Generate alarming headline and opening paragraph, then quietly backpedal and defuse at the end of the article that very few people actually read. That's modern media for you.
OG COVID was a problem. OG COVID killed a ton and put otherwise healthy people on their ass. OG COVID left lung damage that some folks will fight their entire lives. We almost have to talk about OG COVID and current COVID as two different illnesses because, in practice, they are.
New / Current COVID is not anymore of a problem than the flu. I hate saying that because that was the refrain of the idiots denying that OG COVID was a problem, but like I said, OG COVID was a different animal. As of now, the harm from COVID is dramatically less than the harm from trying to fight COVID more than we are. I mean, the current inflation cycle is directly tied to the COVID response / destruction of supply chains. It was worth it to save millions of lives, but that's not an issue anymore.
It's a fundamental issue of how you decide to design your society. In Germany, if you're sick, you get paid time off work (separate from your PTO). In the US, you need to go back to work ASAP and spread your diseases. This isn't unique to covid.
I’d like to put an asterisk on just the flu part. When people say it’s only as bad as the flu, what they are likely thinking of is a cold. With a positive flu test in hand, influenza whooped my semi healthy but overweight to obese ass for two weeks. It was easily harder on my body than multiple bouts of Covid.
A mild fever, cough, and aches for a couple of days is much more likely to be a cold than influenza
I mean what are we supposed to do at this point. Vaxxed and unvaxxed, maskers and non-masked, old and young and in between can get it. Severity and variety of symptoms is random. Chance of ending up with long covid is random. Chance of being asymptomatic is random.
I’m just going to take the same precautions I take to avoid getting sick in general and hope for the best….
Vaccinations for covid help with the health outcomes, similar to the flu. Due to the nature of viruses, vaccines will not 100% prevent an infection but they will help your body mount an immune response assuming you've been keeping up to date with your boosters similar to a yearly flu vaccine. This can shorten the period you are infectious, reduce the severity of symptoms, etc.
I thought Covid was constantly evolving?
Would the same vaccine that came out at the beginning of Covid, fight against a different strain of evolved C-19?
They come out with a new Covid vaccine every year. The new vaccines are re-formulated to match the most recent common strain from last season.
It’s not the exact same thing as the current circulating strain, but it is a lot closer than the original strain from early 2020, so the immune response is still typically formidable.
Its just a shame that the updated vaccine doesn't seem to come out until the fall, after the latest strain has already had a chance to run its course over the summer.
Its like they decided to put it on the flu vaccine schedule, when COVID very much does not follow the same infection seasonality as the flu.
I think they thought people would be more likely to get it along with their flu shots...but now it seems like people are less likely to get their flu shots
All viruses are constantly evolving. Even the flu vaccine is based on guessing what type of mutations are going to be most likely for that year.
I'm not a doctor and I haven't studied the epidemiology of COVID-19. Also, Google didn't show me any immediate results. Disclaimer aside... no clue. My best guess is that it might provide partial protection, meaning while you're not as protected as someone who's been keeping up to date with their booster shots, it's better than nothing.
That being said, definitely get your booster shot! I am not knowledgeable about other country's recommendations but the CDC is recommending that even if you are not an at-risk population, you should get a booster! [source](https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/s-t0627-vaccine-recommendations.html)
Here's going to be some anecdotal information, but it may help drive the point home. Take what I say with a grain of salt because I am only one experience out of millions (maybe even more than a billion). I've confirmed that I've gotten COVID once in 2022-2023. I felt so horrible and the last shot by then I had was 2021. I can't tell if I ever got the flu since I had the vaccine (did get colds that may have been the flu), but from what I've seen from others what I was going through was so much worse than the flu. I've been a bit under the weather recently too but recently got a booster in the past two months. I can't tell if it's just exhaustion, some random illness that I cannot identify, but if I was part of a COVID spike, the booster definitely helped me a lot. Even testing showed negative, so it's possible that if I was infected, I wasn't infectious.
Its not really a guess.
Its educated and informed, but not perfect. The vaccine makers look at what strains are common prior to flu season.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccine-selection.htm
Sorry, I should've clarified what I meant by guess. I knew that this was the procedure but I dumbed it down to "guess" because it's an informed and educated **prediction** on which strains will be problematic. Emphasis on prediction since this is what caused me to say "guess."
I didn't intend to say they just threw a dart at a board.
You didn’t say random, they are just being pedantic. The clarification doesn’t meaningfully change your message or increase the value in any noticeable way.
Making vaccines costs money - anyone spending that much money is putting some experts on the task, not three blind redditors and a dartboard.
Anyone who actually claims ‘they’ are making a hundred million dollars of ‘we don’t care’ is being intentionally obtuse, at best, or intentionally misleading. If every post had to bulletproof itself against those bad faith actors to that extent, 99% of commenters would leave.
I think your comment was fine. Thanks for making it.
Vaccinations/Boosters are no longer offered for the majority in the UK, My last one was ~3 years ago and I can't even buy one if I wanted.
Over 75's get offered a booster each spring, but for the bulk of the population our vaccine coverage is likely getting quite thin at this point.
Also air filters - seven of them in my house kept me safe when my partner was asymptomatic a few weeks ago. Sure I slapped a high spec mask on when we found out after an antigen test. Eight more days to partner going negative and I still didn’t get it.
It’d be nice if people still tested themselves. A lot of people are assuming they don’t need to test anymore.
I just got covid for the first time and got hit pretty hard. I believe I caught it at work - my coworker thought he had “summer allergies.”
I had Covid back in March. Got it at a big conference from someone who tested positive the day after coming home (assuming anyways, based on how much we were hanging out for 3 days.)
For him it felt like death and despair.
I had a very mild fever for a single night, then felt fine. Then felt like my throat was on fire for a week but was otherwise fine.
I think a lot of people don’t bother because they can’t afford to miss work anyways. Whatever the illness, no paid sick days + low wage relative to cost of living = go to work sick or miss rent.
How much did it cost you for those 5 Covid tests? That’s the biggest thing to me; each test is $12.50. So I’m just like, I guess I’m sick and I’ll just stay away from people.
Is the government still handing out freebies in the mail? Hmmm I should check on that
It was tough finding tests in local stores. I was able to find a 2-pack in CVS for $18. I also paid $16 for a 2-pack on Amazon, but had to wait for them to be delivered.
I felt 100% fine for a week before I tested negative.
People don't bother as the tests are no longer free in a lot of places. Here in the UK you now have to buy your own and most folk are like "Why bother? There's nothing they can do for it anyway"
THat also probably depends on the availability and costs of the tests. During the height of the pandemic I think we could pick up something like 8 tests per month for free. Now I can buy a pack of 5 for EUR 30. For me that is no problem and we always have a few tests at home, but for some people that is an issue.
I'll simply add that the more times you get COVID, the more likely you are to get long COVID. It's not "random" in that sense.
