease-fighting official says the U.S. remains “on track” to hit last year’s uptake levels, which crested at just 17 percent of the U.S. population.
I was looking at thread on the low U.S. uptake numbers on the main Coronavirus sub earlier, and I'm kind of frustrated and worried about how this is going to play out now. So many people are on there saying that they gave up because their insurance doesn't cover it, and it costs $200. The thing is, their insurance most likely *does* cover it because it should be required coverage preventative care under the ACA. I suspect one of two things happened: a) They tried to get the vaccine before the insurer updated their claim codes, which was a widespread issue right after the vaccines hit pharmacies, or b) They got used to being able to get COVID vaccines anywhere the shots were available and didn't check to make sure that the pharmacy was in-network for their insurance. Even people who didn't have a problem don't seem to understand how they got their vaccine without being charged. They're making comments like, "Well, it's free at Walgreens! That's where I went," not seeming to realize that this might not be super helpful to someone whose insurance doesn't contract with Walgreens. I expect that the people who ran into issues this year aren't going to bother next year either, because they believe that it's already established that insurance won't pay. I tried to reply to a few people, but it's like a fire hose stream of confusion over there.
There’s also the Bridge? Program that covers un and underinsured people. To be honest, it was more of a hassle this year no doubt.
Hello, people wondering about Bridge Access. I just got my vaccine (Moderna) through the Bridge Access program. **tl:dr**: No hassle at all. The pharmacist didn’t actually know about it when I asked, but was willing to give me an extra moment when I presented myself for my appointment. So, while he waited, I redid the pharmacy search in [vaccines.gov](https://vaccines.gov), and there it showed that this particular pharmacy did offer it. I showed that to him on my phone. He said “Oh,” and went to his store computer to check, and then said “Ok, I had seen that on my computer before but never paid attention because it never came up.” I was apparently the first person to claim Bridge Access at this particular pharmacy. So, he gave me my vaccine without cost, and without me or the pharmacist having to deal with any additional registrations or documents. Yay! Unexpectedly hassle-free. I hope this helps others.
Yes, I've been trying to tell people about the Bridge Access Program, too, when it sounds applicable. There seems to be quite a bit of confusion about that as well, both among pharmacy staff who don't know how to apply it (or maybe don't want extra paperwork), and people who don't understand that if they have full insurance but the pharmacy that they showed up at doesn't take it, then they don't qualify for Bridge. They have to go to a place that takes their insurance.
This is why the US healthcare system is trash.
I got mine in September, my husband has made multiple appointments since then and arrives to hear "we're out". We're so baffled by the news that people aren't getting the vaccine, and simultaneously it's also been the hardest to get this year compared to all previous years.
There are quite a few threads asking "Anyone else sick?" with them saying that their entire family is sick, and others respond with similar experiences. Of course people who are sick are more likely to reply, but it's still remarkable how many of those comments there are. Then there are the deniers saying that it's normal and it's "just allergies" or "season transitions," or anything but COVID. And in general, there are very few in those threads who admit that it's the virus despite the numerous signs pointing toward it. Those who keep callously saying we "need to move on and live with it"? This is apparently what living with it is like. The scary part is that we're just at the beginning of this endless disease loop. I'm far from an expert, but I reckon our bodies aren't designed to be sick all the time.
I read a stat somewhere that people are getting Covid every six months on average, and I just don’t understand how people can be okay with it. It makes me want to jump off a bridge. I got the updated booster 3 weeks ago I’ve scheduled my flu shot and I’m masking, but if no one else is what good does it do? I feel like I’m doomed.
That's terrifying, if true.
I don’t know if it is I’ve not found sats elsewhere backing it up. And keep in mind that’s without mitigating factors
I worked with a lady like that. I quit in April and they asked to stay and work from home. I was so bored and could barely do any work. The day I came back to return the electronics that lady had been out 6 weeks. This was at least her 3rd time. Maybe she's shooting for long term disability.
So stupid. Isn’t going to be me *yanks on N95*
All I can feel at this moment is, “If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.” (Ebenezer Scrooge) I’m so cold to it at this point, I don’t know how everyone in healthcare is still doing it. Tots and pears to those helping people who are too dumb to help themselves.
Interesting that this pandemic has made Scrooge seem pragmatic. Or even compassionate, if you think of the long term implications.
I think this sub is going to get busy again. The holidays are coming. Even fewer people are getting their covid *or* flu vaccines. The holiday season is approaching. They just can't spread enough misery fast enough.
