There is one piece of data that is either impossible to gather or has not been shared that makes this statement less of a concern from my perspective. Out of those 850,000 deaths above the age of 50 how many were fully vaccinated?
The 1st year to 18 months of isolation and masking was absolutely necessary, but as the most vulnerable groups got vaccinated, we have still not entered a stage of the pandemic where the unvaccinated have made up a smaller portion of the deaths. In my mind those who are unvaccinated after the vaccines were readily available and did not have a medical reason made a choice (some made similar choices with masking) that makes young peopleās continued sacrifice moot. All people with compromised immune systems should take many extra precautions (and those around them should take extra precautions as well). But while I am sorry for anyone who loses a loved one, some seem to be okay with asking the young to sacrifice indefinitely, when the unvaccinated make up the majority of the serious complications. Most people in my own āvillageā do not.
We also have additional data now that those who choose to use high quality masks can protect themselves for relatively long periods of time regardless if whether anyone around them is masked. Oneās safety depends far less on group conduct than on oneās own personal action on vax, boosters, and masks.
The 2-3% number for long Covid is the only one that matters in my particular situation since it would be a breakthrough infection if anyone in my immediate family caught Covid.
If you expect large portions of the population to listen to the science then when the numbers are very low you should also give them a break by loosening some of the restrictions. The science says when the numbers are low that it is safer to ease up. I donāt think most people will be hesitant to don masks again if the numbers increase. Theyāll always be a portion you wonāt reach but you shouldnāt take steps that alienate others by not actually easing restrictions when the data says itās safer. Quality masks are available for those that still want to wear them. The country is simply not going to wear masks forever. Tying mask wearing to local data seems like a very legitimate way to present it. Itās clear and has on and off ramps that are easily definable and known.
Where I live it was the same. About 80-90percent without masks in mid -June. Then back to 100 percent during Omicronā¦and near 100 percent in surgical or some sort of high quality mask. This was change from first period when it was almost all cloth masks.
That data is not helpful, since it includes people who died before vaccination started, it also includes deaths as vaccination was going on, so includes people with only one shot, etc.
What is useful are the statistics that have shown that for pre-Omicron, infection rate of vaccinated was 1/7 that of unvaccinated, and for Omicron, it was 1/2 to 1/3. Death rate has moved from 1/13 to 1/18 and back to 1/10.
For that age group, the rates are about lower overall.
However, since that group was dying at an even higher rate at the beginning of the pandemic, and the number of vaccinated only hit a substantial percent by March/February 2021, I would be very surprised if more than a 1%-2% of the people over 50 who died were vaccinated, so maybe 9,000-16,000 or so.
My point being that the raw numbers can give an illusion that breakthrough cases among the vaccinated are even lower than is actually the case.
Breakthrough numbers are one thing, hospitalizations and deaths after a breakthrough are much more telling.
Just and anecdote. Four current members in my household. Two teenagers two doses each, one prizer x2, one Modena X2. Two adults one J&J with Modena booster, one Moderna X2 +booster. All recently shared Omicron. All milder cases and recovered or recovering.
On a trip to the local Patient First to calm anxiety, the doctor noted that he had treated 500 vaccinated patients with COVID-19 and sent none of them to the hospital. He also stated that he had sent over one hundred unvaccinated patients to the hospital.
Vaccines are working as designed, to help keep people from getting as seriously ill. Not perfect but definitely working. Especially with highly contagious variants, Omicron, weāre going to have high numbers of breakthrough cases.
Mask mandates lifted in CT as of today. Every place I was at today that was requiring masks up TO todayā¦.no longer is. This included businesses, senior center and my volunteer job.
Will you still mask? Iām wondering how many people will still mask, or not go or go less to places now. That would be be me. Until the covid rate is truly lower/near zero where I live (case rate only), I will continue to mask (N95) and not go to crowded places. No indoor dining. Iām no longer doing in-school volunteering, and wonāt do that again (Iād done that for many years). I know they need blood donations, and I have NO interest in that. Iām sure masking will be dropped there (wonder how well it was enforced anyway). Too bad ā they wonāt get my O blood. If anyone in our immediate family were to need blood, we all have O blood. One is O-, so we could do directed donations.
