Coronavirus

[pumpkinpi]

Scheduled a booster for tomorrow. These days it turns out I qualify as someone working in education, and it's not like there's a lack of supply, and I have a bit of travel lined up for work and then the holidays so decided why not. Now I just need to figure out if I want to mix and match and get a Moderna one if I had Pfizer!

Sure hoping I'm not as out of it as I was after booster 2, because it wasn't super enjoyable, but anecdotally it sounds like most people don't have as strong a reaction the third time around.

I didn't have as strong of a reaction with shot 3 as shot 2, but I've heard that some people do. At this point I haven't heard of anyone that had the exact same reaction as anyone else. So your body's gonna do what your body's gonna do! So good luck this weekend!

[Rommie]

Yeah I'm mainly annoyed bc we were finally gonna try and get tickets to see Dune (really want to see it in Imax), and now gonna probably delay that again bc I don't want to buy tickets in advance for Saturday night, and F has to work Sunday night. Well, if this is the biggest inconvenience of the pandemic I guess it's ok.

[pumpkinpi]

Buster's school policy of only sending "close contacts" home to quarantine has not been working well in 6th grade. They've had 10 positive cases since October 2021. So after kids come home today, they can't go back to school until the provide a negative PCR test (unless they are one of the recovered positive cases in the past 90 days, or are fully vaccinated.) We'll test him anyway this weekend, and Rooster too.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Got both doses of the Chinese vaccine.

Yee haw!

[Thumper]

Talked with my doc Thursday about getting a booster. He recommended it. I'm not on any "should get it" list. I think we'll both try sometime soon. I've had 7 sticks in the last year and due to get Typhoid oral and Hep booster stick in Jan for my upcoming trip to Ecuador. So I'm fairly vaccinated at this point.

[lady_*nix]

@Thumper, IMO your doc is right. Get the booster.

- First because COVID is horrible stuff, and even two doses leaves a bit wanting vs recent variants. (And the more protected you are, the more protected your family is.)

- Second because, if you're traveling, it's extra important not to spread COVID, esp. in less wealthy countries where the vax may be less available. A lot of the superspreader issues in this pandemic have been from tourists and rich people bouncing around by plane while sick, and finding ways to avoid quarantine. This (again) is especially a concern with new variants, which double-dosed people can carry contagiously without symptoms.

- Third because despite what a lot of epidemiologists have been saying about boosters being morally indefensible, the lack of vaccine availability is Capitalism Problems and not something you can personally impact. It's not on you that the vaccines for an ongoing deadly pandemic are treated as protected IP, prioritizing the profits of shareholders over the lives of everyone else. Avoiding a booster out of ethical concerns is not going to help get more vaccines to places without them.

[Rommie]

Yeah, I similarly only very loosely qualify, but had no qualms getting the jab because of a lot of holiday travel etc coming up. Plus F picked up a few hours in a workhouse (long story) and someone tested positive in the first week, so figured why not if I remotely qualify (he of course also got boostered and tested). So, chill weekend (took a nap Saturday afternoon, but never felt sick like the last time), but the wild thing is my arm isn't sore yet but my armpit is- the lymph node there is also visibly swollen. So, I guess my body is doing what it should.

So, want to hear a wild story? Was talking to my mom yesterday, and apparently my aunt in Hungary is set to visit her daughter/grandkids in the UK, but has a cold. My mom asks if she's getting tested but aunt said no, you don't need to for the UK if fully vaccinated... but it's weird, she lost her sense of smell that morning! And then it turns out, I have a cousin who had a baby this spring and just never got vaccinated because she was worried for the baby (like, thought breastfeeding was risky or something?) and her husband apparently just never bothered, and they've been sick for two weeks so their older kid who's 4 has been at grandma/grandpa's. (Side note, this cousin did a pharmacy course and has a graduate degree in ecology, so I never thought she'd be that hesitant.) Also, it should be noted that the cousin in the UK has been a bit weird for many years now, and def isn't vaccinated either.

Anyway, I'm sure from some of my stories you all wondered at what point my mother draws the line on worrying about covid, but it turns out we have found it, my mom thinks my aunt is nuts. Not sure if she convinced my aunt to get tested though.

[lady_*nix]

@Rommie: oof. I hope all of them get only mild symptoms and recover okay.

