Mastodawn

“You haven't had #COVID19? You're lucky!”

My “luck”:
Two concerts, two movies in theaters & one conference in three years (all masked).
I haven't eaten in a reasonably crowded restaurant in three months.
I've worn a mask 100% of the time in airports, planes, transit & retail.
I've eaten outside on 50F/10C evenings to avoid inside dining.
I got every jab as soon as possible.
I've monitored COVID conditions and adjusted behaviors to match.
I canceled 2 vacations due to COVID surges.
“LUCK!”

Sally Strange Jan 20, 2023

@augieray I got COVID the first time outdoors, on a roofing job site

The second time I walked into my parents' house without realizing they were sick

Augie Ray Jan 20, 2023

@SallyStrange It's impossible to avoid it altogether, so there is a certain amount of good or bad luck to it. Nevertheless, my point is that we can do much to create our own luck.

Sally Strange Jan 20, 2023

@augieray Agreed. I could have had covid 3 - 4 times if I weren't being cautious.

Peter Brown Jan 20, 2023

@SallyStrange @augieray I thought this illustration was very useful

Ian Fogg Jan 20, 2023

@augieray Pretty much the same here. Have not knowingly had covid yet (crossed fingers). I do take risks occasionally maskless — but the events have to be worth it. I would hate to get covid because I couldn't be bothered to wear a mask in a shop or on the bus.....

Augie Ray Jan 20, 2023

@ianfogg Yeah, I'm hardly living like a monk (except during surges), but even in the best of times, I'm still cautious. Every event is a specific cost/benefit analysis.

Margaret Anne (she/her/they)Jan 20, 2023

@augieray @ianfogg
I do live as a monk. Fully vaxxed & boosted. We see only immediate family & they test first. I go out wearing P100 mask usually to grocery, post office, Doc or pharmacy. and we have not eaten in restos or been in theatre, mall, or crowds at ALL! We mask even in apt. corridors! We have not been in any crowd, anywhere for three years and are religious about masks - but still got COVID! So yeah . . . some luck in it.

Callisto Jan 21, 2023

@unionmaidns Pretty much impossible to avoid in congregate living - masking in corridors is nice, but unless you have your apartment set up as a positive pressure cleanroom, you're sharing air with everyone else in the building. In '22 when I've been away from home I've rented a condo or cabin with no shared air. In '21 when I stayed in a hotel for a few days - it was pure senseless luck I didn't get infected, & wouldn't do it again.

Kathkoh Jan 20, 2023

@augieray it's hard work assessing risk and taking appropriate measures but it's also about luck when it comes down to behaviour and honesty of friends and family and whether they respect your desire to avoid illness, disability or worse. Covid has made compulsive liars out of far too many, must maintain the 'it's just a cold' delusion... We're a rotten at the core frankly not very intelligent species I'm afraid.

troy_friz_zell Jan 20, 2023

I had to work a conference in Vegas last year. Dozens of employees got COVID that week, but I was “lucky “ and didn’t.

I wore a mask the entire time, they didn’t.

I stayed in my room after hours, they didn’t.

I ate alone, they didn’t.

But I was “lucky.”

caragraph Jan 20, 2023

@augieray in re: your checklist

No concerts, movies, theater, restaurant dining, or public outing for three years

I order my groceries online and pick up from an outdoor location, while remaining in my truck

Doctor appointments only exception, and these are video conference when feasible

I'm behind on jabs, I need the bivalent booster, but haven't been able to work out how to manage it.

My across the creek and down the road neighbor, who occasionally does work for me, called last night. He and his wife both tested positive and are symptomatic.

I'm terrified I've been exposed.

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@caragraph @augieray Are you having issues about finding the bivalent booster?

caragraph Jan 20, 2023

@OldAndCranky @augieray no, I get medical care through the VA, but I'm an hour away from the hospital.

When I got the second vaccine, I had a bad reaction and ended up in the ER for half the day. I had a caregiver then so it worked out, but I don't have one now.

