COVID is not over

[AntivaxHunters]

COVID is not over.
These are the statistics from the last week.

Hospital admissions 🆙
Emergency room visits 🆙
Wastewater levels 🆙
Testing positive for Covid infections 🆙

Mask up. Be safe. Stay safe ❤️

[Blues Heron]

1. just got two boxes of masks for fall - I hear its going to be the hot accessory of the season

[AntivaxHunters]

3. Look into a P100 mask

They're superior and cost roughly $35 dollars.
I highly recommend this one and it's on sale right now for $27. I use this one myself. It's incredibly comfortable.
https://a.co/d/6oATyHp]

[Blues Heron]

8. i just get boxes of korean kf94s -they have kept me Covid free so far knock on wood

thanks for the link will check it out

[Bobstandard]

29. Get one now before the rush!

These will also come in handy when the atmosphere is choked with toxic smoke from wildfires burning through cities. (Too dark?)

[Delphinus]

35. Nope,

too true.

[Prairie_Seagull]

60. Like Delphinus said with a little extra emphasis. Definately not.

I have a tenant farmer who farms my alfalfa. One a particularly smoky day. I took him a mask on this open air tractor. He said thanks a put it on. Who knows how long he kept it on but I am sure I made my point. Many around here are RWs.

[Diamond_Dog]

2. Friends of my adult son just canceled a birthday gathering

Hosts have Covid…..

[AntivaxHunters]

4. Ugh...

[Walleye]

5. I got my latest booster in May, I hope it's still good🤞🏻

[PortTack]

15. Should be...6 -8 month's coverage with current boosters

[Walleye]

21. I have been lucky so far

[PortTack]

53. Good for you!!

[Bev54]

23. I got my booster in January and got covid in Mar for the first time.

[Walleye]

25. Yikes

[Pluvious]

37. I'm sure you've heard it before...

The shot isn’t for immunity, but to improve your chances to avoid Long Covid or worse

[Bev54]

45. Yes but I thought it might give me some immunity as well, especially in my city in Canada

had much fewer cases. I was very careful for a long time as were others but went to my granddaughter's city hockey playoffs and there were more people than usual at these games. I was the only one in the family to get it then, the others had all had it last year some time and I did not. I guess it was my turn.

[GhostHunter22]

6. Yep, just did a shoot for a show I can't name (NDA), and we were missing some cast members -

because of them having contracted COVID.

[Delphinus]

36. Welcome to DU!

[GhostHunter22]

50. Thank you kindly.

[progressoid]

7. Yep. I got it last month.

I'm vaxxed (X3) along with my family. But I got it anyway.

[Igel]

11. Of course you can get it.

There's no current or valid claim that vaccinations prevent infection.

The early claims that vaccination would prevent infection were overstating the case.

[Bobstandard]

26. But you probably won't die

If you get infected after vaccination the evidence is that you’re much less likely to be hospitalized or die as a result.

Statics seem to show that vaccination prevents infection in many people though some argue that correlation is not causation. I have friends who point to the fact that some people are infected after vaccination as evidence that they don’t work. Potentially fatal logic.

[Otto_Harper]

30. I can only point to my own case, where I am on immuno-suppressing meds

But, went to a large music festival (participant in the show), stayed masked almost all the time with N95 (US mfg), and was boosted for the 5th or 6th time a month and a half before I went. I had occasion to have spoken with several people who then went home early with Covid, and shared tables in the dining hall with folks who, when they got home were Covid positive. And yet, I, of all of them, had no signs of illness and half a dozen negative home tests, waiting for the shoe to drop, that never did.

[Pluvious]

39. You could have been...

In the pool of the lucky people who can be totally asymptomatic

( but then you might pass it on to others around you, which you might notice? )

[Otto_Harper]

51. That was my first thought, except

No one at home caught anything from me after I came home, suggesting that either the masking, the booster, or both prevented sufficient viral load from developing that any disease was apparent, or transmissible.

[Pluvious]

54. Glad to hear it !! (nt)

[colorado_ufo]

28. Two shots, two boosters and

I got it for the third time last month.

[niyad]

9. A fully-vaxxed friend is recovering from covid contracted recently. It is NOT

over!

