Coronavirus prep
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https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-19-coronavirus-vaccines-questions-social-distance-mask-transmission
This is a decent summary of what has been tested and what isn't known yet about the vaccines. Also covers some FAQs.1 -
I got the pfizer vaccine this morning. Just feel achey in my arm like I always do with the flu vaccine but a lot more achey. I have a weak immune system too so I was a little nervous (I was sick for a week after the chicken pox vaccine) but so far I feel good. I expect to probably feel a little run down the next few days, but that is way better than getting COVID.
I will definitely still be wearing a mask at all times and so will my coworkers since you can still spread the virus if you get it. They say mask wearing will be required even after the booster shot and immunity develops since there is still a small chance you can still get it. I actually wonder if wearing a mask in the hospitals might continue even long after COVID to prevent other airborne infections. Flu cases have been way down this year because of mask wearing.26 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »I got the pfizer vaccine this morning. Just feel achey in my arm like I always do with the flu vaccine but a lot more achey. I have a weak immune system too so I was a little nervous (I was sick for a week after the chicken pox vaccine) but so far I feel good. I expect to probably feel a little run down the next few days, but that is way better than getting COVID...
Thanks for sharing this. Keep us updated on how it goes! 👍6 -
A friend's relative (ER doc) who was vaccinated nine days before Christmas ended up with Covid symptoms at Christmas. So I think it’s a good wake up that even though you get vaccinated you’re still not fully protected for a while. Of course he doesn’t know when he was exposed and it could have been the day of or even before he got the vaccination.6
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Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »I got the pfizer vaccine this morning. Just feel achey in my arm like I always do with the flu vaccine but a lot more achey. I have a weak immune system too so I was a little nervous (I was sick for a week after the chicken pox vaccine) but so far I feel good. I expect to probably feel a little run down the next few days, but that is way better than getting COVID.
I will definitely still be wearing a mask at all times and so will my coworkers since you can still spread the virus if you get it. They say mask wearing will be required even after the booster shot and immunity develops since there is still a small chance you can still get it. I actually wonder if wearing a mask in the hospitals might continue even long after COVID to prevent other airborne infections. Flu cases have been way down this year because of mask wearing.
Okay, just to be clear there’s no such thing as a booster shot. You are not fully immunized until after receiving the second shot. It takes BOTH shots for the vaccine to work, although there is some partial protection even after the first shot.
A booster shot is what you call a shot given at regular intervals to update immunity after being vaccinated, for example tetanus. In the case of the Coronavirus it’s a single vaccine that takes two shots, neither one is a booster shot.9 -
rheddmobile wrote: »Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »I got the pfizer vaccine this morning. Just feel achey in my arm like I always do with the flu vaccine but a lot more achey. I have a weak immune system too so I was a little nervous (I was sick for a week after the chicken pox vaccine) but so far I feel good. I expect to probably feel a little run down the next few days, but that is way better than getting COVID.
I will definitely still be wearing a mask at all times and so will my coworkers since you can still spread the virus if you get it. They say mask wearing will be required even after the booster shot and immunity develops since there is still a small chance you can still get it. I actually wonder if wearing a mask in the hospitals might continue even long after COVID to prevent other airborne infections. Flu cases have been way down this year because of mask wearing.
Okay, just to be clear there’s no such thing as a booster shot. You are not fully immunized until after receiving the second shot. It takes BOTH shots for the vaccine to work, although there is some partial protection even after the first shot.
A booster shot is what you call a shot given at regular intervals to update immunity after being vaccinated, for example tetanus. In the case of the Coronavirus it’s a single vaccine that takes two shots, neither one is a booster shot.
Good point. They even handed out pamphlets that said "Proof of Vaccine: After you receive your initial and booster doses of the vaccine, it will be recorded in your portal account." I know you don't have full immunity until the second shot, but since everyone is calling it that I just went along with it without even thinking about the terminology.11 -
NPR story tonight went head-on to "what did scientists know about Covid transmission and when did they know it". Text summary & full audio (4 minutes) at
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/28/950886165/pandemic-advances-scientific-understanding-of-viruses-air-transmission
Sample quote, from a virus transmission researcher at Virginia Tech: "So back in January, the understanding of how viruses spread through the air was really primitive and incorrect. . . . There were a very small number of people in the world, I think, who really understood at that time how viruses spread through the air."
