Coronavirus

[pumpkinpi]

Ah that's interesting, here you are allowed to eat/drink with others, just be masked if you're not actively eating/drinking. Which in the morning coffee gathering quickly morphs into people just not being masked.

It's not a legally mandated rule in my workplace, just a guideline we're expected to follow. After we eat many of us have to go out on the museum floor and interact with visitors. So we're overly cautious.

[Rommie]

My department just surprised everyone by having a pretty good idea- Thursday is the first "bring yourself to work day" of what we promise will be several this semester. First in person colloquium, scheduled meet-and-greets across various groups, etc. I'm pretty excited and am encouraging all us younger folks to go, because I have the sneaky suspicion that if it's a success they'll take wind out of the sails of those who think we should have mandates on working hours (which I say as someone who regularly comes in all the time, and just wants the option to WFH on occasion if I want to!). This coincides with the fact that as of next week the federal/Smithsonian employees are no longer restricted from entering the building, provided they do the weekly testing etc. I'm curious to see how quickly it'll fill up!

That reminds me, how are mask mandates around you guys right now? Because this is undoubtedly one of the most conservative areas of the country in terms of mask mandates, but several small towns immediately around us are now dropping them (or have said the date by which they will). My main curiosity here is whether it'll be dropped at work- I don't mind wearing one now that much, mind, but am also alone in my office and suspect I'll be getting one office mate sooner over later. So with cases dropping so much, and everyone on campus required to be boostered/ getting tested weekly, it'd be nice to not have to sit in a mask all day when around just one other person.

[SciFiFisher]

New York dropped mandatory masking last week for the most part. Schools were not on the list. They decided to wait a few more weeks before deciding that. Local districts still have the authority to mandate them but around here (Eire County) the attitude seems to be "I don't have to and I am not going to" for a lot of people. Still about 1/3 of the people wearing them. All of the businesses I have gone to still have the employees masking up.

[pumpkinpi]

My work and the kids' school and activities still have mask mandates. That's all that matters to me because they are the only places where we spend a significant amount of time. Only a few cities around the area had them.

[Rommie]

So it's interesting- as mandates drop around us, there's a definite patchwork around the towns here. Went out to Concord, MA (20min drive from our house) on Sunday, and about half the stores still had signs requesting masks and everyone did so. In stores that didn't, it was not unusual to see everyone wearing a mask even if the proprieter did not- I confess in my case it was just easier to wear one by default if half the stores request you do and half don't!

Then yesterday I was biking through Arlington, next town over from us, and saw a CVS and wanted to go in because we're basically out of surgical masks due to the huge demand lately. Turns out they also no longer have a mandate, and they did have masks! (Presumably one correlates with the other somewhat.) So I confess just because I thought it was funny I bought a stack of masks while unmasked. Pandemic humor, I suppose.

[SciFiFisher]

So it's interesting- as mandates drop around us, there's a definite patchwork around the towns here. Went out to Concord, MA (20min drive from our house) on Sunday, and about half the stores still had signs requesting masks and everyone did so. In stores that didn't, it was not unusual to see everyone wearing a mask even if the proprieter did not- I confess in my case it was just easier to wear one by default if half the stores request you do and half don't!

Then yesterday I was biking through Arlington, next town over from us, and saw a CVS and wanted to go in because we're basically out of surgical masks due to the huge demand lately. Turns out they also no longer have a mandate, and they did have masks! (Presumably one correlates with the other somewhat.) So I confess just because I thought it was funny I bought a stack of masks while unmasked. Pandemic humor, I suppose.

Well, there is that. I have had a hard time finding masks at times.

[lady_*nix]

@Fisher (and everyone), I've had good luck with Masklab: https://masklab.us/

Edit: they currently have a 66% off sale on 3-ply surgical masks: https://masklab.us/collections/classic- ... sk-50-pack I know N95 and equiv are recommended what with Omicron, but a surgical mask + a cloth mask to improve the seal is still pretty effective.

[Rommie]

Quick side note, I know the pandemic's not over but I do think the last few days is the first time it didn't dominate the headlines thanks to Ukraine. How nuts is it that the CDC released new guidelines on Friday, and basically no one noticed if you weren't paying attention?

You can split hairs, but we are certainly in a different head space to when I started this thread two years ago.

[SciFiFisher]

Sadly, I am happy that the daily death count in the U.S. has dropped below 1500 deaths per day. Sigh. At least it is finally headed in the right direction. And we have 66% of the population who are fully vaccinated. @Rommie, yes the Ukraine thing has definitely dominated the news cycle.

