The Covid19 thread

[SGalisa]

Wow! Finally, I can reply... was having slow-forum posting issues all week...

Fair question with a simple answer: we don't get to choose the vaccine. It is chosen for us, in a manner of speaking.

Our supply of Moderna happens to be bigger than the Pfizer one at the moment so there. We also don't get to freely go in or sign ourselves up for our shots, we have to wait our turns and receive an official invitation for the appointments.

Also, it was much more relaxed and fun this time around because they are also vaccinating the kids so the center is all dressed up with teddybears and a proper maze, and superheroes on the walls, and like colorful pictures everywhere. There's even a playground in the waiting area.

My side effects were restricted to a soar arm... nothing else, while most of my friends and family suffered flu-like symptoms in the first 12 hours, dissipating by the next day. I got lucky.

Over here in the USA, some states don't give a choice either. At least they didn't in the beginning. Now that most people have been vaccinated at least once with J&J or twice with Moderna or Pfizer, they get to choose where to go and which vaccine they want, if such a choice is available.

Unless someone got a J&J to start with (ONE and done! haha), most people I know stayed with the version they started with to get a booster.

My hubby got a Moderna booster, and said it wiped him out on the 3rd day. Chronic fatigue, extreme icy chills, and fever hovering up to 102. I made him hydrate and did what I always do for the flu -- wet cool rag on forehead, soup and crackers, applesauce... Did not want to take him to ER, if possible... been there for other things, and ER was overbooked with many COVID sounding people.

I got my Pfizer booster and was hoping for the same reactions I had during the first rounds... slight pain in arm at vaccine area, and not much of anything else. Fatigue is normal with me, since I have always had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but I've been forced to be more active because things had to get done, and I couldn't settle down to relax (laundry, groceries, general other stuff).

However, both my hubby and I have had chronic neck & shoulder pain that's been hurting ever since he got his booster. It was weird because I thought either I picked up sympathy pains from him, or was heading near the end of my own vaccine cycle, and that was my body's way of telling me to get a "boost" soon.

Anywho, I'm only a few days into this booster now, but also dealing with weather pains (arthritis), so I can't figure out what is a vaccine issue or *old age* stuff. LOL. I will be keeping a watch on the armpit swelling up again, especially since I got the vaccine in the same arm as the previous ones. The nurse thought that was a good idea, and said a lot of people were complaining about their armpits swelling up for a few days or weeks. Unfortunately, mine never healed up completely... 8 months later...
The nurse couldn't explain away that one.

[Falcon Horus]

My sister was tired for a few days after too... me, just the arm.
Lucky me, I guess.

[Who Knows]

I had my Astra Zenika last April & July and had no ill effects (as in nausia, soreness, swelling). Australia is bringing the time between the jabs & the booster down & down. It was 6 months, now it is only 3 months. But also they are making the age lower & lower to include school-age children.
So I went to book a booster in January, six months after my last jab, to find they were all booked up with giving the children their first jabs ready for school starting (yesterday)
Then they wonder why the uptake of boosters is slow.

Anyway, long story short, I got my booster yesterday (Phiser, because Australia has stopped AZ now), and I got soreness at the injection sight, and I couldn't sleep properly last night, and it is still sore, and it does not appear to be getting any better. And I am feeling sorry for myself.

[Falcon Horus]

The schoolkids are the cause of much hilarity at the vaccination centra. My dad has plenty of fun stories of kids who suddenly chicken out, then see a friend from school who did get the jab and has to brag about it, then instantly turn around and demand they get their jab cause they don't want to look like scared little chicks.

Or a younger brother or sister who doesn't give a peep, so the older sibling can't just not go through with it.

[Falcon Horus]

*tip-toes into thread*

Triple vaccinated so Omicron was a breeze... sort of... I brought home a souvenir from my trip to Spain four weeks ago. It was the equivalent of a serious cold -- aching throat, sneezing, sniffing, coughing, runny nose, no voice, a bit tired and a bit feverish. All in all I came away rather unscathed, and I tested myself twice -- both negative though if I had tested on the height of it, I probably would have tested positive. My sister did and her symptoms were exactly the same a week later.

We quarantined for about 7 days -- she had to, I didn't have to but I would have to test myself each day before going to work and I just don't like having that stick up my nose. Plus, our self-tests aren't free and they don't come cheap.

Today I'm working from home cause I woke up with a aching throat, a little headache and no voice. I hope it's just a leftover residue of last week's 20th anniversary party from the company I work at, and no another round of Omicron.

****

Also, in other Covid news... Belgium has thrown all regulations overboard and facemasks are no longer mandatory in most places, except in hospitals, at the doctor's, drugstores and in carefacilities. It is reccommended to wear when in a place with a lot of people gathered together but not an obligation.

I still wear one when I go shopping but for the most part, I'm leaving it off.

[SGalisa]

Hi everyone or anyone who's still here... How is life lately with COVID / variants...?
My aunt had CV-19 or variant in early Spring season... then she developed pneumonia. She never got over the pneumonia and ended up in the hospital a few months later from dehydration. So, in the hospital for 2 weeks, out to rehab, which I knew would not work out. She was in her 90's and very frail. She had a lump on her foot and needed help, but the assisted helpers wanted her to do her own stuff and walk on her own.