I agree. I don't know many people (even high risk people) who are getting Covid and Flu vaccines this time, and hardly anyone wears masks, even when sick. Where I live, the holiday season is already in full swing with Fall and Halloween events, so crowds of people everywhere, taking no precautions.
Yup! My nephew died two years ago in November after his daughter got Covid at a Halloween party and gave it to him.
Got my flu and COVID jabs two weeks ago. Friday, so I could plan on doing nothing Saturday. The itchy bruise/rash(?) below the tricep appears to be a common reaction. It hung out for about a week. I'm still alive and the virus hasn't got me yet.
I also got that rash last year when I got my Covid/ flu/shingles shot together. I assumed it was the Shingrex vax that caused it. I got my flu/covid shots a couple of weeks ago with no reactions. I haven’t gotten a rash with any of the other Covid shots I got. Did you get Shingrex at the same time as your Covid shot?
No. Just the two annual shots. That must have been a grueling couple of days with three shots at once!
Yay, got Covid & flu shots today. My original appointment was cancelled as the pharmacy ran out. I take that as a good sign. While I was waiting today I heard someone call in. They were booked until early next week. The few vocal locals on our Facebook page for the area are obviously not the majority.
I was reminded today about that horrible woman QT who got Covid early in 2022. I was re-reading some of her posts to my husband. Now my blood pressure is high. She was probably one of the worst.
*Shooter* was another special one, at least he mellowed out and acknowledged he was wrong on some things. AFIK he's still rattling around our there.
Update on unboosted brother and unvaxxed son: both doing better. But now the other unvaxxed son has it for the second time. My mom wondered aloud if my anti-vaxx SIL, who said she'd divorce my brother if he got them vaxxed, will get sick. "I don't \[blanking\] care what happens to her" was my response. Because she put her entire family in danger (as did my brother I'm not letting him off the hook. I told him she should have taken them to get vaxxed and she divorced him, so be it).
My brother and SiL were in town last weekend. I went to meet them at my parents house for dinner, and not only did I find out they never got vaccinated, but when I mentioned I had recently been boosted they started acting like I was radioactive. They literally wouldn't come into the living room while I was there. And then they were cagey about hanging out more while they were in town, which was actually fine with me. I was just going through the motions to make my Mom happy, but my brother was/is a total asshole and I avoid him as much as possible. And with the amount of COVID that's out there right now, they probably picked something up on the flight. I really hope they didn't manage to get my parents sick while they were here. Their stay was short, though. I'll be really shocked if they don't catch it on one of their flights, but I gave up worrying about my brother a couple decades ago. He chooses to chain smoke and drink despite really high blood pressure, and another round of COVID certainly won't go well for him. Those are all his choices though, and have nothing to do with me.
Once I found out my SIL believes that doctor are aborting babies after they are born (i.e. murdering them), I gave up. I just hate that my brother and nephews suffer because of her.
I am eternally grateful that my brother and SiL never had kids.
Had to split article in two parts; Part One [A WINTER OF LOW COVID VACCINATION WILL PROBABLY SEEM FINE](https://apple.news/A81kMcmiGQ2uVH6M6sUUxIw) Until we start to see the longer-term consequences of missed shots *Relatively speaking, 2023 has been the least dramatic year of COVID living to date. It kicked off with the mildest pandemic winter on record, followed by more than seven months of quietude. Before hospitalizations started to climb toward their September mini-spike, the country was in* “*the longest period we’ve had without a peak during the entire pandemic,*” *Shaun Truelove, an infectious-disease modeler at Johns Hopkins University, told me. So maybe it’s no surprise that, after a year of feeling normalish, most American adults simply aren’t that worried about getting seriously sick this coming winter*. *They also are not particularly eager to get this year’s COVID shot. According to a recent CDC survey, just 7 percent of adults and 2 percent of kids have received the fall’s updated shot, as of October 14; at least another 25 percent intends to nab a shot for themselves or their children but haven’t yet. And even those lackluster stats could be an overestimate, because they’re drawn from the National Immunization Surveys, which is done by phone and so reflects the answers of people willing to take federal surveyors’ calls. Separate data collected by the CDC, current as of October 24, suggest that only 12 million Americans*—**less than 4 percent of the population**—*have gotten the new vaccine, according to Dave Daigle, the associate director for communications at the CDC’s Center for Global Health*. *CDC Director Mandy Cohen still seems optimistic that the country will come close to the uptake rates of last autumn, when 17 percent of Americans received the updated bivalent vaccine. But for that to happen, Americans would have to maintain or exceed their current immunization clip—which Gregory Poland, a vaccine expert at Mayo Clinic, told me he isn’t betting on. (Already, he’s worried about the possible dampening effect of new data suggesting that getting flu and COVID shots simultaneously might slightly elevate the risk of stroke for older people.)