Coronavirus prep
Replies
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T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »At this point, the unvaccinated will not change their minds. They have access to that same knowledge and ignore it.
What I want to know is when we need a 4th shot. Has anyone heard if it is a booster every 6 months?
I posted a nyt link (that I thought was a pretty good discussion) above. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/health/covid-vaccine-antibodies-t-cells.html
tl;dr: B- and T-cell training lasts years even though the post-boost antibody flood recedes in a few months. Also, B-/T-cells are able to recognize and to disable a much, much broader range of variants than antibodies. The 3rd shot makes a big difference for T-/B-cell training. So unless you have a particular immune issue that would hinder B-/T-cell training, you *may* not need a 4th for years. Data still coming in.
I read that article, and unfortunately in my opinion it’s a bad article. All of the discussion of antibodies in the article is theoretical, whereas real world results are indeed starting to trickle in and have found a dramatic reduction in real world effectiveness at preventing hospitalization during the Omicron wave after four months. Real world trumps theory every time.
In fact if you scroll down to the bottom of the article you posted, the article about effectiveness waning is currently the top rated article on the same news site.1 -
Restaurant food prices have increased dramatically. I’m sure that is due to a combination of reasons including increased transportation costs due to increased fuel prices, increased price of good, and increased wages.
My brother is a chef and he told me that while wages have increased, the menu price increases are almost ALL because of the food cost. Food cost is up because of the increased transportation costs and supply issues. Many restaurants are changing and shrinking their menus to accommodate ingredients they can consistently get at a price that has the least impact on their profit margin.
The restaurant business is tough. Even successful restaurants in the best of times have very narrow profit margins. I once complained to my brother about the cost of certain restaurant items...like a glass of wine or a baked potato. "Why do they charge $6.00 for a baked potato that cost them 10 cents?" He responded, "Because they lost money on the $40 steak you ordered and they have to make it up somehow."4 -
@PAV8888 Yeh, sad but I see it locally. Many people aren't masking up anymore. In fact, my nephew works at a very large company in Texas, brand new building, grand opening, lots of people coming through to check it out. He said there were 3 people wearing a mask(he was 1 of them) and people were making fun of them.
WTH??
I ran into someone at the grocery store Sunday a.m., she started discussing the vaccines. She wears a mask because she's not vaxxed and doesn't plan on getting it. She says she's never gotten Covid yet knows of many who've been vaxxed that have gotten sick from it. I hope she never does get it.
At this point, I feel naked without a mask in public places.
I happen to work at a brand new decent sized building in Texas also. Large for normal standards, small to mid-sized for a manufacturing plant. Our corporate office has made a mask requirement at all facilities. Where we have issues is when the CEO visits, and when the Regional Director is here (more often), they walk around without masks because they know they can. Corporate EHS says we need masks, but when other managers open break the policy, that makes it tough for us local managers to enforce it. We have a lot of people from corporate, other plants, and vendors here also.
Having said that, I rarely wear a mask where it is not required. When I shop, I just don't. I am figuring my vaccine should do it's job.
Our customer facility (also in Texas) had a lot of absenteeism last month due to Covid. They even had to cut entire shifts of production because they had too few workers.3 -
I buy coffee in canisters and usually wait for sales when I can get it for 4.99 or 5.99. This week the sale price is 8.49. 9
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Mom and I went to a funeral earlier this week. At the wake, we were the only ones wearing masks, which surprised me. However, at the church, which was in the same town, masks were required and were handed out at the door before people were permitted to enter.5
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SuzySunshine99 wrote: »Restaurant food prices have increased dramatically. I’m sure that is due to a combination of reasons including increased transportation costs due to increased fuel prices, increased price of good, and increased wages.
My brother is a chef and he told me that while wages have increased, the menu price increases are almost ALL because of the food cost. Food cost is up because of the increased transportation costs and supply issues. Many restaurants are changing and shrinking their menus to accommodate ingredients they can consistently get at a price that has the least impact on their profit margin.
The restaurant business is tough. Even successful restaurants in the best of times have very narrow profit margins. I once complained to my brother about the cost of certain restaurant items...like a glass of wine or a baked potato. "Why do they charge $6.00 for a baked potato that cost them 10 cents?" He responded, "Because they lost money on the $40 steak you ordered and they have to make it up somehow."
