At my local supermarket, I’d say more than half masked any given visit. At library, places like that, fairly common. I was cat-sitting for my S this week, and any time I saw someone in the common hallway of the apartment building, they were masked.
I think because our area was one of the hardest hit at the beginning, before we knew what was happening, there is more of a sense of caution. Everyone knows people who died. it felt like a war zone that spring, and we still feel it.
Wow, that’s so fascinating to me, these regional differences. My area was very highly masked and careful for a long time, but now I’d really say that less than 1% of people in stores, libraries, theaters, etc are masked. We were not a “hotbed” like NYC in the beginning, but our hospitals filled up and we had to use an overflow temporary hospital for approximately a month in Dec 2020/Jan 2021, which was terrible. But I think with our hospitals close to empty of covid ICU patients, and people realizing the various versions of Omicron are far less dangerous than the original strains (combined with the opportunity for therapeutics and the benefits of vaccines in terms of reducing severity), the majority of people in my state have shed a lot of the trauma of the earlier days. My little state has sadly had over 3000 total deaths attributable to covid, but in the past 4 months, we’ve averaged only 1-2 per week, so our death rate is now a teensy fraction of what it once was. Not saying that’s the right or wrong attitude, just that my area was one of high caution but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen anywhere NEAR half masked in a store! I didn’t even realize that was still going on anywhere.
I’m in this group, being at school for 20 years with a lot of flu going around among teachers and students, including some I sent to the nurse’s office from my classroom - yet I’ve never had symptomatic flu. Since my brain tumor (2014), I’ve gotten the flu shot each year, but that’s because I was told I could be a carrier and give it to others. I’d rather not and again, might help, can’t hurt comes to my mind. I try to help others out.
I used to get colds once or twice per year, often right after school restarted in the fall. And I just had my (first) Covid experience. I was hoping I might be asymptomatic for that too. Not quite, but almost.
I’m not in NYC, but in Essex County NJ, which was one of the highest hit counties in the country that first spring.
I’m always surprised that people in some areas don’t mask at all. Yes, you’re now much less likely to die of it, but long covid is still a thing, plus who wants to get sick every few months for even a few days to several weeks, with a mild case? So much easier to put on a mask and cut chances.
I live in an area that was extremely compliant for mask-wearing, etc., when it was required (close to 100%, no real controversy about it). As soon as it was lifted essentially everyone stopped wearing them. No one bothers the rare person who does, but most people do not.
One thing that may be unusual for me compared to most people is an unusual vaccine history: JJm (three total doses).
I.e. a much more heterologous vaccine history than those who had any combination of only P and M/m, where J induces a stronger CD8+ T-cell response and m induces a stronger antibody response. The CD8+ T-cell immunity appears to fade less than antibody immunity, so could this be helping me avoid infection better than combinations of vaccines that include only P and M/m?
But it looks like there is no new research on this topic these days, since the J vaccine has mostly been abandoned in the US.
I haven’t been on this thread for a while, but I’ve seen a lot of posts from vaxxed and boosted people who got covid. My own family is included in that. Hubby got covid about 5 weeks after his second booster. (I didn’t test positive, though I think he actually got it from me.) The difference now is that I personally have not heard of a single person who has been hospitalized, died, or even gone to the doctor for paxlovid.
We know vaccines don’t stop covid. We do know that they generally stop people from getting seriously ill or dying.
I’m mostly living normally again. I wear a mask whenever I fly (always and forever!) or go shopping. I saw a movie the other night with a big group and I was one of a few people wearing one during the movie. I don’t mind wearing them and as things currently stand, I honestly don’t care if anyone else wears them either. It’s a lot nicer to not feel like it’s us v.s. them. I like wearing one. I enjoy getting sick less often. I’ll be wearing masks for a long time I suspect.
I foresee that much like in Asia, where it’s long been common to wear a mask, it will be normalized in much of the world.
Describes me also so I’m just quoting it. Took a road trip through the mid-west in mid-June and have been to a wedding and a family reunion in the past month. But I don’t ride public transportation and I live in a more rural area. I have a lot of issues with allergies and when I had to mandatory test for work from 9/2020 through 4/2022 I never tested positive when I had symptoms I thought were allergies. Since I stopped mandatory testing in April I’ve had those same type of symptoms several times but haven’t tested, assuming they were also allergies. So who knows??
Oh yes, Essex County did get walloped in the beginning!