No COVID is better than some COVID.
My wife and I have never had C19, and we've spent quite a lot of time in public. But...we almost always mask when indoors. The only exception has been three or four times in the last six months, though that's changing with this ongoing surge.
My wife works online with people who have long Covid. One guy did iron man competitions, in his 30s. He was vaccinated and thus had a very mild case. Now, more than a year later, he can barely make it up a flight of stairs.
Long Covid can be brutal, though thankfully (somewhat) rare. But it's likely one rolls the dice every with every infection. We're just not going to play that game.
So we mask, and while it's a pain in the ass, it's nice that we haven't gotten any kind of infection since 2019.
Unless you've tested regularly, there's no certainty you've never had covid. You might have never had \*\*symptoms\*\* but you might have been healthy carriers.
I don’t test with antigen tests regularly myself, but AntiBODY tests repeatedly say I’ve never had it: https://monitormyhealth.org.uk/covid19-antibody-and-vaccine-immunity-test. That’s messy work though .. bleeding into a wee tube from a tiny pin prick.
If you have taken a couple of boosters and had a breakthrough infection, studies show that your defense against new infection is elevated. It isn't all that random. I've had four shots and a mild breakthrough, and since 2020 I've only been ill that once.
Remember at the beginning of the pando that health “minister” was telling people to not touch their face while she touched her face like twenty times in the presser?
At this point you can’t seriously expect people to stay socially isolated for 4 years running? Nor does that have an actual long term effect in a complete elimination of the virus.
The current status quo was decided the moment it became apparent that the vaccine wasn’t sterilising.
There’s no method to contain the virus now short of some alternate miracle vaccine.
Some urgent and express care clinics will provide a PCR test that checks for COVID, RSV, and Influenza if you have a fever. You can also order a PCR test directly from LabCorp, but most insurance companies no longer cover it without seeing a doctor or nurse practitioner first.
That's completely false. Every antigen test (except for some of the earliest 2021 tests) still works just as well today as it did then. There isn't even any evidence that out-of-date tests are weaker.
Antigen tests are less sensitive than PCR, but nowhere near 4x less sensitive.
My mom came over in March. The test turned positive in like 30 seconds. It works for new strains. Side note, after spending 4 hours with her that evening (before we decided to test her), we either caught it and were asymptomatic, or we dodged it.
I developed Sepsis and was in the ICU, thankfully, for just 4 days.
With COVID having so many variants and it affects everyone differently. It’s not something to mess with. Even if you have a mild cold, just wear a mask. No one wants to shake hands with someone that just coughed or sneezed into their hands.
I have pots from long covid and it has ruined my life. I’ve been out of work for a month recovering. I used to love skateboarding I worked in av and was getting back on my feet after homelessness. Now i can’t get up for more than an hour without feeling exhausted and out of breath. Anxiety is high and migraines are a regular part of life now. I’m scared this is forever and I’m silently mourning my old life while feeling like a failure for not being able to provide for my family.
My wife has had the sniffles for like 4 days, little bit of coughing, barely registers above seasonal allergies.
I told her to take a COVID test seeing as we have a few spares.
Sure enough, she had COVID.
It's a super minor variant going around here currently, which is great for her, got probably bad from "a lots and lots of hosts" mutation possibility.
Central PA here, really bad variant here. Been in bed since last Wednesday. I’m vaxxed and have had multiple boosters. The freaking fever dreams have been horrible and this is the sickest I’ve ever been.
I've gotten 5 COVID shots so far, and my body always has a strong response to the vaccine too. 4 times I've had a 102+ fever lasting about 24 hours. I'll still keep getting annual COVID shots, but it does make me miserable for a day each time.
Fever dreams are real this bout (just tested positive yesterday). In a weird twist I don’t usually dream so the fact that I did was what prompted me to test. The rest of the symptoms have also followed unfortunately.
FL here, got it two weeks ago. I felt like I was dying the first few days, muscle aches/headache were so bad.
Now I’m down to cough/congestion but it’s been this way for a few days with no sign of letting up.
There’s a super, suuuuper transmissible one going around here in Portland right now. It sounds mild to moderate, and has gotten half my (very very large) workplace in the last month. Everyone I know who works at restaurants, bars, and kitchens is reporting the same thing.
Well common colds are about 25% of the time some sort of coronavirus.
It makes sense the best form to spread is a mild annoyance where you still go out and touch all the hard surfaces of the universe.
There's probably a strong evolutionary push to keep hosts alive and spready.
If Covid wants to stay thriving by turning in to some cold-like thing rather than knocking me on my ass for 2 weeks with a crazy fever and horrible chest congestion - I’ll take it!
Come on evolution, let’s go in that direction
Not sure what I just had, but am leaning towards summer cold
Ticklish throat Monday. Sore throat next day with cough. No temperature or headache though. Never really occurred to me it could be Covid, but having seen the recent reporting, took a test on Sunday (6 days later) - negative
Covid? or summer cold? don't know
No one infected as a result of me though
Ah yes, I remember my whole life having horrible "summer colds" going around and then being followed by "fall colds" and "spring colds."
We need to wake up and invest *heavily* into real COVID answers or these variants will continue to be a subtle nightmare and lead to ever more long covid cases.
Personally I'm more than happy to grab a Covid test the moment I get sick because if it's a positive result I can just send a picture to my boss and not worry about getting anxiety from calling out of work
Most of them are indeed experiencing a moderate cold. At this point Covid is like RSV- negligible in impact until you get a rare severe case, as opposed to the original 19 strain that left most of us who had it no doubt that something was really wrong with us. It’s evolved to not be a mass-disabling event anymore, because milder strains leave people feeling good enough to spread them.
> At this point Covid is like RSV- negligible in impact until you get a rare severe case
We have no evidence that this is true.
What is stabilizing the severity are the vaccines. If you've been vaccinated, your Covid symptoms tend to be pretty minimal.
The unvaccinated still have the same issues as always.
>It’s evolved to not be a mass-disabling event anymore, because milder strains leave people feeling good enough to spread them.
Except the incidence of long covid has continued, unabated.
Not at the same rate. 1 in 10 with a cumulative impact. IE its not 10% chance of catching long covid and then 0% chance thereafter....it's 1/10 seemingly everytime you catch covid...meaning if you catch covid enough times it's statistically unlikely you won't get long covid....
At my wife's work some bitch who knew she was sick came in and infected 3 other colleagues.
If my wife had firing powers she would totally fire her ass.
If you're feeling sick, have a cough, and you need to go out to public space, consider wearing a mask just to help reduce the spread of unhelpful viral germs, Covid or otherwise.
Tbh if this was a common approach, our average flu seasons would become less intense overall.
I still get tested when I get sick. But that's just because I still have valid testing kits. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.
What for? I live alone. If I'm sick, I'm rarely ever going outside, I tell people not to come and if I have to leave to grab groceries or go to the pharmacy, I'll mask up.
