Yes. When I asked why they insisted on continuing to hold in-person services, they didn’t want a visitor to show up to an empty church on Sunday morning. Sigh. And you have to remember, the leaders of this church (including my uncle) thought COVID was a hoax.
I think I’m with you on this, though I wasn’t volunteering - it was my job. Many teachers I knew have since left/retired and I no longer really know the kids there. Previous years I only had to learn the 9th graders for the most part. I’ve been dabbling in the stock market during my free time and found I can earn more money there (I know that’s not a guarantee), and it’s a completely on my own schedule, so I’m not sure I’m ever going back. I miss parts of teaching, but such is life.
I started my leave of absence because of FIL and no vaccines. I assumed I’d return afterward, but the whole masking garbage turned me completely off. It was required, but they let pretty much anyone who wanted to exempt themselves out of it, so the requirement was worthless. Teachers weren’t even allowed to segregate maskers from non-maskers at group tables within the room. That’s not the type of caring about others I want a school to teach. I feel for those in admin, because they had to take the brunt of it all from both sides (parents). We live in Deep Red, so guess which side won.
We left our church over similar things too. They follow a different Bible than I read.
We have eaten in restaurants and go to the movies now though - post vax. We increased Take Out pre-vax to help keep our favorite places in business - and dropped completely (forever) a couple of places that didn’t close when it was required by state law.
I made a point to donate all the money we saved from Covid by not going places and doing things (travel) to charities to help others affected.
We hardly ever went to large events (crowd allergy), so that’s not a change on our part.
It’s interesting reading about everyone’s adjustments (or lack thereof). The world continues to keep going because of our differences, so no biggie there (for the most part). Other teachers have jobs to replace those of us who left.
In the Catholic church, not attending Sunday mass is considered to be a mortal sin, which, if unconfessed, would keep you out of heaven. YET, at least here in the northeast, Catholic churches very quickly shut down in person services in March 2020 and went to an online model. Even to this day our parish, which is in full swing in-person, still offers online broadcast of masses for this who are not comfortable attending.
There are ways around mandatory church requirements, but those in charge have to be willing.
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I attend mass on my church’s YouTube channel.
I watched Christmas mass at St. Patrick’s this year online. That was a nice option.
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I’ve been going to church indoors since the day they reopened in June of 2020.
But your church did close for awhile. This one didn’t.
They probably realized that continuing the remote option enables people who are sick that day to attend services (and avoid sharing the sickness with others if it is anything spreadable).
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And it’s nice we can watch the service from our cabin in the wilderness. Our cell signal is better up there than at our house in the suburbs.
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I think the Pope decreed that in a pandemic, you didn’t have to attend in person. A friend told me that made her feel ok with watching mass on line.
Italy and the Vatican were shut down at the start of the pandemic. No one was going to church in person.
The Pope also decreed that vaccines were for the greater good and that he approved of the vaccine.
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Right. What I was trying to say is that if a group as intransigent as the RC church could figure out how to deal with COVID, any church that wanted to , could as well.
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Vaccines were not available when they were first infected. I’m guessing March 2020. They were vaxxed and boosted before the second infection.
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Edited because other posters have made the same point concerning the RC churches response to Covid.
IMO, no church calling itself Christian would require their congregants to show up in person during a worldwide pandemic. It’s plain to me that the ones who do are motivated by the almighty $, not the Almighty.
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I agree requiring attendance during a pandemic is not good, but money is not the motivation in this church’s case. They don’t even have paid clergy or staff. It’s a very small church and anything that is donated goes to the upkeep of the church building or supporting other congregations around the world. They are driven by religious belief.
On the topic of vaccine reluctance, I thought this was interesting:
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That points to Cardiac Complications After SARS-CoV-2 Infection and mRNA COVID-19 Vaccination — PCORnet, United States, January 2021–January 2022 | MMWR for the actual study.