My husband is a restaurant manager and he co-signs this although increased wages play a role too. He does not control salaries though. The regional managers do. Here in California the minimum wage was recently increased and even before that, many entry level restaurant positions were hiring at $18 an hour. They are still having a hard time hiring good employees. Interestingly the long term employees wages have not increased. It does not make sense to hire entry level people for that amount but not raise wages of those who have been there and are experienced. It is frustrating.
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I buy coffee in canisters and usually wait for sales when I can get it for 4.99 or 5.99. This week the sale price is 8.49.
We usually get our coffee in bulk at a restaurant supply store. We just got a case for $70, that works out to about $4/pound.
We bought a case six months ago and it was $20 cheaper.
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Regarding the CDC‘s new masking guidance, here is an article with a link for looking up your county’s status: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/02/25/1082249002/cdc-says-americans-can-now-go-unmasked-in-many-parts-of-the-country2
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So we're a bit behind a lot of the world here in New Zealand, with Omicron surging now. Yesterday we ticked over 100,000 cases since the pandemic began, with more than 80% of those being currently active cases.
The latest modelling I heard suggested we'll be looking at peaking around mid March.
I've been working at home since before Xmas (only the last month has been covid-related though - at my workplace we work from home during school holidays anyway), and really looking forward to seeing my workmates again at some stage!14 -
Just to level set, I've worn a mask when required so I'm not an anti-masker. Had an interesting conversation with a young man 2 years into his clinical fellowship (this is a 2-3 year program after medical residency) in pulmonary critical care. He started his fellowship right before the pandemic broke out in the US so has lived this on the front lines since the beginning.
His take on masks, unless you have an N95 you are just wearing a face decoration.6 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »Restaurant food prices have increased dramatically. I’m sure that is due to a combination of reasons including increased transportation costs due to increased fuel prices, increased price of good, and increased wages.
My brother is a chef and he told me that while wages have increased, the menu price increases are almost ALL because of the food cost. Food cost is up because of the increased transportation costs and supply issues. Many restaurants are changing and shrinking their menus to accommodate ingredients they can consistently get at a price that has the least impact on their profit margin.
The restaurant business is tough. Even successful restaurants in the best of times have very narrow profit margins. I once complained to my brother about the cost of certain restaurant items...like a glass of wine or a baked potato. "Why do they charge $6.00 for a baked potato that cost them 10 cents?" He responded, "Because they lost money on the $40 steak you ordered and they have to make it up somehow."
My husband is a restaurant manager and he co-signs this although increased wages play a role too. He does not control salaries though. The regional managers do. Here in California the minimum wage was recently increased and even before that, many entry level restaurant positions were hiring at $18 an hour. They are still having a hard time hiring good employees. Interestingly the long term employees wages have not increased. It does not make sense to hire entry level people for that amount but not raise wages of those who have been there and are experienced. It is frustrating.
I'm sure the long term people are going somewhere else.0 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »Restaurant food prices have increased dramatically. I’m sure that is due to a combination of reasons including increased transportation costs due to increased fuel prices, increased price of good, and increased wages.
My brother is a chef and he told me that while wages have increased, the menu price increases are almost ALL because of the food cost. Food cost is up because of the increased transportation costs and supply issues. Many restaurants are changing and shrinking their menus to accommodate ingredients they can consistently get at a price that has the least impact on their profit margin.
The restaurant business is tough. Even successful restaurants in the best of times have very narrow profit margins. I once complained to my brother about the cost of certain restaurant items...like a glass of wine or a baked potato. "Why do they charge $6.00 for a baked potato that cost them 10 cents?" He responded, "Because they lost money on the $40 steak you ordered and they have to make it up somehow."
My husband is a restaurant manager and he co-signs this although increased wages play a role too. He does not control salaries though. The regional managers do. Here in California the minimum wage was recently increased and even before that, many entry level restaurant positions were hiring at $18 an hour. They are still having a hard time hiring good employees. Interestingly the long term employees wages have not increased. It does not make sense to hire entry level people for that amount but not raise wages of those who have been there and are experienced. It is frustrating.
I'm sure the long term people are going somewhere else.