For all of these things, I do think personal experience plays a big role into how people feel and react, of course. As for long covid, despite knowing literally hundreds of people who have had covid (some multiple times), I don’t know a soul who had lasting symptoms beyond a few who had things that lasted less than 6 weeks (which, by the way, has occurred for me with other illnesses in the past—particularly when I’ve had pneumonia I’m usually 90% better after the antibiotics, but am lingering out of breath when climbing stairs for about a month and a half, no big deal, then fully better after that). Plus a handful of people who had the original strain who had lack of smell for a longer while (all recovered now), but I don’t know anyone with Omicron who has had longer-term or worrisome lingering symptoms. So I was kind of deathly afraid of long-covid back in the beginning (for me and all of my loved ones, I found long-covid to be a scarier threat than death because I used to think it was much more likely and I had read the horror story examples of people so fatigued they couldn’t get out of bed and go to work, etc). But the reality that I see with my own eyes does not remotely match the studies that imply 20%-30% of people who get covid suffer long covid, it is clear to me that at least in my circles the risk is pretty minuscule. I would probably feel differently if I was elderly or had diabetes or the other risk factors that they have found for long-covid, but even then I know a LOT of elderly who have had Omicron, and none have lingering symptoms (I know one elderly man who had original covid who has never fully bounced back with his energy). I acknowledge it happens, and I agree it would be absolutely awful if it did happen, but I just don’t worry about it because I think its far more likely that I’ll have a devastating car accident or other bad things that might happen than that I’ll wind up with truly bad/truly long covid. But I do absolutely understand the concern, and so I’m perfectly happy to see people who are concerned wearing masks. Knowing that wearing a high quality mask protects the wearer, then whatever makes people feel comfortable makes sense to me!
I also feel like there might be some immune difference. One thing I have noticed on blood work is that me and my kids who have had the tests show high levels of immunoglobulin M. That could just have been the timing of the test when we were fighting something. One kid kid also has low immunoglobulin A. We have a family history of autoimmune diseases.
I will mention blood type not because I believe it really means anything but there is a pattern on my family.
In my birth family, we are all blood type O. Our family is kind of broken, so I don’t know everyone’s details, but this I know:
Mom-not vaccinated, won’t get vaccinated and had a history of vaccine medical exemption prior to covid. She works from home, but eats at restaurants, goes to shops, etc. She wears a mask when it’s asked for but I always notice hers slipping (not on purpose). She gets tested at least once or twice a week for work, despite working at home, and has never had a positive test.
My brother is also unvaccinated, lives in a state that was hit hard but is looser with restrictions. He lives a normal life and has never had it.
I am unvaccinated. I tried several times, but had panic attacks which got worse after adverse events with my kids. I mask, don’t eat in restaurants, don’t go into crowded places. But I slept in the same bed the night my husband woke up with covid symptoms and did not get it. (Delta.) The second time he got covid, I was in a small space with him for hours and did not get it. (Late Delta, early Omicron period.) I finally got covid from my vaccinated daughter after a short exposure. Had I not had a known exposure, I would not have tested. 100 degree fever for a few hours was my only clear sign I was sick. I never felt unwell.
Husband, different blood type, B maybe. Vaccinated and had covid twice after vaccination but too early for a booster. Delta and Omicron probably. First time, low fever for a few hours followed by congestion. Second time heart palpitations which caused him to go to ER where he tested positive. No other symptoms but sinus pressure for a day.
Adult daughter, number 1. Not vaccinated. Blood type O. High IgM but low IgA in past blood tests. Not vaccinated. In Delta time, she slept in the same bed with a friend with symptomatic covid (not on purpose) and did not get it. She tested after an exposure during Omicron time and was positive. She became congested but was fine and worked remotely everyday.
College-age daughter, number 2. Not blood type O. Same blood type as husband. Vaccinated. Chronic adverse reaction. Got covid twice after vaccination during Omicron. Symptoms similar to a bad cold both times but still the worst case in our family.
College-age daughter, number 3. Blood type O. Vaccinated and boosted. Tested often, never got covid. Lived an active, normal life. Otherwise, not a great immune system.
High school age daughter, number 4. Blood type O. Late completed vaccination due to anaphylaxis type reaction after first shot. Tested often, never got covid despite exposures when family members had it. Normal, active life. In person school. Masked. Not a great immune system otherwise.
Some research suggests that blood type O is at lower risk of COVID-19 than other blood types.
We’re all Type O+ in my family. Hasn’t made a difference for us.
Oldest son having had it in his 20s prior to vaccines and becoming a Long Covid sufferer - symptoms (fatigue, pains in his chest, lingering cough) didn’t disappear until after vaccinated with Moderna almost a year later - definitely has colored our views.
I’m glad the vaccines are out there to have assisted H and medical lad, plus the second time oldest had it, it only lasted a day or two. Never had it as bad, nor lingering symptoms so between natural immunity and vaccines, something worked.
I’m not positive I needed vaxxes, but no regrets at all. They might have helped.
