COVID-19 Thread [V2.0]

[nodakfan17]

I went to the grocery store yesterday and only 2/3 of shoppers were wearing masks. Until recently, I think it was probably 99% of shoppers.

 

99%??

 

Mine have been 2/3 at best for quite some time.

 

Yes, 99%. I’ve cut down on unnecessary errands over the past 14 months, but still make a weekly in-person trip to Piggly Wiggly. I live in a suburb of Green Bay (very much a ‘purple’ community), and the shoppers here have reliably been wearing masks for the past year. I was surprised by the drop off I observed yesterday. On the one hand, I’m pleased we seem to be trending in the right direction, but on the other, I’m worried some folks are letting their guard down too soon.

[adambr2]

I went to the grocery store yesterday and only 2/3 of shoppers were wearing masks. Until recently, I think it was probably 99% of shoppers.

 

99%??

 

Mine have been 2/3 at best for quite some time.

 

Yes, 99%. I’ve cut down on unnecessary errands over the past 14 months, but still make a weekly in-person trip to Piggly Wiggly. I live in a suburb of Green Bay (very much a ‘purple’ community), and the shoppers here have reliably been wearing masks for the past year. I was surprised by the drop off I observed yesterday. On the one hand, I’m pleased we seem to be trending in the right direction, but on the other, I’m worried some folks are letting their guard down too soon.

 

I assume you're fully vaccinated. The CDC themselves have said it's safe for fully vaccinated individuals indoors and outdoors without masks. So what is there to be worried about?

[MrTPlush]

I ended up getting the J&J shot last week. I wasn’t overly eager to get vaccinated because, for me, I don’t really fall into any at risk category to be worried about. I was pretty confident some of the common side effects to the shot would be 10x worse than COVID would be for me. Of course at some point, for most of us, it’s about the greater good and not so much personally protecting ourselves from infection.

 

I opted for the J&J due to only needing to get the shot once and the fact the side effects were overall more mild compared to others it seemed. Thankfully I was only a bit tired the first day and the morning after I had a slight headache my coffee quickly cured.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I remain fairly unconvinced of the necessity to get myself vaccinated, although I hold absolutely no judgement against anyone else that decides to, or decides not to. I feel like I’ve been sold something by a used car salesman with all these politicians, actors, sports teams, etc begging for it, and not so much a health decision. At some point I may get the J&J, but who knows.

 

Also, there's the idea of striving toward herd immunity, which would allow society to get back to pretty much normal behavior. The more people who are on the fence that choose to get vaccinated, the higher the overall number goes, and the sooner businesses and other attractions can operate at a full level. I mean, yes, politicians, actors and pro athletes are telling you to get vaccinated. But science and medical professionals, who's job is to research this and treat those who have gotten infected, are also pleading for people to get vaccinated. Those are really the only opinions that matter in my opinion.

[Machu Peach]

I believe the Mayo study I had seen reported on indicated that close to a 1/3 of all covid sufferers regardless of initial severity had lingering symptoms.

Can you link this? It doesn't pass the smell test/sanity check.

[nodakfan17]

I assume you're fully vaccinated. The CDC themselves have said it's safe for fully vaccinated individuals indoors and outdoors without masks. So what is there to be worried about?

True. My wife and I are fully vaccinated, so our risk is sufficiently minimal. However, we have a son in day care and I’d hate to be the family that gets COVID and causes day care to shut down for two weeks. We’d be fine, but it might put 50 other families in a jam and cause the care providers to be laid off.

[CheezWizHed]

I live in a suburb of Green Bay (very much a ‘purple’ community), ...

 

I'm quite sure you just insulted all of them. Yes, red and blue make purple, but nothing is purple in Green and Gold country.

[LouisEly]

I remain fairly unconvinced of the necessity to get myself vaccinated, although I hold absolutely no judgement against anyone else that decides to, or decides not to. I feel like I’ve been sold something by a used car salesman with all these politicians, actors, sports teams, etc begging for it, and not so much a health decision. At some point I may get the J&J, but who knows.

For people with a compromised immune system (e.g. cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, and other conditions such as leukemia, immunotherapy patients, etc.) the vaccines may not be as effective. So, by not getting vaccinated, you may be placing those people at greater risk by spreading it if you get infected.

[igor67]

https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(21)00356-6/pdf

 

Not surprising that the news summary missed some important framing on the percentage above.

[nate82]

My doctor said not to get it as I already had COVID-19 but was asymptomatic and I already have immunities built up from the test that they did. She told me that getting the vaccine would be a waste and that it wouldn't help me anymore than the antibodies I already have.

[Machu Peach]

My doctor said not to get it as I already had COVID-19 but was asymptomatic and I already have immunities built up from the test that they did. She told me that getting the vaccine would be a waste and that it wouldn't help me anymore than the antibodies I already have.

Your doctor must have a limited understanding of immunology/vaccines. She is very incorrect.

[CheezWizHed]

Has anyone seen any information about the length of the effectivity yet? Since we are about 6 months in, I was curious if any initial numbers are being estimated yet.

[DHonks]

My doctor said not to get it as I already had COVID-19 but was asymptomatic and I already have immunities built up from the test that they did. She told me that getting the vaccine would be a waste and that it wouldn't help me anymore than the antibodies I already have.

Your doctor must have a limited understanding of immunology/vaccines. She is very incorrect.

 

The studies have shown that someone with COVID antibodies getting the first shot will show significantly more antibodies. I don't remember the number, but I thought it was something like 10 or 20x strong immune response (which is a good thing).

[igor67]

The last interview I saw with a rep from Pfizer or Moderna indicated that they were reporting continued strong antibody numbers up to 6 months, and expecting that by the end of summer they would have another update.

