Here is my story which is so crazy it should be a case study on vax and variants and what happens when you do the opposite of “what not to do”. My in-laws invited 19 ppl over for Easter, consisting of 7 households. I refused to go or have my 2 kids go, but my husband went over my wishes. 16 ppl there.
HH #1 - In-laws in 70’s 12 days past 2nd Pfizer = not tested but no symptoms
HH #2 - Wife & husband both 30y/o and their 4y/o. No vax. Wife felt sick Monday after Easter then very sick Tuesday (incl loss taste/smell) and tests positive. Husband tests positive Wednesday and very sick. 4 y/o gets very sick Friday including 103 degree fever yesterday (very strange/concerning) so presumed positive
HH#3 - Husband and Wife (mid 20s) and 7 week old baby. Wife was 13 days from 1st Pfizer. Husband/baby unvax. Husband tests positive and is sick severity unknown. Wife and baby not tested but no symptoms.
HH#4 - Wife and Husband (both 50y/o) and daughter (25y/o). All were 13 days post 1st Pfizer. Husband is actively receiving chemo for stage 4 colon cancer. Wife and daughter are negative. Husband is positive - cough, loss smell/taste but lungs clear, no fever and blood ox ok.
HH#5 - Husband & wife (both late 30s) not vax. Both are positive - sick, severity unknown
HH#6 - Husband & wife (both late 30s) not vax. No symptoms/not tested
HH#7 - my husband (53y/o) 11 days post J&J, twice tested negative
I believe that HH#2 wife was the spreader since she was sick first. She’s a nurse and never contracted COVID until now, even when half her floor was out sick and even after eating dinner face to face with friend who tested positive. Given that and the fact of the 4 y/o illness, I wonder if this is a variant highly transmissible and making younger ppl sick. The vaxs may have had some benefit for the negatives and less severe illness in the cancer patient.
The person who was sick first was not necessarily the source of the others’ infections. It can take up to 14 days to show symptoms, and sounds like some party attendees didn’t even get tested…so they could be the spreaders, no one knows.
@annoyingmom21 a perfect example of why people need to continue being vigilant, especially those who have not been vaccinated! Were the younger people behaving this way (social gatherings) in the past or did they throw caution to the wind since the in-laws were vaccinated? Were they not yet vaccinated b/c they were not yet eligible or b/c they don’t plan to? Either way, unbelievable with all the current variants to get together.
Sounds like you were the only smart one, at least your husband was vaccinated. Can you imagine if he brought the virus home to you and your kids?
Is everyone at least quarantining now, even those who have not tested and don’t currently have symptoms?
Yes, very true, the date of onset of symptoms can misleading and makes contact tracing difficult (you are looking at who gave it to you and also who did you give it to at the same time). I’m obsessed with the forensics of it, but nobody else in the family seems to have the curiosity or remorse - especially the nurse who chose to not vax and HUGGED the man with cancer knowing he had cancer. And she’s an oncology nurse. I couldn’t make this up if I tried. I’ve been furious all week.
The young people have never been careful (socializing etc.) which makes it more crazy that they get it now. The nurse chose not to vax. Her husband wasn’t eligible. The young couples w/o kids not eligible. The father of the baby not eligible, but his wife was. The ppl who got the vax did so in a timely manner. I believe the positives are isolating. The untested ppl probably not and they need to be tested. I’ve had to isolate from my husband. His parents foolishly thought let’s have everyone over now that WE are fully vaccinated. You aren’t going to kill us.
To make the story worse, the nurse is my stepdaughter. She repeatedly texted my husband to guilt him into going, saying there was “no excuse” not to go and see his grandchild, that he was ridiculous and had “no reason” to stay home.
At Amherst College, they have already updated the quarantine rule for people who are fully vaccinated; students who are fully vaccinated do not need to quarantine if a close contact tests positive for COVID.
@RosePetal35 This may seem like a very hyper-technical question which the college may not have addressed. If the student is fully vaccinated (e.g. 14 days post J&J) on the day when they learn of the close contact, but was not fully vaccinated at the date of possible infection with the close contact (e.g., 7 days post J&J) would/should they have to isolate?
Has your kid’s college made any announcements regarding fall 2021? Some colleges have… and many of those seem to be saying that vaccinated students will no longer be subject to most restrictions, but unvaccinated students will continue to be subject to frequent testing, quarantining if exposed, and/or masking on campus.
The timeline does suggest that HH#2 wife could have been the spreader (COVID-19 is most contagious just before symptoms show). It also suggests that if she was not the spreader, she probably got it somewhere else at least a few days before the Easter party.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday walked back controversial comments made by its director, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, suggesting that people who are vaccinated against the coronavirus never become infected or transmit the virus to others.
The assertion called into question the precautions that the agency had urged vaccinated people to take just last month, like wearing masks and gathering only under limited circumstances with unvaccinated people.
“Dr. Walensky spoke broadly during this interview,” an agency spokesman told The Times. “It’s possible that some people who are fully vaccinated could get Covid-19. The evidence isn’t clear whether they can spread the virus to others. We are continuing to evaluate the evidence.”
Yes, that’s why I said, “She did have to walk it back a little, because of course there have been these sporadic breakthrough cases, but she was directionally correct—that it is infrequent enough that it’s not something to really obsess over.” And that’s why I included the article that discussed the controversy. Clearly her absolutism (claiming that they CANNOT spread it) irked people who prefer precision (I count myself among them), but part of why I thought it was such a fascinating exchange was that SHE usually is pretty extreme on the other side, and not blasé about anything. I believe this departure from her typical extremely conservative tone comes from the preponderance of newer evidence that clearly shows that fully vaccinated people really have minuscule rates (but NOT ZERO!) of testing positive for the virus and passing it on compared to unvaccinated people.
I appreciate your chart, UCB! I had noticed the same thing, that basically all the people who got sick had not been vaccinated, with the exception of the one husband who is less than 2 weeks post his first shot, and in the process of chemo.
As someone who has had a lot of chemo, I’ve read a decent amount about whether or not chemo patients should get the shot. The answer seems to be that it’s not harmful to them, and could be helpful. BUT that because their immune system is depressed from the chemo, they may not have a full, useful immune response to the shot, and therefore are likely to be less protected than the average joe. So some oncologists are saying, if you can keep yourself safe and protected at home, use an N95 when you go to necessary appointments, then you may be better off waiting to get your shot when your immune system rebounds, to get the full effect. If you can’t keep yourself safe, then go ahead and get whatever benefit you can from the shot now.
Therefore, I’m going to consider the cancer patient who only had one shot and wasn’t even 2 weeks away from that shot, to be UNvaccinated in the traditional sense.
So all 7 of the people who caught covid were unvaccinated. Clearly some bad decision making there! Especially since many are SO close to full vaccination, can’t they postpone Easter a few weeks? And at first blush I’d say especially the gentleman with the stage 4 colon cancer shouldn’t have been there, but I retract that!! With stage 4, he may absolutely treasure every family moment, and the notion of spending all that time isolated if you believe you have a short time left on this earth, he may absolutely believe the risk was worth it, and I’m so happy for him that so far his symptoms seem minimal. People have their reasons, and their own risk assessments, and this gathering may have been completely worth it to him (although the hug may have been a bit much, unless the nurse turned her face and tried to do it fairly safely). I know if I was stage 4 right now, I would not be interested in spending the year away from my family…