That's what I was told as well. Sad though, isn't it? Loyalty and experience count for very little these days.
Unfortunately, many people are trapped where they are for whatever personal reasons, watching new employees get higher wages.0 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Just to level set, I've worn a mask when required so I'm not an anti-masker. Had an interesting conversation with a young man 2 years into his clinical fellowship (this is a 2-3 year program after medical residency) in pulmonary critical care. He started his fellowship right before the pandemic broke out in the US so has lived this on the front lines since the beginning.
His take on masks, unless you have an N95 you are just wearing a face decoration.
I disagree with that .
Obviously some masks are better than others and obviously a lacey holey one would be useless.
But a cheap paper mask is still better than nothing and for most purposes when you are in public ,not getting that close to other - eg shopping - quite sufficient.
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Theoldguy1 wrote: »His take on masks, unless you have an N95 you are just wearing a face decoration.
I'm totally fine with that
Some of my masks are darned cute, and lord only knows I wear enough other stuff for purely decorative purposes.
First and foremost I rely on my vaccinations to keep me safe, perhaps not from contracting the virus itself but at least from serious consequences. Secondly, I rely on distance from potentially germy people.8 -
paperpudding wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Just to level set, I've worn a mask when required so I'm not an anti-masker. Had an interesting conversation with a young man 2 years into his clinical fellowship (this is a 2-3 year program after medical residency) in pulmonary critical care. He started his fellowship right before the pandemic broke out in the US so has lived this on the front lines since the beginning.
His take on masks, unless you have an N95 you are just wearing a face decoration.
I disagree with that .
Obviously some masks are better than others and obviously a lacey holey one would be useless.
But a cheap paper mask is still better than nothing and for most purposes when you are in public ,not getting that close to other - eg shopping - quite sufficient.
You sure have the right to disagree, but remember who you are disagreeing with, a doctor who has been working with this 16 hours a day most days of the week since Jan, 2020.3 -
NTheoldguy1 wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Just to level set, I've worn a mask when required so I'm not an anti-masker. Had an interesting conversation with a young man 2 years into his clinical fellowship (this is a 2-3 year program after medical residency) in pulmonary critical care. He started his fellowship right before the pandemic broke out in the US so has lived this on the front lines since the beginning.
His take on masks, unless you have an N95 you are just wearing a face decoration.
I disagree with that .
Obviously some masks are better than others and obviously a lacey holey one would be useless.
But a cheap paper mask is still better than nothing and for most purposes when you are in public ,not getting that close to other - eg shopping - quite sufficient.
You sure have the right to disagree, but remember who you are disagreeing with, a doctor who has been working with this 16 hours a day most days of the week since Jan, 2020.
Not all doctors are infectious disease specialists, either. Clearly, N95 or equivalent is best, and us civilians (who don't have expert fit tests for our chosen N95s) aren't even usually getting the best out of those.
Still, I'm skeptical when anyone says risk level is binary, on or off. It's about percentages, inevitably, and there are a bunch of variables.
Generally, I'm going with the N95s as my best bet, fitting them as best I'm able. In materially less risky situations, I might think of a cloth or paper mask as better than nothing, perhaps even adequate to the risk level of the situation. Mask matters, ventilation matters, proximity to others matters, knowing how risky are the lives of those in proximity to us matters, length of exposure to a other individuals matters, incidence of Covid in the community matters (in a statistical sense), and more.
There's a continuum of risk. None of us are getting to zero, unless we're sealed in a clean chamber 24x7.15 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Just to level set, I've worn a mask when required so I'm not an anti-masker. Had an interesting conversation with a young man 2 years into his clinical fellowship (this is a 2-3 year program after medical residency) in pulmonary critical care. He started his fellowship right before the pandemic broke out in the US so has lived this on the front lines since the beginning.
His take on masks, unless you have an N95 you are just wearing a face decoration.
I disagree with that .
Obviously some masks are better than others and obviously a lacey holey one would be useless.
But a cheap paper mask is still better than nothing and for most purposes when you are in public ,not getting that close to other - eg shopping - quite sufficient.
You sure have the right to disagree, but remember who you are disagreeing with, a doctor who has been working with this 16 hours a day most days of the week since Jan, 2020.
