Post Vaccination Behavior

[Pellice]

I have had both shots, and another week to go before considered fully immunized. But I am already much more relaxed about being out and about. I never fully sequestered myself, but I was going out only to groceries plus a couple of trips to home improvement stores - but almost always during senior hour. After one more week, I will not hesitate to run into stores at any time, and I will finally go to shop for some items I've delayed purchasing. Also ready to begin my quest for some new bathroom fixtures!

 

[harllee]

DH was putting off Total Knee Replacement due to Covid but his knee kept getting worse and worse. Now that we are both fully vaccinated he has the TKR surgery scheduled for April 13.

 

[Chuckanut]

Seniors Gone Wild!

In today's WSJ there is an article about senior citizens who have been fully vaccinated taking a lot of flack from their children who are trying to rein in parents who wish to resume an active social life.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/vaccinated-seniors-cut-looseand-take-flak-from-offspring-11616687833

Behind a paywall so here are some quotes to inspire the 'wild' person inside of you.

Emphasis added.

85-year-old retired lawyer from Wilmette, Ill., booked a flight to Florida for a date. He met up with Roberta Rubin, 84, who was also recently vaccinated—one of three women with whom Mr. Boorstein regularly goes to dinner

One good thing though is that his kids feel less responbility to watch over the old guy all the time.

I feel liberated because now I don’t have to worry about him being alone in his apartment all day.”

Chuckanut's take: Hmm.. Can I get away seeing three women at 75 or even 70?

“It’s like seniors gone wild!" said Annie Price, a television talk show producer in Los Angeles whose 79-year-old mother, Betty Sue Morris, a retired state legislator in Vancouver, Wash., has been dining indoors at restaurants and getting her hair done at a salon since she was vaccinated.

I also had a martini. It was great!”

Chuckanut's take: Hey, she is a former legislator who is used to her fancy meals, entertainment, liquor, and other perqs of the job.

Back with his wife in Tennessee, Vinnie Wilhelm—a big fan of live music who attended the 1969 Woodstock concert—went to a country music concert this month and has twice gone for beers at the Krobar, a watering hole in his local Kroger supermarket. He said that after a year of abiding by his son’s wishes to avoid socializing and travel, he had reached his limit.

Chuckanut's take: Kroger's has a bar in their stores In my town we are stuck with a lousy Starbucks. You can't even order a Cafe Corretto!

Ellen Sweets, an 80-year-old retired author in Austin, is scheduled to receive her second shot on March 29. She is planning a road trip up the East Coast and a vacation in Italy. But the first thing on tap is a day out with her girlfriends at nail and hair salons, followed by dinner and sangria at a Brazilian steakhouse.

Chuckanut's take: Sweet!

“I just don’t want them to take any unnecessary risks,” she said. “I want to control them, but I think I’m going to lose this battle.”

FWIW, My first indoor dinner at a restaurant in over a year will take place this weekend to celebrate a family birthday. Having survived this mess for a year, I won't be blowing it by joining the 'Seniors Going Wild" group anytime soon. But, the idea of doing something to slightly shock the kids is tempting.

Chuckanut's final take: Could we be seeing just a bit of jealous over reaction from those who are still not vaccinated, still working, and still raising children?

 

[harllee]

Chuckanut--these younger unvaccinated folks who don't want us vaccinated seniors to "go wild" are the same ones who earlier told all of us old folks to stay home so they could go about their daily lives and not have to worry about old people getting sick. To them I say "Hold my beer and watch this".

 

[Aerides]

If anyone watches the Walking Dead (i gave up), they use a trick to pass safely among zombies: They coat their bodies with slaughtered zombie skin parts (yes ew) and walk thru a group of zombies if, oh, say, they happen to take over the village and you're trapped. Not ideal, still can't talk or make sudden movements, but can wiggle thru pretending to be a zombie and you probably won't get murdered.

I think early-vaccinees (sp?) - say in Jan/Feb of this year, when infection rates were raging and very few were vaccinated, had good reason to move like that. Can get through people safely, still not ideal, too many infections around, but still, can now get out of the building.