I will wear masks in crowded places. But except for the airport when I fly, I really am not going where there are crowds indoors. The last time our state reduced the mask mandate, I did the same.
No more mask for me except airport. I will be living my life normally. Iāve been going to church inside since June of 2020, first with masks, then no masks, masks again and now no masks. Iāve been going to indoor restaurants since indoor restaurants first reopened. I have no intentions of avoiding anything or of wearing masks again.
I gave blood last month. Masks were required and everyone seemed to be wearing them correctly where and when I gave. Everything was set up to take full advantage of social distancing also. If one is wearing an N95 or similar mask Iām not really sure thereās that much risk.
Weāll still be doing what others around us are doing or what is requested/required by where we are. Masks vs no masks simply doesnāt bother us.
Being inside doesnāt bother us much either, post vax + booster. That said, I have a crowd allergy dating back to my youth, so Iāve always actively avoided crowds. I prefer my dining, shopping, and movies, etc, with fewer people, not more, and choose times accordingly.
We do need to find a new church, but thatās due to not buying into the God, Guns, and Guts fallacy. Our old one showed their true colors during Covid. They arenāt our colors.
Thatās great to read. Over the past 4 months, H had surgery inpatient and I had some in-hospital testing for health issues. Both times, while masking was mostly good, I saw mask protocol violations (particularly during Hās hospitalization). So Iām not really confident at all that the same thing wouldnāt occur during blood drives.
Iām not willing to let others make decisions on my risk (if people mask, I will; if not, I wonāt). I am encouraged by the drop in Omicron by objective measures, and certainly hope that it continues all the way down to nearly zero. I do not want to get covid. I do not want to get long covid. There are still way too many unknowns about long covid, and if the past is predictive, the U.S. will be dealing with an epidemic of long covid.
Today, all schools are mask optional. However, teachers in Hās district still have to wear them. I think kids still have to wear them on buses. It would have been nice had they waited until the end of the school year, but whatever at this point. Cases are down, but still hovering around 40 a day per 100K. Percent positivity is around 15% which isnāt good, but down from the 40-45% it was. We havenāt been under 5% except for a few weeks last summer. We are now down (up?) to 1 in every 160 people have died in my city.
That being said, Iām starting to move toward no masks. I brought in all of my old cloth ones from the cars to be washed and put up. I havenāt worn them in months anyway. I didnāt wear one in the grocery store, but did in Walmart. Like others, I donāt go to crowded spots much anyway. Crowded in my city is half empty elsewhere. But we did have a miserable dining experience Saturday. more crowded than I would have liked, noisy, and very poor service. We wonāt be going back there again anytime soon. And Iām still staying out of the gym. Maybe in a few weeks Iāll go back if cases drop. But my running has been going OK and I have a full gym at home. Itās just hard working out by yourself in 32* shed at oh dark thirty every morning
I wish I knew if I had an asymptomatic case of Omicron. I canāt believe I havenāt working here in an open space unmasked all day with everyone who had it. But who knows. So for the time being, Iām operating like I havenāt had it.
I think thatās great for you. You need to do what makes you feel the most comfortable.
Can you also support this statement for those who want to make their own decisions on their own risk that have no intentions of wearing masks?
Unfortunately their decision isnāt always solely āon their own risk.ā In some circumstances, those who choose not to mask are putting others at a higher risk.
I think that @MarylandJOE clarified my main point much better than I, which is that people who are fully vaccinated or fully vaccinated and boosted are not the ones clogging up hospitals with serious illnesses or dying in high percentages right now (nor at any point during the pandemic). No one wants to catch a breakthrough case of Covid, but I believe in the efficacy of the vaccines and data (that being fully vaccinated and boosted will protect my family from hospitalization, Long Covid, and death). I find that some people are still looking at Covid infections from āMarch 2020 eyesā when an Covid infection meant upwards of a 1.5% chance of death, a 5-10% chance of hospitalization and upwards of a 30% chance of Long Covid. Today, almost all in our society have had the opportunity to get fully vaccinated or fully vaccinated and boosted, and all should take whatever precautions that they deem necessary to protect themselves and their families.
I donāt think that anyone is against masking in an assistant living facility or other high risk patient settings. But if someone is at a mall, or in high traffic public areas, high risk individuals need to take any and all precautions to protect themselves if masking is not mandated.