We aren’t equally vulnerable to this virus and none of us is fully immune to it. Anyone will be infected if s/he is exposed to sufficient quantity of it, even though the threshold may be different for different people, depending on their vaccination statuses, prior infections, genetics, etc. We will never know for certain what may, or may not, have protected us. Since infection only brings risks, and no benefits, I prefer not to be infected. Neither my spouse nor I has been infected thus far. We are both vaccinated (and singly boosted), and we wear quality masks indoors when strangers are present and when we aren’t eating, and outdoors if for extended period of time with a crowd.
If I could do it over again knowing what I know now, I would still encourage H to get vaccinated. And I still would feel better if my mom would get it.
I can’t say so aloud, but I wish my daughter with the long term issues post-vaccine did not get vaccinated, but no one could have predicted her reaction.
And my one daughter was so scared of covid that she threw up once when we tried to go food shopping, masked, in an empty store with good air circulation. She needed the vaccine for her mental health as much as her physical health.
Is it possible that the risk of adverse reactions to vaccination correlates to risk of worse outcomes from COVID-19 itself? Some of the more serious adverse reactions to vaccines (myocarditis, clotting disorders) seem to be the kinds of things that COVID-19 itself can cause.
If so, that is doubly bad for the affected people, since vaccination is problematic for them, but getting COVID-19 is more likely to be worse for them than average.
This is very true. My oldest has markers for a clotting problem and various auto-antibodies. Thankfully, covid was not a problem for her.
For my daughter who got vaccinated, I don’t think any data would put her in a high risk category. I suppose she could have got long haul. But her covid infections didn’t seem to have any effect like that. I absolutely know I am biased because of her reaction. If she had got covid without being vaccinated and ended up as a long hauler, I would be here saying I wish she had been vaccinated.
There is a branch of the family where there are 3 generations of non-vaxxers: grandparents, parents, and children. The grand dad got COVID last winter and was hospitalized, and darn near died. Now whenever any of their vaccinated employees gets a MILD case of COVID, they scoff at them, " look they got vaccinated and got COVID anyway".
Yes they did. But they had very mild cases. And weren’t hospitalized. Like your patriarch, who almost died in a hospital.
SMH.
I know 7 people who have never had Covid get it in the last month, including my kids. DH and I have still not had it. We are living pretty much mask free. We have spent Covid traveling and moved part time to a more crowded city where we took public transportation often, dined indoors… So more risks over the last year, but in a more highly vaxed location. I think initially, that made a big difference. With these variants, I think it is just a matter of time regardless of vaccination status.
Neither spouse nor I has gotten Covid to our knowledge. I have tested frequently this year in connection with various medical procedures. Neither wears a mask, including while flying. We eat out and don’t avoid crowds, but also don’t look for them. Both vaxed and, as of late last fall/early winter, one booster. I did have a severe drop in platelet count attributable to the booster shot and that landed me in the hospital with a dangerously low platelet count (like 1-2000) in January. That is really the only pandemic-related complication I’ve had. Most of our kids have avoided Covid as well - one recently tested positive after traveling to visit friends and had mild symptoms. Wracking my brain to think who among our friends has NOT gotten Covid at this point. Several have gotten it twice. We are not sure why we have dodged the bullet on this.
H and I have not had covid, to our knowledge. Both double-boosted. We were very covid-cautious prior to vaccines; since then we have been increasingly less so. We wear masks in small inside public places (highway rest stops and hotel elevators for instance) but not always in stores, depends on space and crowd. I don’t mind wearing a mask but don’t feel like there is a big risk at the grocery store with high ceilings and minimal contact with any one person. We now socialize with family and friends inside and don’t sweat it too much. And H is back to in-person business meetings and networking events. We do tend to be more careful when we have an important upcoming event we don’t want to miss due to covid - that is really now the thing that most affects the precautions we take.
Our S and his wife are both full-time paramedics and only just recently got it, very very mild (faint line for DIL and negative antigen test/no symptoms for S so not sure if he got it or not, but he did not isolate from his wife or their 9-month old, who had the original infection from a caretaker - so if he didn’t have it, there has to be some reason for that - ??)
I also have had no known exposures, so I think luck does play some part of it. I have been in enough situations where I certainly could have gotten it if someone was contagious, including weddings, vacations with family and friends and overnight stays with our S, DIL and grandbaby.
I did return home from a vacation in April with cold symptoms (2 weeks after 2nd booster), but tested for multiple days and always negative. No one who was with me had any illness before or after that trip. But I had a weird thing happen where I was feeling crappy in the morning of 3rd day of not feeling well, and then quite suddenly in the afternoon I was feeling 100% fine. Like the illness just up and left at one particular moment. I do wonder if I had covid and that was the antibodies kicking in. Who knows!