I can't quite figure out how to get from here, where I thought I was safely cocooned, to there-- and safely back

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@caragraph @augieray Oh man, that's terrible. Did you have an allergic reaction or just a strong immune reaction?

caragraph Jan 20, 2023

@OldAndCranky @augieray probably safe to say the latter. I'm not a candidate for the flu vaccine because I always get ill from it.

I really thought my half hermit lifestyle would keep me safe!

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@caragraph @augieray I never had a reaction to the flu shot until I started getting the super duper old peoples' flu shot. Yiikes! I reacted to all five covid shots, but it was just being achy and tired for a few hours.

Augie Ray Jan 20, 2023

@OldAndCranky @caragraph It may be little comfort to you, Caragraph, given the severity of the reaction, but I did see a study a month or two ago that suggested the stronger one reacts to the vaccine, the better the protection. (I can't find that now, however.)

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@augieray @caragraph I do believe that is the rule of thumb. I actually worry because my spouse has virtually no reaction to vaccines ( except the shingles one, which I'm actually *scared* of- and I am generally medically fearless- I mean if he was uncomfortable I'll be a mess!).

caragraph Jan 20, 2023

@OldAndCranky @augieray no, that is comforting, and thank you for reminding me! I had read that but of course forgotten. I think that was almost three years ago?

But it also makes me wonder if I should have been getting the flu shot all along

caragraph Jan 20, 2023

@OldAndCranky @augieray I had chicken pox as a child so I think I have that immunity? I need to read more!

acm Jan 20, 2023

@caragraph No, they still recommend the shingles vaccine once you're in your 50s or so. Because the virus lives in your neurons and can come back into play.

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@acm_redfox @caragraph exactly. Having had chicken pox is why you need the shingles vaccination. Funny thing, when my older daughter was 2 my husband had a shingles outbreak (it was during a stressful time) and my daughter caught chicken pox from him! Those were in the days before the chicken pox vaccine.

acm Jan 20, 2023

@OldAndCranky Ugh, when I was shopping for a wedding dress, I apparently had an outbreak I didn't recognize and infected my only never-had-chickenpox friend (and who knows what other brides). At least she knew and insisted on retrovirals at first pok!

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@acm_redfox Oh dear! I am wondering how she managed to avoid chicken pox up till then! I remember having a hell of a case when I was a kid-both my kids had it (both before the vaccine was available) all ten of my nieces and nephews etc.

acm Jan 20, 2023

@OldAndCranky Yeah, I don't know. When I was in kindergarten, a mom knowingly sent her kid to school with chickenpox so we'd all get it and be done. (Other parents were glad!) Guess she had more boring neighbors?

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@acm_redfox I remember Chicken pox parties... Seriously. People who had a kid with cp would invite others who hadn't gotten it yet so that everyone would get it over with. I'm not certain if that's urban legend, but I think it's not.

acm Jan 20, 2023

@OldAndCranky For surel it's just an itchy pesk at 5, and gets much more serious by adulthood, so in the absence of a vaccine, that was a reasonable solution.

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@acm_redfox One of my nieces had a really bad case- (I became an aunt at a very young age so this was like 50 years ago), and ended up in the hospital with a secondary infection! Its the story I liked to tell anti vaxxers (before Covid- now I've got a few stories). She has scarring from it.

RDS (shawphd on Twitter)Jan 20, 2023

@OldAndCranky @acm_redfox Pox parties absolutely were a thing when I was a kid. I’m grateful my own kid can get a vaccine instead and avoid that misery.

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@shawrd773 @acm_redfox yeah. my poor niece ended up in the hospital with it many many years ago.

Augie Ray Jan 20, 2023

@OldAndCranky @caragraph FWIW, I've had practically no reaction to any of the vaxes, myself. Still haven't got COVID (to my knowledge.)

caragraph Jan 20, 2023

@augieray @OldAndCranky and I hope you never do! I'm particularly distressed that my neighbors are ill.

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@caragraph @augieray yeah, that's a bit scary! I know so many folks that were exposed and never caught it (including my niece's husband and they never distanced ( she didn't know she had it at first- first wave). Let's hope you're one of those lucky folks.