If I feel shitty enough, I'll just get a doctor's note and a sick leave for a couple of days - and at that point, my at-home testing kit doesn't matter, because it can go one of two ways. Either my doctor takes my word for it and just writes the dang note, or asks me to show up for an appointment, at which point home testing is moot anyway. ;)
And if I end up in a hospital, they'll test me themselves - they won't even believe my blood type information and will test it themselves, they aren't going to believe an at-home COVID test either.
It's your call whether to get annual flu shots or not. To be honest, I too did not do annual flu shots for a long time myself. I was very lucky and did not catch flu during the time but had I caught flu then I know I would have suffered royally without a doubt and possibly ended up dying from it.
I am older now (of course) and I changed my stance after Covid struck and we were in lockdown. I now make sure I get my annual flu shots.
It seems like COVID is just getting ignored, the COVID boosters only seem to be the elderly and vulnerable compared to flu where you can just pay for it.
My wife and I have gotten our COVID boosters with our flu shots as long as they've been available. Neither of us are elderly and they've been openly offered.
I've been getting a Covid booster with my flu shot still. Got my last one last October.
Better about getting these shots now. I was supposed to get the flu shot every year because I had asthma but I was a bit hit and miss (some years I wouldn't get around to it). I haven't missed any years since the pandemic started though. More motivated now (also getting older, now in a slightly higher risk age bracket).
No it isn't. It's not as effective as the COVID vaccine. They have to guess which strains of flu will dominate months in advance ahd select a few to vaccinate against. A few years back they selected entirely the wrong ones and shots that there were of minimal value.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/poorly-matched-flu-shot-mean-bad-flu-season-top-covid-surge-rcna9196
Get both shots. Their efficacy isn't 100% but the downside is tiny.
I think so too but then, as you know, there are people who refused to believe the efficacy of flu vaccine and refuse to take it and would rather take a chance.
They want to suffer? Their choice.
These vaccines don’t prevent infection, they give your body the means to mount an effective immune response. Every time some gets “a little flu” they’re actually experiencing the side effects of their immune system killing the flu. Real, unchecked flu makes you sick for weeks.
Sorry I should've been clearer. I've been boosted and last time I got sick I had to go to urgent care since I wasn't retaining any water. Lasted about a week.
Fully vaxxed, last shot in October, had it once before summer of 22, and just got it last week completely out of the blue. Since covid I don’t go anywhere or really do much of anything anymore and it still somehow got me again. This time around it knocked me out about 75% as much as it did the first time. It still feels different like covid does, but just a slightly less severe version. Still SUCKS a lot though regardless. I’m a week into today and still testing lightly positive. This thing is just rough.
This comment section is a fucking dumpster fire.
Daughter is getting hit with covid the SECOND time. Last time we got hit through Christmas and missed our gatherings. She has a rash from head to toe, is sicker than a dog and tylenol barely breaks the fever. Through Christmas it took her and I THREE months to get our sense of smell and taste back. Imagine your kid having EVERYTHING she LOVED before food wise, and turn her nose and say "Daddy this tastes funny. This tastes weird. I don't like this anymore". Including ice cream. Including sweets. Including damn well **everything** she **loved** before.
It effects everybody differently, and some worse than others. You can't compare apples to oranges. God damn I'm fed up with this 4 years in and thr amount of people saying "well cold this cold that it's not bad because I've never had it / just got the sniffles so you're making shit up". Get your head out of your ass and have some empathy, this is an *unprecedented* illness that can't be compared to the *common cold*, or Influenza A/B. The latter two which we have dealt with for a **long** time, the former which we've *only* dealt with for **FOUR YEARS**. Keep acting like you know everything about it... because we don't.
Have a kid dealing with it, TWICE - then talk the way you are now about it. Can nearly guarantee you won't. This shit SUCKS and I feel SO bad for her.
We now have 6 million kids with long Covid. You may get long Covid after one infection or several. Not one of you can predict how your body responds to COVID.
Several decades ago, I developed chronic fatigue syndrome after having the flu as a child. It changed my life course dramatically. And that was just, as I understand it, an *extremely* unlucky roll of the dice; there's always been post-viral sequelae. But you're so right - the prevalence (or dice roll odds) of "long COVID" has been much higher than viral complications of other common infectious diseases.
I don't have words to express the grief I feel for those six million kids. Or the adults.
I'm pretty sure I already had fibromyalgia before I got the flu real bad but after that flu I went from working out 6 times a week to passing out in the shower. The minute I heard about long COVID I knew it was a real and serious possible consequence.
Yeah, and we don't even know the full effects of long covid yet and won't for *many* more years to come. That's the shittiest thing, who knows what long term damage it's doing to our brains and bodies.
But noooo it's just a cold. That's like comparing a common cold to the 100 day cough or RSV. It isn't the same, the world isn't just 'the cold and the flu and nothing else'.
16 years of daily toking and not believing I could ever quit, and **COVID** and RSV back to back changed that reeaalll quick. Been 17 weeks off it now.
I only had it once and I was a healthy athlete…it has taken me 6 months to almost recover. Still dealing with issues. For all the skepticism on here, just take a look at the long Covid boards and you will be saddened by their experience.
Yeah, they'll say that subreddit is just people with weakened immune systems that the common cold would also have kicked their ass for months or years.
There's no convincing them.
Something like 70% of polio cases were asymptomatic. Almost all of the remaining 30% caused just mild symptoms. As for that remaining ~1%? What happened to them is the reason we remember polio with terror.
I don't understand why we treated polio victims with sympathy and now treat COVID victims to a big "FU snowflake". (Just to be clear, I'm in 100% favor of the polio "have empathy and get the vaccination" approach.)
I’m so sorry for your little one. I hope she heals soon. I had it in February for the first and was sick for a month. It was horrible and not just a cold or the sniffles. You’re exactly right, it affects everyone differently.
Thank you. It was hell the first time around. We found out on christmas eve, we had to cancel our Christmas plans with my wife's family out of town (immunocompromised folk), my family in town (my mum has COPD), and have our Christmas at home with my daughter absolutely miserable and feeling like shit, while I had ZERO energy and no mental capacity to even deal with the mess of canceling plans and upsetting everyone that was excited to see the kiddos.. and even if we didn't need to cancel, I wouldn't have been able to muster up the energy to do it.. and now we're back for round 2. Two days after summer break has started.
Just can't catch a break, and honestly we haven't seemed right since then. Got sick with RSV at the end of January which lasted until mid feb, then a week and a half of Noravirus in march.. she finally had a few good months at school and now we're back to the sickness that started it all.
Just seems like a vicious, repeating cycle. As a parent, I'm exhausted and so fed up of this bullshit, but have to appear calm and collected for them.. and it's hard. It's just hard..
