I guess I’m weird, cause I’ll wear mine while running errands if driving distances are short. It’s time consuming to put on and take off N95s.
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Or an absent minded prof who forgot about the mask! 
Risk of long COVID associated with delta versus omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 - The Lancet is the referenced study.
The NPR page leaves out an important bit that “The inclusion criteria in both periods were a positive real-time PCR or lateral flow antigen test for SARS-CoV-2 after vaccination, at least one log per week in the app for at least 28 days after testing positive, and no previous SARS-CoV-2 infections before vaccination” (emphasis added).
The “Delta” versus “Omicron” infections were assumed based on the date of infection.
The rate of long COVID (defined in this study as symptoms 4 or more weeks after) was 4.5% in breakthrough infections during the Omicron period, and 10.8% during the Delta period. They had insufficient data for unvaccinated people and children.
There doesn’t have to be a science or trend as to who or who does or doesn’t wear masks. Don’t try and figure it out. It’s based on individuals period. They may lean one way or another, they may work in mask required workplaces or not, but the fact is, it’s an individual decision.
I’ll write more later; gotta go, but just want to comment literally the exact opposite…I feel the media is completely OVER playing long covid and the studies are absurd. I DO believe long covid is real and happens to some people, but if you dive into the studies, it’s just shameful how much nonsense they are including to inflate numbers. That’s my take. I think when the studies show 5-30% get long covid,it genuinely seems like in real life it’s 1% max, and largely (not ENTIRELY) in vulnerable populations, so for many people the risk is far less than 0.1%. Will comment more tomorrow.
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Of the people I know who got COVID before there were vaccines, 2 out of 6 got long COVID. Neither was what you would call vulnerable (1 in 20s, 1 in 30s or 40s). Both had severe symptoms for some months afterward, but the severe symptoms eventually went away (both did get vaccinated later; don’t know if they noticed any effect at that point). However, one has apparently permanent minor symptoms (altered taste and smell).
Granted, this is a small ancedote, but seems highly unusual if the actual risk is 1% or 0.1%.
Of course, some studies do find that long COVID risk is lower in breakthrough infections than unvaccinated infections. But the magnitude of reduction is less than going from 33% to 1% or 0.1%.
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In TN, we’ve gone from low single digit positives a few months ago to 21% this week.
I was talking to a client on the phone today - he was hacking - I was like - whoa. And he says, can’t get rid of the covid. The aftermath.
It’s real. We’ve all forgotten it in life, etc. and are getting back to how we are. But for many it’s not a week and over.
It does seem like hospitalization and death have slowed - at least in the stats - but we’re all playing with fire. But I’ve been to two concerts-and it’s been worth the risk…great shows.
But we still only eat outside - and even that’s not full proof.
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Covid cases have been grossly undercounted since the home tests have been widely available and mask mandates have vanished. Currently, the only way to track the cases is by counting the numbers admitted to hospitals and deaths in hospitals. Both have been increasing as far as I can tell and no matter how much people ignore it, some are still becoming seriously ill and dying or having long term effects. We can pretend it’s gone and “live our lives” but the risk is still real.
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My Physical therapist got Covid pre-shots, as did her S. Both have bad long Covid still 2+ years later. She’s 50 and was otherwise healthy. He’s a teen and was otherwise healthy. The coworker PT (similar age) got Covid after all her vaxes and she also has long Covid. She gad been perfectly healthy and also no risk factors.
4 of the 6 of us who were exposed on our beach trip tested positive, but I don’t think any of our cases were reported. It’s possible that CVS reported my oldest’s case (had to get a PCR to prove it to Starbucks). Otherwise I don’t think our cases were reported anywhere.
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I doubt my BIL’s case or my brother’s case were reported, nor my nephews. They just all had home antigen tests. Many many unreported cases meaning no one really has a good handle on how many cases are floating around above and beyond the already high reported #s.
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As Covid cases are tracked by county for public health statistics, report to your county if testing positive!!! I posted on FB about this, and it took about 3 minutes on the computer to let my county add me to their health statistics when I was positive 2 weeks ago. There was a phone number as well.
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no place to report it that I can see in my county or state
Apparently California has a way to report home tests (positive and negative) but I haven’t registered so don’t know how it works:
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Interesting. I poked around a bit online, and both the CDC site as well as looking for Arizona, I didn’t see any links for reporting, though Arizona stated medical offices would report data. In my county in Wisconsin, it was fairly easy to find a place to report. Looks like Marilyn found the right place for California reporting. Rather an interesting implication that data is not being tracked nationwide.
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If we are to report positive home tests shouldn’t we also be reporting negative ones? We’ve taken a bunch in our house (6 or 7) after exposures at school or at work. Thankfully they were all negative.
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We just hosted a milestone bday party today. >30 people were invited and 20 attended. We asked that all attendees be fully vaxed and boosted, preferably with 2 vaxes. We had masks and sanitizer available.
It was a private room of a restaurant 1-4pm. Everyone had a good time and we spent under $650 total, including all food, beverages, cake and tip. They provided us with takeout containers as well.
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That’s pretty cheap, that’s what we paid 2 years ago at Mama’s house for 4 person for a milestone BD, can’t remember if that’s including tip or not.
The peach bavarian cake was fabulous and ordered through the venue. It was light enough that everyone could have some and perfect way to top off the meal.