COVID

When we went to the embassy Monday, I left my bag in the car for ease. Well, they required masks and we had left them in the car.  They managed to find one for my husband but I had to wear my coat backwards to clock my mouth.  I quickly bought a drink so sip from. 

Would have been nice if in all the millions of things they send if they told you masks were required.  Or had them for sale. Or any help. 

They won't have forgotten how bad they had it at the beginning.

They won't have forgotten how bad they had it at the beginning.

I wish everyone would remember.

Our rates are on the rise (of course) and yesterday the test results (what there were of them) in my county hit 11% and going up daily at an alarming rate.  Everyone is going around business-as-normal (old normal) with very few masks seen. My employer (a college) came around last week and took all the plexiglass down and dropped all the covid protocols.  I have brought in a good quality HEPA filter, since one of the main transmission routes is aerosols hanging in the air for hours after an unmasked carrier leaves the room. The filter is good - will "turn the air over" in the room in about 10 minutes. (It's a small room.)

In the meantime, both the daughter and I are daily reminded that 1) the general public is either incredibly stupid or incredibly self-centered; and, 2) as persons with disabilities and health conditions, we're thrown under the bus now.

We've both had second boosters. My arm is finally not throbbing, the rash is gone, and although I'm still dragging badly, it's much better. I hope it's enough. Yes, We probably won't die if we catch it. 

But compare it to being run over by a bin lorry. You might lose your legs; you might keep 'em but have searing pain and be unable to use the properly for life, or for a long time; you could be paralyzed; you could be dealing with recuperating for years, with internal organ damage and the damage that develops later from the original accident.... So, yeah, you can survive getting hit by a bin lorry. Same with covid. I want neither to happen. It's a lot easier to not get hit by a bin lorry (there's only one of them in the scenario) than deal with dozens of people wandering around without masks because it's an inconvenience for them to put one on.

I wish everyone would remember, too!

I've been trying to keep a sense of perspective (short to medium term) throughout the whole pandemic and I feel safely in the minority for doing so. It's not over yet, and I have more than one friend in my age group (30s and 40s) suffering with long COVID.Yet these are "invisible people" to the media, who have fixated only on new infection rates and deaths. Lots of ways something can ruin your quality of life without killing you, so we'd rather not take the chance our number comes up.

We're doing what little we can to try and prevent our personal risk from getting out of hand: where we do meet people, it's in small groups and not in public settings, so no shops or city centre. Even when measures had been taken, they seemed only a token gesture, like security theatre.

Be well folks!

But compare it to being run over by a bin lorry.

  Did I mention that I was hit by a bin lorry and then caught COVID?   Just sayin'

 Well aren't we the clever boy....

I would assume that your AUTOMOBILE was hit by a bin lorry?

Well aren't we the clever boy....

I would assume that your AUTOMOBILE was hit by a bin lorry?

  Both of us were hit as I was inside the AUTOMOBILE at the time. 

A former boss was hit by a double decker bus.  The bus was written off.  Can't make this stuff up!

snork.  No, you can't. You just can't. 

My sister hit a rabbit one evening. The car died. The rabbit lived. That one we never figured out. Other than that a tree was also involved, although we never quite sorted out how the tree went through the gas tank (at the rear of the car).

My boss just came down with Covid and is ... rather ill after coming in to work for the day ~before~ taking a rapid test.  I am going to get a medal in the hereafter, because today was the mother of all "I damned well told you so, but would you listen? Nooooo, you would not!" moments. I was nice and just reminded people that 6 ft and 15 minutes exposure time that HR sent out in their message related to the first wave, when they thought it was primarily spread by droplets and didn't realize it aerosolized. And that now the "15 minutes" was, even from conservative factors, a total of 15 cumulative minutes in a 24 hour period in the same airspace. 

So we're all screwed, but I was very nice and didn't say more than that. Amazingly, I am no longer the only person in the office wearing an N-95 at all times. Whaddaya know....

PS Jimbo, that doesn't count. It has to literally hit you.

New account name (hopefully shows up on the app too) to improve anonymity, but still me and still high risk.

Have barely left the house for months, only meeting with equally vulnerable friends outdoors. Who I learned this week haven't been taking the any precautions in their daily lives. Met up on Tuesday afternoon, that evening had a nonchalant message to say "oh I'm sorry, my husband tested positive while we were chatting - he's OK though." Now the friend in hospital getting oxygen and antivirals/other meds after testing positive yesterday, they're immune compromised so I really hope they are ok. I don't qualify for the antivirals because somehow my fairly rare heart condition just doesnt tick the box. If we were in the US I would without question. Just praying I was far enough away to not catch it, but given how much my throat hurts tonight I think that's unlikely. I'm on aspirin but the strange clotting covid causes some is the main risk for me.

I’m very very sorry.  It’s horrible that this is out there now and no controls any longer.

Have you spoken with your GP to create a plan for if/when you catch Covid (sadly I do think it’s a case of when for everyone)?   Have you had your spring booster?

Big hugs. I hope all is well and that you don’t catch it.

I still have no idea how my son didn’t catch it when it was in the house for 3 weeks and he was essentially licking everything behind us.  Yet other catch it at the grocery store. It is a weird virus, for certain. Which is partly why it makes it so so scary.

Better to assume everyone you're in contact with is Covid positive than to presume they're not.

I’m very very sorry.  It’s horrible that this is out there now and no controls any longer.

Have you spoken with your GP to create a plan for if/when you catch Covid (sadly I do think it’s a case of when for everyone)?   Have you had your spring booster?

Big hugs. I hope all is well and that you don’t catch it.

I still have no idea how my son didn’t catch it when it was in the house for 3 weeks and he was essentially licking everything behind us.  Yet other catch it at the grocery store. It is a weird virus, for certain. Which is partly why it makes it so so scary.

Who do you think told me I don't qualify for any help unless hospitalised? Assuming I haven't tried is really awful of you. The health system is not made to support the people who do not fit into neat check boxes. It's a challenge in the US as well, but for access to life saving meds they are much more proactive because they don't want to be sued. GP's have complained the criteria are too strict but nothing has changed.

While the healthy among us are out living life those of us who know the risks to our lives are stuck trapped at home. The disabled and immune compromised have just been forgotten. The isolation (and physical pain from the health system being overloaded) is wearing me down.

I've been volunteering at a vaccination centre and I'm surprised at the sheer number of people still getting shots.  Old and vulnerable people getting fourth doses, and now 5 - 12 year olds.  The rest of the government may be pretending that COVID is over, but the NHS is still vaccinating like crazy.  Lines out the door.

I've been volunteering at a vaccination centre and I'm surprised at the sheer number of people still getting shots.  Old and vulnerable people getting fourth doses, and now 5 - 12 year olds.  The rest of the government may be pretending that COVID is over, but the NHS is still vaccinating like crazy.  Lines out the door.

I believe they classified it as endemic now, rather than "over".  Hopefully, like flu, it will stay as endemic and every year or 6 months there will be a big push for everyone to get vaccinated.  At least for now Covid shots are free to everyone, unlike Flu shots.

PS

Good for you for the volunteer work!!