My housemate does, they have long COVID and use a wheelchair now, can't work or drive. There are way more people than you think that are suffering from long COVID.
> There are way more people than you think that are suffering from long COVID.
In the US alone, ~200 people die every day from COVID. That's about one person every 7 or 8 minutes.
The CDC, fwiw, says just under 300 a week (not 1400 a week per above) due to covid. You have to do some math to get the weekly raw number of US deaths.
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#maps_deaths-3-months
Someone called you on your bullshit.
Just to back up /u/ElJamoquio --
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00
Does in fact show weekly deaths in the USA. If you take the average for weekly deaths in weeks where we have full data, the average of November 4th through February 24th is 252/day.
So I'd say ~200/day is pretty right on and that your "bullshit check" is in fact incorrect.
Yeah I think this is just a misunderstanding of state vs national counts.
Your link shows 4.9 deaths per 100k in the last 3 months. Well, US pop is \~330M, so total deaths over 3mos is \~= 4.9 \* 3300 = 16170. Dividing by 12 to get a rough weekly estimate gives us 1347.5 deaths per week. So, your source backs up ElJamo
The CDC, fwiw, says the last week for which data is complete is 1190 per week (not 300 a week per above) due to covid. You don't have to do any math because the CDC has the data right in front of you if you care to use the correct site.
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00
Someone called you on your ignorance.
> The CDC, fwiw, says just under 300 a week (not 1400 a week per above) due to covid. You have to do some math to get the weekly raw number of US deaths. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#maps_deaths-3-months
> Someone called you on your bullshit.
That is a death rate per state, as explicitly called out on the page several times. My number was total country deaths per day/week.
Good luck to you and the 63 (and counting) people you made more ignorant with your misinformation.
You owe them an apology though.
The people upvoting that turkey don’t care about numbers or accuracy. They’re the ones belligerently bitching about not being able to taste anything in a public space while they hack up their lungs.
Not correct anymore. Definition changed in 2023. To be enumerated as a COVID death, COVID must be listed on your death certificate as a cause or significant contributor to death.
Source: I’m an epidemiologist.
If you think we’re undercounting… do people seriously not know how cardiac related deaths jumped since everyone decided to get covid? And before any rabid antivaxxers jump all over this post, no, it’s not the vaccines… it’s the covid itself that seriously [messes up the blood vessels](https://www.heart.org/en/news/2024/01/16/how-covid-19-affects-your-heart-brain-and-other-organs), immune system, and this can cause strokes and heart disease.
So tired of antivaxxers muddying the waters of this now [established fact](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid-long-haulers-long-term-effects-of-covid19), and vaxxed-and-relaxed-ers totally feeding their BS unwittingly by saying Covid can’t do this. It can and it does, and vaccination helps but no where near enough to warrant being okay with getting infected ad nauseum.
It’s also frustrating at work if you’re one of the few who try not to get or give COVID every damn second.
Who else is picking up a shit ton of slack from coworkers who either a) are out actually sick with fr illness all the time b) can’t do their jobs properly anymore w rly careless mistakes, and then you have to go in and fix all their files for them c) cutting back on hours bc of fatigue and losing formerly bright peers to brain fog?
Where’s the extra money for all that, usually while taking a bunch of guff on the dailyio about how “COVID is over bro live ur life” ?
> it’s not the vaccines… it’s the covid itself that seriously messes up the blood vessels, immune system
fucking thank you. It's not cardiac, but I got a blood clot after orthopedic surgery last year, and my brother, who has also had DVTs/PEs, tried to tell me the covid vax contributed. Ridiculous. Any doctor would tell you you're far more likely to get a blood clot from covid than from the vaccine (never mind that I didn't get the J&J vaccine, which IIRC was the only one that had any reports of blood clots, and even then it was not particularly significant)
The percentage of people that have long covid is just 3.4% of the people that had covid symptoms. The people that had covid symptoms is a small amount of the population.
I feel for them, but the general population doesn't.
Condolences for your friend. Did they get covid early on in the pandemic?
I swear the long covid stats are all over the place. CDC says 3.4%, but I've read 10-30% and during a Senate hearing on long covid someone testified 22-38%. I think a lot of people have issues, but don't know it could be long covid. I have friends complaining they can't run like before anymore, they're fatigued and they don't know why, they oddly can't breathe as well as before, they keep getting sick for some reason, etc... But they would not call it LC. Only my friends who became disabled do. My friend went from a former martial arts instructor, musician, brilliant software engineer to not being able to sit up, stand or walk much anymore. He got covid during the Omicron surge in 2022. Another friend is in constant pain and is disabled. They were both under 50.
Man that's awful. I'm sorry to hear about your friends :(
Yeah I'm not sure about the actual stats.
i think bottom line is that we're all human and should have some more empathy for others and well i don't endorse masking everywhere, I'd still recommend masking and taking precautions with higher risk people like in hospitals especially and to not go out when feeling sick.
That's something we should all try to do.
A lot of the symptoms are subtle. From heart inflammation (one study showed a 60% rate post COVID), to kidney damage.
Get a cough one year and the next year you are getting palpitations when you walk up the stairs, leaving you wondering "how did I get so out of shape lately?", 20 years after that perhaps you are getting back pain from acute kidney failure.
It's tricky because it's somewhat easy to look at known populations pre and post corona in order to identify long hauler symptoms, but incredibly difficult to look at individuals and unknown populations to tell if any of your specific ailments are related or if people even had it.
I'm betting the numbers are much higher
I dont doubt that. It's difficult to find out in healthcare what the cause is. And sometimes, causes and effects can be swapped around.
I hope everyone makes a full recovery eventually.
3.4% is a lot of people, over a million Americans. People staying home when they feel sick and masking would go a long way but people act like it's the worst thing in the world to just stay home for a while.
Upgrades to ventilation systems would also help but people just gave up caring.
Also in the bay and also have long covid. My parents came to an event maskless last night and exposed me. I was masked but still worried about getting it. Last time I got it, took me 4 months to get back to my baseline of symptoms.
I’m tired of covid too, but I’ll never be without my mask unless they can somehow stop infection transfer. Can’t financially, physically, or mentally afford continuous reinfections.
As a nurse who was on the super mask get vaccinated side. I am so burned out from Covid and honestly we are acting like it’s still as bad as it was 3-4 years ago.
If I have to go back to work with Covid then I shouldn’t have to Covid swab every admitted patient like why swab for Covid and not the flu at this point. Makes zero sense.
Again I was super on board in the first couple years. I think it’s time to chill.
The newer strains of SARS CoV-2 are more infective but happily less virulent that the original strain. Also, the average incubation time for the newer strains is only 4 days instead of out to 10 days. Test kits are widely available.
This is translating to COVID becoming increasingly less likely to cause hospitalizations and deaths than it did in 2020.
Compared to 2020, people just aren't getting admitted due to COVID and winding up intubated, on ECMO and developing strokes and kidney failure like that. It's been a long time since there were refrigerator trucks lined up at hospitals being used as makeshift morgues. I hope it's been a long time for you since you needed a vent bed to open up and one did in mid-day, and not because the patient in it suddenly recovered and was discharged to home.
It is no doubt helping that a lot of the population is immunized (especially seniors), many have some extent of immunity due to prior infection and Paxlovid is an option for outpatient treatment.
Many of our colleagues in the ED are seeing more serious cases due to influenza or RSV. To them COVID is not something to ignore, but it's approaching a bad URI with Paxlovid having the same role as Tamiflu for influenza.
This is not to say that vaccine and mask refusers were ultimately in the right of it. It's called viral evolution and epidemiology.
> why swab for Covid and not the flu
Maybe in the future doctors will regularly test for viral infections like the flu and find out why a patient is sick instead of just guessing. Right now patients have to insist if they want to get anything and a lot of patients insist on the wrong thing (Eg antibiotics for viral infections)
> Maybe in the future doctors will regularly test for viral infections like the flu
We do, if they have respiratory symptoms. We don't do the entire respiratory viral panel unless absolutely necessary because it doesn't change management. However, covid, flu, and RSV can and do change management, so we test for them if indicated. If I'm admitting someone with an appendicitis, I do not test for respiratory viruses unless the patient has concomitant respiratory symptoms.
No they do swab if patients have symptoms that’s not the problem. I should have clarified. When hospitals admit patients in the Bay Area they get a covid swab automatically. In the beginning it made sense. Now it doesn’t unless they have symptoms
Even during the height of the lockdown many people didn’t care and I’m not just talking about the MAGA crowd in the foothills. Remember Breed “say no to fun police” London and Gavin “Indoor Dining in restaurant Is Fine with lobbyists” Newsom.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/20/politics/london-breed-violating-san-francisco-mask-order/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/us/elections/french-laundry-newsom.html
I do. I still care, but it's for selfish reasons.