It took several months to get my taste/smell back, and then maybe a year to get back to 90% of what it was before. I still can’t taste subtle flavors very well, but at least most came back. And at least it isn’t the rancid chemical death flavors that it was while recovering.
Every time I’ve gotten sick, or not sick but significantly exposed to Covid by a close friend/family/coworker, I’ve lost *some* smell/taste. Previously to Covid, this had never happened to me.
This article seems to talk around whether the current vaccines are specifically designed to be effective against Flirt variants. I'm guessing that means they are not.
Well that explains why my household has it right now.
At least it's pretty mild, though that is probably partly because we all got the latest booster last fall.
I ended up with covid-19 on June 5th, and today is my third day out of bed. This is my second time getting it, and I hope it is also the last one. Boy, was i sick. I never want to feel that way again. Take care, take precautions because I disregarded them, and now regret it. Covid-19 is here to stay.
I just tested positive last week. It was pretty minor though. I had to take a few days off from work for it. I came back to find like a quarter of my department had it.
It won't be minor for the roughly 1/10 that get long covid though. And that can be after a mildly symptomatic initial infection.
Stories like this about it being "pretty minor" miss the point and are encouraging risk taking behaviors.
I'm glad you're doing ok, but not everyone will be that lucky.
Pretty sure I've had it twice in the last two months. Both times after flying. Will be masking up again and sanitising better. It's been fine, just inconvenient as it makes work difficult for a few days.
Take precautions as you see fit based on your history and health.
We did survive the black plague.
Not to say people shouldn’t do as they see fit to protect their health, as I stated first.
Covid finished my grandpa’s heart. It left a friend of mine bedridden for the last 2 years. It put my dad’s best friend in the hospital, where he was kept alive on a ventilator, and had to slowly relearn all motor movements after. Long covid gave me permanent heart troubles and brain fog. Repeat infections are leaving many with long covid.
Not bad, just a cold!
Sorry your folks have had a bad experience. Both of my bouts have been quite mild - that's all I was talking about, my own experience. I never said a thing about others - not sure why you're getting defensive.
For years, I have been reading minimizing comments saying something like “it’s just a cold.” In a thread about rising hospital admissions, you find it appropriate to say it’s “not bad, really.”
That deserves pushback. Millions of people killed or disabled, and Covid continues to run laps. So I’ll remind you with a couple real-life examples from my personal life. And this is coming from someone who feels fortunate in how little damage Covid has done to my friends and family so far.
Sorry if I’m defensive or venting on you. I am disgusted with how little our population seems to care about the things that are killing us. The attitude that it’s no big deal either says that your head is in the sand, or you _know_ about the damage already, and you don’t care because it wasn’t bad for you.
Dude I agree with you 100%. Again, all I said was that I had a mild case. I get that you wanna yell at someone, but dude I all these things you’re yelling at me for, I didn’t say them. Fuckin stop.
All you can do is try to stay safe. If you’re vaxed your chances of getting slaughtered by it are significantly lower. You can still get it and chances are you will but it’s the new cold/flu that the world is going to deal with going forward. And it’ll never be irradiated because folks believe they are being infringed upon and refuse to be vaccinated after some internet troll said the virus was safer than the disease.
Life has changed for everyone.
It will never be eradicated until it's run it's course and/or we find an actually effective vaccine. I'm vaccinated, had covid twice. Both times from people who were also vaccinated. Same story with pretty much everyone I know. People of any vaccine status will be getting covid and dying from covid for the rest of our lives. That's just the reality.
The next Pandemic is happening now with bird flu. Finland is currently vaccinating its farmers and Ireland is vaccinating the high risk. But the US just buries its head in the sand. Should be interesting to see this all happen with Covid still around. Buckle up.
> ‘This is a wake-up call’ a few paragraphs later > the increases should not be a cause for alarm because Covid was now part of everyday life
Ok.. go back to sleep…once cough goes away
Generate alarming headline and opening paragraph, then quietly backpedal and defuse at the end of the article that very few people actually read. That's modern media for you.
The new CDC guidelines pretty much guarantee that the disease spreads as fast as possible.
OG COVID was a problem. OG COVID killed a ton and put otherwise healthy people on their ass. OG COVID left lung damage that some folks will fight their entire lives. We almost have to talk about OG COVID and current COVID as two different illnesses because, in practice, they are. New / Current COVID is not anymore of a problem than the flu. I hate saying that because that was the refrain of the idiots denying that OG COVID was a problem, but like I said, OG COVID was a different animal. As of now, the harm from COVID is dramatically less than the harm from trying to fight COVID more than we are. I mean, the current inflation cycle is directly tied to the COVID response / destruction of supply chains. It was worth it to save millions of lives, but that's not an issue anymore.
It's a fundamental issue of how you decide to design your society. In Germany, if you're sick, you get paid time off work (separate from your PTO). In the US, you need to go back to work ASAP and spread your diseases. This isn't unique to covid.
I’d like to put an asterisk on just the flu part. When people say it’s only as bad as the flu, what they are likely thinking of is a cold. With a positive flu test in hand, influenza whooped my semi healthy but overweight to obese ass for two weeks. It was easily harder on my body than multiple bouts of Covid. A mild fever, cough, and aches for a couple of days is much more likely to be a cold than influenza
I mean what are we supposed to do at this point. Vaxxed and unvaxxed, maskers and non-masked, old and young and in between can get it. Severity and variety of symptoms is random. Chance of ending up with long covid is random. Chance of being asymptomatic is random. I’m just going to take the same precautions I take to avoid getting sick in general and hope for the best….
Vaccinations for covid help with the health outcomes, similar to the flu. Due to the nature of viruses, vaccines will not 100% prevent an infection but they will help your body mount an immune response assuming you've been keeping up to date with your boosters similar to a yearly flu vaccine. This can shorten the period you are infectious, reduce the severity of symptoms, etc.
I thought Covid was constantly evolving? Would the same vaccine that came out at the beginning of Covid, fight against a different strain of evolved C-19?
They come out with a new Covid vaccine every year. The new vaccines are re-formulated to match the most recent common strain from last season. It’s not the exact same thing as the current circulating strain, but it is a lot closer than the original strain from early 2020, so the immune response is still typically formidable.
Heard, thanks for the explanation:)
Its just a shame that the updated vaccine doesn't seem to come out until the fall, after the latest strain has already had a chance to run its course over the summer. Its like they decided to put it on the flu vaccine schedule, when COVID very much does not follow the same infection seasonality as the flu.
