COVID

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.

Any idea how they handle nervous children?  Sadly my 8 year old still vividly remembers her preschool jabs and has been fearful of having a jab. We each took her when we had our boosters. And she saw her brother at GOSH and how he wasn’t bothered by the needles and such which helped…

But they get jabbed Friday (and husband is finally getting his booster, long after getting the letter telling him to book in). 

Any idea how they handle nervous children?  Sadly my 8 year old still vividly remembers her preschool jabs and has been fearful of having a jab. We each took her when we had our boosters. And she saw her brother at GOSH and how he wasn’t bothered by the needles and such which helped…

But they get jabbed Friday (and husband is finally getting his booster, long after getting the letter telling him to book in).

I am in a Facebook group for people who were trying to keep misinformation at bay regarding Covid.  Anyway, one of the members' niece was vaccine hesitant, and the member's sister (mother of the niece) ended up writing a book to help her with her fear.  I downloaded a Kindle version for free when she first launched it, but now the paperback version is pricier than I expected.  Still, you can take a look and see if it might appeal to your beansprout and if it's worth the cost to you.  This is the Amazon listing: 

Any idea how they handle nervous children?  Sadly my 8 year old still vividly remembers her preschool jabs and has been fearful of having a jab. We each took her when we had our boosters. And she saw her brother at GOSH and how he wasn’t bothered by the needles and such which helped…

But they get jabbed Friday (and husband is finally getting his booster, long after getting the letter telling him to book in). 

  I wouldn't worry about it all.  The vaccinators have given literally thousands of shots and they know exactly what they are doing.  For adults, they work in pairs and you'll be chatting to one of them and the shot is over before you even know it.  Super nervous people are relatively common and taken care of by having a vaccinator meet the person in a calm area that's not the big room.  I've even seen kids get the shot in the car in the parking lot.  I've not helped out when the do the really young kids, but I'd bet it will be a total non-issue. 

Thanks Jimbo.  I feel confident they will have members of staff specifically for nervous patients and kids.  I may need to find out if they do the numbing cream.  We’ve booked a vaccination centre instead of a local pharmacy specifically because we know they are likely to have people just for this purpose.

The 5 year old won’t care.  I’m going to take him on his own, because he genuinely won’t give a toss.  But could get scared if he sees his big sister terrified.

Dad is going to take our daughter and have them do him first and then her (if that helps). 

We have decided we are NOT telling them what we are doing in full.  Just that we are going to Reading for an errand and then “insert something super cool” after.  If we tell our daughter in advance, she will work herself up into a horrific anxious state.  I HATE not telling her, but, I genuinely believe in my gut that she will be overall much happier if she can’t worry about it for days on end.  Parenting really sucks sometimes.  Constantly questioning yourself if you are making the right choice.  Damned if we do, damned if we don’t. 

And now the secretary has it. 

And who is back to work today, not wearing a mask? Yep, the boss. "Gee sorry guys, I'm Covid Positive" from the middle of last week.

My kids were spectacular with their vaccines.

My daughter AMAZED us by being very brave and not crying or getting the least bit upset. She’s been wild since, as I think she feared it for so long and it wasn’t anything to fear!

We are truly hopeful that she won’t fear needles anymore. 

My kids were spectacular with their vaccines.

My daughter AMAZED us by being very brave and not crying or getting the least bit upset. She’s been wild since, as I think she feared it for so long and it wasn’t anything to fear!

We are truly hopeful that she won’t fear needles anymore.

That is really good to hear.

We had lots of fun at Queen & Adam Lambert.  And as predicted, both of us tested positive for Covid today.  Both have a sore throat, which is all. Hopefully it remains that way.

My poor husband has had 4 jabs and covid twice now!

Hopefully not too long lasting KFDancer! Hope you both feel better soon!

I've got a busy summer of gigs,  a trip to London, and music festivals, so I'm sure I'm getting Covid again here at somepoint. 

We had lots of fun at Queen & Adam Lambert.  And as predicted, both of us tested positive for Covid today.  Both have a sore throat, which is all. Hopefully it remains that way.

My poor husband has had 4 jabs and covid twice now!

