Covid Getting Closer to Home

[street]

harllee, I really don't see an end point. It has turned life into a nightmare.

 

[tb001]

Many of us are already retired, so our circles are a whole lot smaller than those who are still working. Perhaps a handful of former co-workers become people you send a card to, chat once or twice a year, email, and far far less than that this past 18 months.

For folks who are retired without a big network of non-work friends, it's mainly family that would count for "knowing someone" properly. So if you also have a relative small family and can count your close personal friends on one hand - hey even less chance to know someone.

I know "of" many people who got it, but these aren't people I'd consider as people with whom I have a personal connection, or that I'd report as Close To Home. Inside that group, I have only one person: My teenage nephew, last thanksgiving, with a barely symptomatic case that no one else in his family picked up from him. The next nearest person is DH's great aunt (whom I've never met), and a brother-in-law of a sister-in-law of my sister.

I'll go back under that rock now.

Yes, we’re in a similar boat. Both of us not working, small nuclear families, most of whom are far away, and small social groups. We don’t belong to a church or other similar organization. The friends we do have were, like us, pretty hunkered down in the early days of the pandemic. The only people I really know who have had it are a distant uncle who died and my parents best friends, who got very sick but recovered.

We’re lucky to be in a place where we can limit our exposure and have been very careful where we have a choice. Our biggest risk factors at this point are our two children. One just received her first dose last week and the other is too young to be vaccinated. Both are in school and activities where we’ve had to balance risk of exposure with their emotional and educational development.

All that said, even boosted, we’re far more cautious than most. So it’s not a surprise to me that our exposure is limited. Most of the people I’ve ‘known’ who ended up with covid have been living far more ‘normally’ than we have. Sometimes by choice, sometimes not.

 

[RetMD21]

All that said, even boosted, we’re far more cautious than most. So it’s not a surprise to me that our exposure is limited. Most of the people I’ve ‘known’ who ended up with covid have been living far more ‘normally’ than we have. Sometimes by choice, sometimes not.

We're triple vaccinated but avoid public indoor gatherings. Michigan is deep in a third wave, but people are going to restaurants and concerts which is hard for me to understand. The state has recommendations consistent with CDC but venues are mostly not willing to enforce them. I understand the practicality. The local symphony caters to a high-risk group, and I feel sorry for the organization but I'm not willing to go to events with unrestricted attendance.

 

[harllee]

Fortunately for us our area has a mask mandate for any indoor buildings which is complied with. I have been to a couple of indoor music events lately where you had to present your vaccine card for admittance (and you still had to wear a mask) and I was able to social distance so I felt pretty safe. The only thing I have not done is eaten inside a restaurant. In a restaurant of course you have to take off your mask to eat plus few of the restaurants in my area are requiring vaccination cards so I just did not feel it was worth the risk.

Even though we are age 70 and at higher risk, DH and I have decided to resume some of our activities. We are both extroverts with large circles of friends and we feel being isolated from family and friends and events we love was affecting our mental health (we were getting depressed).

I am getting together with family for Thanksgiving. There will be 12 of us--all are double vaccinated and everybody but one young person has had a booster. It is important to us to see family we have not seen in 18 months so we are taking that risk.

 

[garyt]

My nine year old granddaughter tested positive on Monday two days after she got her first shot. It was caught in a routine school screening. My fully vaccinated son caught it from her and tested positive Wednesday. Both have very mild symptoms. Unfortunately, they were at our house on Sunday and DW and I have developed coughs. We got PCR tests yesterday and came back negative this morning.

Probably should get another test. I tested negative twice before testing positive and I already had symptoms.

 

[RetMD21]

I am getting together with family for Thanksgiving. There will be 12 of us--all are double vaccinated and everybody but one young person has had a booster. It is important to us to see family we have not seen in 18 months so we are taking that risk.

That strikes me as very low risk and well worthwhile

 

[Dreamer]

I have known 12 people who have had Covid. Four of them ended up in the hospital and two died. My next door neighbor died 12/26/20 and my ex-sil died this past Saturday. She was around 57 or 58 years old and was not vaccinated. She had several underlying health conditions and did not go anywhere. She lived with her daughter and granddaughter, and think that the granddaughter brought it home from school. I feel sorry for my niece because her father, my brother, died at age 45 in 2001 from lung cancer. My niece has never been married and no longer lives with her daughter's dad. We are having her mother's memorial Dec 4 and I am helping to cook for it. I have been triple vaxed and I plan on double masking. I hope that I am not taking too big of a chance of staying safe.

