The husband of one of my high school classmates

[musette_sf]

just passed yesterday - breakthrough infection. They were both vaccinated. I don’t know if he had any other conditions aside from being over 65.



This is a public service message to advise continued vigilance in your daily lives. Our back-to-the-office date has been pushed out to Jan 2, for which I am grateful. I have stocked up on effective and attractive KN95s (maskc) in preparation.

I so wish we were on the upswing to better days pandemic-wise, but I don’t see it until the oral antivirals are out there. Steve’s death really shook me.

[MustLoveBeagles]

1. I'm so sorry

[BComplex]

2. Oh no! So sorry for your loss, musette_sf!

That's terribly sad.

[KS Toronado]

3. Yes remind everyone to purchase N95 or KN95 masks

It's safer in public in a Cadillac than on a moped.

[niyad]

4. so very sorry for your loss. May you and yours find peace and comfort.

[wnylib]

5. Sorry to hear about this, for you and for his family.

Unfortunately, this is more common than people realize. I follow my county's covid dashboard daily. About 20% of local infections have been breakthrough, modtly in seniors. People over 65 here have the highest rate of vaccination and also the highest rate of hospitalization and death. They were the first to get vaccinated, back in December and January, with Pfizer before Moderna was commonly available. I am guessing that the high rate of breakthrough infections, hospitalizations, and deaths among them is due to Pfizer's decreased effectiveness after 6 months. Another factor among people over 65 is that we grew up at a time when we trusted that vaccinations gave full protection. So once they were vaccinated, they stopped wearing masks and started visiting with relatives, especially grandchildren, again.

1/3 of new infections here are people under 20. But there have been no deaths in that age group locally. It looks like kids are infecting grandparents.

[StarryNite]

6. I am so sorry.

Unfortunately this seems to be happening with more frequency. My daughter-in-law works with a woman whose sister, brother-in-law, and their young adult son were all fully vaccinated. And they also kept taking other precautions as well. But the three of them would up with breakthrough Covid infections. The sister and brother-in-law died a week apart. The son is still in the hospital.

This is far from over.

[Duppers]

9. This really scares me!

My 34yo, vax'd & healthy son had a breakthrough infection but recovered.

Yesterday I just tried to reassure DFW that his son-in-law in NYC would be fine b/c my son recovered. Now, I know I said the wrong thing. Had no idea that young, healthy, vax'd folks were dying from breakthrough infections! 😵

[StarryNite]

10. This really scares me too.

The couple who died were in their 50s with no other health issues. Their son is only 24, no other health issues and they don't know if he is going to make it.

[Duppers]

11. I dearly hope he makes it.

Damn f'n' anti-maskers.
(Including ppl who make fun of us vax'd folks still wearing our masks, like 2 DUers in the lounge did to me a few months ago. Yep, it happened.)

I'd be interested in knowing if the young man makes it, so keep us posted. TY!

[StarryNite]

12. I hope he makes it too. They took all precautions.

I don't know if he's even aware that his mom and dad died. I will update his condition when I find out how he is doing.

I've never stopped wearing a mask. Wearing a mask hurts no one. I would feel even more vulnerable than I already do if I didn't mask up when out in public. I wouldn't even think of eating in a restaurant. I am so sick of Covid and the bad behavior of others when it comes to this ongoing pandemic. It's disappointing to have people here on DU treat others the way those two treated you. There is no excuse for it.

My daughter-in-law works in a grocery store. She is vaccinated and double masks. Today she had one customer tell her he didn't want her to talk to him because she was wearing a mask. She had another one today tell her that wearing a mask is dangerous and went on to lecture her about it. She's had customers ask her if she's able to breathe with two masks on. How stupid can they be? My daughter works at a bank. A couple of weeks ago a customer came in and told the bank employees that they looks stupid wearing their masks. She went ranting on. It's sad that the employees have to take that kind of verbal abuse.

[Duppers]

13. Wish they could tell these cruel idiots...

to take their business elsewhere, but, unfortunately, that'd jeopardize their jobs.

What your d.i.l. & others like her are subjected to is abuse! Wish she could write on her N-95 or outer mask: "This is an IQ test."

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. So sorry. Maybe he had pre-existing conditions, maybe not.

I'll offer this. We've gotten used to a world where people don't die without reason. And mostly at a fairly advanced age. Unlike what it was at some point earlier in time, when people died randomly, from various diseases, epidemics, infections, accidents, and so on. All of us alive in this country have grown up in a world in which almost every single child born lived to grow up, and either got the standard childhood diseases, or were vaccinated against them, depending on when you were born.

One thing that absolutely strikes me about Covid and the vaccines is how incredibly variable individual responses are. Start with the vaccines. People report side effects from absolutely nothing at all (me) to being wiped out for a day or two. Those who got Covid? Anything from barely being aware of having anything, to being totally wiped out for a VERY long time to dying. I kind of think that the most important lesson here, and one that is NOT being fully learned, is how distinctly different individual responses to a vaccine or to a disease can be.

Here's the other thing that no one is talking about. By now, 2021, at least in a first world country, there are a lot of people alive and reproducing who would have died in earlier decades. I'm not even going to enumerate all of those things, but you can figure it out. It ranges from the extreme of the "Bubble Boy" (who did not get to reproduce, I know) to type 1 diabetes to severe allergies (like peanut allergy) to smallpox and many others. Actually smallpox is interesting in that in the 19th century two different mutations occurred in two different parts of the world, from variola major to variola minor. The first, variola major, is the disease we are all more or less familiar with: killed at least 30% of those infected, often more, left some survivors blind, and scarred nearly everyone else. Smallpox and its scarring was so common that anyone not so scarred was automatically handsome or beautiful. Then, variola minor showed up. It had an extremely low fatality, fewer than 1% died. No scarring. Plus, its victims weren't quite as sick and so were able to move about and pass it on to others quite readily. Variola minor was in the process of replacing variola major, turning smallpox into a childhood disease rather like measles, mumps, or chicken pox when smallpox vaccinations became common and universal.

Honestly, I'm often torn between appreciating the advances of modern medicine and understanding that it may not be so wonderful for the future of our species.

[relayerbob]

8. My condolences to you all

Do you know which vaccine they had?

[W_HAMILTON]

14. What KN95 masks do you recommend?

[musette_sf]

17. I bought the ones from maskc

I think they fit well. If you sign up for emails they offer decent discounts.

https://www.shopmaskc.com/collections/kn95-masks

[Withywindle]

15. I'm so sorry

GET THAT BOOSTER AS SOON AS YOU CAN

I'll be eligible in about a week (got my second Pfizer shot on April 8; I'm just early 50s but I have a condition) and you bet I will be stalking every site in my area for open appointments or walk-ins.

[uponit7771]

16. Condolences, it's real hard to know one of the 3% vaxed that die from CV