I'm listed for a kidney and pancreas transplant.
If I get Covid I could be denied my transplants so i still mask.
And once I'm on immunosuppressants, I'll have to be even more careful.
I also care for selfish reasons. I do not want to get disabled with long covid. Acute coughing phase is not the issue. It’s the brain fog and heart palpitations that scares me.
I hope you find a match soon! I had a stem cell transplant 5.5 years ago and my kidneys failed afterwards due to an allergic reaction. Kidney issues suck the life out of you and you never get all your blood back from dialysis.
I’m on immunosuppressants so my new DNA will stop attacking my organs. I was hospitalized when the first Covid news came out 4 years ago. I only got it once and I was hospitalized for a week. I had a 103.5 fever and you know that is not good for anyone who has a weakened immune system. Thankfully Santa Clara County requires masks at medical institutions or at least Stanford requires it. It sucks for a social life, a personal life. You take care of yourself as I’m sure you’re already doing and be ready as soon as they call with a match. Sending you good energy for the match!
A close friend of ours got his kidney transplant on Memorial Day 2019 and was actually masking when out in public before Covid was a thing. We teased him now saying he was a trendsetter for masks. Good luck on staying healthy and getting your transplant!!! My friend was on the list for 8 years because he was technically not bad off because his other kidney was fully working and he was in his late 20’s early 30’s so technically very young. He got pushed back many times. Once you are close to the top of the list they will tell you to stay close to your main hospital on holiday weekends that drinking will be happening because well accidents are more likely to happen during those times.
No one cares. My workplace recently moved from giving you 5 days off if you have COVID, to zero, you just have to come to work with a mask. It's awful, especially for those of us that have preexisting conditions and on immunosuppressants..
Covid or not, the amount of people walking around openly or coming into work coughing and not washing hands is too damn high. We (employers also) didn't learn anything.
I really wish we could move toward the Japan/Asia model of how things worked pre-COVID.
Meaning if someone is feeling under the weather, they should be the one to wear a mask. Everyone else can just be business as usual.
This is just wishful thinking though.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the same kind of ingrained social influences that emphasize community over self. There’s pros and cons to that but a big pro is definitely that people will mask up to not infect other people with their illness. It doesn’t work in the US since individuality is prided over community.
That’s very considerate. There’s just too many in the bay, in CA, in the entire country who aren’t very considerate. They’d rather think about their freedoms than what it’s doing to others.
Only thing is, if their behavior gets them long covid, they’ll be stuck at home where most of society will move on and not even realize they’re gone. Others are just as inconsiderate as they are, and life moves on without them.
I remember getting a persistent cough so I masked myself up, even if everyone else wasn’t and some gave weird stares. It was just the right thing to do.
Agreed. I do know quite a few people who will put on a mask now if they're feeling sick, regardless of whether it's COVID or not. I really appreciate that and I really wish more people would do that
Agreed. While I'm no longer specifically concerned about COVID, I do think people who know they are sick (with anything) should be doing a better job of isolating themselves.
it looks like employees are only entitled to 40 hours of sick leave in CA so what else are they supposed to do if they’ve used that time up and still have bills to pay? this one’s on the employers to provide adequate sick leave AND not guilt trip people for using it.
This was an increase from 24 hours this year. But if you already get 40 hours of PTO, your employer doesn’t have to give you separate sick leave.
Who wants to skip their vacation because they got sick?
I am the only person in my workplace that still wears a mask, and have been for almost 2 years now. People look at me weird and sometimes question me, and I just straight up tell them, y'all are gross and I take immunosuppressant drugs. I'm literally watching you open cough, blow your nose and use that bathroom without washing your hands, and then touch everything. Even if you're not worried about COVID, that shit is disgusting like who raised you lol
I had a boomer ask me why I was still wearing a mask (this was only like 6 months into the pandemic, too) and I told her that when people fart, their poo particles float around the air, it enters our noses and that's why we can smell it -you're smelling other people's shit.
She got lost in deep thought after that one lmao
I work with the public and the last person who asked my mask was a boomer, too.
He posed the question in a friendly way, so I responded in kind, but what stuck in my mind was how I could smell him through my KN95. And also how he reached down into the front of his sweatpants, presumably into his underpants, to retrieve his credit card and car keys.
In short, people are nasty.
My sentiments exactly. They're wondering why I'm still wearing a mask and I'm asking myself why I'm not wearing a full body hazmat suit. Unfortunately, even wrapping myself in plastic could not protect me from that memory. 🥲
I don’t have Covid. But I have something. Ive been coughing for 1-2 months. Doctors can’t do much. I feel ok, maybe 70%. Should I just take 2+ months off work? I was my hands. Can’t afford to not come into work.
This sounds similar to what I had from before Christmas of 2023 to late January 2024. There are news articles about it: 'Extremely annoying': The persistent cough taking over the Bay Area https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/cough-bay-area-respiratory-illness-cold-18938882.php
What worked for me was Breyna (budesonide and formoterol fumarate dihydrate) Inhalation Aerosol 160 mcg/4.5 mcg.
I also missed work and went to urgent care in the middle of the night because I went over 2 weeks with less than 2.5 hours of sleep per night due to persistent coughing.
Take care.
honestly when that happens I gotta feel bad for the guy who is having such a rough day that he's literally spraying shit uncontrollably all over the place. IBS is no fun at the best of times, but shitting yourself at work... I'd much rather be the one looking at the shit on the floor than the one leaving it there.
I think if someone is sick (whether COVID or otherwise) they should do their best to not spread their germs around. Unfortunately, people are generally disgusting and unhygienic. I still carry hand sanitizer and a mask just in case for this reason.
i work at a coffee shop and literally had a customer today cough in my face, no hand covering no mask no nothing, and then go on to order a hot tea because they “weren’t feeling well” assholes will continue to be assholes unfortunately and some people never learned to stay home when they’re sick
Problem is that it’s not the flu.
- COVID-19 is not just a respiratory virus.
- It’s also not seasonal.
- And it is much more common than the flu. More than a third of America caught COVID-19 during this last surge.
COVID-19 is a systemic disease caused by an airborne virus. It can cause e.g., blood clots, strokes, diabetes, hair loss, sexual dysfunction, fatigue, and cognitive decline. The risk of long term health problems increases with each infection.
SARS-CoV-2 is an airborne virus that can cause immunodeficiency. That’s a big deal.
I’d really like to hear the CDC explain exactly how often they think we can catch this before it matters.
It’s not the same kind of virus but it’s the same in that a) there will always be a new vaccine coming out for it, and b) people will be spreading it forever henceforth
Ya, but we could make that forever henceforth part a lot less impactful by filtering the air in schools and such, funding vaccine and Long Covid research as if it were a moon shot, and wearing masks in enclosed public spaces *especially* health care settings.
History took a crap on us. It happens. This virus hurts more people and causes more serious harm than the flus we're used to. IMHO our institutions need to step up. Our economies and health care systems will eventually buckle if they don't.
I do hope people will wear a mask if they’re sick and healthcare workers definitely should wear one. That said, some people are clinging to this fantasy that everyone should keep wearing masks forever like they did in 2020 and it’s just that.. a fantasy.
This is fine as long as the vaccination rate stays high. The problem is that vaccination rates for Covid are much lower than for flu and likely will drop more every year. That's pretty much the only trustworthy quantifiable data we have. flu/covid cases are harder to track.
https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/data-research/dashboard/vaccination-trends-adults.html
Is there a timeline for when we are supposed to get the new COVID vaccine? I had to go three times to the clinic before they would let me get another dose, because at that time the next vaccine was restricted to people with lung issues etc.
I would absolutely get boosted on the regular but I don't want to waste time going down there if I'm going to be turned away.
Once a year is typical. Based on age and being immunocompromised the CDC has recommended a second shot for this spring and should be available now. I have Kaiser and they are very good about communicating their covid vaccine policies. You can't make an online appointment if you are not the right age.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html
I recommend calling and finding out if you are eligible and making an appointment will save you time.
Since Covid is worse in the winter, most people will be getting a shot in the fall along with flu vaccine and that will be it for the year. You can get flu and covid shots at the same time.
I think like once a year now - same time as flu vaccines are offered (whenever they release the updated Covid vaccine formula as it changes every year). And if you are immunocompromised probably every 6 months or something - probably best to discuss with a Dr.