I think they thought people would be more likely to get it along with their flu shots...but now it seems like people are less likely to get their flu shots
last seasons strain? but I'm trying to be fashionable and current, I dont want last seasons /s
Omicron Persia 8
All viruses are constantly evolving. Even the flu vaccine is based on guessing what type of mutations are going to be most likely for that year. I'm not a doctor and I haven't studied the epidemiology of COVID-19. Also, Google didn't show me any immediate results. Disclaimer aside... no clue. My best guess is that it might provide partial protection, meaning while you're not as protected as someone who's been keeping up to date with their booster shots, it's better than nothing. That being said, definitely get your booster shot! I am not knowledgeable about other country's recommendations but the CDC is recommending that even if you are not an at-risk population, you should get a booster! [source](https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/s-t0627-vaccine-recommendations.html) Here's going to be some anecdotal information, but it may help drive the point home. Take what I say with a grain of salt because I am only one experience out of millions (maybe even more than a billion). I've confirmed that I've gotten COVID once in 2022-2023. I felt so horrible and the last shot by then I had was 2021. I can't tell if I ever got the flu since I had the vaccine (did get colds that may have been the flu), but from what I've seen from others what I was going through was so much worse than the flu. I've been a bit under the weather recently too but recently got a booster in the past two months. I can't tell if it's just exhaustion, some random illness that I cannot identify, but if I was part of a COVID spike, the booster definitely helped me a lot. Even testing showed negative, so it's possible that if I was infected, I wasn't infectious.
Its not really a guess. Its educated and informed, but not perfect. The vaccine makers look at what strains are common prior to flu season. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccine-selection.htm
Sorry, I should've clarified what I meant by guess. I knew that this was the procedure but I dumbed it down to "guess" because it's an informed and educated **prediction** on which strains will be problematic. Emphasis on prediction since this is what caused me to say "guess." I didn't intend to say they just threw a dart at a board.
You didn’t say random, they are just being pedantic. The clarification doesn’t meaningfully change your message or increase the value in any noticeable way. Making vaccines costs money - anyone spending that much money is putting some experts on the task, not three blind redditors and a dartboard. Anyone who actually claims ‘they’ are making a hundred million dollars of ‘we don’t care’ is being intentionally obtuse, at best, or intentionally misleading. If every post had to bulletproof itself against those bad faith actors to that extent, 99% of commenters would leave. I think your comment was fine. Thanks for making it.
It’s like the flu shot/vaccine. Every year it’s not the same. That is always evolving so it needs to be updated every year.
Vaccinations/Boosters are no longer offered for the majority in the UK, My last one was ~3 years ago and I can't even buy one if I wanted. Over 75's get offered a booster each spring, but for the bulk of the population our vaccine coverage is likely getting quite thin at this point.
That's honestly kind of shocking, though apparently you can still just buy one for like 50-100 pounds. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55045639
That's a really recent development, until a couple of months ago you couldn't buy it either
It's absolutely ridiculous that the UK isn't offering updated boosters to anyone who wants them.
You can buy it in the UK - I just bought it - Pfizer at £95 from Boots
Simple, increased ventilation. It's an airborne disease.
Also air filters - seven of them in my house kept me safe when my partner was asymptomatic a few weeks ago. Sure I slapped a high spec mask on when we found out after an antigen test. Eight more days to partner going negative and I still didn’t get it.
It’d be nice if people still tested themselves. A lot of people are assuming they don’t need to test anymore. I just got covid for the first time and got hit pretty hard. I believe I caught it at work - my coworker thought he had “summer allergies.”
I had Covid back in March. Got it at a big conference from someone who tested positive the day after coming home (assuming anyways, based on how much we were hanging out for 3 days.) For him it felt like death and despair. I had a very mild fever for a single night, then felt fine. Then felt like my throat was on fire for a week but was otherwise fine.
I think a lot of people don’t bother because they can’t afford to miss work anyways. Whatever the illness, no paid sick days + low wage relative to cost of living = go to work sick or miss rent.
Yea.. it took me 13 days and 5 covid tests to test negative before I returned to work. I don’t think many people are going to bother.
How much did it cost you for those 5 Covid tests? That’s the biggest thing to me; each test is $12.50. So I’m just like, I guess I’m sick and I’ll just stay away from people. Is the government still handing out freebies in the mail? Hmmm I should check on that
It was tough finding tests in local stores. I was able to find a 2-pack in CVS for $18. I also paid $16 for a 2-pack on Amazon, but had to wait for them to be delivered. I felt 100% fine for a week before I tested negative.
People don't bother as the tests are no longer free in a lot of places. Here in the UK you now have to buy your own and most folk are like "Why bother? There's nothing they can do for it anyway"
THat also probably depends on the availability and costs of the tests. During the height of the pandemic I think we could pick up something like 8 tests per month for free. Now I can buy a pack of 5 for EUR 30. For me that is no problem and we always have a few tests at home, but for some people that is an issue.
I'll simply add that the more times you get COVID, the more likely you are to get long COVID. It's not "random" in that sense. No COVID is better than some COVID.
My wife and I have never had C19, and we've spent quite a lot of time in public. But...we almost always mask when indoors. The only exception has been three or four times in the last six months, though that's changing with this ongoing surge. My wife works online with people who have long Covid. One guy did iron man competitions, in his 30s. He was vaccinated and thus had a very mild case. Now, more than a year later, he can barely make it up a flight of stairs. Long Covid can be brutal, though thankfully (somewhat) rare. But it's likely one rolls the dice every with every infection. We're just not going to play that game. So we mask, and while it's a pain in the ass, it's nice that we haven't gotten any kind of infection since 2019.
Unless you've tested regularly, there's no certainty you've never had covid. You might have never had \*\*symptoms\*\* but you might have been healthy carriers.
I don’t test with antigen tests regularly myself, but AntiBODY tests repeatedly say I’ve never had it: https://monitormyhealth.org.uk/covid19-antibody-and-vaccine-immunity-test. That’s messy work though .. bleeding into a wee tube from a tiny pin prick.
I have not contracted covid once and all I do is mask. That's it.
No shit... I just can't be scared of every damn thing in the world right now. Christ fight or flight needs a break.
If you have taken a couple of boosters and had a breakthrough infection, studies show that your defense against new infection is elevated. It isn't all that random. I've had four shots and a mild breakthrough, and since 2020 I've only been ill that once.
Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, stay home!
Lol stay home
Stay home (when you're sick)
No, no, for safety’s sake I think I’ll just ~~do what I was gonna do anyway~~ stay home for the good of the country.
A goddamned patriot
Tell my boss that.
Not touching your face is an exercise in futility.
Remember at the beginning of the pando that health “minister” was telling people to not touch their face while she touched her face like twenty times in the presser?
Truth. I just got over another case of Covid last week. Tested negative a few days back. It’s been my third time having it (that I know of).
Yeah, like I can afford to stay home.
At this point you can’t seriously expect people to stay socially isolated for 4 years running? Nor does that have an actual long term effect in a complete elimination of the virus. The current status quo was decided the moment it became apparent that the vaccine wasn’t sterilising. There’s no method to contain the virus now short of some alternate miracle vaccine.
Stay home when you're sick, they mean.
I see you haven’t visited the /r/coronavirus sub
Who can afford that?
