First time I went to the ballet a little over a year ago too, I ugly cried. I was so overwhelmed with emotion. The tears made the mask ineffective is my guess, but I couldn’t stop myself.
I see a lot of people saying things like the above poster. That they don’t want to live on high alert forever. I think one thing that people block out when making these calculations is what it is like to live with a lifelong illness. Many viruses don’t show their full impact until many years after acute infection. Varicella (chicken pox) causes shingles, some people can get recurring shingles infections over and over again decades after infection. Epstein Barr (mono) has been linked to causing Multiple Sclerosis. HIV infection doesn’t cause Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) for many years after initial infection. Human Papilloma Virus can cause many types of cancers, 10-20 years after initial infection or more.
The difference between living forever with masks vs living forever with chronic illness is that you can enjoy an experience with a mask on, or take your mask off outside or in other safe settings and enjoy yourself. When you have a chronic illness you have no control over what you can enjoy or when you might be able to do anything, mask or not.
BTW, for those of you that find masks very uncomfortable, please know that there are MANY different types of masks, some of which are much more comfortable and breathable than others. If you are interested in learning more about that, you can check out a guy named Aaron Collins (@masknerd) on twitter and youtube. He is very knowledgeable and has independently tested and reviewed almost every type of mask there is.
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When I actually got COVID-19 (despite wearing N95 masks in quick dashes to indoor grocery stores and restaurants for take-out the week before), I did not go indoors where there were other people until a negative test. I did go outdoors well away from other people during that time.
That could mean being an unwitting spreader. When I had COVID-19, the very mild symptoms lasted only about a week, but the tests showed positive for about a week after.
I’m wondering if there is any more information on this.
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Note that the study was in early 2021, when people who got COVID-19 were likely unvaccinated (since the vaccines were highly effective against the ancestral and Alpha variants prevalent then, but were only beginning to be available). Table 1 in that paper also indicates that the COVID-19 survivor cohort in the study tended to have relatively severe cases (even by the standards of pre-vaccine cases).
| Complication | |
|---|---|
| Pneumonia | 57.3% |
| Oxygen therapy | 52.4% |
| Artificial ventilation | 35.5% |
| Length of viral positivity (average) in weeks | 4.84 |
The reality is that no study right now will know what is to come 1-6 decades down the road. They are only just starting to learn about the damage to the immune system. Do people know that 70% of polio cases were asymptomatic but still infectious? Post Polio Syndrome doesn’t present for 15-40 years after infection. There are studies ongoing to determine how many cancers and other neurodegenerative diseases are caused by viral infections (alzheimers, parkinsons, als)
You know those HPV vaccine commercials, that are like “mom, I’m sure you didn’t know this could give me cancer or you would have gotten me the vaccine when i was a kid”(paraphrased)? That’s what I anticipate re: covid in a few years time. And let’s not forget “Shingles doesn’t care!” It very much does not.
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Thanks for your insights. I hoped you would have input! It’s encouraging to figure that the biological age acceleration and telomore shortening are at least less severe now (probably).
I think this is worded oddly to me. The truth is that for highly vaccinated people my age (early 50s) who are very healthy, my observation of all of my friends and the recent data I’ve seen of what covid is like in 2023 (not the early days pre-vaccine and with the ancestral strain) indicates that the vast majority actually do experience the equivalent of mild cold and/or are asymptomatic. So the risk is there for a severe case, but the people who suffer the severe cases are the ones who are “special”, since that is the tiny minority. It doesn’t make someone special to experience covid as just a mild cold-equivalent. Similarly, long-covid appears to be very rare among that population–I actually don’t know a single person in real life who is dealing with ongoing symptoms (although my heart breaks for what OldMom is going through and I’m very glad she’s on her way home), so saying, “why do people think they’re so special that they won’t get long-covid?” seems like an odd question–they don’t have to be special to NOT get long-covid; they have to be more special to GET a serious case of long-covid.
So the risks are there, and everyone has different risk tolerances.
To be clear, I have a huge stash of covid tests and test at a mere whisper of a symptom and more commonly before visiting closely with highly vulnerable people. I absolutely would stay home if I tested positive until I tested negative (but fortunately haven’t had covid yet). I am not utterly blasé about the whole thing, and I am/would always be concerned about spreading covid (and colds and flus and other contagious illnesses). But I have fully resumed all of my activities and socializing pretty much back to how it was as long as myself and the people I’m going out with are feeling healthy. (What I mean is that there have been a few times we had dinner plans with people, and the day of someone will say, “oh, full disclosure, I just started a little cough and headache, but it’s probably not covid”, then I would decline that night and reschedule). But I’m fully back in public places and parties, etc.