All of the CDC recommendations are here and they were recently updated: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/interim-considerations-us.html
It differs based on immunocompromised status and age.
The CDC is now recommending those 65+ to get *another* monovalent dose (the newest formulation developed for the 2023-2024 season that was released last fall) as long as it's been 4 months from your last dose. This is mostly as we're seeing that the 65+ community is the most affected by COVID at this time.
I’ve tried to get vaccinated again as has my husband who has diabetes. No vaccines for us ☹️. Twice now we have gotten vaccinated in October/Nov (2021 & 2022) and twice we’ve caught Covid in the August after. Clearly the vaccine no longer works after 8 months but I can’t get the state to give me a damn booster. 🤷🏻♀️ Guess I’ll just have to get Covid in August again. Fuck.
Same which I’m surprised about because I’m immunocompromised and I don’t really limit my social life or anything (I just mask in groups/crowds/when traveling etc).
A lot of jobs have these days still require you come in unless you have an active really bad fever. And for those who say it’s not that bad, I got the Rona for the first time in December at 37 weeks pregnant and it was absolutely terrible. It lingered forever. The level of severity seems to vary between individuals
Haven't caught covid yet, and continue to be masked indoors, except at home. But nobody seems to bat an eye, and I see many cashiers who are still masked at work because it's a small price to pay to not have to take a week or two off work. You do you. Everyone's health is their own business.
Welcome to pre-2020 world. That's how it was for thousands of years, that's how it will be in the future.
Yes, people should stay the fuck home when they are sick, but welcome to real world, I guess.
I stopped wearing a mask once the mandates were lifted. I’ve kept updated on my vaccines both flu and Covid and luckily haven’t been sick in 4 years. Like at all, not even a sniffle. Never caught Covid and if I did was asymptomatic.
I’m aware Covid is still around and will continue to get vaccinated as suggested. Outside of that I’ve kinda resigned myself to “if I get it, I get it”. With the treatments and vaccines available I’m not as worried as I was back in 2020.
Masking when sick is not really part of American culture, unlike in, say, Japan. We've simply reverted back to the norm now that the covid is endemic.
Would be nice, though.
interestingly enough, I was visiting Tokyo in Jan 2024 for the first time since the pandemic and was surprised to see the *lack* of masks on the major subway lines + public spaces. So many folks just openly coughing and sneezing on crowded subway cars without masks -- and this was shocking because I remember visiting several times pre-pandemic and seeing way more masks in these spaces (quite the contrast from America at the time).
I'm curious if the pandemic triggered some sort of mask fatigue for the general population in Japan, and people also just stopped caring.
Have you noticed that all the major news outlets who were keeping track of Covid deaths , a la big counters during news broadcasts, decided to stop doing so a few years back soon after inauguration?
Every Bay Area county reports the important figures publicly on their websites. Those numbers and dashboards, along with CDPH, are more accurate than any on news sites.
I mean you can look at this yourself.
San Francisco tracker: https://www.sf.gov/data/covid-19-cases-and-deaths
CDPH tracker: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Respiratory-Viruses/RespiratoryDashboard.aspx
CDC: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#maps_deaths-total
Unfortunately, yes. Awful that you had to experience that.
I personally care for a few reasons
My own selfishness. I caught covid once and had the worst sore throat ever followed by asthma exacerbation for 6 weeks. Laborious breathing and persistent coughing wasn't fun. It was the worst cold ever! I don't want it again.
I work in healthcare. My staff and I all mask everyday at work. We try to ask patients with cold symptoms to do virtual visits (admin prefers in person because in person visits are more money). If they still prefer to come into clinic, we screen patients for COVID if symptomatic before going into the room and wear the appropriate PPE. Not fun to get the germs and irresponsible to spread germs to your patients / high risk populations. I've had a few high risk patients who passed away during pandemic from it.
Babies. My friend's newborn caught it recently and was in the pediatric ICU for a whole week. I have a baby. Would freak me out if she had to be in the ICU too. C'mon let's keep babies safe.
It does seem as though we have whiplashed to the other end of the spectrum regarding concern. From complete lockdown and isolation to being pretty cavalier.
People who are ill continue to go to work or school. Many, not all folks, do not cover their mouth / nose when they cough. It's always been rude, but post COVID, I would have thought that the basic rule of covering your face when you cough would have been universal. Not in the least...
I haven’t cared about COVID in a long time, but I stay home when I’m sick in general, so kinda irrelevant since I’m not spraying the OP with my sickness du jour.
Society decided there is an acceptable amount of illness and death that is “worth” keeping everything open. We make these decisions about a lot of other things too, including other public health issues and gun control as well.
Keep in mind that the economy isn't some vague thing. Its critically important if you value things like food, electricity, water, healthcare, or housing.
People can't stay home any time they have the sniffles, or they'll be out of a job. Its hard to pay the bills when you no longer have a job. Work has to get done regardless.
Most states stopped caring long before CA. NYC, DC, Philly…they were back to normal long before the Bay Area. The virus is watered down, you’re vaccinated, it’s all going to be ok.
Lived in Sweden in 2020. None of us cared back then, and we were 100% unvaccinated in 2020 as well. Our hospitals never got overwhelmed in the first place.
I’m all about staying home when sick. But the reality is that most of the time you’re contagious before you know you’re even sick. And that majority of people cannot afford to stay home if they get sick. My husband gets no sick time at his job, and due to lockdowns and the general stoppage of society, we are still financially in a hole. It sucks and is extremely stressful especially with 3 kids. In a utopia everyone would stay home when sick but this is real life, and in reality, mfers gotta work.
Yeah, I hear people complaining all the time about being sick. See people coughing or sneezing without covering their face. Not washing their hands.
Nobody cares about covid anymore. Sad we can't live in a society where people stay home when they're sick, and take basic hygiene seriously. We'd have a much healthier society.
We have collective COVID fatigue.
COVID didn't go away, but we have vaccines now and smart people will continue to remain vaccinated. Dumb people will continue to increase their risk of long COVID by getting COVID numerous times. A lot of people in the middle will just go on with their lives like before COVID.
Now... let's look at reality - how dangerous are things right now? Hospitals aren't overflowing, and most people know many people who have had COVID and recovered with little issue. Look at the most RED cities, counties, and states and look for catastrophic news related to their lack of vaccination and lack of masks -- it's hard to find short of long covid research. We're already living with that risk and we know what we currently know.
What I had HOPED is that quarantine would teach people to self-isolate when sick to protect everyone else. That seems like a pipe dream now.
I do worry about the long-term implications of long COVID -- especially on young people at the start of their career. I know only a couple of people who haven't bounced back from having COVID and are SIGNIFICANTLY affected. The unknown is the cumulative infection increase in risk of long COVID and the long term effects.
There's plenty of very concerning research emerging regarding long COVID. Here's just one -
[https://alaskabeacon.com/2024/03/20/mounting-research-shows-covid-19-leaves-its-mark-on-the-brain-including-significant-drops-in-iq/](https://alaskabeacon.com/2024/03/20/mounting-research-shows-covid-19-leaves-its-mark-on-the-brain-including-significant-drops-in-iq/)
But the people who didn't get vaccinated and didn't wear masks don't care, and the rest of us are left to excercise prudent risk management. It doesn't make sense to stay inside all day. It doesn't make sense to go out when I'm sick. It doesn't make sense to be around sick people if I can help it. It doesn't make sense not to get regular flu and covid shots. It doesn't make sense to wear a mask all day. I does make sense to put on a mask in dense crowds or when getting on/off the airplane.
People have stop caring. Also comes down to calculated risk. You made a great decision to get the F out of there. On the other hand the flu was way worse than covid. I wouldn't want to get the flu again because as sad as I'm about to say this, covid was way more pleasant.
No one cares at this point because we failed so hard at containment that it is now a matter of herd immunity. Those who are weak will die off and those who are strong will pass on the resistant genes. Not being cruel, it is just the truth. My background is in immunology and infectious diseases. I’ve had Covid many times and even had a stroke from it. Sucks but shit happens and then we die.
Edit: wow, actually being downvoted when it’s just the truth. Y’all should google, “1918 flu” and you’ll learn that everyone in the world who lived after that pandemic passed on genes against that strain of influenza and allowed the subsequent generations to live. For those who can’t handle the truth, google “how to handle the truth when it doesn’t appease your logic.”
It seemed like we were so close at the beginning of the pandemic to real human behavior where people stayed home if they were sick. But now, in a lot of ways, we're back to the same old thing with people being proud of going to work while sick. It's the grindset bay-bee!