In all of the age groups listed, COVID-19 has higher risk of myocarditis or pericarditis than mRNA vaccination. For the least favorable age and gender group (12-17 male), COVID-19 had about double the risk as vaccination. This means that, for only the risk of myocarditis or pericarditis, an unvaccinated 12-17 year old male would have a lower risk only if he had a less than ~50% chance of getting COVID-19 for the rest of the time he is in that age group. Even if that were the case, the risk ratio tips more in favor of vaccination as he gets older.
Of course, other effects of actual COVID-19 can be a problem as well.
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@CateCAParent Wondering how you are doing post Evusheld? One of my sons (immune compromised since 15) received approval yesterday from one of his specialists to receive Evusheld. He has had 3 full dosages of Modern and boosted in February. He did get COVID about a month after his 3rd injection and received monoclonal antibody treatment fairly quickly since we didn’t know how he’ll respond to COVID. His symptoms were mild, but we don’t know if it was because he was vaxxed or bc of the monoclonal antibody. We suspect both. He still wears a mask indoors. It hasn’t been hard to wear a mask for him (or for us), but it has been hard and getting harder when he is often the only person wearing one among his peers. His peers long gave them up.
@TexasTiger2 Thank you for your posts on this thread. They have been helpful to me immensely. What have you heard and observed about patients who have received Evusheld? There is very little news about it and we scour the news regularly. My son is disappointed that he had to ask for it from his specialists. Granted, they are fairly new doctors to him since he moved to a new city for his job. However, he has been very proactive in communicating with them for the past year.
Definitely get it - he needs to protect himself as much as possible since as you implied society has moved on. They will give one shot in one arm, then the other in the other arm, take vitals occasionally afterwards and observe for 1 hour I think. I have not heard of any adverse reactions.
I know several people who received Evusheld, and then were among people who had active infection, but never developed any symptoms themselves. I know of 2 transplant women whose husbands and young children all had Covid in their home and these 2 women had very mild symptoms, much less than their children and spouses. Another transplant patient that I know of had to be admitted for Covid after the injection.
You always have to wonder how effective Evusheld will be when new variants pop up. In vitro studies suggested some decreased effectiveness with Omicron, and I think the above examples support that.
Less active doesn’t mean ineffective. So your son most likely will get very good protection. Watch for new variants. The shot is supposed to last for 6 months, maybe a year (too soon to know for sure). See if there is reported decreased effectiveness if there’s a new variant. If he becomes symptomatic, there’s always other therapeutics (paxlovid, newer MAb), so if he becomes symptomatic and tests positive after receiving Evusheld have him call his physician to ask about the latest recommendations for these treatments following Evusheld.
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Totally fine! Thanks for asking. I was tired that day, but I think that was nerves. Honestly, the shots hurt a little, but not a big deal. They said the only people that have had issues were those few who had known, previous reactions to injections, and even for them it was manageable.
Sounds like your son has been doing a good job getting through a lot. He should be fine with this.
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@TexasTiger2 Thank you for you insight. I shared your message with him. When we spoke to our son last night we all were in the camp to get the Evusheld. He is planning to communicate to his other specialist so all are in the loop. We’re hoping this will give him some breathing room and a little bit of peace of mind with warmer weather approaching. Do you think he should get a 2nd booster (FYI - his 4th which was a booster in February) in June or July? @CateCAParent mentioned in her post that her doctor told her to continue to get the booster. At this time, his specialist who ordered Evusheld did not mention anything beyond the Evusheld. It’s another thing my son has to specifically ask to maybe get a specific answer.
We have been following what BA2 variant outcomes have been in Europe and cautiously waiting to see how it will affect the US. Strongly hoping summer months will help dissipate BA2.
I’m glad to hear you are doing well.
One of the greatest concerns for my son is getting long covid symptoms. Many speak about not knowing anybody they know who got long covid. Many just say oh it was a simple cold and there’s nothing to worry about especially if young and healthy. One of his friends, a 28 year old who was very healthy with no underlying issues, trim and active, got Covid last August after twice vaxxed. Since then she is always so fatigued that she doesn’t have a normal life. This terrifies him.