And then it turns out, I have a cousin who had a baby this spring and just never got vaccinated because she was worried for the baby (like, thought breastfeeding was risky or something?)

The misinformation being thrown at pregnant women makes me so mad TBH. They one of the highest risk groups for death and disability from COVID, and the vaccine has proven to be safe during pregnancy. But a lot of GPs still advise their pregnant patients to skip the vaccine, and there are IIRC still countries where COVID vaccines are refused for people who are pregnant.

[Rommie]

Yeah, and how do I put this... Hungarians are IMO very conspiracy theory prone. It's very common in former/current dictatorial countries where you can't trust the media, so there is a push to legit figure out what's going on, and then that inevitably allows for a lot of crazy stuff too.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Yeah, and how do I put this... Hungarians are IMO very conspiracy theory prone. It's very common in former/current dictatorial countries where you can't trust the media, so there is a push to legit figure out what's going on, and then that inevitably allows for a lot of crazy stuff too.

Yeah, it's pretty common down here as well.

[SciFiFisher]

Apparently, the anti-vax crowd is not isolated to just the U.S. or random former Eastern Bloc countries. There are vaccine protests going on in Norway. https://youtu.be/u0TtGfTtApY

[Rommie]

Oh yeah, every country has one. The Dutch currently have some level of lockdown (restaurants/bars close at 8pm for example) and it's because there it's the really religious people who don't vaccinate (didn't in the past either). Austria has a lower vaccination rate than the USA right now, and has the worst surge they've had this pandemic, to the point of requiring everyone to get it.

It was interesting btw, I met with my old PhD promoter last Friday (he was in California where I was, so we finally got to toast the PhD!), and he said when he was in the Netherlands in September it was downright weird how much everyone was ignoring covid. Definitely no mask wearing, even in the university the rule was you had to wear one in the hall but not if someone was meeting with you in your office, and on public transit where they're required most people just wore them with their nose out (or didn't). Sounded very middle-of-the-USA of them!

[lady_*nix]

@Fisher, @Rommie

Germany as well as Norway, and particularly IIRC in regions known for being less thoroughly de-Nazified. In Europe as in the US, the Venn diagram of anti-vaxxers and fascists has a lot of overlap.

[Rommie]

Eh, no. Plenty of non-Nazi countries like Russia and the UK have ardent anti-vaxx populations. Associated with right wing movements, sure, but just saying it's more in countries that had Nazis at one point is far too simplistic.

[pumpkinpi]

I just had my first "I'm not shaking hands anymore" moment when I met someone new and they reached out their hand to me. Of course I felt like I was insulting them. But I'm sure I will get used to it.

[Thumper]

Fist bumps or elbow taps...

[SciFiFisher]

I just had my first "I'm not shaking hands anymore" moment when I met someone new and they reached out their hand to me. Of course I felt like I was insulting them. But I'm sure I will get used to it.

I usually jump in when it is that moment when a handshake is usually exchanged and say "I would offer to shake your hand but that is no longer recommended. I think we are supposed to bump elbows now." It usually relaxes everyone and I get a smile and an wave of their elbow in the air.

[lady_*nix]

Looks like we have incoming.

'Heavily mutated coronavirus variant puts scientists on alert
Researchers are racing to determine whether a fast-spreading variant in South Africa poses a threat to COVID vaccines’ effectiveness.'

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03552-w

“A burning question is ‘does it reduce vaccine effectiveness, because it has so many changes?’,” says Aris Katzourakis, who studies virus evolution at the University of Oxford, UK. Moore says breakthrough infections have been reported in South Africa among people who have received any of the three kinds of vaccines in use there, from Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer–BioNTech and Oxford–AstraZeneca. Two quarantined travellers in Hong Kong who have tested positive for the variant were vaccinated with the Pfizer jab, according to news reports. One individual had travelled from South Africa; the other was infected during hotel quarantining.

Remember y'all, public health is *public*. Any spread among the unvaccinated, immunocompromised, etc. carries a risk of mutations that worsen the disease, increase its vaccine resistance, etc. Vaccine nationalism, medical patents, and "every man for himself LOL" are what got us here; where "here" is staring down the barrel of an even more transmissible, possibly more lethal, and likely more vaccine resistant wave of infection.

I think it's a safe bet that at least half of US infections will be the Nu/B.1.1.529 variant before the winter is over. Stay safe, take care of yourselves, Be Prepared.