[Rommie]

So, I know y'all are probably light years ahead of us on this, but the mask mandates are finally all dropping here. The People's Republic of Cambridge is the last holdout with the mandate ending on Friday, so starting next week masks are optional at Harvard excepting some circumstances. As an arguable sign of the times though, I'm not gonna be here for that momentous event because I'm heading to my first ever conference! Where, it should be noted, they do indeed require everyone to be masked and boostered.

But yeah, went shopping last weekend for "conference pants" (whaddaya mean I can't give talks in sweats any more when it's not on Zoom!?) at a mall here in Boston, and did a double take because you didn't need to mask up any more and I wasn't expecting it. I'd say maybe half the people still wore them anyway though.

That said, I confess I've no real interest in masking up if it's not required/requested. My supervisor is a little weirded out by the mandate dropping because just last week two of his students tested positive, so had everyone in his class not been masked he probably would have taken it home to his little kids, one of whom can't be vaccinated still. Which I 100% get, and I told him up front that if he wants to keep masking during meetings I will too. But IDK, I feel if I get tested weekly still at work and don't have anyone I'd give it to at home I'd worry about, I'll be a subversive.

Btw, public transit masking requirement expires March 18. Very curious what they do there!

[lady_*nix]

Ugh... Public transit mandate dropping is going to make visiting my parents a lot harder for me. Or going anywhere on the MBTA, frankly.

And IDK why everyone is so anxious to give up masking in public. It's not a big deal to wear a mask, it's still a big deal to get infected (esp. if you're immunocompromised/have multiple chronic illnesses like me), COVID can cause permanent disability even in fully vaxxed people etc.; and it's basically a given that we're going to get caught flatfooted next winter, with yet another immune escape variant.

See also here: https://data.rgj.com/covid-19-hospital- ... nty/25025/ Plenty of ICUs are still stuffed with COVID patients.

I'm not trying to rain on people's parade, I'm just fucking exhausted. Let's actually play things cautiously this time and stop being so poisonously optimistic, instead of just going "eh whatever" and cheerfully agreeing that disabled people don't deserve to be safe in public. (And then getting caught with our pants down yet again by this fucking virus.)

Edit: that was probably a bit harsh, but I'll let it stand. Like I said, I'm exhausted.

[lady_*nix]

Now here's something interesting: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-022-00919-x

COVID infects and kills T-cells directly, and using a mechanism other than the usual spike protein/ACE2 one. This might play a role in why infection immunity lasts such a short time vs. vaccine immunity.

It also worries me re: future variants, because it may present a way the virus can more completely evade the vaccine.

[Rommie]

FUUUUU...

In-laws were supposed to finally fly in today from the Netherlands for a two week visit- as you can recall, they were thwarted in August, and then again in November. We were gonna go down to Florida for Easter, and catch up with my folks too, etc etc.

Anyway, guess whose father in law tested positive for the PCR test yesterday to come to the USA?

For the record, he's doing fine, just a bit of a cold (he's also double boosted by now), MiL has no symptoms but obviously is assuming she's gonna get it now. (And, interestingly, his at-home test was negative.) Just really disappointing all around! Assuming they recover normally, gonna see if we can get them over for Mother's Day or something, because yeesh, three canceled trips in under a year is a lot.

[lady_*nix]

Oh no... I'm sorry Rommie

And yeah I was just reading about this re the tests. The at-home antibody tests are less accurate, they only give positives for infections 75% of the time. (Though not sure if that's just their nature, or due mostly to Omicron not clicking with the antibodies as much.) PCR on the other hand is 99% accurate regardless.

And yeah, IDK if you've been tracking the wastewater stats, but viral RNA has been going up steadily: https://www.mwra.com/biobot/biobotdata.htm

I just decided to bail on seeing my parents for Passover because of this. Especially with all my chronic shit, the third vaccine dose wearing off, and my dad being on chemo... the risk is not worth it.

[SciFiFisher]

Yes, unfortunately, the at home tests are not quite as good at detecting COVID. Based on what I have been able to determine from the CDC and other sources the at home tests are best for ruling COVID in vs out. If you have a negative test and some symptoms you probably need a PCR test to really know if it is COVID. If you have been exposed and the at home test is negative and you have no symptoms you are more likely negative. Apparently, you have to have a pretty high viral load to trigger the at home tests.

And, my condolences Rommie. It must really suck to have this keep happening.

[lady_*nix]

Welp, wastewater RNA numbers are skyrocketing again. https://www.mwra.com/biobot/biobotdata.htm

Anecdotally it seems like an awful lot of fully vaxxed/boosted people getting sick too. Not dying sure, but their symptoms still make flu look like a cakewalk, and the risk of permanent disability is still high... and also immunity to the newer Omicron variants only lasts a few months at best, sometimes just a few weeks. So even if you're fully vaxxed you can just get infected over and over again, and every time is Russian roulette with a 10% chance of serious (and possibly lifelong) disability.