What an absolute drag. Hope it stays really mild.

Hopefully not too long lasting KFDancer! Hope you both feel better soon!

I've got a busy summer of gigs,  a trip to London, and music festivals, so I'm sure I'm getting Covid again here at somepoint.

Stay safe!

I hope you all recover quickly.

We heard from my wife’s sister yesterday. She did the west highland way (95 miles) over a 9 day period with a group of friends. It was pretty wet and rainy so when got the sniffles part way through she wasn’t surprised. At one point she thought it was settling on her chest but it didn’t. She tested as soon as she got back home in Edinburgh. COVID of course but she still has no symptoms other than the sniffles.

The new rules are really bonkers.  Basically there are no rules! 

Both of our employers want us to stay at home and work (thank goodness).  But if the kids get it, they are still supposed to go to school!  And you don't *have* to stay home or ANYTHNG anymore.  Truly crazy.  Which I suspect is why we got it.  Who would want to miss Queen & Adam Lambert?  Especially when you don't HAVE to?

Same here. Minimal rules. It's insane. Running it down:

The Covid sub-variants running amok now (which I think may have been in pretty much our local area first in the USA-  the B.4 etc versions?)  punch through the vaccines. I believe they've made it to the UK, where I'm sure they'll go to crazy proportions, given how poorly the last round went over there because people didn't do what was necessary to keep it from doing so. There is no "herd immunity" and never could have been, because the virus mutates rapidly. We're just lucky it hasn't turned more vicious than it has, so far. It still well could. But people go blithely along, thinking if they've had an earlier variant they can't get another one.

The press keeps being sure to say "it's no more serious than the original Omicron" without actually mentioning how tremendously serious that version actually is/was.  As if it's just a bad cold. It is NOT just a bad cold. A lot of people who catch it may think the symptoms are similar, but I would have to ask them:  Do you know what it's actually doing to you, internally, that you don't see right now?  And what your outcome is going to be over time?

We were in "high" status here for most of May, but my employer (an educational institution) dropped all mask requirements. No masks are being required anywhere, other than in health-care settings, that I've seen, lately. Said employer says "well, we want to get back to normal, and Covid protocols are not "welcoming" to our students".  So yeah, let's pretend. If they get sick and die, or are left with serious outcomes, how the f*** welcoming is that, then?  Or if they take it home to family?  Welcoming. Seriously! WTF!? 

You can see who is immunocompromised/at high risk/aware of the actual situation by the fact that they have continued to mask up in proper N-94 masks. (And not the flimsy surgical or cloth ones, which don't do that much.)  And you can tell who has been hassled by idiots about wearing masks by noting their body language when you meet them.

That the CDC changed how they issued warning guidelines very quietly back in, what, February, has had almost no press. They went from the danger to an individual to, primarily, the capacity of local hospitals to treat the critically ill as a major driver of the alert level.  We've been at basically red-alert since early May, and that is being uniformly ignored.

My assumption is that people just mentally cannot handle the reality anymore, and the economy can't handle what would happen if they did, and so it's back to a "let's pretend this is all over" phase.  And damn the fallout in terms of wrecked lives and families.

And then there are all those idiots who have politicized it all. 

The latest info (that is reputable) that I've seen is that about 1 in 5 people who catch the newest variants will experience some symptoms of long-Covid for over 6 months, and that someone who's had it has a massively increased chance of throwing micro-clots in their blood stream for at least a year. Among other nasty things happening to them. And yeah, so that means 4 out of 5 won't. But what about that one - that's 20% of people who become infected? Who maybe can't work, or can't function effectively on a daily basis, and who may or may not have medical insurance and may or may not get adequate medical care? They just get thrown to the wolves. Yep, with people making a conscious effort to pretend they don't exist.

Then there are those of us who are at much higher risk of serious outcomes, due to age, comorbidities, or immunocompromised status.  We're a bother. A burden. The world would be well off to be rid of us. Of course, nobody will say that (well, very few, anyway) up front, but there's a considerable eugenics strain of thought in societies (both here and there in the UK) that we're a drain on resources, aren't we. It's really freaking clear from how people behave, and what rules are and are not created and enforced, precisely what and who is valued. And it's not us.