[pumpkinpi]

Oh my gosh, I'm super anxious today. Rooster is scheduled for her 2nd shot. This is really happening--after that's done the countdown is on, nothing can stop her from being fully vaccinated! So I'm nervous that we won't be able to get there. I have to leave a work meeting early, and pick up the kids early from school. I want to be there early enough to avoid the parent pick up line. (I have never had to do that. The kids take the bus or go to after school care. But I hear it's not pleasant, you either have to get their way early to be first in line, or have to wait forever. It sounds like the parking lot is a mess.) Then the pharmacy is at a Target a bit farther away than our usual one so I worry about traffic. I know most of my worries are unfounded. The pickup and traffic will be fine. And if for some reason we don't make the appointment, it's not like we can't find another place. But still--this is like the biggest fucking deal in over 20 months. To know that she's safe, to know that we're all less at risk for getting sick and having to quarantine.....I'm so looking forward to it! Come 3pm this afternoon we hope to be celebrating!!!

[SciFiFisher]

Oh my gosh, I'm super anxious today. Rooster is scheduled for her 2nd shot. This is really happening--after that's done the countdown is on, nothing can stop her from being fully vaccinated! So I'm nervous that we won't be able to get there. I have to leave a work meeting early, and pick up the kids early from school. I want to be there early enough to avoid the parent pick up line. (I have never had to do that. The kids take the bus or go to after school care. But I hear it's not pleasant, you either have to get their way early to be first in line, or have to wait forever. It sounds like the parking lot is a mess.) Then the pharmacy is at a Target a bit farther away than our usual one so I worry about traffic. I know most of my worries are unfounded. The pickup and traffic will be fine. And if for some reason we don't make the appointment, it's not like we can't find another place. But still--this is like the biggest fucking deal in over 20 months. To know that she's safe, to know that we're all less at risk for getting sick and having to quarantine.....I'm so looking forward to it! Come 3pm this afternoon we hope to be celebrating!!!

That is such great news! Yeah, after school pick up congestion is a thing everywhere.

[Thumper]

After school pick up lines are a national menace. We didn't have them back in my day.

So hope you made it through and she got her shot.

In other news, Mrs. T got her booster Tuesday and is doing fine. Although I've gotten 7 vaccinations this year, two last year and two more to come in January (Read: trip to Ecuador), I'm going to get my covid booster in a week. Woo hoo.

[pumpkinpi]

There were already about 15 cars lined up a half hour before the end of the school day. I feel so sorry for the parents who have to do that every day!

Rooster did great with her shot. She had a bit of a headache the next evening, but that's all. And I didn't even cry!

[Thumper]

Woohoo!

[Rommie]

Monday we went home from the airport (because who needs to be in the office by Monday after a holiday any more, work on the plane then from home!) and were super confused about all the traffic on one road near our house. Realized it was the nearby middle school that had let out- didn't know that happened every day!

So, over the break, had a frustrating convo with my mom. For reasons that generate eye rolls from the rest of the family, she's decided she doesn't need to bother with the covid booster, despite getting J&J well over six months ago from now. A lot of "we don't know if it really does anything!" and general fatalism about how basically if it's meant to be it's meant to be... and I'm pretty sure we can all agree here how frustrating that attitude is. Anyway, didn't really directly discuss it with her until the last day of Thanksgiving break, where like I know she would she asked what I wanted for Christmas this year, and I told her it was that she gets her booster. Because I knew she'd just start off by saying it's not a big deal, I just calmly told her it was a big deal to me, so if it wasn't for her why not just get the booster so I don't worry? Then told her to get a Pfizer one so she's supporting Katalin Kariko (mom is, paradoxically for someone vaccine hesitant, a huge fan), when she got all "you know this isn't a huge risk, right?" I said "maybe, but I probably wasn't going to get meningitis in college but you got me vaccinated for that anyway" and, well, hopefully I hit the right notes.

To be clear, I'm pretty sure next time my mom goes into the doctor's office she'd get one. But I don't think that would be for a few months, and I'd just really like her to get one now because my mom is very much in the "thinks they're not old and are healthy, but when you're over 65 how true is that really" category. Ugh!

[SciFiFisher]

Interesting how people seem to justify things and seem very sensible at least to them.