As for worrying about things happening 30 years down the line, I definitely know that’s possible. (And by the way, I don’t want covid which is why I have had 5 covid vaccine shots, and I certainly don’t want long covid). I also know that the chemotherapy I had 8 years ago increases my odds of developing a leukemia or heart problem well into the future, too. I do not spend time worrying about those things, as they are still not likely to happen, even though my odds are increased over baseline. And, as an optimist, I also believe that even if some of these things end up developing decades from now, we will have made medical breakthroughs to handle them (or, my pessimistic side thinks the world will have gone to bits by then anyway 
).
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Agree. For those whose risk of long Covid is very low…non elderly …non immune compromised…no comorbidites…fully vaxxed and boosted and a,ready had covid, asking if they think they are “special” is like asking someone who rides a bike “ or gets in a car even wearing a seat belt. “do you think you are special and not at risk of an accident with life changing consequences? Because those happen”.
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Putting in a plug for those who have forgotten to do this but when waiting in line at a store or whatever, please don’t forget to leave some distance between you and the person in front of you. I don’t ever want/need anyone on top of me in line again! I try to be really cognizant of this.
I also still give my hands a squirt of hand sanitizer when I get back in the car after any public outing.
It’s the little things! 
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Yes! I hate it when people crouch up behind me constantly at checkout etc.
I’ve given looks and if that doesn’t work I’ve said can we have a little more space between us, please?
I continue to use hand sanitizer every time I return to my car, and this was a habit of mine (and kids) prior to Covid, too. Just a natural part of the school day when they were younger and I picked them up after school, and after activities.
So we had plenty of hand sanitizer when pandemic hit….and a fair amount of TP in every bathroom, too!
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Not many people in that category, really. The percentage of people with BMI over 30 is over 40%. Many are not “fully vaxxed” (which would include the bivalent booster).
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I know that is true nationwide. But in large ‘blue’ upscale and/or highly educated bubbles like where I live it is the vast majority of people.
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It is true about the healthy BMIs, and I’ve been so disappointed that our public health officials didn’t put more of an emphasis on this and create programs to help people move into a healthier category specifically for the sake of covid—we’ve had 3 years!—plenty of time to work on weight and reduce odds of a bad outcome.
But my observation of both friends and recent data indicates that overweight friends (not morbidly obese) also fair very well with covid and do not get severe cases; it still would make someone with a BMI of say 30 or 31 more “special” to experience severe covid than to experience something akin to a cold or flu.
Similarly, I’ve had all 5 shots (including bivalent) that I’ve been eligible for, but most of my friends I know stopped after 3 or 4. But none of them have had severe covid, and the data shows that’s typical also. That it is still more rare to experience severe covid for people in their 50s even if they only have had 1 or 2 boosters. Actually probably still true even if they stopped after the 2 initial shots.
Yes bad things happen, but that snarky-sounding phrasing of “what makes people think they’re so special” just felt very wrong given that the vast majority of people (yes, even somewhat overweight and partially vaxxed) still get through covid ok. They don’t have some delusional idea of being so very special!! I would almost say to someone who is reasonably healthy and vaccinated but still expects/anticipates a terrible outcome “what makes you think you’re so special that you will end up being one of the very minority of cases to end up with a severe case and with life-altering long covid?”
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I have to admit I feel like I’ve moved on, to be honest. I literally know not a single person who has had a hard time with COVID, even my 85-year-old dad who has lung issues. My husband and I work from home, so we don’t get out that much. But I’m not masking unless asked to.
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Hmm I can’t figure out how to do multiple quotes, but I said something to this effect multiple times. Not sure why you think or would say that I think “no one “ is at risk. I just don’t think that getting covid and only experiencing a mild form makes one special; it makes them typical. And they don’t even need to be the model of good health and youth for that to be the case (as noted above; my elderly mom and all of aunts and uncles also got through covid with no issues. I shouldn’t have implied you need to be 50 and in tip-top shape!)
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I’m genuinely sorry to read this post and sincerely wish you well and that you soon find yourself able to enjoy many of those activities that you used to enjoy (volunteering, etc). Whether that happens due to a change in the society/the environment (ie new/better/more perfect vaccines, increasingly innocuous strains of the virus, etc etc etc), or a mindset change that enables you to comfortably accept small amounts of risk, I sincerely wish for you to gain back all of that. Because I do believe those “living life” experiences you questioned above are indeed exceedingly valuable! So I’m stopping this line of commenting and just wishing you well.
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That page says that “Mark Davis et al concluded that research is needed into new vaccination strategies which will boost antiviral T-cell immunity.”
Meaning J&J vaccine, which tends to result in a strong CD8+ T-cell response (but weak antibody response) compared to mRNA vaccines? Perhaps related to why one study found better vaccine protection in those who had both J&J and an mRNA vaccine than other vaccinated people.
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