*Who Else Feels Like One of The Only People Still Actively Avoiding Covid? (Poll) DKos *Cases, Masks

[appalachiablue]

- Daily Kos, 'KosAbility: Who else feels like one of the only people still actively avoiding covid19?' (Poll). 5.30.22. Ed.

A common refrain of mine throughout the pandemic has been “well, it depends on your personal relationship with risk.” Friends and family know I’m paying attention to covid19 details to design my personal safety routines, so they ask me “is it safe to ...” as if there’s a clear yes/no answer.

March 2020: Is it safe to visit with friends outside sitting 6 feet apart?

March 2021: I’m vaccinated, do I still need to wear a mask?

March 2022: Is it safe to work out at the gym? What it comes down to, in terms of personal decisions, is how comfortable you are with uncertainty.

Over 2 years into the pandemic, few risk questions have definitive yes/no answers, a reality inherent in dealing with a brand new pathogen and the massive numbers involved.

* Here’s a definitive YES: Wearing a well-fitted mask protects you even if others aren’t wearing masks (N95s reduce risk by 83%, surgical masks by 66%). San Fran Chronicle article,
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/pandemicproblems/article/Do-masks-work-against-COVID-in-a-classroom-where-17160695.php

My answers to friends’ queries always involve 3 components: These are the facts (few); these are the suppositions (many); your personal risk tolerance is what decides yes/no. That’s what I have for you today, very few facts, many suppositions, and an overarching question to answer in the poll below: Who else feels like one of the only people still trying to avoid covid19?

** Yesterday, I read that the number of new covid19 cases in the U.S. right now is 5 times higher than a year ago. Last Memorial Day weekend, cases were plummeting thanks to vaccines, immunity built up during the 2021 winter surge, and public health mitigation measures, although I wasn’t joyously rushing into “hot vaxx summer.”

Last year, we didn’t have in-home covid19 tests readily available so the case rates, based on PCR testing, were more meaningful than now, and the test positivity rates offered another good clue. This year, most people test at home. We don’t know how many of those positive tests are also reported to public health or confirmed by PCR and picked up in the official reporting data, more people are vaccinated and may not have noticeable symptoms, so now both the case rates and test positivity rates (still based on official lab tests) are much less relevant to risk assessments.

* The actual covid19 case rate is much higher than what is reported, but we really don’t know what it is. An infectious disease specialist at Columbia University “whose lab has worked to model the true number of infections … thinks the true number of cases may be in the ballpark of 8 times higher than case counts. In other words, instead of 100,000 new cases a day, the true number may be 800,000 cases per day.”

Although more than half the U.S. is currently classified by the CDC as having medium or high covid19 levels, images of concerts, protests, basketball games, and other events show bare-faced crowds shouting, singing, conversing ... just like the olden days. The only reason I know those images are current and not prior to 2020 is the sight of one or 2 people wearing N95 masks in clean air (no wildfire smoke)... More + 394 Comments,
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/5/29/2101133/-KosAbility-Who-else-feels-like-one-of-the-only-people-still-actively-avoiding-covid19-poll
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- *'Dominant Coronavirus Mutant Contains Ghost of Pandemic Past, AP News, 5.26.22 https://democraticunderground.com/114228248



- Doctor Schnabel (iDr. Beak), a plague doctor in 17th century Rome, c. 1656. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_doctor

[tanyev]

1. Ooh, ooh! Me!

Masked all day long at work, restaurant delivery or takeout only, grocery curbside pick-up still. I don’t find it oppressive—one of the perks of being an introvert, I guess.

[appalachiablue]

2. Good for you! Damn right & well said. *INTROVERTS ROCK*

[LaMouffette]

6. I'm another "innie" who doesn't find wearing a mask that bad! In winter, it keeps my face warm, too!

[Midnight Writer]

9. Same here. I'm generally happy just keeping to myself. Masks, vaccines, distancing. No big deal.

[secondwind]

3. Another one here.

Two vaccines and one boost so far.

[CrispyQ]

4. Isolating, & when we have to go out we mask & distance.

"Yes but hospitalizations & death rates are down so it's no big deal." That's the rationalization I've heard. I know a few people who have had it twice. And one who got it last year & is still having issues. She's very depressed, wondering if she'll even reach 80% of how she used to feel. Another woman I know said she has periods of overwhelming doom that last for a few hours. WTF? Why take chances? What if you're one of the ones who isn't lucky & just has mild symptoms?

[Leghorn21]

8. A friend of a friend has a husband who, though very healthy, active and vaccinated, caught Covid

just last January—-and he apparently has long covid, because he stays exhausted now, poor guy —

He’s in his mid-70s, so I don’t know if being older makes one more susceptible, but still —

Sorry to hear about your friends, and can only hope some time passing helps them recover.

[SallyHemmings]

5. I'm in sales

I call on Medical Providers. I'm vaccinated boosted and wear a mask. Whenever I'm around other humans inside, I wear a mask. I'm still losing friends because of Covid.

Wearing a mask is my new normal.

[pandr32]

7. We still are masking

...and do not go to social events. Way too many cases.

[agingdem]

10. Me, too..masked every time I step outside..

I've had covid twice..and I was masked, vaccinated, boosted and I still tested positive..I've had a second booster since my repeat bout of covid..don't want it again...three is not the charm..

[rsdsharp]

11. Hell, my wife and I are the only ones wearing masks at the doctor's office.

Including the doctors.

[Rebl2]

16. Dr. office's I

have gone to require them

[rsdsharp]

20. In my area they were required for two years. The last 2-3 months

masks are “optional.”