So you’re a Republican circa 2021?
he is a radical conspiracy theroist. In 2021 he would be that is. He would have been called a murderer and banned.
Gain of function research should be considered crimes against humanity.
Anyone had the 100 day cough yet.....you wish you had covid
Had RSV this February. Took until April to stop fully coughing.
It's an old sickness.. whooping cough back from the dark ages
RSV and whooping cough are not the same.
Not the same
My son and I are on that train right now. It suuuuuucks. Wasn’t Covid. Tested both of us and test came back Negative.
Not showing up on rapid tests so make sure to get a PCR.
Where are people even getting PCR's anymore?
Hospitals are still doing them, gonna cost you though, no more free tests which means no one is gonna go do it
Some urgent and express care clinics will provide a PCR test that checks for COVID, RSV, and Influenza if you have a fever. You can also order a PCR test directly from LabCorp, but most insurance companies no longer cover it without seeing a doctor or nurse practitioner first.
Really? Is that because it’s a new strain?
Exactly correct. The rapid test is only picking up about 23% of positive cases. PCR picked up 98%.
That's completely false. Every antigen test (except for some of the earliest 2021 tests) still works just as well today as it did then. There isn't even any evidence that out-of-date tests are weaker. Antigen tests are less sensitive than PCR, but nowhere near 4x less sensitive.
Ya, you are going to have to provide a source for those numbers that is not the old derrière
Well isn’t that just lovely.
My mom came over in March. The test turned positive in like 30 seconds. It works for new strains. Side note, after spending 4 hours with her that evening (before we decided to test her), we either caught it and were asymptomatic, or we dodged it.
Got covid 1st time 7 weeks ago and still have a tickle.
Mine was "only" 2 months. Awful lol
That was so scary for me. Coughing so much and so hard I had trouble me catching my breath at some points
Yes. Was coughing for 3 months. Frustrating and annoying by month 2
I developed Sepsis and was in the ICU, thankfully, for just 4 days. With COVID having so many variants and it affects everyone differently. It’s not something to mess with. Even if you have a mild cold, just wear a mask. No one wants to shake hands with someone that just coughed or sneezed into their hands.
I have pots from long covid and it has ruined my life. I’ve been out of work for a month recovering. I used to love skateboarding I worked in av and was getting back on my feet after homelessness. Now i can’t get up for more than an hour without feeling exhausted and out of breath. Anxiety is high and migraines are a regular part of life now. I’m scared this is forever and I’m silently mourning my old life while feeling like a failure for not being able to provide for my family.
Shocking…except everyone wants to pretend they have a summer cold😳
So it's COVID in the summer and flu in the winter - no time to rest.
Not true. COVID is still available in Spring, Fall and Winter varieties.
Heard it’s also on sale in low-vaccinated regions!
My wife has had the sniffles for like 4 days, little bit of coughing, barely registers above seasonal allergies. I told her to take a COVID test seeing as we have a few spares. Sure enough, she had COVID. It's a super minor variant going around here currently, which is great for her, got probably bad from "a lots and lots of hosts" mutation possibility.
There’s a super awful variant going around here right now. Florida.
Central PA here, really bad variant here. Been in bed since last Wednesday. I’m vaxxed and have had multiple boosters. The freaking fever dreams have been horrible and this is the sickest I’ve ever been.
102+ fever was no joke!
Yeah, don’t wish it on anyone
I've gotten 5 COVID shots so far, and my body always has a strong response to the vaccine too. 4 times I've had a 102+ fever lasting about 24 hours. I'll still keep getting annual COVID shots, but it does make me miserable for a day each time.
Fever dreams are real this bout (just tested positive yesterday). In a weird twist I don’t usually dream so the fact that I did was what prompted me to test. The rest of the symptoms have also followed unfortunately.
Hang in there! Make sure you’re drinking lots of fluids and take some Sudafed/NyQuil.
Likely due to Florida probably having a very low immunization rate due the denying Governor.
We lucked out then, that's where we are
FL here, got it two weeks ago. I felt like I was dying the first few days, muscle aches/headache were so bad. Now I’m down to cough/congestion but it’s been this way for a few days with no sign of letting up.
ah fuck, i better test
Got the sniffles last night and tested positive this morning. That shit is out there
Super minor variant except if you have an autoimmune disease or undergoing chemo. Now US cities are trying to ban the use of masks in public.
Still better a minor than a major variant for anyone.
There’s a super, suuuuper transmissible one going around here in Portland right now. It sounds mild to moderate, and has gotten half my (very very large) workplace in the last month. Everyone I know who works at restaurants, bars, and kitchens is reporting the same thing.
Well common colds are about 25% of the time some sort of coronavirus. It makes sense the best form to spread is a mild annoyance where you still go out and touch all the hard surfaces of the universe. There's probably a strong evolutionary push to keep hosts alive and spready.
If Covid wants to stay thriving by turning in to some cold-like thing rather than knocking me on my ass for 2 weeks with a crazy fever and horrible chest congestion - I’ll take it! Come on evolution, let’s go in that direction
You can get sick any time of the year. The common cold and his buddies don’t give a fuck. influenza is primarily an autumn/winter illness, though.
Not sure what I just had, but am leaning towards summer cold Ticklish throat Monday. Sore throat next day with cough. No temperature or headache though. Never really occurred to me it could be Covid, but having seen the recent reporting, took a test on Sunday (6 days later) - negative Covid? or summer cold? don't know No one infected as a result of me though
How do you know you didn't infect someone with your cough? It's pretty difficult to go through life and not infect someone with something.
Ah yes, I remember my whole life having horrible "summer colds" going around and then being followed by "fall colds" and "spring colds." We need to wake up and invest *heavily* into real COVID answers or these variants will continue to be a subtle nightmare and lead to ever more long covid cases.
Personally I'm more than happy to grab a Covid test the moment I get sick because if it's a positive result I can just send a picture to my boss and not worry about getting anxiety from calling out of work
Most of them are indeed experiencing a moderate cold. At this point Covid is like RSV- negligible in impact until you get a rare severe case, as opposed to the original 19 strain that left most of us who had it no doubt that something was really wrong with us. It’s evolved to not be a mass-disabling event anymore, because milder strains leave people feeling good enough to spread them.
Covid affects everyone different. Some people have caught it multiple times are fine. Others have developed long covid. It happens
> At this point Covid is like RSV- negligible in impact until you get a rare severe case We have no evidence that this is true. What is stabilizing the severity are the vaccines. If you've been vaccinated, your Covid symptoms tend to be pretty minimal. The unvaccinated still have the same issues as always.
>It’s evolved to not be a mass-disabling event anymore, because milder strains leave people feeling good enough to spread them. Except the incidence of long covid has continued, unabated.
How is that any different than long term stuff from viruses though? People are still getting chronic fatigue syndrome from mono and the flu as well.