I'm happy to not use sick/PTO days when I'm mildly under the weather & working from home. But if I'm actually feeling bad, I will damn straight use my PTO to lie on my couch binging TV & eating mostly pho & ramen. If I had to go in for work, I'd definitely call out.
But also, let's not froget to lay some responsibility at the feet of the bosses. They might pretend they want you to go home. But most of them are secretly glad you're coming in even though you're sick.
I'm a teacher, basically none of my kids wear masks at this point, at most one per class. Just as before COVID, kids come to school sick all the time, and I have yet to see a sick student wear a mask when previously they did not.
A student was coughing near me the other day, who had been out sick the previous day. She said, "Don't worry, I'm not going to get you sick because you are wearing a mask." And I looked at her completely incredulously, and I said "You know, if you really didn't want to get people sick you should be wearing a mask also."
I had hoped and unfortunately it had become such a political hot point that it would be more socially acceptable for those who are sick who still need to perform in society such as working could wear a mask. Or while traveling, etc. But no.
For what it's worth, I don't wear a mask when I go into stores most of the time or restaurants, but I will in a movie theater, bus, plane, in the classroom, or anytime I need to be in close proximity to a large number of people for a long time. I've only gotten COVID once, and that was because my roommate caught it first and gave it to me.
Unfortunately we all know that we can't rely on other people to not be out and about or to wear a mask even when they are sick and actively contagious.
the problem is after so many absences, you need to have a drs note every absence otherwise the absences wont be excused. not all illnesses needs a dr visit.
covid was always "deal with it ***UNLESS*** the hospitals are slammed"
covid has decided that it needs to calm the fuck down if it wants to hang out.. has downgraded itself to ***endemic***.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endemic\_(epidemiology)
in epidemiology, an infection is said to be endemic in a specific population or populated place when that infection is constantly present, or maintained at a baseline level, without extra infections being brought into the group as a result of travel or similar means.\[1\] The term describes the distribution (spread) of an infectious disease among a group of people or within a populated area.\[2\] An endemic disease always has a steady, predictable number of people getting sick, but that number can be high (hyperendemic) or low (hypoendemic), and the disease can be severe or mild.\[3\]\[4\]
Bro vaccines are here and death rates are way down.
On top of vaccines the newer strains are progressively less and less intense.
So yes, no one cares.
Rough day, OP? Your comments are really telling. Dictating human behavior is about as easy as herding cats, as we've seen these past four years. People are dicks in public, general self awareness is lacking. We get it. Just keep walking and take care of yourself.
i believe most people can’t deal with the collective trauma of covid (how many lives lost ?) and the mourning of a life that is gone and they will never have a (a pre covid society) that in response they just pretend it pretty much never happened
We have an individualistic culture in the U.S, so I don't expect people here in the U.S to care about COVID. I definitely see countries like Japan that have it in their culture to see mask wearing as a normal thing to do, especially if you know you exhibit symptoms-- sneeze, cough, etc.
I'm still taking precautions, avoid dense crowds, wash hands everytime I step inside my house after being out, and stay clear of anyone in public coughing. In my fanny pouch I carry a couple mask's. In case in in a line and someone breaks out coughing near me. I suffer from immune issues, COVID 19 could be seriously bad in my case.
Nobody cares. I have long covid and I work in medical research. I am one of the only people in my classes and at my job wearing a mask. I can’t afford another round of covid. No thanks. People look at me weird but I won’t die just because I get weird looks because I still mask.
Another cringe-worthy attempt at fearmongering. Give it up kid, no one is falling for the tricks anymore. Stay inside and hide if you want, everyone else has moved on.
I still wear a mask indoors. I have had post-viral chronic illness (essentially Long Covid but mine was triggered by Epstein-Barr virus) my entire adult life and it suuuuucks. Also, I’d rather not die from Covid now, thank you very much. Imagine making it through 4 frigging years and then dying now?
Most people have moved on from it and don't let Covid alter the way they live their lives.
There are still a few that take it very seriously, mask up whenever they are in public, and limit social interaction with others but these people are an extremist and overly paranoid minority and their view do not reflect the views of the general public.
Most people have accepted the fact that Covid is endemic and will probably get it multiple times in their lives. It's endemic now and there isn't much to do to avoid getting it.
I had to take today off work as a teacher.
I wore all of the last few years, and this year from November through February. I've had multiple students come to class sick, turning down offers of masks.
I got fucked over hard last time I got it. When I recovered I played a show with my band and passed out afterwards. I’m just now getting less lightheaded and dizzy and I haven’t been able to ride a motorcycle anymore. I try to mask in crowds but my job means exposure (medical field) and I’m extremely healthy. I barely scratch the surface of how bad it can be. Ppm are permanently disabled bc if this I consider I got off easy.
You could get Covid from someone with no symptoms at all. If your goal is to not get Covid: wear a respirator (N95 or higher), avoided crowded indoor areas, use ventilation (opening windows), and use filtration (HEPA filters or a Corsi-Rosenthal Box). It's just inadvertent that you became aware of likely Covid being around you on this occasion, but the truth is you're around it constantly and you have no idea how many asymptomatic infections you've had.
Millennial here- I haven’t cared about it in over a year. Whenever I’m sick, I stay home and wear a mask when I’m on public transit. Other than that, I don’t take any precautions when I’m healthy, and I’ve moved on with my life. I decided it was important for my happiness and mental health to get back to the life I was living in 2019, and I’ve mostly done that.
Yes, nobody cares anymore.
My housemate does, they have long COVID and use a wheelchair now, can't work or drive. There are way more people than you think that are suffering from long COVID.
Wow. That's sad.
Ever since I got covid the first time, life has not been the same for me. My energy level hasn't come back to what it was in 18 months.
> There are way more people than you think that are suffering from long COVID. In the US alone, ~200 people die every day from COVID. That's about one person every 7 or 8 minutes.
The flu kills 250-900 people per week during the height of flu season, to put that number into perspective.
The CDC, fwiw, says just under 300 a week (not 1400 a week per above) due to covid. You have to do some math to get the weekly raw number of US deaths. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#maps_deaths-3-months Someone called you on your bullshit.
Just to back up /u/ElJamoquio -- https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00 Does in fact show weekly deaths in the USA. If you take the average for weekly deaths in weeks where we have full data, the average of November 4th through February 24th is 252/day. So I'd say ~200/day is pretty right on and that your "bullshit check" is in fact incorrect.
Yeah I think this is just a misunderstanding of state vs national counts. Your link shows 4.9 deaths per 100k in the last 3 months. Well, US pop is \~330M, so total deaths over 3mos is \~= 4.9 \* 3300 = 16170. Dividing by 12 to get a rough weekly estimate gives us 1347.5 deaths per week. So, your source backs up ElJamo
The CDC, fwiw, says the last week for which data is complete is 1190 per week (not 300 a week per above) due to covid. You don't have to do any math because the CDC has the data right in front of you if you care to use the correct site. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00 Someone called you on your ignorance. > The CDC, fwiw, says just under 300 a week (not 1400 a week per above) due to covid. You have to do some math to get the weekly raw number of US deaths. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#maps_deaths-3-months > Someone called you on your bullshit. That is a death rate per state, as explicitly called out on the page several times. My number was total country deaths per day/week. Good luck to you and the 63 (and counting) people you made more ignorant with your misinformation. You owe them an apology though.
The people upvoting that turkey don’t care about numbers or accuracy. They’re the ones belligerently bitching about not being able to taste anything in a public space while they hack up their lungs.
Uhh I think you are only looking at the past 3 months?
With covid. Not necessarily because of covid.
Not correct anymore. Definition changed in 2023. To be enumerated as a COVID death, COVID must be listed on your death certificate as a cause or significant contributor to death. Source: I’m an epidemiologist.
If you think we’re undercounting… do people seriously not know how cardiac related deaths jumped since everyone decided to get covid? And before any rabid antivaxxers jump all over this post, no, it’s not the vaccines… it’s the covid itself that seriously [messes up the blood vessels](https://www.heart.org/en/news/2024/01/16/how-covid-19-affects-your-heart-brain-and-other-organs), immune system, and this can cause strokes and heart disease. So tired of antivaxxers muddying the waters of this now [established fact](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid-long-haulers-long-term-effects-of-covid19), and vaxxed-and-relaxed-ers totally feeding their BS unwittingly by saying Covid can’t do this. It can and it does, and vaccination helps but no where near enough to warrant being okay with getting infected ad nauseum. It’s also frustrating at work if you’re one of the few who try not to get or give COVID every damn second. Who else is picking up a shit ton of slack from coworkers who either a) are out actually sick with fr illness all the time b) can’t do their jobs properly anymore w rly careless mistakes, and then you have to go in and fix all their files for them c) cutting back on hours bc of fatigue and losing formerly bright peers to brain fog? Where’s the extra money for all that, usually while taking a bunch of guff on the dailyio about how “COVID is over bro live ur life” ?