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@augieray @caragraph same for a lot of folks I know.

caragraph Jan 20, 2023

@OldAndCranky @augieray I got woozy and disoriented, and was sitting completely still in a wheelchair! Lol, my caregiver was getting information from the front desk, turned and looked at me, and said, 'are you okay?' I don't know what I looked like that prompted the concern, but he got directions to the ER and wheeled me off.

I'm woozy and disoriented normally: an aspiscious ADHD respitorially challenged, so I'm always always careful.

I had a sinus augmentation done just before Thanksgiving and am still recovering from that.

Life is challenging

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@caragraph @augieray It sure is!

Bookeater Jan 20, 2023

@caragraph @augieray 🤞🤞🤞

Stoneface Vimes Jan 20, 2023

@augieray yes. Similar to my amazing luck in only having caught it once, last summer. Use a bit of common sense, don't put yourself, or others, at risk, get vaxed (assuming you can). To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson 'the more sensibly I behave the luckier I seem to get'

TardyCreative Jan 20, 2023

I literally locked myself away for 16 months as I am vulnerable - I went out only three times in that time for doctors or vaccine and caught Covid two weeks after my first vaccination. I had a mask on and was paranoid about the antibacterial gel - Sods law is that. lol

Caught it off my son, from his school. He got it first.

Augie Ray Jan 20, 2023

@TardyCreative Hope you've fully recovered and are feeling healthy!

TardyCreative Jan 20, 2023

@augieray Thanks I am ok now, but I had long covid alopecia for several months, that seems to be getting better now thankfully!

Jessica Jan 20, 2023

@augieray We haven’t gotten COVID, even moved from TX back West with a 6y and 3m old. Luck consisted of mask wearing, vaccinations, and 2 CR box fans for the overnight hotel stay at the halfway point. Being closer to family means requiring family to be vaxed, COVID test prior to visit, and not even a little sick especially with shortages of children’s medicine.

OldAndCranky Jan 20, 2023

@augieray same except no concerts or conferences. Maybe 4 movies...(let me think...ooops- 5). Indoor restaurant something like 4 times (lots of take out). I still assume I'll get it eventually because I can't control the behaviors of family and friends.

hammancheez Jan 20, 2023

@augieray honestly man its still luck but you are actively managing risk and improving your odds like all smart people and I hope the dice keep rolling your way

Augie Ray Jan 20, 2023

@hammancheez Certainly, there's an element of luck, but we all make most of our own, don't we?

@augieray +9001%

I've to deal with harrasment by agressive anti-maskers every single time I just want to shop and not catch 'Rona...

Like: Is it too much to ask to just be left alone?

It's not as if I'm going to berate every single unmasked #Wanker for being an obvious antisocial asshole...

Feoh Jan 20, 2023

@augieray To be honest, some of it *IS* luck. It's about whether or not you encounter a particular strain that finds you tasty.

I am vaxxed and boosted to the max, and in fact just 3 weeks prior had gotten the bivalent booster... And then got COVID again.

So yeah, there really sincerely is luck involved, at least for most of us. Glad you've avoided it thus far.

Augie Ray Jan 20, 2023

@feoh Definitely some element of luck, but we do make a great deal of our own luck, don't we?

Bookeater Jan 20, 2023

@augieray @feoh that's it, reducing space for luck to act in!

GG Jan 20, 2023

Do you have any school-age children or grandchildren?

They have been the Covid vector for our household.

Augie Ray Jan 20, 2023

@gemelliz As you suspected, I do not. I'm not a parent. It makes it a lot easier to avoid infectious diseases. There is only so much parents can do (but I'd still argue they should be trying for more precautions.)

GG Jan 20, 2023

We receive immediate notifications from the school over a LICE outbreak - but ZERO notification regarding COVID cases.
We hear about classroom illness from other parents.
Our kids are masked. They're very brave as they are the only ones masked in their classrooms. Not even the teacher is masked.

Monica Rooney Jan 20, 2023

@augieray @gemelliz I do even less than that but my kids brought it home from school. I suspect from recess since they mask in classes.

GG Jan 20, 2023

@monicarooney @augieray

Lunchtime & nutrition breaks increase risk.
Plus finding out that your child has been sitting next to a maskless Covid+ student. 🤦‍♀️

"it was a only mild case, they felt fine"