[Zeitghost]

10. COVID will never be "over"

At least not until science progresses to cure/eradicate highly contagious respiratory viruses like COVID, the Flu, RSV etc.

I cautioned people from day one of the pandemic that "over" was never going to be in the cards.

[speak easy]

13. Covid has proven to be more adaptable than influenza.

... and that is saying something.

[cilla4progress]

12. Yep, ruined our long-anticipated overseas trip

to Scotland in June! Frick - all that $$* and had to bail out and come home early!

Friend just flew to MN and got it!

1st time for both of us!

We had a false sense of security. 4th booster /6th shot before we went. BUT as no one (literally - except maybe 20 people) at SeaTac, Heathrow, or Glasgow airports were masked, we didn't. Fatal error (well, not fatal to us, but fatal to our trip, hopes and dreams!)

I wonder how many others we encountered in our travels got it. I know 3 others of the 28 of us on the tour did!

*tour reimbursed us, but not air travel!

[PortTack]

16. Oh boy...I'm so sorry! That would be really disappointing

[cilla4progress]

24. Yep.

And still a little wiped out by it.

Have to be careful with my energy...

[PortTack]

52. Take it easy on yourself!!

[Sympthsical]

14. Heat people staying indoors

People staying indoors = spread of illness.

Covid is endemic. It's just something that's going to have to be dealt with from now on.

[Rebl2]

20. Yes

It’s here and staying from my understanding and will still change over time. I don’t believe they ever said the vaccine would keep you from getting it, but it would make it less severe. Have also noticed when you start seeing it in nursing homes, you know it’s out in the community at large. Have experienced this with my mother who is in a nursing home. She got it again back in the late winter early spring even though she has had all vaccines. It wasn’t severe.

[Sympthsical]

27. Yeah, they're kind of the canaries for this

Vulnerable populations.

My partner's currently on an Alaskan cruise with college friends (I couldn't go because I have class/finals to deal with this week, boo).

I kept joking, "It's fine. Enjoy your Legionnaires!" They did all have to take Covid tests before boarding, I believe. But it was like "Bring your own test results from home," which is practically scientific. He gets back on Friday, and I'm going to be side-eyeing every cough and sniffle.

I'm about to have a rare couple weeks off myself, and if he gets me sick, I swear to god . . .

[Rebl2]

33. Was going to

say that they are kind of like canaries and I think schools are too.
When I hear cruise ship vacation all I can think of is Norovirus.

[PortTack]

17. Xmas of last year was at my daughter's house. 3 of 6 ended with covid. Myself included, 3 escaped

I directly credit the vaccine.

[Blues Heron]

18. Noticeably more masks since the reports of an uptick last week

[Blues Heron]

19. Here is a comparison link for flu tracker -interesting how different the curves are

Flu
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm


COVID
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklyhospitaladmissions_select_00

[Shrek]

22. I haven't worn a mask in well over a year

I don't yet see any reason why I would go back to it.

[wiggs]

31. There are more people I personally know that have or have had covid in the last month than

at any time during the pandemic. Friends and family and clients, socal.

[LuckyCharms]

32. Went to a very busy hospital for tests this morning, then to a big box store.

Probably saw 300 people in total for those two visits.

One, ONE person was wearing a mask (at the hospital) and it was a surgical mask.

I don't care, I had my N95 on the whole time I was inside both of those places.

I will continue to wear it.

78 year old in-law recently got Covid for the second time, and now, he's having lingering symptoms.

[Pluvious]

41. Sweet Zeus

We’re not going to make it, are we

What a failed stupid species we are ☹️

[LuckyCharms]

42. When I was sitting in the registration area, no one was masked. Maybe

30 people just in that one room (encountered a lot more people though in other parts of the hospital). I was the only one masked.

Two notable things about this:

1) Guy behind me was hacking up a lung for 10 minutes without even covering his mouth (I could see him in a reflection of a glass pane) before he went in for his test.

2) A guy maybe in his 70's and his wife sitting 3 feet to the side of me. Guy was giving me the hairy eyeball. His wife and he were quietly conversing and I heard him say "I'm not getting anymore Covid shots. I've already had two of the goddamn things".

Yep, a "person" is smart, but "people" are really stupid.