But there are also experienced infectious disease specialists who agree with Anne's point about a continuum of risk. And the studies theyve been doing since the pandemic show that while your percentage chance of getting infected is smallest with a well-fitted N95, other masks do afford at least some improvement.
Don't get me wrong, if I was working in a hospital with covid patients I'd be in an N95, I just think his all or nothing opinion is not typical of medical pros who work with and study respiratory infections.
My mom is 76 and takes an RA med that may limit the effectiveness of the vaccine. She got what seemed like a bad cold so she called her doctor (he's my doctor too) and he told her it was probably covid so don't bother testing, she should isolate and treat the cold symptoms with otc meds. No monoclonals or antivirals mentioned. This goes against everything I've read and my mom is high risk. I was livid, but she wanted to believe it was nothing and now she had a doctor telling her what she wanted to hear. He was wrong and I have no idea why he didn't know she needed treatment before she got really sick if it was covid. I was finally able to convince her to at least take a home test and she got three negatives and it ran it's course like a cold and she's fine now, thank goodness. But I'm looking for another doctor.16 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Just to level set, I've worn a mask when required so I'm not an anti-masker. Had an interesting conversation with a young man 2 years into his clinical fellowship (this is a 2-3 year program after medical residency) in pulmonary critical care. He started his fellowship right before the pandemic broke out in the US so has lived this on the front lines since the beginning.
His take on masks, unless you have an N95 you are just wearing a face decoration.
I disagree with that .
Obviously some masks are better than others and obviously a lacey holey one would be useless.
But a cheap paper mask is still better than nothing and for most purposes when you are in public ,not getting that close to other - eg shopping - quite sufficient.
You sure have the right to disagree, but remember who you are disagreeing with, a doctor who has been working with this 16 hours a day most days of the week since Jan, 2020.
But there are also experienced infectious disease specialists who agree with Anne's point about a continuum of risk. And the studies theyve been doing since the pandemic show that while your percentage chance of getting infected is smallest with a well-fitted N95, other masks do afford at least some improvement.
Don't get me wrong, if I was working in a hospital with covid patients I'd be in an N95, I just think his all or nothing opinion is not typical of medical pros who work with and study respiratory infections.
My mom is 76 and takes an RA med that may limit the effectiveness of the vaccine. She got what seemed like a bad cold so she called her doctor (he's my doctor too) and he told her it was probably covid so don't bother testing, she should isolate and treat the cold symptoms with otc meds. No monoclonals or antivirals mentioned. This goes against everything I've read and my mom is high risk. I was livid, but she wanted to believe it was nothing and now she had a doctor telling her what she wanted to hear. He was wrong and I have no idea why he didn't know she needed treatment before she got really sick if it was covid. I was finally able to convince her to at least take a home test and she got three negatives and it ran it's course like a cold and she's fine now, thank goodness. But I'm looking for another doctor.
So glad your mom is fine now!
My dh had a cold(we assume because his dr. said no need to test). Then he came down with cold symptoms again couple months later and called the dr., because he had taken Nyquil and wanted to know if the outcome of a home test(by then we had acquired a couple) would be affected by it. Dr. said no so he did the self test and tested positive.
I'm not sure if they went entirely by symptoms or if, due to the fact, dh had been fully vaccinated and boostered, they just assumed he'd be okay? In fact, when he called them back to say he'd tested positive, they were offering all kinds of IV's, medicines, etc. Yet, they never said much when he called with cold symptoms. IMO, you can have some or all or even none of the symptoms of Covid, so how can they differentiate between the 2 unless you do get tested?5 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »
You sure have the right to disagree, but remember who you are disagreeing with, a doctor who has been working with this 16 hours a day most days of the week since Jan, 2020.
And there are many doctors out there through this whole thing who still say masks are totally useless and the vaccine doesn't work and more dangerous then Covid. So just because someone is a doctor who has been in this doesn't mean they are automatically 100% correct.
Also, it is not a black and white situation. People use what they can get. A fabric mask is still better then no mask.9 -
Seriously, there is still a mask debate going on after all this time?
Something is better than nothing, I agree. If nothing else, it keeps my fingers from mindlessly floating to my mouth and nose all the dang time.
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