[Machu Peach]

My doctor said not to get it as I already had COVID-19 but was asymptomatic and I already have immunities built up from the test that they did. She told me that getting the vaccine would be a waste and that it wouldn't help me anymore than the antibodies I already have.

Your doctor must have a limited understanding of immunology/vaccines. She is very incorrect.

The studies have shown that someone with COVID antibodies getting the first shot will show significantly more antibodies. I don't remember the number, but I thought it was something like 10 or 20x strong immune response (which is a good thing).

This makes sense, recall responses always induce much higher antibodies titers than primary responses. It's one of the reasons why most vaccinations protocols require multiple boosts. However, I'm afraid I may be missing your overall point?

[adambr2]

I think he was simply concurring with you.

[homer]

However, I'm afraid I may be missing your overall point?

 

He was agreeing with you.

[Machu Peach]

Oh I see, thank you. For some reason I thought that acute response antibody titers were being referred to, but yes the baseline/longterm titers should also be higher, which would lead to better protection. It's one of several reasons why a person that was previously infected with COVID would benefit from vaccination.

[igor67]

My 12-15 got their first shot Sunday, no reaction just normal pain after a shot.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

My 12-15 got their first shot Sunday, no reaction just normal pain after a shot.

 

My 12-year-old got it yesterday. His arm was hurting at the injection site last night, and he said he was tired this morning, so we told him he could take the morning off from school. Don't know if it is more shot-related, or more "I can use my shot as a reason to skip school" related, though LOL.

[MrTPlush]

I had to laugh when Fauci said people were confused thinking “everyone could take their mask off”. No Fauci, the mask hating crowd finally got their green light to take it off and not be judged...they aren’t confused. While I support telling vaccinated people it isn’t a necessity anymore, it is an unfortunate reality that those not vaccinated (and likely anti mask) will take it off too. It’s to the point where those not vaccinated probably don’t care to mask themselves either.

 

I found it interesting the place I still find heavy mask usage is WalMart (in a northern half of WI city). Out of all places I’d think that would cause less mask wearing. Today it felt like 8/10 people had a mask. It certainly seems like, in at least my area, the older crowd is deciding to keep their mask on despite being vaccinated. The 30-45ish crowd has certainly taken it off a lot. The 30 and under crowd seems to have taken it off regardless of vaccination or not.

[nodakfan17]

My company has been working on a ‘return to the office plan’ for months. They recently announced people are welcome to return in June without masks.

 

Interestingly, an HR colleague told me the company was worried that OSHA might prevent them from having separate mask rules for vaccinated and un-vaccinated employees, so it would have been an either/or thing.

[CheezWizHed]

Personally, I think the no-mask for vaccinated people is a bit hypocritical. The vaccine will reduce the intensity of symptoms and lower the possibility of spreading the virus, but doesn't eliminate it. If masks are in place to reduce the spread (I agree with this, not debating it), then taking masks off should be a function of the infection rates and not vaccination rates. It would be silly for India to suddenly say vaccinated people don't need to wear masks (COVID is spreading like crazy there).

 

Seems like we are trying to manipulate people (i.e. you can take your mask off if you get the shot) into getting vaccinated instead of using common sense with masks. For me, we should all wear masks or not wear masks - vaccine or not. My place of work actually agrees with me (currently at least) in that our metrics for returning to work and masks are predicated on infection rates/1000 people and positivity rates in our county. When people aren't getting sick and the risk is lowered, then we all unmask.

 

And yes, I'm being vaccinated - Moderna first shot last Wed.

[LouisEly]

Common sense hasn't worked so far, why would it start working now?

 

My understanding is that's part of the relaxation of mask mandates - the positivity rate is going down as well.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Personally, I think the no-mask for vaccinated people is a bit hypocritical. The vaccine will reduce the intensity of symptoms and lower the possibility of spreading the virus, but doesn't eliminate it. If masks are in place to reduce the spread (I agree with this, not debating it), then taking masks off should be a function of the infection rates and not vaccination rates. It would be silly for India to suddenly say vaccinated people don't need to wear masks (COVID is spreading like crazy there).

 

Seems like we are trying to manipulate people (i.e. you can take your mask off if you get the shot) into getting vaccinated instead of using common sense with masks. For me, we should all wear masks or not wear masks - vaccine or not. My place of work actually agrees with me (currently at least) in that our metrics for returning to work and masks are predicated on infection rates/1000 people and positivity rates in our county. When people aren't getting sick and the risk is lowered, then we all unmask.

 

And yes, I'm being vaccinated - Moderna first shot last Wed.

 

I think you are spot on. The CDC taking mask requirements away for vaccinated people is a not-so-veiled attempt to incentivize getting more people who are on the fence vaccinated. I'm sure the decision was made, at least partially, because vaccination numbers have declined sharply across the country. Those who have made the decision not to get vaccinated have now dug in their heels, and it is likely that many of those were already defying mask requirements, as it is extremely hard to enforce those anywhere. But there is probably a group who are still taking the mask requirements seriously, and may very well see this as the last step they need to do to basically shed the mask and return to a more normal existence.

 

Last weekend I went shopping at Walmart, and for the first time in over a year, I didn't wear a mask. Walmart suspended their mask requirements following the CDC announcement last week, and there is no longer any signs asking for mask wearing or an employee stationed at the entrance checking for masks. And I would bet that, at least in my local Walmart in northern Wisconsin, it was probably 50-50 between those still wearing a mask, and those who weren't. I would also be willing to bet that the majority of those who weren't masked in the store likely also weren't vaccinated. But I made the decision to go without because I've been fully vaxxed and protected since early March. Still, it felt very odd not wearing one ... almost as if I was breaking the law or not wearing pants or something. Masks, while kind of annoying, did provide some level of comfort, at least for me. It's going to take a little while to get over that.