Now, since more people are jabbed and rates are well down, well, going out means passing mostly non-zombies, only a handful of actual zombies, and anyone can get past a handful of zombies as they aren't very fast. Still, until there are no zombies, gotta be a bit careful, keep that coat of zombie skin on until you're sure you're alone with fellow non-zombies.

Of course, once we get down to no zombies, then no one needs to coat themselves with zombie parts, and we're all good.

I mean this is just science.

 

[Chuckanut]

Of course, once we get down to no zombies, then no one needs to coat themselves with zombie parts, and we're all good.

I mean this is just science.

You really, really, really should write a science column for lay people. Really.

 

[unclemick]

Shot 2 under our belts - family reunion booked for one week August (drive to Pennsylvania) and 60th high school in September( outside Portland in Washington State).

Meanwhile hitting hardware and garden stores getting stuff for 'THE Farm' aka seeds, flowers, seedlings, roof top solar hardware et al.

Masking while shopping BUT I have my vaccinated sticker on my baseball cap.

Heh heh heh - plenty of people out and about now but masks still evident everywhere. Chomping at bit for the Frost Date to get here - April 1ish down south here and April 12th up at the Farm.

 

[explanade]

Well those seniors will be a good test. Antibody levels may wane a lot faster for those over 65 after 6-7 months.

So we may or may not hear about breakthrough infections in August and later.


BTW infection rates are up over the last 7 days.

 

[Gumby]

Connecticut tracks infection rates by age bracket. You can clearly see the effect of the vaccine in the graphs. While overall number of cases is trending up in the last two weeks, the rate among the 75+ and 65-74 groups (i.e. - the majority of whom have been vaccinated now) is down substantially and continuing down. The increase is driven by the younger age cohorts, particularly the 20's. This is also reflected in the fact that hospitalizations are steady and deaths are down, even as case numbers are up. Young people who catch the disease are less likely to be admitted to the hospital or to die if they are.

 

[mpeirce]

Chuckanut's take: Krogar's has a bar in their stores In my town we are stuck with a lousy Starbucks. You can't even order a Cafe Corretto!

Our old Kroger Marketplace in central Ohio had both a StarBucks and a wine/beer bar. The bar started as a tasting area in the wine section. After a remodel, they had a dedicated bar area.

And to keep on subject, my parents are slowly returning to regular life. As are we.

 

[explanade]

Connecticut tracks infection rates by age bracket. You can clearly see the effect of the vaccine in the graphs. While overall number of cases is trending up in the last two weeks, the rate among the 75+ and 65-74 groups (i.e. - the majority of whom have been vaccinated now) is down substantially and continuing down. The increase is driven by the younger age cohorts, particularly the 20's. This is also reflected in the fact that hospitalizations are steady and deaths are down, even as case numbers are up. Young people who catch the disease are less likely to be admitted to the hospital or to die if they are.

Makes sense but even before the vaccination campaign, that was pretty much the dynamics of the infection, since last summer.

Kids are YOLO'ing, figuring the virus can't hurt them. We saw big surges in infections in the summer, then in the fall when they went back to campuses and crammed themselves into bars near the campus.

 

[disneysteve]

Now, since more people are jabbed and rates are well down, well, going out means passing mostly non-zombies, only a handful of actual zombies

I love the analogy. It isn't quite true yet, though. COVID rates are rising in many states, including here in NJ, due to loosening restrictions as well as the spread of the variants.


And only about 15% of the US population has been vaccinated so far, so there are still 85% zombies out there.

 

[Poopycat]

I received the vaccine today. Four weeks from now, I am planning to go to a sit-down restaurant for the first time in over a year. I can’t wait. I may venture to the gym on rainy days in four weeks as well.

 

[USGrant1962]

I love the analogy. It isn't quite true yet, though. COVID rates are rising in many states, including here in NJ, due to loosening restrictions as well as the spread of the variants.


And only about 15% of the US population has been vaccinated so far, so there are still 85% zombies out there.

Well, actually 27% have had at least one dose, which by all measures is enough to get them out of the zombie category. And about ~30% have had Covid which also removes one from zombiehood.

