Thanks for the Lancet article. It helps add perspective. It’s very tough to wrap our arms around this.
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I don’t expect I’ll be in close, extended proximity to anyone unvaccinated. I’m sure all of my friends will get their shot or shots. But I just won’t be especially concerned about my own infinitesimal risk of contracting or spreading Covid after I’m vaccinated. It will go into the category of all the other tiny or not-so-tiny risks I ignore in the interest of living an enjoyable life. Flame-grilled meats are somewhat carcinogenic, but I’m not going to stop going to cookouts in the summer.
One other thing to consider: It isn’t behaviors that increase Covid risk, per se, it’s exposure to the virus. So two people who don’t have Covid (or five people, or 20 people) can’t give it to each other just by not wearing masks, or singing, or partying. The risk comes in when you don’t know whether you’ve been exposed – which is certainly a lot of the time, still, but worth considering as more and more fully vaccinated people encounter each other.
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Yeah, I agree, it’s complicated. And I think the media has done a poor job of making clear what the efficacy numbers really mean, unfortunately. I’m a news editor myself and didn’t know until recently that 95% didn’t mean 5% would get it.
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Oh how I wish that was true for me. Unfortunately, many in my community and many of my husband’s coworkers are apathetic about being vaccinated. So many in my community have decided that they don’t want to wear masks.
I wish things were different. We’ve only interacted with unmasked and unvaccinated people while outside. Not counting all the people unmasked in the grocery store, Home Depot and any place we have to go.
We’ve only interacted inside with my in laws and my bil. We will see how the summer plays out. I’m vaccinated and feeling more relaxed for myself and my husband. But time will tell for our community, won’t it.
I’ve very envious of those of you who talk about your friends and your community being vaccinated. I don’t see it happening here.
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If indoors, masks will be worn when around those not fully vaccinated. And we would expect that person to wear a mask too. If not, we don’t need to see them. Actually if a choice is available, we just won’t go indoors with an unvaccinated person.
And yes, I do understand that others in the grocery store or restaurant might not be vaccinated…but we aren’t sitting near them, or being around them for an extended period of time in close proximity.
Excellent points. It’s about exposure, not activity.
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The vaccine effectiveness rate E% means that, if in a situation where people would get infected, only (100-E)% of vaccinated people will get infected.
So if you get a 91% effective vaccine, there is a 9% chance that you will be in the unlucky group whose immune response is not sufficient to prevent infection. This does not mean that you have a 9% chance of getting infected, since you will not necessarily be in a situation where an unvaccinated person will be infected.
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Yeah I get all this info and appreciate it. I get the math and thanks to@Vineyarder for the Lancet article. Due to age and comorbidities I will probably be more cautious. The other factor is my mother’s facility AND her hospice service, both of which have 30% of staff refusing vaccine. I was already exposed two weeks ago by an aide. My exposure is probably going to be more frequent than the average person.
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I’d like to thank @Vineyarder and @ucbalumnus for explaining the efficacy of the vaccine and for the article.
It was helpful to explain this to a person in layman terms. I’m feeling better about the effectiveness of the vaccine
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These two points of view are hard to reconcile. If the danger to the vaccinated person and of spreading it further is “infinitesimal” then why would it matter whether the unvaccinated person is masked or not? Now maybe we aren’t yet confident in how “infinitesimal” the risk is, but once that is more clearly understood (and if it really is “infinitesimal”), I don’t see why a vaccinated person would need to behave differently around others depending on whether they are masked or not.
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Yeah, I don’t personally expect to be nervous around unvaccinated people after I’m vaccinated, because my risk of contracting Covid from them will be very, very small, and my chance of contracting a serious case truly almost nonexistent. (The J&J vaccine, for example, was 100% effective at preventing serious illness or death in its trials.) We do need to get to herd immunity (an imprecise standard, but thought to be 70% to 85% vaccinated) before the unvaccinated can relax, but the vaccinated should be pretty much worry-free once they hit the effectiveness threshold. I know that’s hard for many people to internalize, and I’m sympathetic about that.
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To get back to the original question, I will visit my mother inside her apartment in the facility once vaccinated. Right now she can make it outdoors (she couldn’t two weeks ago) so sticking with that. May 20 I will resume scrubbing her kitchenette the way I did in 2019!
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As long as a state or business requires it I have no problem wearing a mask. Once they stop, I have no problem stopping.
A difference will be if the person choosing not to get the vax did so for their own real need (shouldn’t get the vax due to allergies or something else).
I’m fully vaccinated today and had my first hug to a non-family member in ages. She wasn’t vaccinated, but her 47 year old sister had recently been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and her mom passed away this past year from cancer. A hug was needed, though I asked first to make sure she was ok with it.
I also told her where there were openings to get the vaccine because she works two jobs and wants one, but hasn’t had time to look. Until recently PA was pretty restrictive. Now we’re open to all 16+.
That hug made me realize I’m fully ok with other hugs now - as long as the other person is, vaxed or not on their end.
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I’m with @showmom858 - I just don’t ever want to return to cubicle jail again. There’s no need for me to, as I’ve been efficiently and effectively doing my job online for the past 14 months.
Unfortunately, my boss is making noise about us coming back. I’m going to ask ask to remain remote, but I’m not holding on to much hope that he will accommodate my request. 
I’m actually so unhappy about it that I’ve considered finding a new (remote) job.
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Funny how many work places, a year ago, told employese they could WFH for as long as they wanted, forever even, and are now making rumblings about more in person time.
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We are now both fully vaccinated as of today. We are having dinner indoors at our friends’ house tonight. I have been fully vaccinated for a while and flew last weekend to Memphis to visit my 96 yo mother. Weird as it was like a restaurant in an enclosed tube. everyone is eating and drinking. Can’t be a good place for the unvaccinated, even for the vaccinated. We won’t be going to big events inside or outside (no baseball games). It’s just a matter of managing risk. lots of these things are low risk (but not zero risk) actions. We’ll try to only take risks when there is a good reason to do so. Dinners with vaccinated friends will typically be worth the risk.
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How packed are your local baseball team’s games, and is the seating outdoors or in a dome?
We had our first guests at the house- husband’s tennis group came over after playing to celebrate three recent birthdays. Everyone was fully vaccinated; they’ve been very careful since going back to playing. Normally they go to an outside bar for beers afterwards. It was all outdoors at our house, including the hot tub. As I am not one of the tennis players, I joined in the meal and drinks, then went inside. We have a great yard for entertaining so it was nice to carefully start up again.
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