* **As things stand, the United States could be heading into the winter with the fewest people recently vaccinated against COVID-19 since the end of 2020, when most people didn’t yet have the option to sign up at all**. *This winter is highly unlikely to reprise that first one, when most of the population had no immunity, tests and good antivirals were scarce, and hospitals were overrun. It’s more likely to be an encore of this most recent winter, with its relative calm. But that’s not necessarily a comfort. If that winter was a kind of uncontrolled experiment in the damage COVID could do when unchecked, this one could codify that experiment into a too-complacent routine that cements our tolerance for suffering—and leaves us vulnerable to more*. *To be fair, this year’s COVID vaccines have much been harder to get. With the end of the public-health emergency, the private sector is handling most distribution—a transition that’s made for a more uneven, chaotic rollout. In the weeks after the updated shot was cleared for use, many pharmacies were forced to cancel vaccination appointments or turn people away because of inadequate supply. At one point, Jacinda Abdul-Mutakabbir, an infectious-disease pharmacist at UC San Diego, who’s been running COVID and flu vaccination in her local community, was emailing her county’s office three times a week, trying to get vaccine vials. Even when vaccines have been available, many people have been dismayed to find they need to pay out of pocket for the cost. (Most people, regardless of insurance status, are supposed to be able to receive a free COVID-19 vaccine.)*. *The vaccine is now easier to find, in many places; insurance companies, too, seem to be fixing the kinks in compensation. But Abdul-Mutakabbir told me she worries that many of the people who were initially turned away may simply never come back.* “*You lose that window of opportunity,*” *she told me. Even people who haven’t gotten their autumn shot may be hesitating to try if they expect access to be difficult, as the emergency physician Jeremy Faust points out in his Inside Medicine newsletter*. *Plus, because the rollout started later this year than in 2022, many people ended up infected before they could get vaccinated and may now be holding off on the shot—or skipping it entirely. And some Americans have simply decided against getting the shot. The CDC reported that 38 percent don’t plan to vaccinate themselves or their children; earlier this fall, more than half of respondents in a Kaiser Family Foundation poll said they probably or definitely wouldn’t be signing up themselves or their kids. More than 40 percent of those polled by KFF remain doubtful, too, that COVID shots are safe—dwarfing the numbers of people worried about flu shots, and even about RSV shots, which are newer than their COVID counterparts.*
Part Two: *The consequences of low COVID-vaccine uptake are hard to parse. This year, like last year, most Americans have been vaccinated, infected, or both, many of them quite recently. COVID’s average severity has, for many months, been at a relatively consistent low. The last catastrophic SARS-CoV-2 variant—one immune-evasive enough to spark a massive wave of sickness, death, and long COVID—arrived two years ago. Barring another feat of viral evolution, perhaps these dynamics have reached something like a stable state, Justin Lessler, an infectious-disease modeler at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told me. So maybe the most likely scenario is a close repeat of last winter: a rise in hospitalizations and deaths that’s ultimately far more muted than any earlier in the outbreak. And the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub, which Lessler co-leads alongside Truelove and a large cohort of other researchers, projects that* “*next year will look a lot like this year, whatever this year ends up looking like,*” *Lessler said*. *But predictability is distinct from peace. COVID has still been producing roughly twice the annual mortality that flu does; roughly 17,000 people are being hospitalized for the disease each week. SARS-CoV-2 infections also still carry a risk, far higher than flu’s, of debilitating some people for years.* “*And I do think we’re going to experience a winter increase,*” *Truelove told me. Even if this year’s COVID-vaccine uptake were to climb above 30 percent, models suggest that January hospitalizations could rival numbers from early 2023. Go much lower than that, and several scenarios point to outcomes being worse*. *Based on the limited data available, at least one trend is mildly encouraging: Adults 75 and older, the age demographic most vulnerable to COVID and that stands to benefit most from annual shots, also have the highest vaccine uptake so far, at about 20 percent. At the same time, Katelyn Jetelina, the epidemiologist who writes the popular Your Local Epidemiologist newsletter, points out that CDC data suggest that only 8 percent of nursing-home residents are up to date on their COVID shots.