Considering the overlap of vaccinated with previously infected, I would assume zombies are about 50%.

 

[skyking1]

I still see spotty mask wearing on the job, although it is absolutely required. I will continue to wear a mask at all times around others.
One of my co-workers who I work closely with got the virus last week. i can only hope our adherence to the protocol protected me. He is young and healthy and reported only mild symptoms at first. A few days after the mild fever, he lost taste and smell and still without that.
He used to think he was an introvert, but I had a hard time getting him off the call so I could eat dinner

 

[Breedlove]

We live in Texas and a rural area so we only wore masks when they were requested . We have been going to Planet Fitness gym since last fall and now nobody wears masks there anymore. We have been going to a sit down restaurant in Navasota since this started . We got vaccinated a month ago . So no masks , I don’t know if we have been lucky or what. We went to Home Depot today hardly anyone were wearing masks.

 

[Gumby]

Mask wearing is still universal around here. I get my second dose of Pfizer tomorrow. I'll keep masking and distancing until everyone has had a chance to get the vaccine, if for no other reason than social solidarity.

 

[Breedlove]

Kind of funny at the Brookshire Brothers grocery store . Lots of people make a reservation then don’t show . At the grocery store late in the afternoon they grab people to jab so the vaccine doesn’t go bad.

 

[Alan]

We received our first jab 5 weeks ago so today we did a short drive (10 minutes) to a garden center with our son, 3 of us in the same car, all wearing masks, son in the back seat. First time we have been indoors with him since he started work indoors first week of February. He lives alone and has been part of our family bubble but has been working from home for 10 months or more. Garden center is mostly outdoors and everyone was wearing masks everywhere.

He just called me to say that his NHS Covid app just alerted him that he has been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, and he has to self isolate for 9 days. (The actual test must have been yesterday). He called his boss who confirmed that someone in the office had tested positive so they were all switching to home working. This is a brand new contract that they have been working on and training for this last 6 weeks and they go live next week, it’s an IT support function.

Fingers crossed that he has not actually caught it. So pleased we didn’t throw caution to the winds and assume our normal close contact with him after vaccination.

 

[skyking1]

Alan I am hopeful for you, that your son's diligence with mask protocol paid off.

 

[Alan]

Alan I am hopeful for you, that your son's diligence with mask protocol paid off.

Thanks, hopefully he won’t catch it, but it shows how careful one needs to be. I’m confident that my wife and I won’t as he has been very good at keeping away from us since he started working in the office. We’ll be able to repay that diligence by doing grocery runs for him over the next week or so.

 

[Alan]

We received our first jab 5 weeks ago so today we did a short drive (10 minutes) to a garden center with our son, 3 of us in the same car, all wearing masks, son in the back seat. First time we have been indoors with him since he started work indoors first week of February. He lives alone and has been part of our family bubble but has been working from home for 10 months or more. Garden center is mostly outdoors and everyone was wearing masks everywhere.

He just called me to say that his NHS Covid app just alerted him that he has been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, and he has to self isolate for 9 days. (The actual test must have been yesterday). He called his boss who confirmed that someone in the office had tested positive so they were all switching to home working. This is a brand new contract that they have been working on and training for this last 6 weeks and they go live next week, it’s an IT support function.

Fingers crossed that he has not actually caught it. So pleased we didn’t throw caution to the winds and assume our normal close contact with him after vaccination.

Our son got confirmation this morning that he has Covid. He entered the test code he received via text into in his NHS app and ours has not alerted us, confirming that our decision to continue our distancing from him was a good one. He developed symptoms on Tuesday and took a PCR test yesterday. So far it is like having the flu for him except normal temperature and with a dry cough.

Fingers crossed that at his age it doesn’t get too bad. Both my sisters and their husbands plus a niece of my wife and her husband have now had Covid.

 

[simple girl]

Our son got confirmation this morning that he has Covid.

UGH!!! I'm so sorry to hear this! Hoping his symptoms remain manageable and he recovers quickly!

 

[audreyh1]

Wow!

 

[Ronstar]

Alan- Hope your son continues to have only mild symptoms and that he has a quick recovery.