 

[oiseux]

I have known 12 people who have had Covid. Four of them ended up in the hospital and two died. My next door neighbor died 12/26/20 and my ex-sil died this past Saturday. She was around 57 or 58 years old and was not vaccinated. She had several underlying health conditions and did not go anywhere. She lived with her daughter and granddaughter, and think that the granddaughter brought it home from school. I feel sorry for my niece because her father, my brother, died at age 45 in 2001 from lung cancer. My niece has never been married and no longer lives with her daughter's dad. We are having her mother's memorial Dec 4 and I am helping to cook for it. I have been triple vaxed and I plan on double masking. I hope that I am not taking too big of a chance of staying safe.

My condolences; I am so sorry for the tragedy that you have seen.

 

[sheehs1]

I have known 12 people who have had Covid. Four of them ended up in the hospital and two died. My next door neighbor died 12/26/20 and my ex-sil died this past Saturday. She was around 57 or 58 years old and was not vaccinated. She had several underlying health conditions and did not go anywhere. She lived with her daughter and granddaughter, and think that the granddaughter brought it home from school. I feel sorry for my niece because her father, my brother, died at age 45 in 2001 from lung cancer. My niece has never been married and no longer lives with her daughter's dad. We are having her mother's memorial Dec 4 and I am helping to cook for it. I have been triple vaxed and I plan on double masking. I hope that I am not taking too big of a chance of staying safe.

My condolences. I don't think one can be "too careful".

Last week our external long standing CPA died of Covid. She was 58 and we were all surprised she was not vaccinated. WE had not physically met with her since Covid started. She was a partner in the accounting firm our family business has used since 1954. There were only two current partners. I went to the visitation-15 minutes-long enough to speak to the family and sign the guest book and left.
This visitation is the first time I have ventured out into an indoor crowd since Covid started. Felt I needed to make an appearance.

The other partner went to an early Thanksgiving lunch at his sister-in-laws house and 8 people from that lunch tested positive. All were vaccinated and so far so good. They tracked the source to the partner that passed away.

Far too many are passing away from Covid. So sad....

 

[Markola]

I thought this table from the Times was vivid and worth sharing.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

We're triple vaccinated but avoid public indoor gatherings. Michigan is deep in a third wave, but people are going to restaurants and concerts which is hard for me to understand. The state has recommendations consistent with CDC but venues are mostly not willing to enforce them. I understand the practicality. The local symphony caters to a high-risk group, and I feel sorry for the organization but I'm not willing to go to events with unrestricted attendance.

From CNN today: 'Michigan sets hospitalization record, leads nation in new coronavirus cases per capita':

Michigan continues to struggle amid the pandemic, setting a record this week for Covid-19 hospitalizations and leading the nation in per capita case rates, new data reveal.

The state also recently reported its highest seven-day average of new daily cases, at 10,014, on December 3. The average dipped on Monday to 8,585 a day -- still more than double where it was at the end of October, according to Johns Hopkins University data. ...

Michigan has reported more new cases per capita over the last week than any other state, with Minnesota and Rhode Island not far behind, according to JHU data. The daily case rate is more than double the US case rate. ...

 

[Koolau]

Hawaii continues to be fairly stable at a "low" infection rate with deaths in low single digits. My guess is that the deaths are mostly among the elderly who remain vulnerable because of multiple health issues.

My hope is that the new Omicron variant will not doom us to another round of draconian gummint provisions. YMMV

 

[MichaelB]

There’s no point in generic anti-gov’t complaints, but they are Porky bait, so it’s better to stick to the topic, which is Covid all its forms and variations.

 

[foxfirev5]

Back to the topic of covid closer to home. DW and I are boosted and have been travelling domestically. However we encountered our first actual close calls after returning home for Thanksgiving. DW developed a serious infection that required IV antibotics. However due to the covid surge in Michigan she had to wait 4 days for treatment. To say I was livid would be an understatement. Finally she got treatment and all is good.

Meanwhile DS informed us that his MIL has covid and due to their contact we would not be able to see the GKs. Yesterday he had an appointment for our grandbaby at the Dr's office. He honestly said that they had been exposed to covid (MIL) and the office went into full protection mode. Full protective gear and an hour later they were treated.

DW wouldn't let this go and upon questioning he disclosed his MIL did not believe in vaccinations and her symptoms showed up with uncontrolled coughing in a public setting. Nice. I can only imagine the real costs of this irresponsible behavior.

 

[Ronstar]

The husband of DW's friend and former workmate passed a few days ago. Not vaxed, caught covid, developed blood clots, had a heart attack and died.