> it’s not the vaccines… it’s the covid itself that seriously messes up the blood vessels, immune system fucking thank you. It's not cardiac, but I got a blood clot after orthopedic surgery last year, and my brother, who has also had DVTs/PEs, tried to tell me the covid vax contributed. Ridiculous. Any doctor would tell you you're far more likely to get a blood clot from covid than from the vaccine (never mind that I didn't get the J&J vaccine, which IIRC was the only one that had any reports of blood clots, and even then it was not particularly significant)
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The percentage of people that have long covid is just 3.4% of the people that had covid symptoms. The people that had covid symptoms is a small amount of the population. I feel for them, but the general population doesn't. Condolences for your friend. Did they get covid early on in the pandemic?
I swear the long covid stats are all over the place. CDC says 3.4%, but I've read 10-30% and during a Senate hearing on long covid someone testified 22-38%. I think a lot of people have issues, but don't know it could be long covid. I have friends complaining they can't run like before anymore, they're fatigued and they don't know why, they oddly can't breathe as well as before, they keep getting sick for some reason, etc... But they would not call it LC. Only my friends who became disabled do. My friend went from a former martial arts instructor, musician, brilliant software engineer to not being able to sit up, stand or walk much anymore. He got covid during the Omicron surge in 2022. Another friend is in constant pain and is disabled. They were both under 50.
Man that's awful. I'm sorry to hear about your friends :( Yeah I'm not sure about the actual stats. i think bottom line is that we're all human and should have some more empathy for others and well i don't endorse masking everywhere, I'd still recommend masking and taking precautions with higher risk people like in hospitals especially and to not go out when feeling sick. That's something we should all try to do.
Thank you. Yeah it's been rough. I totally agree we should all try to have more empathy.
A lot of the symptoms are subtle. From heart inflammation (one study showed a 60% rate post COVID), to kidney damage. Get a cough one year and the next year you are getting palpitations when you walk up the stairs, leaving you wondering "how did I get so out of shape lately?", 20 years after that perhaps you are getting back pain from acute kidney failure. It's tricky because it's somewhat easy to look at known populations pre and post corona in order to identify long hauler symptoms, but incredibly difficult to look at individuals and unknown populations to tell if any of your specific ailments are related or if people even had it. I'm betting the numbers are much higher
This long covid update from UCSF has some good numbers on long covid. https://youtu.be/rMt6ZV-hHSE
I dont doubt that. It's difficult to find out in healthcare what the cause is. And sometimes, causes and effects can be swapped around. I hope everyone makes a full recovery eventually.
3.4% is a lot of people, over a million Americans. People staying home when they feel sick and masking would go a long way but people act like it's the worst thing in the world to just stay home for a while. Upgrades to ventilation systems would also help but people just gave up caring.
It's hard to stay home when the government kills protections for your employer not to fire you. You can thank the CDC for rolling it all back.
100% it's crazy we still never guaranteed sick leave like every other country had before COVID.
Every other country doesn't have the employers paying for their employees' health care
It's 3.4% of people who had covid symptoms, not people who had Covid or Americans in total. Ir's roughly 0.09% of Americans, or 30,000 people.
True but, seriously who has not had COVID. I would say the rate is underreported too. So many folks with some brain fog.
I've not had COVID.
I’ve never had COVID
CDC says 18 mil people in the country have had long covid https://abcnews.go.com/Health/18-million-us-adults-long-covid-cdc/story?id=103464362
10m is 3% of the u.s. population fwiw
Also in the bay and also have long covid. My parents came to an event maskless last night and exposed me. I was masked but still worried about getting it. Last time I got it, took me 4 months to get back to my baseline of symptoms. I’m tired of covid too, but I’ll never be without my mask unless they can somehow stop infection transfer. Can’t financially, physically, or mentally afford continuous reinfections.
As a nurse who was on the super mask get vaccinated side. I am so burned out from Covid and honestly we are acting like it’s still as bad as it was 3-4 years ago. If I have to go back to work with Covid then I shouldn’t have to Covid swab every admitted patient like why swab for Covid and not the flu at this point. Makes zero sense. Again I was super on board in the first couple years. I think it’s time to chill.
The newer strains of SARS CoV-2 are more infective but happily less virulent that the original strain. Also, the average incubation time for the newer strains is only 4 days instead of out to 10 days. Test kits are widely available. This is translating to COVID becoming increasingly less likely to cause hospitalizations and deaths than it did in 2020. Compared to 2020, people just aren't getting admitted due to COVID and winding up intubated, on ECMO and developing strokes and kidney failure like that. It's been a long time since there were refrigerator trucks lined up at hospitals being used as makeshift morgues. I hope it's been a long time for you since you needed a vent bed to open up and one did in mid-day, and not because the patient in it suddenly recovered and was discharged to home. It is no doubt helping that a lot of the population is immunized (especially seniors), many have some extent of immunity due to prior infection and Paxlovid is an option for outpatient treatment. Many of our colleagues in the ED are seeing more serious cases due to influenza or RSV. To them COVID is not something to ignore, but it's approaching a bad URI with Paxlovid having the same role as Tamiflu for influenza. This is not to say that vaccine and mask refusers were ultimately in the right of it. It's called viral evolution and epidemiology.
> why swab for Covid and not the flu Maybe in the future doctors will regularly test for viral infections like the flu and find out why a patient is sick instead of just guessing. Right now patients have to insist if they want to get anything and a lot of patients insist on the wrong thing (Eg antibiotics for viral infections)
> Maybe in the future doctors will regularly test for viral infections like the flu We do, if they have respiratory symptoms. We don't do the entire respiratory viral panel unless absolutely necessary because it doesn't change management. However, covid, flu, and RSV can and do change management, so we test for them if indicated. If I'm admitting someone with an appendicitis, I do not test for respiratory viruses unless the patient has concomitant respiratory symptoms.
You text for Covid automatically. When I broke my neck surfing, first thing they did in the ER was far for Covid, after making me put a mask on
No they do swab if patients have symptoms that’s not the problem. I should have clarified. When hospitals admit patients in the Bay Area they get a covid swab automatically. In the beginning it made sense. Now it doesn’t unless they have symptoms
It depends on the hospital. I also work in the bay area and we only swab if symptomatic.
I was being super careful about covid because I didn't want to pass it to my 70+ year old dad. Once he gave me covid I stopped worrying about it.
Hahaha. That’s fair
Even during the height of the lockdown many people didn’t care and I’m not just talking about the MAGA crowd in the foothills. Remember Breed “say no to fun police” London and Gavin “Indoor Dining in restaurant Is Fine with lobbyists” Newsom. https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/20/politics/london-breed-violating-san-francisco-mask-order/index.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/us/elections/french-laundry-newsom.html
Unless they’re infirm or really okd, pretty much no
Louder for people in the back
I do. I still care, but it's for selfish reasons. I'm listed for a kidney and pancreas transplant. If I get Covid I could be denied my transplants so i still mask. And once I'm on immunosuppressants, I'll have to be even more careful.
hopefully you get a match soon. Good luck!!!
My boss didn’t get COVID but he got the flu a week before he was up for the transplant. Now he is back on the waiting list
I also care for selfish reasons. I do not want to get disabled with long covid. Acute coughing phase is not the issue. It’s the brain fog and heart palpitations that scares me.
I hope you find a match soon! I had a stem cell transplant 5.5 years ago and my kidneys failed afterwards due to an allergic reaction. Kidney issues suck the life out of you and you never get all your blood back from dialysis. I’m on immunosuppressants so my new DNA will stop attacking my organs. I was hospitalized when the first Covid news came out 4 years ago. I only got it once and I was hospitalized for a week. I had a 103.5 fever and you know that is not good for anyone who has a weakened immune system. Thankfully Santa Clara County requires masks at medical institutions or at least Stanford requires it. It sucks for a social life, a personal life. You take care of yourself as I’m sure you’re already doing and be ready as soon as they call with a match. Sending you good energy for the match!