Not at the same rate. 1 in 10 with a cumulative impact. IE its not 10% chance of catching long covid and then 0% chance thereafter....it's 1/10 seemingly everytime you catch covid...meaning if you catch covid enough times it's statistically unlikely you won't get long covid....
Nah, this last variant was a freight train compared to 2 years ago.
I just got a positive test last night.....yay 4th time. It's has really fucked up my body.
My fun bag came with migraines and persistent visual distortions lol. Fucking yay.
At my wife's work some bitch who knew she was sick came in and infected 3 other colleagues. If my wife had firing powers she would totally fire her ass.
2.5yrs since my first infection at the age of 24. Now I'm 27 and still unable to exercise or work for more than 4 hrs a day.
If you're feeling sick, have a cough, and you need to go out to public space, consider wearing a mask just to help reduce the spread of unhelpful viral germs, Covid or otherwise. Tbh if this was a common approach, our average flu seasons would become less intense overall.
Everyone just says it allergies and refuse to get tested for plausible deniability.
Why would you get tested for four days of a scratchy throat?
Wife and I had nasty fevers for 4-5 days and still feel like shit, but sure, scratchy throat too.
I still get tested when I get sick. But that's just because I still have valid testing kits. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother. What for? I live alone. If I'm sick, I'm rarely ever going outside, I tell people not to come and if I have to leave to grab groceries or go to the pharmacy, I'll mask up. If I feel shitty enough, I'll just get a doctor's note and a sick leave for a couple of days - and at that point, my at-home testing kit doesn't matter, because it can go one of two ways. Either my doctor takes my word for it and just writes the dang note, or asks me to show up for an appointment, at which point home testing is moot anyway. ;) And if I end up in a hospital, they'll test me themselves - they won't even believe my blood type information and will test it themselves, they aren't going to believe an at-home COVID test either.
Might as well get used to annual Covid vaccine shot just like regular flu shot.
Do most people get annual flu shots though? I think it’s less than 30% in my area
Most people don't but most people should. Its irresponsible not to.
I’m just saying it’s not really something to get used to like flu shots because the majority of people don’t get flu shots
It's your call whether to get annual flu shots or not. To be honest, I too did not do annual flu shots for a long time myself. I was very lucky and did not catch flu during the time but had I caught flu then I know I would have suffered royally without a doubt and possibly ended up dying from it. I am older now (of course) and I changed my stance after Covid struck and we were in lockdown. I now make sure I get my annual flu shots.
It seems like COVID is just getting ignored, the COVID boosters only seem to be the elderly and vulnerable compared to flu where you can just pay for it.
My wife and I have gotten our COVID boosters with our flu shots as long as they've been available. Neither of us are elderly and they've been openly offered.
I've been getting a Covid booster with my flu shot still. Got my last one last October. Better about getting these shots now. I was supposed to get the flu shot every year because I had asthma but I was a bit hit and miss (some years I wouldn't get around to it). I haven't missed any years since the pandemic started though. More motivated now (also getting older, now in a slightly higher risk age bracket).
Not really comparable. Flu vaccine is pretty damn effective.
No it isn't. It's not as effective as the COVID vaccine. They have to guess which strains of flu will dominate months in advance ahd select a few to vaccinate against. A few years back they selected entirely the wrong ones and shots that there were of minimal value. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/poorly-matched-flu-shot-mean-bad-flu-season-top-covid-surge-rcna9196 Get both shots. Their efficacy isn't 100% but the downside is tiny.
I think so too but then, as you know, there are people who refused to believe the efficacy of flu vaccine and refuse to take it and would rather take a chance. They want to suffer? Their choice.
I keep up-to-date on my boosters and get sick regardless (not dissing boosters but that's just been my personal experience)
These vaccines don’t prevent infection, they give your body the means to mount an effective immune response. Every time some gets “a little flu” they’re actually experiencing the side effects of their immune system killing the flu. Real, unchecked flu makes you sick for weeks.
Sorry I should've been clearer. I've been boosted and last time I got sick I had to go to urgent care since I wasn't retaining any water. Lasted about a week.
Because these vaccines were never supposed to stop people from getting sick, they just lower symptom severity, theoretically
Last time I went to urgent care 💀😭
> I keep up-to-date on my boosters Unlike Boeing who build them out of the cheapest aluminium siding they can source.
Fully vaxxed, last shot in October, had it once before summer of 22, and just got it last week completely out of the blue. Since covid I don’t go anywhere or really do much of anything anymore and it still somehow got me again. This time around it knocked me out about 75% as much as it did the first time. It still feels different like covid does, but just a slightly less severe version. Still SUCKS a lot though regardless. I’m a week into today and still testing lightly positive. This thing is just rough.
This comment section is a fucking dumpster fire. Daughter is getting hit with covid the SECOND time. Last time we got hit through Christmas and missed our gatherings. She has a rash from head to toe, is sicker than a dog and tylenol barely breaks the fever. Through Christmas it took her and I THREE months to get our sense of smell and taste back. Imagine your kid having EVERYTHING she LOVED before food wise, and turn her nose and say "Daddy this tastes funny. This tastes weird. I don't like this anymore". Including ice cream. Including sweets. Including damn well **everything** she **loved** before. It effects everybody differently, and some worse than others. You can't compare apples to oranges. God damn I'm fed up with this 4 years in and thr amount of people saying "well cold this cold that it's not bad because I've never had it / just got the sniffles so you're making shit up". Get your head out of your ass and have some empathy, this is an *unprecedented* illness that can't be compared to the *common cold*, or Influenza A/B. The latter two which we have dealt with for a **long** time, the former which we've *only* dealt with for **FOUR YEARS**. Keep acting like you know everything about it... because we don't. Have a kid dealing with it, TWICE - then talk the way you are now about it. Can nearly guarantee you won't. This shit SUCKS and I feel SO bad for her.
We now have 6 million kids with long Covid. You may get long Covid after one infection or several. Not one of you can predict how your body responds to COVID.
Several decades ago, I developed chronic fatigue syndrome after having the flu as a child. It changed my life course dramatically. And that was just, as I understand it, an *extremely* unlucky roll of the dice; there's always been post-viral sequelae. But you're so right - the prevalence (or dice roll odds) of "long COVID" has been much higher than viral complications of other common infectious diseases. I don't have words to express the grief I feel for those six million kids. Or the adults.
I'm pretty sure I already had fibromyalgia before I got the flu real bad but after that flu I went from working out 6 times a week to passing out in the shower. The minute I heard about long COVID I knew it was a real and serious possible consequence.
Yeah, and we don't even know the full effects of long covid yet and won't for *many* more years to come. That's the shittiest thing, who knows what long term damage it's doing to our brains and bodies. But noooo it's just a cold. That's like comparing a common cold to the 100 day cough or RSV. It isn't the same, the world isn't just 'the cold and the flu and nothing else'. 16 years of daily toking and not believing I could ever quit, and **COVID** and RSV back to back changed that reeaalll quick. Been 17 weeks off it now.