Heaven forbid someone get long Covid and then find out what that's all like - it'll kind of ruin their belief in "belonging" in a society. Then again, that last bit might well be a good thing to happen to some, so they get their heads out of their ridiculously sheltered backsides for a while.

Seriously, humanity sucks, in a very large part. 

Nan, lovely to see you back!  

There is no "herd immunity" and never could have been, because the virus mutates rapidly.

Yeah, I read an article recently that the times of touting herd protection (immunity) are behind us. It is now clear that herd protection is not something that can realistically be achieved with COVID now.

The press keeps being sure to say "it's no more serious than the original Omicron" without actually mentioning how tremendously serious that version actually is/was.

One thing that slightly annoyed me was all the talk of how Omicron was "mild." Yes, it was "mild" in comparison to previous strains, but that doesn't mean it's the equivalent of a sniffle that will last a day and then, boom, it's all over. It's kind of like calling Ebola Bundibugyo "mild" because it's being compared with Ebola Zaire. No case of Ebola is going to be a pleasant walk through the park, but Bundibugyo (25% mortality rate) is certainly "milder" than Zaire (60-90% mortality rate). My dad got COVID a few weeks ago, and although he's largely recovered, he said it was a miserable experience and he still can't shake his cough. And he was doubled vaccinated and boosted, and the type of guy who eats healthy and exercises daily.

And what your outcome is going to be over time?

This worries me as well. We don't even know why it is that some people go on to develop long COVID and some people don't. MS was hypothesized for a long time to be triggered by some kind of infectious agent; there's now stronger evidence that it is. There's an increase of people developing diabetes post-COVID, and more information is needed to investigate that correlation. ME/CFS-like sequelae in a ton of long-haulers . Autoimmune issues after COVID. It's just one anecdote, but I know someone who developed lupus following COVID, and the doctors don't think it was just an unhappy coincidence. I'm due to see a rheumatologist in July to investigate possible COVID-triggered inflammatory arthritis.

No masks are being required anywhere, other than in health-care settings, that I've seen, lately. Said employer says "well, we want to get back to normal, and Covid protocols are not "welcoming" to our students".  So yeah, let's pretend. If they get sick and die, or are left with serious outcomes, how the f*** welcoming is that, then?  Or if they take it home to family?  Welcoming. Seriously! WTF!? 

Largely, in the NHS, masks are no longer required by staff unless working in clinical areas or directly with patients.

You can see who is immunocompromised/at high risk/aware of the actual situation by the fact that they have continued to mask up in proper N-94 masks. (And not the flimsy surgical or cloth ones, which don't do that much.)  And you can tell who has been hassled by idiots about wearing masks by noting their body language when you meet them.

Luckily, from my experience, mask-wearing appears to be respected as a personal choice. I've never been hassled or mocked for continuing to wear my mask. I haven't even gotten strange looks. Mostly people seem to be like, hey no worries, you do you and that's cool.

My assumption is that people just mentally cannot handle the reality anymore, and the economy can't handle what would happen if they did, and so it's back to a "let's pretend this is all over" phase.

Pandemic fatigue and pandemic burnout are totally things.

Then there are those of us who are at much higher risk of serious outcomes, due to age, comorbidities, or immunocompromised status.  We're a bother. A burden. The world would be well off to be rid of us. Of course, nobody will say that (well, very few, anyway) up front, but there's a considerable eugenics strain of thought in societies (both here and there in the UK) that we're a drain on resources, aren't we. It's really freaking clear from how people behave, and what rules are and are not created and enforced, precisely what and who is valued. And it's not us.

I have a disabled friend in Canada, and he says it seems just that like up north as well. Here, in the early waves, we had the blanket DNRs that were applied to people with learning disabilities without discussing it with them first. At times, the language is dismissive too. Only the elderly. Only those with XYZ condition/disease.

I guess in a slightly kind of good way though, I've been seeing more conversations about ableism in society, and I think the pandemic has sparked those conversations to happen. It's a shame that a pandemic had to happen for some of these discussions to occur, but at least they are starting to take place in some areas. Humanity can suck, but I like to think not all the time.