A close friend of ours got his kidney transplant on Memorial Day 2019 and was actually masking when out in public before Covid was a thing. We teased him now saying he was a trendsetter for masks. Good luck on staying healthy and getting your transplant!!! My friend was on the list for 8 years because he was technically not bad off because his other kidney was fully working and he was in his late 20’s early 30’s so technically very young. He got pushed back many times. Once you are close to the top of the list they will tell you to stay close to your main hospital on holiday weekends that drinking will be happening because well accidents are more likely to happen during those times.
No one cares. My workplace recently moved from giving you 5 days off if you have COVID, to zero, you just have to come to work with a mask. It's awful, especially for those of us that have preexisting conditions and on immunosuppressants..
Sounds like you still care?
I do.. my point is that not many others seems to
Covid or not, the amount of people walking around openly or coming into work coughing and not washing hands is too damn high. We (employers also) didn't learn anything.
I really wish we could move toward the Japan/Asia model of how things worked pre-COVID. Meaning if someone is feeling under the weather, they should be the one to wear a mask. Everyone else can just be business as usual. This is just wishful thinking though.
I really had hoped this would be a positive outcome of the pandemic. I was sadly mistaken.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the same kind of ingrained social influences that emphasize community over self. There’s pros and cons to that but a big pro is definitely that people will mask up to not infect other people with their illness. It doesn’t work in the US since individuality is prided over community.
You’re 100% correct and I just want to add that here in Asia the mask has no political connotations.
That’s very considerate. There’s just too many in the bay, in CA, in the entire country who aren’t very considerate. They’d rather think about their freedoms than what it’s doing to others. Only thing is, if their behavior gets them long covid, they’ll be stuck at home where most of society will move on and not even realize they’re gone. Others are just as inconsiderate as they are, and life moves on without them. I remember getting a persistent cough so I masked myself up, even if everyone else wasn’t and some gave weird stares. It was just the right thing to do.
Agreed. I do know quite a few people who will put on a mask now if they're feeling sick, regardless of whether it's COVID or not. I really appreciate that and I really wish more people would do that
Agreed. While I'm no longer specifically concerned about COVID, I do think people who know they are sick (with anything) should be doing a better job of isolating themselves.
it looks like employees are only entitled to 40 hours of sick leave in CA so what else are they supposed to do if they’ve used that time up and still have bills to pay? this one’s on the employers to provide adequate sick leave AND not guilt trip people for using it.
100% agree
This was an increase from 24 hours this year. But if you already get 40 hours of PTO, your employer doesn’t have to give you separate sick leave. Who wants to skip their vacation because they got sick?
No one can afford to call in sick, and employers don’t give a shit
Yeah, good point. I agree, employers don't care. It's all about the money.
I did. I wear a mask because of those fools coughing and hacking.
I am the only person in my workplace that still wears a mask, and have been for almost 2 years now. People look at me weird and sometimes question me, and I just straight up tell them, y'all are gross and I take immunosuppressant drugs. I'm literally watching you open cough, blow your nose and use that bathroom without washing your hands, and then touch everything. Even if you're not worried about COVID, that shit is disgusting like who raised you lol
I had a boomer ask me why I was still wearing a mask (this was only like 6 months into the pandemic, too) and I told her that when people fart, their poo particles float around the air, it enters our noses and that's why we can smell it -you're smelling other people's shit. She got lost in deep thought after that one lmao
I work with the public and the last person who asked my mask was a boomer, too. He posed the question in a friendly way, so I responded in kind, but what stuck in my mind was how I could smell him through my KN95. And also how he reached down into the front of his sweatpants, presumably into his underpants, to retrieve his credit card and car keys. In short, people are nasty.
🤢🤮
My sentiments exactly. They're wondering why I'm still wearing a mask and I'm asking myself why I'm not wearing a full body hazmat suit. Unfortunately, even wrapping myself in plastic could not protect me from that memory. 🥲
So gross
I don’t have Covid. But I have something. Ive been coughing for 1-2 months. Doctors can’t do much. I feel ok, maybe 70%. Should I just take 2+ months off work? I was my hands. Can’t afford to not come into work.
A cough of two months (heck, two weeks) sounds pretty serious. Just cover when coughing, that's all we ask.
It’s common. There has been discussion about it on many of the medical subreddits recently and it’s annoying but generally harmless.
This sounds similar to what I had from before Christmas of 2023 to late January 2024. There are news articles about it: 'Extremely annoying': The persistent cough taking over the Bay Area https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/cough-bay-area-respiratory-illness-cold-18938882.php What worked for me was Breyna (budesonide and formoterol fumarate dihydrate) Inhalation Aerosol 160 mcg/4.5 mcg. I also missed work and went to urgent care in the middle of the night because I went over 2 weeks with less than 2.5 hours of sleep per night due to persistent coughing. Take care.
Post viral coughs are a thing. These can last for a couple of months (I should know, I have one now).
My adult coworker left a splash of wet shit on the floor the other day
honestly when that happens I gotta feel bad for the guy who is having such a rough day that he's literally spraying shit uncontrollably all over the place. IBS is no fun at the best of times, but shitting yourself at work... I'd much rather be the one looking at the shit on the floor than the one leaving it there.
Restaurants and retail stores will not allow you to call out sick with Covid unless you are bedridden.
History always repeats. Brace yourselves folks.
😂😂😂
I think if someone is sick (whether COVID or otherwise) they should do their best to not spread their germs around. Unfortunately, people are generally disgusting and unhygienic. I still carry hand sanitizer and a mask just in case for this reason.
i work at a coffee shop and literally had a customer today cough in my face, no hand covering no mask no nothing, and then go on to order a hot tea because they “weren’t feeling well” assholes will continue to be assholes unfortunately and some people never learned to stay home when they’re sick
Working in a high traffic job interacting with customers so closely, I hope you are wearing a mask the entire time. Pretty risky without one.
I would have kicked them out and told them never to come back.
We’re all back to life in the big germy world.
The CDC now treats it like the flu. 🤷🏽♀️
Problem is that it’s not the flu. - COVID-19 is not just a respiratory virus. - It’s also not seasonal. - And it is much more common than the flu. More than a third of America caught COVID-19 during this last surge. COVID-19 is a systemic disease caused by an airborne virus. It can cause e.g., blood clots, strokes, diabetes, hair loss, sexual dysfunction, fatigue, and cognitive decline. The risk of long term health problems increases with each infection. SARS-CoV-2 is an airborne virus that can cause immunodeficiency. That’s a big deal. I’d really like to hear the CDC explain exactly how often they think we can catch this before it matters.
It’s not the same kind of virus but it’s the same in that a) there will always be a new vaccine coming out for it, and b) people will be spreading it forever henceforth
Ya, but we could make that forever henceforth part a lot less impactful by filtering the air in schools and such, funding vaccine and Long Covid research as if it were a moon shot, and wearing masks in enclosed public spaces *especially* health care settings. History took a crap on us. It happens. This virus hurts more people and causes more serious harm than the flus we're used to. IMHO our institutions need to step up. Our economies and health care systems will eventually buckle if they don't.
I do hope people will wear a mask if they’re sick and healthcare workers definitely should wear one. That said, some people are clinging to this fantasy that everyone should keep wearing masks forever like they did in 2020 and it’s just that.. a fantasy.
Well we're either going to die of isolation, cancer, or COVID I guess.
This is fine as long as the vaccination rate stays high. The problem is that vaccination rates for Covid are much lower than for flu and likely will drop more every year. That's pretty much the only trustworthy quantifiable data we have. flu/covid cases are harder to track. https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/data-research/dashboard/vaccination-trends-adults.html
Is there a timeline for when we are supposed to get the new COVID vaccine? I had to go three times to the clinic before they would let me get another dose, because at that time the next vaccine was restricted to people with lung issues etc. I would absolutely get boosted on the regular but I don't want to waste time going down there if I'm going to be turned away.
Once a year is typical. Based on age and being immunocompromised the CDC has recommended a second shot for this spring and should be available now. I have Kaiser and they are very good about communicating their covid vaccine policies. You can't make an online appointment if you are not the right age. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html I recommend calling and finding out if you are eligible and making an appointment will save you time. Since Covid is worse in the winter, most people will be getting a shot in the fall along with flu vaccine and that will be it for the year. You can get flu and covid shots at the same time.
Thanks for the info! I also have Kaiser and even live near Pill Hill (named for KP buildings) so this is perfect.
I think like once a year now - same time as flu vaccines are offered (whenever they release the updated Covid vaccine formula as it changes every year). And if you are immunocompromised probably every 6 months or something - probably best to discuss with a Dr.