There's more, about the early research and how it influenced public-health behavioral recommendations.4 -
Chef_Barbell wrote: »Masks and sanitizer... the new socks and underwear of Christmas gifts :laugh:
Apparently lots of people are thinking that way because the mask I was supposed to get as a thank you gift for an October fund raiser that I'd planned on giving as a gift hasn't arrived yet due to being back ordered in response to overwhelming demand. I'm going to have to write to them again >.<
(I'd planned on giving it as a birthday gift in November, and then for Christmas.)5 -
Speaking of hand sanitizer. Living in a cold winter climate (Minnesota), I’ve always steered away from it. Until covid. I’ve got a real issue with dry, chapped, cracking hands. The hand sanitizer makes it worse. Believe me, I’ve tried everything for softening my hands. It’s really bad this winter. Can anyone relate, and does anything work?4
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missysippy930 wrote: »Speaking of hand sanitizer. Living in a cold winter climate (Minnesota), I’ve always steered away from it. Until covid. I’ve got a real issue with dry, chapped, cracking hands. The hand sanitizer makes it worse. Believe me, I’ve tried everything for softening my hands. It’s really bad this winter. Can anyone relate, and does anything work?
I feel ya. I've got this problem without hand sanitizer, so it's worse. What I do is wash my hands with soap and water the minute I get in the door to get rid of it and put on a good lotion. I don't go out much and wear gloves as much as I can. It helps.5 -
missysippy930 wrote: »Speaking of hand sanitizer. Living in a cold winter climate (Minnesota), I’ve always steered away from it. Until covid. I’ve got a real issue with dry, chapped, cracking hands. The hand sanitizer makes it worse. Believe me, I’ve tried everything for softening my hands. It’s really bad this winter. Can anyone relate, and does anything work?
I haven't had dry skin in the winter since I got control of the thermostat and cranked it down, but I remember from the Home Heating thread in Debate that you like it super toasty, so not an option for you.
Are you limiting your hand sanitizer use to only when you don't have access to soap? My OH likes to use wipes in the car but I just wait until I get home and use soap.
I have increased my hand washing frequency and duration, and my hands did start drying out. I use the same soap in the kitchen after I come in from the outside (actually dish detergent) but for my bathroom soap I started making my own moisturizing soap, which fixed my hands:
https://bodyunburdened.com/diy-all-natural-rich-creamy-moisturizing-hand-soap/5 -
@snowflake954
Yeah, me too. The hand sanitizer makes it worse.
@kshama2001
I do like it toasty, and heating with wood, it gets really dry in the house in the winter. I’ll try your recipe. I do use it only when I’m out and about, and wash my hands as soon as I get home, and slather on lotion after washing my hands. We feed the birds and it’s kind of hard maneuvering and filling some of the feeders and heated bird baths, so the winter gloves come off a lot outside, which doesn’t help. In a normal year, it’s tolerable, but because of covid, more frequent washing hands, and sanitizer, it’s really bad right now. I’ve been retired 3 years now, but it was really bad this time of year passing colds/flu around at work, so I’ve been washing my hands for at least 21 seconds for a long time. It gets to be a habit.5 -
missysippy930 wrote: »Speaking of hand sanitizer. Living in a cold winter climate (Minnesota), I’ve always steered away from it. Until covid. I’ve got a real issue with dry, chapped, cracking hands. The hand sanitizer makes it worse. Believe me, I’ve tried everything for softening my hands. It’s really bad this winter. Can anyone relate, and does anything work?
I can't use alcohol based sanitizer at all because of contact dermatitis. If it came down to a choice between possible contamination and skin blisters of course I'd use it but I stick to hand washing otherwise. I also have bad eczema so that's been a bit of a disaster too.
I exclusively use perfume and dye free soaps. I bring my own little bottle around with me, I never use the cheap industrial quality detergents in public facilities. I apply lotion immediately after washing, while my hands are still damp.