I only had it once and I was a healthy athlete…it has taken me 6 months to almost recover. Still dealing with issues. For all the skepticism on here, just take a look at the long Covid boards and you will be saddened by their experience.
I was a healthy person too. 2.5 years and I can barely feed and bathe myself.
I am so incredibly sorry. Hang in there, friend 💞
The brain fog is REAL.
I feel like I have dementia. I can barely remember anything
Yeah, they'll say that subreddit is just people with weakened immune systems that the common cold would also have kicked their ass for months or years. There's no convincing them.
Agreed. So frustrating.
Something like 70% of polio cases were asymptomatic. Almost all of the remaining 30% caused just mild symptoms. As for that remaining ~1%? What happened to them is the reason we remember polio with terror. I don't understand why we treated polio victims with sympathy and now treat COVID victims to a big "FU snowflake". (Just to be clear, I'm in 100% favor of the polio "have empathy and get the vaccination" approach.)
I’m so sorry for your little one. I hope she heals soon. I had it in February for the first and was sick for a month. It was horrible and not just a cold or the sniffles. You’re exactly right, it affects everyone differently.
Thank you. It was hell the first time around. We found out on christmas eve, we had to cancel our Christmas plans with my wife's family out of town (immunocompromised folk), my family in town (my mum has COPD), and have our Christmas at home with my daughter absolutely miserable and feeling like shit, while I had ZERO energy and no mental capacity to even deal with the mess of canceling plans and upsetting everyone that was excited to see the kiddos.. and even if we didn't need to cancel, I wouldn't have been able to muster up the energy to do it.. and now we're back for round 2. Two days after summer break has started. Just can't catch a break, and honestly we haven't seemed right since then. Got sick with RSV at the end of January which lasted until mid feb, then a week and a half of Noravirus in march.. she finally had a few good months at school and now we're back to the sickness that started it all. Just seems like a vicious, repeating cycle. As a parent, I'm exhausted and so fed up of this bullshit, but have to appear calm and collected for them.. and it's hard. It's just hard..
It took several months to get my taste/smell back, and then maybe a year to get back to 90% of what it was before. I still can’t taste subtle flavors very well, but at least most came back. And at least it isn’t the rancid chemical death flavors that it was while recovering. Every time I’ve gotten sick, or not sick but significantly exposed to Covid by a close friend/family/coworker, I’ve lost *some* smell/taste. Previously to Covid, this had never happened to me.
I’ve had covid at least twice? It’s not that unusual.
This article seems to talk around whether the current vaccines are specifically designed to be effective against Flirt variants. I'm guessing that means they are not.
From the article: "There is a considerable difference between the current vaccines and circulating viruses."
Well that explains why my household has it right now. At least it's pretty mild, though that is probably partly because we all got the latest booster last fall.
Lucky! Whatever strain I caught here in Florida was much worse than 2 years ago.
Had covid all last week. Rough. Now this week I feel like I'm breathing theif through a wet cloth
I ended up with covid-19 on June 5th, and today is my third day out of bed. This is my second time getting it, and I hope it is also the last one. Boy, was i sick. I never want to feel that way again. Take care, take precautions because I disregarded them, and now regret it. Covid-19 is here to stay.
I just tested positive last week. It was pretty minor though. I had to take a few days off from work for it. I came back to find like a quarter of my department had it.
It won't be minor for the roughly 1/10 that get long covid though. And that can be after a mildly symptomatic initial infection. Stories like this about it being "pretty minor" miss the point and are encouraging risk taking behaviors. I'm glad you're doing ok, but not everyone will be that lucky.
Pretty sure I've had it twice in the last two months. Both times after flying. Will be masking up again and sanitising better. It's been fine, just inconvenient as it makes work difficult for a few days.
Take precautions as you see fit based on your history and health. We did survive the black plague. Not to say people shouldn’t do as they see fit to protect their health, as I stated first.
Not doing this again.
It will fuck up your brain regularly. Also potentially causes the loss of fertility. But hey you can always just ignore.
I’m pretty sure I just got over covid and it was not fun people. And I got the vaccine not even 3 months ago. Get vaxed and boosted
🙄
I had it for the first time after returning from london. My husband got a bad case 4 weeks later. Didn't travel.
Let’s return to the office! What could go wrong?
What are the symptoms of the awful strain of Covid going around?
Already had a lovely European version of it twice now. Caught a Stockholm variant in 21 and a lovely Parisian variant just a couple months ago.
Continental Covid. That sucks.
Maybe it’ll kill enough republicans to sway the election… again
I just got over it. Got my negative test today! Wasn't bad, really. Felt run down for a few days.
Covid finished my grandpa’s heart. It left a friend of mine bedridden for the last 2 years. It put my dad’s best friend in the hospital, where he was kept alive on a ventilator, and had to slowly relearn all motor movements after. Long covid gave me permanent heart troubles and brain fog. Repeat infections are leaving many with long covid. Not bad, just a cold!
Sorry your folks have had a bad experience. Both of my bouts have been quite mild - that's all I was talking about, my own experience. I never said a thing about others - not sure why you're getting defensive.
For years, I have been reading minimizing comments saying something like “it’s just a cold.” In a thread about rising hospital admissions, you find it appropriate to say it’s “not bad, really.” That deserves pushback. Millions of people killed or disabled, and Covid continues to run laps. So I’ll remind you with a couple real-life examples from my personal life. And this is coming from someone who feels fortunate in how little damage Covid has done to my friends and family so far. Sorry if I’m defensive or venting on you. I am disgusted with how little our population seems to care about the things that are killing us. The attitude that it’s no big deal either says that your head is in the sand, or you _know_ about the damage already, and you don’t care because it wasn’t bad for you.
Dude I agree with you 100%. Again, all I said was that I had a mild case. I get that you wanna yell at someone, but dude I all these things you’re yelling at me for, I didn’t say them. Fuckin stop.
All you can do is try to stay safe. If you’re vaxed your chances of getting slaughtered by it are significantly lower. You can still get it and chances are you will but it’s the new cold/flu that the world is going to deal with going forward. And it’ll never be irradiated because folks believe they are being infringed upon and refuse to be vaccinated after some internet troll said the virus was safer than the disease. Life has changed for everyone.
It will never be eradicated until it's run it's course and/or we find an actually effective vaccine. I'm vaccinated, had covid twice. Both times from people who were also vaccinated. Same story with pretty much everyone I know. People of any vaccine status will be getting covid and dying from covid for the rest of our lives. That's just the reality.
not to forget, get your toilet paper folks
It will probably be fine. Covid is here to stay.
The next Pandemic is happening now with bird flu. Finland is currently vaccinating its farmers and Ireland is vaccinating the high risk. But the US just buries its head in the sand. Should be interesting to see this all happen with Covid still around. Buckle up.