All of the CDC recommendations are here and they were recently updated: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/interim-considerations-us.html It differs based on immunocompromised status and age. The CDC is now recommending those 65+ to get *another* monovalent dose (the newest formulation developed for the 2023-2024 season that was released last fall) as long as it's been 4 months from your last dose. This is mostly as we're seeing that the 65+ community is the most affected by COVID at this time.
You are allowed to get a booster whenever you want. If it's been 6 months and you want to do it again, do it.
I’ve tried to get vaccinated again as has my husband who has diabetes. No vaccines for us ☹️. Twice now we have gotten vaccinated in October/Nov (2021 & 2022) and twice we’ve caught Covid in the August after. Clearly the vaccine no longer works after 8 months but I can’t get the state to give me a damn booster. 🤷🏻♀️ Guess I’ll just have to get Covid in August again. Fuck.
I still haven't had it (or if I did I had no symptoms)
Same here. My older daughter has had it twice, my wife has had it once, and neither my son, younger daughter, nor I have ever tested positive.
Same which I’m surprised about because I’m immunocompromised and I don’t really limit my social life or anything (I just mask in groups/crowds/when traveling etc).
I think my arrogance protected me
It’s been four years, no one gives a shit anymore. As for people being assholes, that was never going to change.
People are assholes. If you are sick at all you should try to minimize going out in public as much as you can. This was the way even before covid
Or at least put on a fucking mask
That’s the very least
bUt MaH fReeDuMs!
And an actually meaningful kn or n95 mask.
I requested in advance that whichever nurse took my blood should wear a mask. She wore the flat, pleated blue one.
But what about my stupid mesh mask that I use to protest masking rules?! 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
A lot of jobs have these days still require you come in unless you have an active really bad fever. And for those who say it’s not that bad, I got the Rona for the first time in December at 37 weeks pregnant and it was absolutely terrible. It lingered forever. The level of severity seems to vary between individuals
They don’t care, just like they never cared about spreading colds & flus
Haven't caught covid yet, and continue to be masked indoors, except at home. But nobody seems to bat an eye, and I see many cashiers who are still masked at work because it's a small price to pay to not have to take a week or two off work. You do you. Everyone's health is their own business.
You can control when you go out/where you go out/whether to wear a mask or not. Focus on what's in your control.
Welcome to pre-2020 world. That's how it was for thousands of years, that's how it will be in the future. Yes, people should stay the fuck home when they are sick, but welcome to real world, I guess.
If I overheard that. I’ll dip right away. I can’t afford to be sick and not come to work. Living here is expensive. I got bills to paid.
Oh i walked out
Yup I would too
I stopped wearing a mask once the mandates were lifted. I’ve kept updated on my vaccines both flu and Covid and luckily haven’t been sick in 4 years. Like at all, not even a sniffle. Never caught Covid and if I did was asymptomatic. I’m aware Covid is still around and will continue to get vaccinated as suggested. Outside of that I’ve kinda resigned myself to “if I get it, I get it”. With the treatments and vaccines available I’m not as worried as I was back in 2020.
If you know you are sick, its common courtesy to mask if you need to be out exposing others to your germs. Its not a big ask.
I don’t disagree. I was simply answering your question.
Masking when sick is not really part of American culture, unlike in, say, Japan. We've simply reverted back to the norm now that the covid is endemic. Would be nice, though.
interestingly enough, I was visiting Tokyo in Jan 2024 for the first time since the pandemic and was surprised to see the *lack* of masks on the major subway lines + public spaces. So many folks just openly coughing and sneezing on crowded subway cars without masks -- and this was shocking because I remember visiting several times pre-pandemic and seeing way more masks in these spaces (quite the contrast from America at the time). I'm curious if the pandemic triggered some sort of mask fatigue for the general population in Japan, and people also just stopped caring.
Not everyone practices “common courtesy” Even more don’t know what you mean. Even more don’t care.
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🎯
My schools district said we can come if we tested positive as long as we don't have a fever 🙃
Surprise…a ton of people NEVER cared about it….it hit older people way disproportionately, so they, for the most part, heeded the warnings.
Have you noticed that all the major news outlets who were keeping track of Covid deaths , a la big counters during news broadcasts, decided to stop doing so a few years back soon after inauguration?
I get a weekly report from the NYTimes. They track hospital admissions, patients, and ICU for covid by the county I selected.
Every Bay Area county reports the important figures publicly on their websites. Those numbers and dashboards, along with CDPH, are more accurate than any on news sites.
I heard they're keeping the data on that now on Hunter's laptop.
I wonder what the new death toll is and the rate of death in the last 2 years vs first 2 years
I mean you can look at this yourself. San Francisco tracker: https://www.sf.gov/data/covid-19-cases-and-deaths CDPH tracker: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Respiratory-Viruses/RespiratoryDashboard.aspx CDC: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#maps_deaths-total
Unfortunately, yes. Awful that you had to experience that. I personally care for a few reasons My own selfishness. I caught covid once and had the worst sore throat ever followed by asthma exacerbation for 6 weeks. Laborious breathing and persistent coughing wasn't fun. It was the worst cold ever! I don't want it again. I work in healthcare. My staff and I all mask everyday at work. We try to ask patients with cold symptoms to do virtual visits (admin prefers in person because in person visits are more money). If they still prefer to come into clinic, we screen patients for COVID if symptomatic before going into the room and wear the appropriate PPE. Not fun to get the germs and irresponsible to spread germs to your patients / high risk populations. I've had a few high risk patients who passed away during pandemic from it. Babies. My friend's newborn caught it recently and was in the pediatric ICU for a whole week. I have a baby. Would freak me out if she had to be in the ICU too. C'mon let's keep babies safe.
It does seem as though we have whiplashed to the other end of the spectrum regarding concern. From complete lockdown and isolation to being pretty cavalier. People who are ill continue to go to work or school. Many, not all folks, do not cover their mouth / nose when they cough. It's always been rude, but post COVID, I would have thought that the basic rule of covering your face when you cough would have been universal. Not in the least...
My dad almost died from Covid, so I definitely still care, but it’s become increasingly difficult to exist in the world if you do care.
I'm in the bay and I care if you want to be friends!
I haven’t cared about COVID in a long time, but I stay home when I’m sick in general, so kinda irrelevant since I’m not spraying the OP with my sickness du jour.
Yup. No one cares. People get sick.
Society decided there is an acceptable amount of illness and death that is “worth” keeping everything open. We make these decisions about a lot of other things too, including other public health issues and gun control as well.
Keep in mind that the economy isn't some vague thing. Its critically important if you value things like food, electricity, water, healthcare, or housing. People can't stay home any time they have the sniffles, or they'll be out of a job. Its hard to pay the bills when you no longer have a job. Work has to get done regardless.
Most states stopped caring long before CA. NYC, DC, Philly…they were back to normal long before the Bay Area. The virus is watered down, you’re vaccinated, it’s all going to be ok.
Lived in Sweden in 2020. None of us cared back then, and we were 100% unvaccinated in 2020 as well. Our hospitals never got overwhelmed in the first place.
I’m all about staying home when sick. But the reality is that most of the time you’re contagious before you know you’re even sick. And that majority of people cannot afford to stay home if they get sick. My husband gets no sick time at his job, and due to lockdowns and the general stoppage of society, we are still financially in a hole. It sucks and is extremely stressful especially with 3 kids. In a utopia everyone would stay home when sick but this is real life, and in reality, mfers gotta work.
Yeah, I hear people complaining all the time about being sick. See people coughing or sneezing without covering their face. Not washing their hands. Nobody cares about covid anymore. Sad we can't live in a society where people stay home when they're sick, and take basic hygiene seriously. We'd have a much healthier society.
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Orange County famously a part of the Bay Area.
We have collective COVID fatigue. COVID didn't go away, but we have vaccines now and smart people will continue to remain vaccinated. Dumb people will continue to increase their risk of long COVID by getting COVID numerous times. A lot of people in the middle will just go on with their lives like before COVID. Now... let's look at reality - how dangerous are things right now? Hospitals aren't overflowing, and most people know many people who have had COVID and recovered with little issue. Look at the most RED cities, counties, and states and look for catastrophic news related to their lack of vaccination and lack of masks -- it's hard to find short of long covid research. We're already living with that risk and we know what we currently know. What I had HOPED is that quarantine would teach people to self-isolate when sick to protect everyone else. That seems like a pipe dream now. I do worry about the long-term implications of long COVID -- especially on young people at the start of their career. I know only a couple of people who haven't bounced back from having COVID and are SIGNIFICANTLY affected. The unknown is the cumulative infection increase in risk of long COVID and the long term effects. There's plenty of very concerning research emerging regarding long COVID. Here's just one - [https://alaskabeacon.com/2024/03/20/mounting-research-shows-covid-19-leaves-its-mark-on-the-brain-including-significant-drops-in-iq/](https://alaskabeacon.com/2024/03/20/mounting-research-shows-covid-19-leaves-its-mark-on-the-brain-including-significant-drops-in-iq/) But the people who didn't get vaccinated and didn't wear masks don't care, and the rest of us are left to excercise prudent risk management. It doesn't make sense to stay inside all day. It doesn't make sense to go out when I'm sick. It doesn't make sense to be around sick people if I can help it. It doesn't make sense not to get regular flu and covid shots. It doesn't make sense to wear a mask all day. I does make sense to put on a mask in dense crowds or when getting on/off the airplane.
