Covid Changed Our Neighborhood Dynamics...

[audreyh1]

We sometimes wear masks when exercising outside because the air quality is not good.

 

[Markola]

And, one of my friends got it twice.



He got it the first time back when the outbreak started happening, around March/April of 2020. He said it wasn't that bad, just felt like the flu. He was vaccinated in early 2021..

I’ve never heard of someone getting Covid twice. Maybe your friend just had the flu the first time.

 

[Andre1969]

I’ve never heard of someone getting Covid twice. Maybe your friend just had the flu the first time.

That could be, but it is possible to get COVID more than once. Probably not in rapid succession, but in this case we're talking like a one year and 3-4 month gap between the two instances. And the second time might have been a different strain.

Probably a pretty rare occurrence though. At least, I hope it's not going to become the norm!

 

[ivinsfan]

I’ve never heard of someone getting Covid twice. Maybe your friend just had the flu the first time.

Or this friend has some major auto immune issues to have Covid, get vaccinated and then get Covid again. it's like winning the lottery in a bad way. I feel really bad for the person that they are having such problems

 

[geeky_grrl]

My neighborhood never really had parties or other gatherings, but I used to talk to a bunch of my neighbors when I took walks around the neighborhood. I've pretty much stopped walking around since covid though because some of my neighbors would get closer to me that I felt comfortable with. I felt too awkward to ask people to stay back or to put a mask on when they got close so I stopped my walks instead and don't talk to any of neighbors except the people next door.

 

[skyking1]

we've been living with this virus coming up on two years.I know of two people who have had it twice, confirmed by tests. The immunity bestowed on you by getting sick is much shorter in duration than the vaccine.
I also know of one fully vaccinated person who has died. Admittedly he was in bad shape.
The sad thing is that although he stayed home, ordered groceries online, his unvaccinated young grandchildren most likely brought it to him. That is damn sad to think about.

 

[ivinsfan]

we've been living with this virus coming up on two years.I know of two people who have had it twice, confirmed by tests. The immunity bestowed on you by getting sick is much shorter in duration than the vaccine.
I also know of one fully vaccinated person who has died. Admittedly he was in bad shape.
The sad thing is that although he stayed home, ordered groceries online, his unvaccinated young grandchildren most likely brought it to him. That is damn sad to think about.

We don't actually know how long a natural case of Covid gives you immunity or how long the vaccine gives you immunity I sure wish we did, but we don't. Anyone that says otherwise is just guessing.

 

[CardsFan]

We don't actually know how long a natural case of Covid gives you immunity or how long the vaccine gives you immunity I sure wish we did, but we don't. Anyone that says otherwise is just guessing.

Your are correct. Unfortunately, when some of the "experts" are quoted they act like they DO know, with certainty.

FWIW, I put "experts" in quotes because there are no Experts regarding Covid specifically. Well intentioned persons, in the the field of this kind of disease, are offering informed opinions.

 

[skyking1]

The CDC had made a release in August about reinfections and the efficacy of the vaccine when compared to prior infections. I probably worded what I was trying to say poorly.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s0806-vaccination-protection.html

 

[audreyh1]

I’ve never heard of someone getting Covid twice. Maybe your friend just had the flu the first time.

People have gotten Covid more than once. It’s rare, but definitely complicates things.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Using a large sample of folks that I know and their store behavior along with knowing they aren't vaccinated.

I agree here. Given our current numbers people should be masking indoors and they mostly are not. I’m convinced that people are mostly paying no attention to the current surge or the CDC recommendations. Even other physicians I know socially, retired or not.

 

[audreyh1]

Mask discipline is very good here. Many high quality masks too. I noticed that the grocery store had put back up a masking request sign “due to high cases in the area”.

 

[Dtail]

I agree here. Given our current numbers people should be masking indoors and they mostly are not. I’m convinced that people are mostly paying no attention to the current surge or the CDC recommendations. Even other physicians I know socially, retired or not.

When it comes to no smoking signs, everyone follows the mandate, but not with masks.
We all know the white elephant in the room as to why not.

 

[RockLife]

I hope your neighborhood gets back to normal. We've continued to live our lives during Covid, but had to move out of Puerto Rico early because of their draconian restrictions. We travel, go to restaurants and events (mostly all outdoors - live in FL), go to stores. We have driveway happy hours with the neighbors. We are vaxxed, and we keep our distance, wash our hands religiously, etc. We wear masks when required (flights, doctors office, etc.) but other than that, it's almost situation normal.

 

[teetee]

Your number is inaccurate. Survival rate is 97-99%, lower in the higher ages. Much lower if you are immunosuppressed. And survival is not the whole story. Covid survivors often have kidney, heart, and lung damage, which are likely to be permanent. Some develop insulin dependent diabetes as a result of Covid Vaccination substantially reduces the risks of a bad outcome.

The difference between your number and the CDC’s number is about one percent. One percent of roughly 40 million people is 400,000 people.

We wear seatbelts when we are in a car. No big deal. We wear masks when we can when indoors. No big deal.

Our neighborhood overall has become less social, but is slowly opening up after vaccination.