[blueinredohio]

12. My husband and I are the only ones masked when we do go out.

Which is not often and only when necessary.

[hlthe2b]

13. Me, me, me. Haven't eaten out, wear masks everywhere, but saw first movie (matinee)

in three years this morning. I'm three weeks out from my latest booster, so I felt as protected as I could be. The theater wasn't very crowded, but mine was the only mask I saw.

That said, wearing my mask lets me sort of tune out everyone else and to focus on the movie. I didn't mind the "isolation." I can assure you.

[Rebl2]

14. ✋✋✋

[MontanaFarmer]

15. We've decided to re-engage fully,

as the school where my wife works has no mandatory mitigation and we have a student in pre-k. She had covid during Delta's run through Montana last fall, and we finally caught it the last week of school. Kids are clear this time, wife and i both have mild head cold symptoms that are improving 3-4 days in. We both had about 24hrs of light muscle aches as well. We distanced and masked religiously through 20 and 21 when we were both boosted and our kids had had the virus, then we began to "go back to normal." No real regrets from either course of action so far.

[BigmanPigman]

17. I mask every time I go out with my trusty N95

Double boosted and avoiding crowds. No one is even allowed in my apt unless they wear an N95. I have put off medical visits since I don't want to go onto a hospital and am paranoid about going to the dentist. No eating indoors or traveling or movies either.

[JCMach1]

18. Isn't just America, I saw more masks at DFW than London, Heathrow

And spaces were way more crowded in London

[appleannie1]

19. Plus I get looked at like I am a nut case for wearing a mask.

[oldsoftie]

26. I'm in GA and still see plenty of mask wearers around town. Not a majority but a noticeable amt

Although I'm wearing one only when required.

[Joinfortmill]

21. Still masking

[mn9driver]

22. Currently down with Covid. Vaxxed plus two boosters.

I spend a lot of time in PACKED airports and airplanes where no one is wearing a mask. It finally caught up to me. Once the mask mandates went away, this was inevitable.

[Marthe48]

23. I am masking, distancing, isolating

The first couple of weeks of May 2022, there were only 10 cases of Covid reported in our county, so I ate out once with my daughter and twice with my neighbor. First time inside restaurants since March 13, 2020. I noticed that the staff in the Chinese restaurant were masked, the only place I see masking. I wore a mask in the car with the neighbor, and into the restaurant, but took it off to eat. I wore a mask into the Empire Buffet, and took it off to eat. Except for staff, I saw one other person masked.

Rarely, I have gone in at the local IGA, Dollar Tree, bank and liquor store. If I go in anywhere, I change clothes and shoes at the door, wash my hands, wipe off my face with alcohol, shower and have a shot of vodka, as soon as I get home. Keeping my guard up!

I am vaccinated and have gotten both boosters.

[oldsoftie]

27. The mask & hand washing are really all you need.

The other things have long been dismissed as unnecessary by REAL experts long ago. You're just not going to catch it from your clothes or packages. The vodka certainly won't HURT!
The big increase in hand washing also helped slash the flu the past 2 yrs. It makes perfect sense Although the whack jobs keep saying its all a "plot". Think about it; how many people wiped down their shopping cart handle before covid? Now LOTS of people do it. I have always carried hand sanitizer in my car because I dealt with cash, so getting used to that was a done deal.

[Marthe48]

29. I would like to stop doing the routine

I rinse off food that goes in the fridge, and repackage what I can. I have a staging area where dry goods and h/b sit for 24+ hours before I put them away, I heard on CBS radio news about 2 weeks ago that researchers discovered that the virus lives longer on surfaces than they suspected, so even if I am over careful, I hope I'm outwitting the virus. Thank you for the information.

[paleotn]

24. It's endemic. We're going to have to learn to live with it.

It's going to be with us in one form or another from here on out. As mentioned, it boils down to personal risk assessment at this point. We don't do crowds anyway so me and my better half are impacted less than most. We're the "off season" people.

On the bright side, covid appears to be evolving towards more infectious but less acute and certainly less deadly. In VT our infection rates have been stubbornly high, yet our hospitals aren't being overly taxed. Our vaccination rates help, but some states with lower vax rates seem to be seeing the same phenomenon. Maybe light at the end of the covid tunnel.

[oldsoftie]

28. I hope you're right. And we cant keep giving people 10 days off for being positive.

Thats a big part of the supply chain issues; reduced production.

[oldsoftie]

25. After I donated blood I found out I had the Reactive+ antibodies. Never knew I had covid.

My wife also tested positive for the antibodies when she got her physical. Never knew she had it either.
I credit the vaccines.

[Marthe48]

30. Maybe someone could survey businesses that offer delivery

curbside pickup and so on, and see if the use of those services is holding up since the economy opened? Check Instacart, for instance. I will keep using curbside and delivery, as many places as I can, even if there is a charge. I really like curbside-free and gets me out of the house

[appalachiablue]

31. That's a great idea, I hope there's feedback. So

far we haven't done curbside grocery pickup yet but will definitely check it out. In the last couple of years it's been limited trips to small food stores and order in meals. But we need more alternatives, thanks for the suggestion.

[Marthe48]

32. YW

Definitely checkout curbside pickup.

I use Instacart for Aldi delivery and Instacart is raising it delivery feed and service charge to much higher rates. I just ordered and based on the costs, I'm not going to recommend it. Today, the fees added $15 to my bill. Too much.I order about 2x a month.
Kroger offers curbside delivery, free on orders over $35. I use Big Lots once in awhile, and their curbside is free. Don't really shop anywhere else, except online.

[appalachiablue]

33. This is really helpful, I need to get on it and

will pass along to others. Thanks again and stay well!