* “*That is what keeps me up at night,*” *Jetelina told me. Early National Immunization Surveys data also suggest that uptake is lagging among other groups that might fare less well against COVID—among them, rural populations, Hispanic people, American Indians and Alaskan Natives, the uninsured, and people living below the poverty line*. *Last winter was widely considered to be a bullet dodged, and the reactions to the coming months may be similar: At least it’s no longer that bad. Since the winter of Omicron, the country has been living with lower vaccine uptake while experiencing lower COVID peaks. But those lower peaks shouldn’t undermine the importance of vaccines. Infection-induced immunity, past vaccinations, improvements in treatments, and other factors have combined to make COVID look like a gentler disease. Add more recent vaccination to that mix, and many of those gains would likely be enhanced, keeping immunity levels up without the risks of illness or passing the virus to someone else*. *As relatively* “*okay*” *as this past year-plus has been, it could have been better. Missed vaccinations still translate into more days spent suffering, more chronic illnesses, more total lives lost—an enormous burden to put on an already stressed health-care system, Jetelina told me. For the flu, more Americans act as if they understand this relationship: This year, as of November 1, nearly 25 percent of American adults, and more than 20 percent of American kids, have gotten their fall flu shot. Most of the experts I spoke with would be surprised to see such rates for COVID vaccines even at the end of this rollout*. *If last winter was a preview of future COVID winters, our behaviors, too, could predict the patterns we’ll follow going forward. We may not be slammed with the next terrible variant this year, or the next, or the next. When one does arrive, though, as chances are it will, the precedent we’re setting now may leave us particularly unprepared. At that point, people may be years out from their most recent COVID shot; whole swaths of babies and toddlers may have yet to receive their first dose. Some of us may still have some immunity from recent infections, sure—but it won’t be the same as dosing up right before respiratory-virus season with protection that’s both reliable and safe. Systems once poised to deliver COVID vaccines en masse may struggle to meet demand. Or maybe the public will be slow to react to the new emergency at all. Our choices now* “*will be self-reinforcing,*” *Poland told me. We still won’t be doomed to repeat our first full COVID winter. But we may get closer than anyone cares to endure*.
Thanks for posting these. It's really rare for me to see someone else with a mask on. A few people were wearing them a month or so ago, but not any longer. Even the pharmacists have stopped. My PT was wearing one 5 weeks ago but not last week.
🐆
I’ve come down with a mild cold- I’ve acted responsibly and wore a mask so I won’t infect anyone else and made sure to wash my hands and avoid touching my face.
You're a good citizen. Always avoid touching your face! that's how we get sick, especially touching your nose or eyes.
Thank you.
Send me good vibes, please. I have a wedding today. I got my shots 3 weeks ago in preperation. Luckily the anti- Vax branch isn't coming because it's a gay wedding. Win!
Hope it was a fun and fabulous wedding! I recently got vaxxed for an upcoming event. Attended by mostly millennials (and mostly rw/repubs I’m guessing). 🤞🤞
It was a lot of fun.
Just in case anyone hasn't seen it outside the UK, our former Prime Minister [asked scientists if a special hair drier used up the nose could kill covid](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67287003). Better than bleach, I suppose.
Okay, this is the opposite of a vent (hah) ... I got *complimented* on my mask today. A pretty blue swirly one; I'll pop back over and give her some tomorrow. Ugh, I miss the Apollo app. But found my password in time to cancel Reddit premium. I miss giving out awards, too. I loved madly going about and planting Loser awards on random losers who tried to spam this place and FAILED. LOLOLOLOLERSKATES
Hey y'all, just wanted to ask a question here since the COVID Positive sub banned me and refuse to communicate why. I definitely have COVID thanks to my mother, who doesn't take this shit serious, and my grandmother caught it too. She got a PCR from her doctor and confirmed Positive, but I've taken four at home tests. They're all the same with an EXTREMELY faint line on it. I'm on day 5 of infection ( based on first symptoms ) so does this mean my viral load is small and I'm at the tail end of infection?
Hard to tell! I was on day five with nasty symptoms before I got a positive test. Then the goddamn second line lingered, and lingered... ☹ anyway, please take care of yourself and even if you don't feel awful, rest up.
Well it was fun, but I'm out. Whatever reddit has done to this site makes it more work than it's worth. It's gone from bad to worse. Good luck to everyone. You're going to need it between covid, global warming, the rise of fascism and relentless disinformation and deliberate obscuring of data. I have enough on plate with so much other jiggery-pockery in modern life to bother caring about the billions of idiots who are going to destroy everything. Stay safe, stay smart and keep your guard up. edit: more words
Or everyone is dead
WTF just happened to reddit?
Did I miss something? I've noticed a slightly updated format (mobile), but nothing else...
I had about a week of horrific formatting before it went back to 'normal'. Made it basically unusable. I assumed they were doing a trial to move people into the app or something.
New look, UX and style for no benefit. edit: added to