And govts (worldwide, not just the US) are talking like the pandemic is over, or almost over. This is fucking nuts. How do nations think they'll survive when a quarter of their population gets too disabled to work? A third? Half?

Anway RIP my plans to see my dad again before he dies, or hang out with new friends this summer, or just... anything, really.

[SciFiFisher]

Well, so far the vaccines at least confer some protection that allow for a mild case of COVID if you do get it. I am pretty sure that we had a version of Omicron. A few weeks ago WNY gave up trying to enforce mask mandates. about a month ago I got a "cold". It never got worse than a very mild flu or moderate cold like course of symptoms. I started showing signs on a Monday. It took 4 more days before the boy had it. He took about 2-3 days to start feeling almost 100%. I had symptoms for about 8 days but it was mostly a lot of sinus drainage. It took Brite about 7-8 days to start showing symptoms. We quarantined for about two weeks. We are not sure if it was one of the work men we had come to the house to fix or do maintenance, a painter we had painting part of the new house, or the boy bringing it home from school. We received a notice about a week after I started showing symptoms from his school that he had been exposed. We all recovered with no major issues. The general good news is that we should all have some temporary immunity for a few months. Meanwhile I will get another booster in about a month or so depending on the latest guidance about that. I am going to encourage Brite and the boy to get them too.

[Rommie]

lady_*nix, any chance of hanging out with people outside, sitting a bit apart? I totally get being nervous about being indoors when immunocompromised etc, but I really haven't heard of any doctor say that wasn't safe, and the weather is so darn nice out right now it should be doable.

Just a thought, take it or leave it.

[lady_*nix]

@Rommie

TBH that's part of why I've been looking forward to the warm weather. Especially since I might, finally, get to hang out with a recent friend who I haven't seen in person since last spring.

For group events... depends on the size TBH. With new variants, unmasked outdoor gatherings can also be unsafe IIRC.

But the main issue is transit. Public transit is super unsafe now, because it's all poorly ventilated indoor spaces where nobody is required to wear a mask, and you're stuck in there for long enough to get well exposed. This was already an issue with the original virus, but it's far worse with Omicron, which is the second most transmissible known pathogen after measles.

Lyft is an improvement, but effectively adds a fee for wanting a driver who wears a mask, since drivers can now just refuse to wear one (it's all optional LOL).

And walking, well. Theoretically I love to walk, but in practice walking more than a mile is a shortcut to horrible pain even in mild weather. In hot weather it will utterly fuck me up IME.

And driving? I can't afford auto insurance, and my pain meds probably make it illegal for me to drive anyway.

I do have an e-scooter, which is fucking awesome, but it weighs like 40 lbs and we don't have anywhere to store it outside the house. Maybe if I get a tarp for it... but then I have to allocate a few days for bringing it outside, because lifting something that heavy will put me in Pain for the next two days or so.

TL;DR
- The COVID issue isn't safe places to be, so much as safe ways to get there
- Literally everything has to be planned around my chronic illness shit

So like seriously, I appreciate your suggestion and I appreciate you caring about me. But also no, believe me, I've put a lot of thought into this stuff. After all, being stuck in the house most of the time gives me plenty of time to do so.

Edit: I do have a hope that my rheumatologist can switch me to a different RA med that's less of an immunosuppressant - who knows, maybe I can tolerate methotrexate despite all my existing GI stuff, or maybe I can handle hydroxychloroquine safely (though getting the latter now would probably be as much of a PITA as Humira). But even then, those aren't neutral drugs re immune function, otherwise they wouldn't be effective. And also, if they're not effective for me, the high baseline inflammation and clotting shit from RA will put me at even higher risk.

[lady_*nix]

It looks like the MBTA has upgraded the HVAC systems on their trains and buses, so maybe things are not as dangerous as they seem... just maybe.

https://www.mbta.com/covid19/ride-safer

But I'm not sure how much I trust this. And failing to enforce masking - known to be the most effective way to reduce transmission since early in the pandemic - is still unspeakably fucking stupid, especially while COVID cases continue to skyrocket according the wastewater data: https://www.mwra.com/biobot/biobotdata.htm

IDK. How much do I value seeing my dad again before he dies? How much do I value being able to go out and do stuff? How much do I value my own life, and the lives of the few friends I'm still seeing regularly? I'd love to think things are safer, but the numbers say they're not. At all. The numbers say things aren't as bad as this winter, but are still really, really bad.

https://data.rgj.com/coronavirus-curve/ ... states/00/

Why can't the MBTA be bothered to require masks again? Why can't Uber and Lyft do same? We've got nothing to lose by doing the right thing, and everything to lose by pretending against all evidence that the pandemic is over.