Really not nice. She ended up back in the hospital.. in ICU for a weekend. She finally got transferred to hospice a few days in... and died less than a week later. So, she ended up being a casualty of COVID. All that, plus she was fully vaccinated 2 times and boosted.

I've got more stories from other people, but suffice it to say the whole time my aunt needed help, I had to be there to take care of things for her in the nursing home, but go thru restricted protocols (jump thru hoops!) to do it, and NOT get COVID myself. Meantime, 8 people during that time span got COVID / variants... all of them in my work office, and 5 of them worked near my desk area... one of my bosses was among the COVID sick people and she was literally 2 desks away from me... agh!!!!!!!!!

There was a door and a wall between us, and my boss was very paranoid and mostly wore 2 masks before CV, during and after getting sick. She coughed continuously all day around me, and I had to be with my aunt to move her belongings back and forth within 2 days of this maddening situation. Lots of Lysol, Clorox wipes and prayers to keep the germs away... Fortunately, I didn't get sick during that entire time. whew!

[Falcon Horus]

I'm sorry for your loss!

****

From today onwards the new booster campaign has started in Belgium. It's reccommended for everyone 65 and over, and optional for everyone between 18 to 64. I'm gonna get boosted at least once more -- which thus shall be around midway October or the start of November.

My 2 direct colleagues are still not vaccinated, and one of them had Omicron during the first week of my vacation so I'm glad I wasn't working then. The other's husband has a cancer relapse since before the summer holidays so he's in the at-risk group. I find it rather irresponsible of her not to get vaccinated for his sake but oh well... their choice, I guess.

In the meantime, facemasks are no longer necessary anywhere but at hospitals and doctor's offices, and carehomes. So life has returned to normal over here, or as normal as it can be with the energy-crisis upon us.

[Spimman]

My 2 direct colleagues are still not vaccinated, and one of them had Omicron during the first week of my vacation so I'm glad I wasn't working then. The other's husband has a cancer relapse since before the summer holidays so he's in the at-risk group. I find it rather irresponsible of her not to get vaccinated for his sake but oh well... their choice, I guess.

The vaccines do seem to offer some protection against getting severe covid, but they don't appear to prevent people from getting covid or transmitting it to others. Some have made the case that vaccinated people with non\mild symptomatic covid contribute to the spread because they are unaware they have it.

I'm indifferent to peoples vaccination decision, but since it doesn't prevent the vaccinated person from spreading it I find labelling people who don't get it irresponsible to be a divisive label. Labelling someone in a high risk group choosing to forgo the vaccine would be a more appropriate place to use that label.

[Falcon Horus]

The vaccines do seem to offer some protection against getting severe covid, but they don't appear to prevent people from getting covid or transmitting it to others. Some have made the case that vaccinated people with non\mild symptomatic covid contribute to the spread because they are unaware they have it.

Hence why being vaccinated doesn't mean you're immune to it, which I agree many who are vaccinated seem to forget. ... and mind you, I have as much issues with it as someone who foregoes vaccination in the first place but a well-informed choice is not mine to question (however, considering one my colleagues is into the whole fake-news/misinformation realm, her choice is less than well-informed).

I'm double vaccinated + 1 booster and I've had it, even though I tested negative twice. My sister with the exact same symptoms tested a bright red positive for C. Neither of us passed it on to anyone else -- we quarantined appropriately.

I'm indifferent to peoples vaccination decision, but since it doesn't prevent the vaccinated person from spreading it I find labelling people who don't get it irresponsible to be a divisive label. Labelling someone in a high risk group choosing to forgo the vaccine would be a more appropriate place to use that label.

Like I said, if the choice is well-informed than I have minor issues with it (I can't say I don't have any at all, cause I will always frown upon it). However, if the choice is based on baseless information from some YouTube channel and out-of-this-world conspiricies... then I can call them whatever I like. In Belgium we even invented a word for them --> Wappies!

The husband, for the record, is vaccinated.

****

In other news... got my invitation for the 2nd booster and while we are free to choose to either get it or not, me and my sister have booked our shot for the 13th of October. Once more with Pfizer... previous booster was Moderna.

[Womble]

Hi all, sorry for my absence. A lot of stuff was happening, and is still happening.

In Israel all Covid limitations have been lifted. On paper, you still need face mask for going to medical clinics, de-facto it is not enforced. The only travel limitation is that before arrival to the country you need to fill a declaration, mostly because the government didn't think of a smarter way to collect the data on who arrived with which flight. Recycling the Covid declaration is cheaper than paying for a few lines of code that would allow the passport-scanning machines to accept the same info, I guess.

The big problem right now is the insane backlog for passport validity extension/renewal. Three years of passports just collecting dust have to be resolved in a few months before the major Jewish holiday season. Let's just say that even purpose-made appointment-hunting online bots cannot get you an appointment right now. People revenge-travel like crazy.