For lotion I can't go cheap. The Cetaphil lotion is excellent. My other favourite is La Roche Posay Baume Lipikar. Lotion at night with cotton gloves. I have a coworker who says she uses Vaseline with gloves at night.
Polysporin and bandaids when the skin starts to split.6 -
missysippy930 wrote: »Speaking of hand sanitizer. Living in a cold winter climate (Minnesota), I’ve always steered away from it. Until covid. I’ve got a real issue with dry, chapped, cracking hands. The hand sanitizer makes it worse. Believe me, I’ve tried everything for softening my hands. It’s really bad this winter. Can anyone relate, and does anything work?
Two things that I've tried work better than other things. I get huge gashes in my skin over Winter. Aveeno has a cracked hand formula (CICA balm?) that's relatively cheap and O'Keefe's works well too. I like the Aveeno over the O'Keefe's but both are good. I had a cut on my one finger that wouldn't heal -- I think just from flossing. Was open for like two weeks. The day after using the Aveeno for like 3 times in a day it closed up.
Real handsoaps with glycerin make a lot of difference. Trader Joe's has a decent one for cheap. Shea Moisture makes some good ones too with lots of glycerin in them and shea butter.8 -
missysippy930 wrote: »@snowflake954
Yeah, me too. The hand sanitizer makes it worse.
@kshama2001
I do like it toasty, and heating with wood, it gets really dry in the house in the winter. I’ll try your recipe. I do use it only when I’m out and about, and wash my hands as soon as I get home, and slather on lotion after washing my hands. We feed the birds and it’s kind of hard maneuvering and filling some of the feeders and heated bird baths, so the winter gloves come off a lot outside, which doesn’t help. In a normal year, it’s tolerable, but because of covid, more frequent washing hands, and sanitizer, it’s really bad right now. I’ve been retired 3 years now, but it was really bad this time of year passing colds/flu around at work, so I’ve been washing my hands for at least 21 seconds for a long time. It gets to be a habit.
Oh, I meant to ask - do you use a humidifier to counter the wood stove dry air?
Mom has a wood stove and that room gets super dry. I haven't seen her humidifier make an appearance yet this year and will ask her what's up with that.3 -
I keep a large stockpot of water on the wood stove to add moisture. Otherwise I start getting nosebleeds from the dry air.8
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Outdoor Hands is my favorite hand lotion - i have had great results with it... it doesn’t leave the same coating as O’keefe’s (I have sensory issues so I couldn’t do that one).
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/outdoor-hands-intense-skin-therapy-cream-34-oz-tube-5147182?store=1625&cm_mmc=feed-_-GoogleShopping-_-Product-_-5147182&gclid=CjwKCAiAxKv_BRBdEiwAyd40N13UOa-ccWUBLvOj2XGQCuaaQ2NbN1bIyIDAl5a_d6g1n8_mrN4Y9hoCui0QAvD_BwE
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Thanks everyone! You’re the best! I have a lot of things to try on my quest for battling dry, cracking hands.
We don’t have a humidifier, but do have two cast iron tea kettles filled with water on top of the wood stove.4 -
missysippy930 wrote: »Can anyone relate, and does anything work?
As someone with eczema, whose knuckles are cracked and bleeding every winter, I can totally sympathize. With Covid, this year has been particularly rough. I use O'Keefe's Working Hands religiously. If it gets really bad, I'll apply an anhydrous lanolin emollient (like Bag Balm) and put cotton gloves on my hands before bed. Usually, though, the O'Keefe's is sufficient.4 -
missysippy930 wrote: »Speaking of hand sanitizer. Living in a cold winter climate (Minnesota), I’ve always steered away from it. Until covid. I’ve got a real issue with dry, chapped, cracking hands. The hand sanitizer makes it worse. Believe me, I’ve tried everything for softening my hands. It’s really bad this winter. Can anyone relate, and does anything work?
I get extremely dry skin in the winter. Not as bad as an adult, but when I was a kid, the bottom of my feet would get so dry that they would crack open and bleed. I found that keeping my feet suffocated is the only way, and has worked well for decades. For other skin, aquafilic ointment works very well.2
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