 

[Time2]

I thought this table from the Times was vivid and worth sharing.

 

[retire-early]

I copied and pasted the Table, I was ready to send it to an antivaxer friend, then I decided I've already sent enough info that didn't change his mind, so I nixed it. He is hunkered out at home only out for groceries. No one in our group has seen him for over a year. Although we have all had our shots and get out and together regularly.
We do get emails containing Youtube videos, that none of us have any interest in and it's rare that anyone watches them.

During the summer, he could have met people outdoors.
Not like close close, but he at one table and the rest of you at another table.
Or was he too scared to do that?
If I wasn't vaccinated, I think I would still have been willing to do that.

 

[Chuckanut]

Bamaman, I hope all goes well for you and yours. Take care.

 

[Alan]

I talked to my sister last night. She works at small electronics company (few hundred employees) and she said that they had 2 confirmed cases of Covid this past week, both on the factory floor. One was detected with a routine home test the other after taking a mandatory test 2 days after returning from holiday in Europe. They said they tested negative 2 days before their flight so think they think they may be caught it in the airport or flight home.

The good news is that although both developed symptoms the symptoms are mild and they stayed away from work before symptoms started. My sister, like her husband and many of her workmates, tests herself twice a week. The company has sent out a letter to all employees requesting that everyone tests themselves regularly to help them get through the Christmas period. (They can't insist on it)

 

[NgineER]

I had a work crew finishing up a rehab of a rental property. Two brothers were exposed to their father at Thanksgiving. One of the brothers got it, the vaccinated one didn’t. (They live with their father). They came to work at my property on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Over the next five days I lost the remaining three working on the project to Covid. They didn’t die, but they were out obviously. One of them claimed to have had Covid earlier and one of them was vaccinated.
Another family of my kids’ friends have it and for the first time since Covid started it feels like it is close to us.

 

[athena53]

I thought this table from the Times was vivid and worth sharing.

 

[Markola]

Best wishes for your smart little ones. It sure seems like we’re in a world where it’s not a two-and-done long-term vaccine, like polio, and is instead more like frequent flu shots as Covid mutates. I’m seeing signs reading “Free Flu and Covid Shots” on the door at CVS. On one hand, it could not be simpler to be vaxxed, at least until there’s an edible vaccine but, on the other, only about 49% of Americans get flu shots, suggesting Covid will be with us forever. That’s the weird, inconvenient society I’m adapting to.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Best wishes for your smart little ones. It sure seems like we’re in a world where it’s not a two-and-done long-term vaccine, like polio, and is instead more like frequent flu shots as Covid mutates. I’m seeing signs reading “Free Flu and Covid Shots” on the door at CVS. On one hand, it could not be simpler to be vaxxed, at least until there’s an edible vaccine but, on the other, only about 49% of Americans get flu shots, suggesting Covid will be with us forever. That’s the weird, inconvenient society I’m adapting to.

I agree, we are past worrying about those who refuse to take such easily available and proven precautions. We do not associate with those folks at all and keep our distance where possible. We just make sure we are protected and let natural selection take care of the rest.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I copied and pasted the Table, I was ready to send it to an antivaxer friend, then I decided I've already sent enough info that didn't change his mind, so I nixed it. He is hunkered out at home only out for groceries. No one in our group has seen him for over a year. Although we have all had our shots and get out and together regularly.
We do get emails containing Youtube videos, that none of us have any interest in and it's rare that anyone watches them.

At least they are staying home and not out risking others.

I agree, we are past worrying about those who refuse to take such easily available and proven precautions. We do not associate with those folks at all and keep our distance where possible. We just make sure we are protected and let natural selection take care of the rest.

This. There is certainly enough to worry about...no need to get spun up about stupid neighbors who can't/won't listen to facts. Thankfully, DW and I aren't very social animals so when things get crazy (such is the case in Michigan right now) it's easy to reduce our risk further by staying home.

We are both "super juiced" (got the 3rd Moderna booster before they halved the doses) and will probably get yet another booster when we hit 6 months. We have been in a few situations that could have been ripe to catch Covid and yet didn't... so we have 1) been lucky and 2) think the vaccine does what it's supposed to do.

 

[pacergal]

Just found out a family friend living in the midwest recently out of the hospital after a month in ICU with covid. Her husband also had it but was able to stay out of hospital. She is on oxygen at home and still very weak. Mad at herself for not getting vaccinated.
Imagine that.
She does plan to get vaxxed, finally, when her dr says it is ok.
I am fearful she may be a long hauler. So sad and easily avoidable.