[Spimman]

Covid has basically been a thing of the past all 2022 here in terms of how it is treated by the general population. At this point, seeing someone wear a mask is unusual. I know some people still get covid, but it is viewed more like the flu. If you're sick, stay home, but otherwise go about your life. Contact tracing and contact exposure quarantine aren't done here anymore unless it is a close roommate situation.

Similar to Womble - medical facilities sometimes require masking. I visited a friend at the hospital and they gave me one when I went in, but going to a general doctors visit I didn't wear one. About 30-50% do in medical situations so it isn't unusual there, which is nice if sharing a waiting room with people who are actively sick from anything really.

[Falcon Horus]

Medical facilities here too, though when at the dentist last week and the week before, some folks weren't wearing one and nobody mentioned it so I don't think it's required but oh well... I still do it. I've gotten used to it by now.

I'm going to my first big convention 2 weeks from now and as I understand it, there could be requirements of wearing a facemask when in proximity to guests, when they so ask for it.

I know Will Wheaton and David Blue wear facemasks at conventions and ask for fans to do the same (Will even declines invitations when the organizers can't accomodate it). Jeri Ryan declined an offer for a major German Star Trek convention because they couldn't set up an outdoors photoshoot area.

So yeah... it's still in the mind's eye of a lot of people.

I wouldn't mind it if Andy Serkis asks us to wear a facemask 2 weeks from now. I got me a very trendy one.

[SGalisa]

I'm sorry for your loss!

****

From today onwards the new booster campaign has started in Belgium. It's reccommended for everyone 65 and over, and optional for everyone between 18 to 64. I'm gonna get boosted at least once more -- which thus shall be around midway October or the start of November.

My 2 direct colleagues are still not vaccinated, and one of them had Omicron during the first week of my vacation so I'm glad I wasn't working then. The other's husband has a cancer relapse since before the summer holidays so he's in the at-risk group. I find it rather irresponsible of her not to get vaccinated for his sake but oh well... their choice, I guess.

In the meantime, facemasks are no longer necessary anywhere but at hospitals and doctor's offices, and carehomes. So life has returned to normal over here, or as normal as it can be with the energy-crisis upon us.

Heart-hugs and Thank you FH for your thoughts regarding my aunt. She lived a very long life... longer than I'll ever probably live, especially at the rate I'm going...

Sorry for not replying sooner. Sprained my ankle a few weeks ago... still swollen. Computer browsers got hiccups and kept rebooting entire computer. This happened several attempts (over different days and weeks) into making one post! Plus, my hubby got an infection in his leg and that took more than 4 weeks to treat (clean and wrap) and heal.

Sooooooooo... COVID vaccines. Number 4 vaccine (booster) is overdue, but not yet mandatory. Our employers want us to get the most advanced available booster. Well, I'm still dealing with a lump in my armpit and a potentially growing blood clot in my leg with edema flare ups in my lower extremities. The blood clot problem started after my 3rd vaccine. Number 4 vaccine could cause a severe flare-up and kill me.

If that happens, don't expect me to write back... I'll be beyond the rainbow and in a different dimension of reality. Some positives for it, but I'm not trying to get there faster in the meantime. Yet, that may be the only way I will ever have or enjoy a genuine retirement...

In the meantime, Medical places still require masks... which is good, because there are usually too many sick people coughing or sneezing all over without covering up their germs. Public restrooms and shopping places in general also harbor lots of ickky germs, so "enter at your own risk" in there.

Well everyone, try to stay on the healthy side.
Even with good health, one can be suffering from physical limitations which can only be helped to a certain extent, so there's that to deal with. Getting older, one needs to become more aware of what you are doing.

When we are young, we tend to take for granted simple things such as walking... But when we get older our bodies do weird things like losing our balance for no reason that we can immediately think of. So, we go to the doctor, get all sorts of tests done, and find out our equilibrium goes out of whack now and then, sometimes rather suddenly, and we find ourselves falling more times than we should. So, please take care... try to stay as healthy as possible, and know that as (generic) you are aging, it just might be those changes in life causing our little health issues, and not something drastic like COVID. However, COVID and other buggy things might be contributing to speeding up your (degenerating of) health ailments, too.

[Falcon Horus]

I got my booster 2 weeks ago... delayed by a few days because of a bronchial disturbence.
Turns out, having a cold and sneezing is not a problem but coughing is a guaranteed return ticket at the door of the vaccination place.

So, small delay and then my sister and I got jabbed with our 2nd booster.

My coughs have mostly seized but my bronchial issues can last up to 6 weeks. I've just returned from 3 days in the north of France, visited the battlefields around Verdun (mostly destroyed villages, American/German/French burial sites and wartorn remains of bunkers and trenches) and spend a lot of time outdoors which seemed to have furthered the healing of my bronchial tubes. From the 5th onward to the 12th I'll be in Spain near the Mediterranean which will help even more.

[comicslover]

My boss today told me that I have to get vaccinated one more time and I`m not reallly happy about this????
But maybe someone knows which vaccine is better now and which symptoms do you fell after booster dose?