[Pluvious]

43. That's beyond depressing...

The fact I see more GAMBLERS masking in a poker tournament than you witnessed in a GD hospital waiting room just boggles my mind

( I’m in Los Angeles, fwiw )

[LuckyCharms]

44. Yes, very depressing.

Upstate NY here.

Nice avatar you have there!

[Pluvious]

49. I'm Uncle Sam...

How do you do !

I’ve learned to duck 😬

[geardaddy]

34. It will never be "over"

I continue to mask indoors and avoid large gatherings.

[ananda]

38. I started masking again.

I hope the next shot covers all the variants.

[Warpy]

40. Hold on there. Know your risk.

https://www.covidactnow.org Click on "county" to load the map by county. Click on your county to know your risk.

Right now, levels in most areas are very low. A 17% increase from the lowest level is significant but not worth panicking over.

If you've had the shots and the omicron booster, you should be fine.

And remember, only an N-95 mask will protect you. All other masks will protect the people around you if you're shedding droplets full of covid virus, but they don't do much to protect you from everybody else. Non N-95 masks work only when everybody is masked.

It's probably still courteous to wear masks around infants and old folks.

[Ms. Toad]

46. If all you are worried about is surviving the acute infection,

and you're vaccinated, you should be fine.

Unfortunately, what far too many people fail to understand, is that the acute infection is the tip of the iceberg. What we know about long COVID is in the infancy, because the focus was on getting people through the initial infection alive. In an average risk population, at one year post infection, 59% of those with COVID were found to have organ damage (visible on imaging) to one of 7 organs which were studied.

That, alone, ought to motivate people to stop focusing solely on surviving the acute infection.

But it won't. People want this to be over - and are determined to ignore any evidence ot the contrary.

Doctors are also not identifying a significant portion of people with long COVID because they are not trained well. I have long COVID - which the doctor who hospitalized me for pancreaatitis attributed to (non-existent) alcoholism. Had I not pursued the matter, my case would not be identified.

Your information on masking is wrong. All masking provides some protection for those around you. And while genuine N-95/KF-94 masks which are fitted properly can be relied on to protect others without much additional thought, there are other masks provide equivalent protection. Two-layer 600 TPI cotton masks well-fitted masks are every bit as effective as N-95 masks at protecting others. Three layer fabric sandwich masks (cotton on the outside/a different fabric on the inside) provide electrostatic filtering which eliminates the need for such a tight weave in the cotton - and, if well-fitted, are also as effective as N-95 masks at protecting others.

Surgical/procedure masks are garbage - largely because none of them fit without gaps. If they could be fitted properly they would provide more protection (but still not as much as N-95/KF 94 or carefully chosen cotton masks).

[AllaN01Bear]

47. never have stopped wearing my mask in inclosed public places .

[LPBBEAR]

48. I'm still wearing my mask...

and will continue to do so until some miracle of medical science provides a complete solution to ending this crap. If I am going to die I would prefer it to be because of natural causes and not because of some ahole redneck anti-vaxxer maskhole doing it to me.

BTW, I have not been sick since before Covid. Masks DO work.

Its very unfortunate that some of "us" are passing away because of it. Am I sorry that more of "them" are passing away than us?

Not one damn bit.

[liberalla]

55. I called our local Pima County Dept of Health last week and asked about the new

Covid booster being developed and if they've heard when it may be ready... they didn't know for certain but thought it likely by the end of Sept. That's what I'm waiting for.

[EnergizedLib]

56. I've never stopped masking

I’ve been doing so since March 2020 and will not conform to any societal pressure.

[electric_blue68]

57. Never stopped masking indoors unless Very Few, or no people like in a hallway...

while incidences are lower, they go up go back to masking probably even then. Usually distancing.. as I can.
Avoiding big crowds so probably missing some events I'd like to go to ( 😑 ) but been avoiding the past 3 years.

Have gotten all vaxxes, and boosters. Due for one in Late Summer, or The Fall.

Perhaps some good luck, as well.


Good Luck to all! 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

[hunter]

58. My wife is a front line health care professional.

It was as awful as you might imagine. Patients died.

She was notified she'd been exposed to COVID Friday.

Back to the daily testing and all the precautions again...



Our vaccines are up to date, so there's that.

[SYFROYH]

59. Are authorities still reporting death rates and numbers due to COVID?

Those are the numbers I want to know.