Edit: I'm getting more than a little of that Trump Era feeling again lately, TBH. Radical heartlessness as government policy.

[SciFiFisher]

Why can't the MBTA be bothered to require masks again? Why can't Uber and Lyft do same? We've got nothing to lose by doing the right thing, and everything to lose by pretending against all evidence that the pandemic is over.

IMO because it has become too much of a flash point for people. The lockdowns or shutdowns and mandatory masking have been seen as being anti-small business owner and government "overreach". Because the corporations sucked up the majority of the relief funds and laughed all the way to the bank while small businesses went under. Not to mention it's rather hard to insist that people mask up when just months ago you were telling them it's a hoax. I am looking at you Republicans. Republicans can't support anything that remotely looks like a repudiation of their key stance during the Trump administration. So at every step of the way they fight mask mandates. It's so bad they mob school meetings and terrorize teachers. On airline flights they assault fellow passengers and flight attendants. IMO it is so bad that many people are afraid to impose a mask mandate.

[lady_*nix]

@Fisher

That makes sense, but is scant consolation for people like me who can now barely leave our houses.

[Rommie]

I'm flying to Europe this coming Friday for the first time in two years, and there was a cross stitch convention (...yep) across the border in Nashua, New Hampshire last Saturday I wanted to hit up for some new fabrics. This means I'd really like to not get covid in the next few days if I can help it, so while I hadn't ordered N95s in weeks I got some for the occasion. Stopped first at my local library's book sale for obvious reasons, and it was fascinating that in suburban MA the grand majority of everyone was masked even though it wasn't required.

The convention though, woof. Maybe a hundred old people 30+ years older than me in the shopping area, and I was the only one wearing a mask! (I deliberately bought N95s for this, figured surgical wouldn't cut it if no one else was masking, but it's still quite something to see after the first library stop ~40min away.) And the weird part is how my wearing one definitely weirded some other people out- I heard some old ladies next to me murmuring about it, except old people can't really murmur, and one was saying to the other "masks make me nervous." I was really tempted to point out that maybe they should be nervous, and cough, but I figured that was a good way to get kicked out and I wanted to buy some fabrics. (There was also a lady complaining to another about education these days, which started with a CRT of course, but then ended with a "and they don't even teach cursive!" which yeesh, what a hill to die on.)

Like, it's funny because I'm not religious about masking in public TBH- I'm writing this right now in the library unmasked, albeit no one else is really here, and did go to a wedding on Saturday evening (where everyone had to be vaccinated/ rapid tested to enter, but c'mon that's a lot of swapped air). But every colleague I know who got it in this wave did so at a conference- one person just attended one where 50+/200 attendees tested positive after, but she didn't (masks weren't required but she wore a KN95). Doesn't take a genius to realize some risks are far higher than others, I feel, even if you're tired of masking.

First week in Europe next week btw is a conference, and am breaking out the N95 because I don't want to ruin my first trip to the Netherlands since 2018 which is right after it (or get stuck abroad as you still need a negative test to fly back to the USA!). And hell if I trust a few hundred people from all over the world who I don't know (plus it's in the Canaries, so plenty of eating/drinking type networking possible outside). Something tells me it won't be too high a percentage though.

[lady_*nix]

@Rommie

Good luck and have fun!

I've been wearing KF94s in public basically since the delta variant appeared, and recently got a box of 50 duckbill style N95s from Project N95 (https://shop.projectn95.org/all if you're interested). After seeing one of my best friends almost die from COVID, and be left with permanent disabilities - and she's in her 30s and was in excellent physical shape! - I don't think I can express in words how much this virus terrifies me.

Re older folks not masking - yeah, IDK what the generational thing is about, but it's definitely a thing. Personally I suspect it comes from the same place as dismissing younger people's concerns about e.g. climate change and environmental collapse. Most of these folks are probably white, and have been comfortably middle class for a while, so maybe they've forgotten that the Universe doesn't care about them and might just randomly kill them.

It's so weird though. Growing up I heard so much of "LOL younger people always think they're immortal", but it's now the older population I see acting that way - and really, in my experience, it always has been.

[SciFiFisher]

I had a co-worker who decided to go on a cruise with her parents. Dad has one of the nastier cancers. I don't know tons of info other than he had something that made his immune system weak. They got stuck in Barcelona because dad tested positive for COVID and of course as soon as that happened they could not travel. The were able to get him the newer anti-viral meds that help if you start them as soon as you test positive and/or within 7 days of showing symptoms. So, she had a longer "vacation" than planned.