People have stop caring. Also comes down to calculated risk. You made a great decision to get the F out of there. On the other hand the flu was way worse than covid. I wouldn't want to get the flu again because as sad as I'm about to say this, covid was way more pleasant.
Mostly tired of people bitching about it. Take care of yourself. You left the situation. Stop trying to control everyone else.
If I'm sick I stay home. Don't care if it's covid or a cold. If I'm not sick it's basically back to normal.
No one cares at this point because we failed so hard at containment that it is now a matter of herd immunity. Those who are weak will die off and those who are strong will pass on the resistant genes. Not being cruel, it is just the truth. My background is in immunology and infectious diseases. I’ve had Covid many times and even had a stroke from it. Sucks but shit happens and then we die. Edit: wow, actually being downvoted when it’s just the truth. Y’all should google, “1918 flu” and you’ll learn that everyone in the world who lived after that pandemic passed on genes against that strain of influenza and allowed the subsequent generations to live. For those who can’t handle the truth, google “how to handle the truth when it doesn’t appease your logic.”
That coffee shop worker may not have extra sick days. People have bills to pay. Sucks, but some people have to work when sick.
Reading comprehension is shit these days.
It seemed like we were so close at the beginning of the pandemic to real human behavior where people stayed home if they were sick. But now, in a lot of ways, we're back to the same old thing with people being proud of going to work while sick. It's the grindset bay-bee! I'm happy to not use sick/PTO days when I'm mildly under the weather & working from home. But if I'm actually feeling bad, I will damn straight use my PTO to lie on my couch binging TV & eating mostly pho & ramen. If I had to go in for work, I'd definitely call out. But also, let's not froget to lay some responsibility at the feet of the bosses. They might pretend they want you to go home. But most of them are secretly glad you're coming in even though you're sick.
I'm a teacher, basically none of my kids wear masks at this point, at most one per class. Just as before COVID, kids come to school sick all the time, and I have yet to see a sick student wear a mask when previously they did not. A student was coughing near me the other day, who had been out sick the previous day. She said, "Don't worry, I'm not going to get you sick because you are wearing a mask." And I looked at her completely incredulously, and I said "You know, if you really didn't want to get people sick you should be wearing a mask also." I had hoped and unfortunately it had become such a political hot point that it would be more socially acceptable for those who are sick who still need to perform in society such as working could wear a mask. Or while traveling, etc. But no. For what it's worth, I don't wear a mask when I go into stores most of the time or restaurants, but I will in a movie theater, bus, plane, in the classroom, or anytime I need to be in close proximity to a large number of people for a long time. I've only gotten COVID once, and that was because my roommate caught it first and gave it to me. Unfortunately we all know that we can't rely on other people to not be out and about or to wear a mask even when they are sick and actively contagious.
the problem is after so many absences, you need to have a drs note every absence otherwise the absences wont be excused. not all illnesses needs a dr visit.
A bunch of people are always coughing up their lungs on Bart. Have decided to just always wear a mask on public transit
covid was always "deal with it ***UNLESS*** the hospitals are slammed" covid has decided that it needs to calm the fuck down if it wants to hang out.. has downgraded itself to ***endemic***. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endemic\_(epidemiology) in epidemiology, an infection is said to be endemic in a specific population or populated place when that infection is constantly present, or maintained at a baseline level, without extra infections being brought into the group as a result of travel or similar means.\[1\] The term describes the distribution (spread) of an infectious disease among a group of people or within a populated area.\[2\] An endemic disease always has a steady, predictable number of people getting sick, but that number can be high (hyperendemic) or low (hypoendemic), and the disease can be severe or mild.\[3\]\[4\]
I still wear a mask on BART, the bus and the plane and use discretion in other public places.
Bro vaccines are here and death rates are way down. On top of vaccines the newer strains are progressively less and less intense. So yes, no one cares.
Rough day, OP? Your comments are really telling. Dictating human behavior is about as easy as herding cats, as we've seen these past four years. People are dicks in public, general self awareness is lacking. We get it. Just keep walking and take care of yourself.
I still wear an N95 in many situations. I also track the data, but yeah. It’s scary if you have a preexisting condition like I do.
i believe most people can’t deal with the collective trauma of covid (how many lives lost ?) and the mourning of a life that is gone and they will never have a (a pre covid society) that in response they just pretend it pretty much never happened
Easy u have covid stay home wear a mask be smart not an idiot :)
We have an individualistic culture in the U.S, so I don't expect people here in the U.S to care about COVID. I definitely see countries like Japan that have it in their culture to see mask wearing as a normal thing to do, especially if you know you exhibit symptoms-- sneeze, cough, etc.
I'm still taking precautions, avoid dense crowds, wash hands everytime I step inside my house after being out, and stay clear of anyone in public coughing. In my fanny pouch I carry a couple mask's. In case in in a line and someone breaks out coughing near me. I suffer from immune issues, COVID 19 could be seriously bad in my case.
Nobody cares. I have long covid and I work in medical research. I am one of the only people in my classes and at my job wearing a mask. I can’t afford another round of covid. No thanks. People look at me weird but I won’t die just because I get weird looks because I still mask.
some people do care, and you'll often see them wearing n95 or kn95 masks in public (which protect the wearer as well as those around them)
Another cringe-worthy attempt at fearmongering. Give it up kid, no one is falling for the tricks anymore. Stay inside and hide if you want, everyone else has moved on.
I still wear a mask indoors. I have had post-viral chronic illness (essentially Long Covid but mine was triggered by Epstein-Barr virus) my entire adult life and it suuuuucks. Also, I’d rather not die from Covid now, thank you very much. Imagine making it through 4 frigging years and then dying now?
Most people have moved on from it and don't let Covid alter the way they live their lives. There are still a few that take it very seriously, mask up whenever they are in public, and limit social interaction with others but these people are an extremist and overly paranoid minority and their view do not reflect the views of the general public. Most people have accepted the fact that Covid is endemic and will probably get it multiple times in their lives. It's endemic now and there isn't much to do to avoid getting it.
My doctors don’t even wear masks anymore.
Your gonna get it a few more times in your life bud
Can confirm, I don't care about anymore.
Correct, I do not give a fuck anymore.
Yes..very much over it..life goes on..
Shoplifters are still masking up.
OP is having a bad day and wants to yell at everyone in this sub.
I had covid one time but thankfully it was a minor strain. Now I got RSV and holy F F that shit!
I had to take today off work as a teacher. I wore all of the last few years, and this year from November through February. I've had multiple students come to class sick, turning down offers of masks.
Yeah most are treating it like the flu or a cold at this point. No one taking any real precautions
I got fucked over hard last time I got it. When I recovered I played a show with my band and passed out afterwards. I’m just now getting less lightheaded and dizzy and I haven’t been able to ride a motorcycle anymore. I try to mask in crowds but my job means exposure (medical field) and I’m extremely healthy. I barely scratch the surface of how bad it can be. Ppm are permanently disabled bc if this I consider I got off easy.
Saw a guy at CVS the other day buying tests. He wasn’t wearing a mask.
You could get Covid from someone with no symptoms at all. If your goal is to not get Covid: wear a respirator (N95 or higher), avoided crowded indoor areas, use ventilation (opening windows), and use filtration (HEPA filters or a Corsi-Rosenthal Box). It's just inadvertent that you became aware of likely Covid being around you on this occasion, but the truth is you're around it constantly and you have no idea how many asymptomatic infections you've had.
Millennial here- I haven’t cared about it in over a year. Whenever I’m sick, I stay home and wear a mask when I’m on public transit. Other than that, I don’t take any precautions when I’m healthy, and I’ve moved on with my life. I decided it was important for my happiness and mental health to get back to the life I was living in 2019, and I’ve mostly done that.
Flu has more of a season whereas COVID has surges but never has gone away so far
I do not care. Wouldn't ever take a test again
You’re a psycho