The news uptake determines how we think. Thinking the fatality is the only damage caused by COVID says it all. He already made up his mind so phrases like COVID long haulers or mask / vaccines do work mean nothing in his thought process.

It comes down to if you want to be on the safe side by sacrificing a bit for the sake of you community and family, or you think this is nothing but the freedom issue, which can be interpreted as being selfish for those who have not lost their critical thinking skills.

 

[KarenC]

[…]
So those who are amazed or amused by people who are wearing their masks in their cars while driving alone, I would like to say that they are wearing their masks not because they think they could catch COVID while driving alone with no mask on.
[…]

I've occasionally been driving in my car with a mask on, almost always because I'm on a short drive between locations where masks are recommended or required.

 

[Helen]

Our neighborhood outdoor gatherings have continued and we all chat when outside. We have entertained a lot in our backyard over the summer and are planning an outdoor Halloween party under tents.

I just wrote to my cousins who are visiting from Michigan and are staying in a rented house 45 minutes away. We were going to get together, but they have friends flying in from a vacation in Vegas and they've all been dining indoors at restaurants. We are about to hit our six month mark on the vaccine but don't yet qualify for the booster.

We've been really cautious and don't want to blow it now with the Delta still rampant.

 

[Markola]

When it comes to no smoking signs, everyone follows the mandate, but not with masks.

We all know the white elephant in the room as to why not.

Yep, we all know exactly why. And smokers pay up to 50% more for ACA insurance. If antivaxxers want to make similar expensive choices that endanger others and crowd out emergency medical care for others who need it, they can pay up, too. It is not a theoretical idea: https://fox8.com/news/coronavirus/unvaccinated-people-may-have-to-pay-more-for-health-insurance/

 

[Calico]

Our neighborhood outdoor gatherings have continued and we all chat when outside. We have entertained a lot in our backyard over the summer and are planning an outdoor Halloween party under tents.

I just wrote to my cousins who are visiting from Michigan and are staying in a rented house 45 minutes away. We were going to get together, but they have friends flying in from a vacation in Vegas and they've all been dining indoors at restaurants. We are about to hit our six month mark on the vaccine but don't yet qualify for the booster.

We've been really cautious and don't want to blow it now with the Delta still rampant.

I think you are wise to avoid those relatives. You don't want to nullify all the sacrifices you've made so far.

I have cousins who live 25 minutes from me, and in the Before Times we were a big part of each others' lives. I have not seen them in person since February, 2020.

When Covid hit in the spring of 2020, they barely altered their lifestyle at all. At the height of the 2020 surge, and again at the height of the Delta surge this past summer, they threw birthday parties for each member of their family, indoors, unmasked, with 25-40 people.

They declared that they were only seeing people "in their bubble" but as in turned out their "bubble" consisted of anyone they felt like socializing with at any given time. The "bubble" just grew and grew and grew. I think it is the size of the entire state by now.

 

[Alan]

Good timing on this thread as I have just stepped into the house at 10:30pm having spent over 6 hours in my neighbor’s house with about 10 others at his 58th birthday party. No particular reason to celebrate a 58th birthday except that it has been a tough year and he wanted to get back to some normality.

In 3 or 4 days time I will do a home Covid test just to be sure, before going to a planned football match, so not exactly back to pre-Covid times.

Just been talking to my neighbor’s good friend (in her 30s) who was at the party. She lives about 10 miles away in a small village with her son, daughter (aged 3) and also living in the village is her mother and brother. 2 weeks after the party my neighbor told me that she was was isolating as her daughter had developed symptoms of Covid. Her daughter did indeed have Covid and all the family have been very sick at home with it including her brother but not her mother. Her mother is the only one in the family to be full vaccinated, and our neighbor, a taxi driver, is also fully vaccinated.

 

[Aerides]

Mod Reminder

Grousing about masks and mandates is a quick way to close a thread. It's not helpful, it's argumentative and almost always drags in politics - knock it off...again.

 

[Koolau]

Our building has never been particularly "social." So I guess in that sense, our dynamics have not changed much and I guess you could say my neighborhood IS my Condo building. All in all, I see little difference except the obvious addition of masks. YMMV

 

[Act2]

My neighborhood is also a large condo building. Yes, Covid has changed the dynamics, and people self-select which activities they are comfortable with. I attend the outdoor social events, and if indoors only those that are masked and distanced, which is usually just a few friends in the common room. But there are many neighbors who are comfortable gathering in large groups indoors and maskless. Yes, we’ve had many people get sick. But people still have different comfort levels. We are many months past the time when we required people to mask in common areas, the change coinciding with the wide availability of vaccines locally. And the change came when our local infection levels had dropped, just before Delta came. The rules did not tighten up when Delta hit, though some individuals re-masked at that point.

All in all, we co-exist civilly and find the opportunities to socialize that align with our individual risk/comfort levels. So it’s ok. But pre-Covid I would have attended several of the indoor group socials that I don’t currently.

I am looking forward to the day when our infection level gets back down to low. I hope that happens the first part of 2022.