She’s preparing for her husband Jim’s birthday party tomorrow. They’ll have about twenty or so guests over, and because the weather is poor they’ll all be packed into the house instead of out in the garden. All of the windows will be shut tight against the cold, and none of 'em will be wearing masks.
Jim is eighty, Mum is in her seventies, all of the guests will be of similar vintage. And although they’ll all be vaxxed, that does not prevent transmission; Jim was infected a month ago.
…and just heard that my brother in Darwin now has the plague. Concurrent with a new flare up of his spinal injuries, which are certainly not going to play nicely with severe coughing.
I just got my second booster. I had a fairly typical response for me --fever of 101°, chills/hot flashes, lethargy, lack of appetite-- but unfortunately it coincided with a bad sinus headache, so it really kicked my butt this time.
I’m still glad it’s done and over with, as my grandmother’s birthday is coming up, and that means a family get-together. My immunity should be fully on-line just in time for it, so I’m protecting her (and me) as much as I can. (We’re always careful when we do get together, we keep it to smaller, vaxxed groups and we stay outside as much as possible… but Grandma’s 94 this year, and we want to spend time with her while we can.)
My brother texted me about fifteen minutes ago to let me know that yesterday he was in contact with someone who’d tested positive for the virus.
My first instinct was to find that person and burn them, as my brother is immunocompromised (no spleen, due to Hodgkins’ from which he’s been in remission over thirty years).
And now I’m concerned about my cousin’s wedding next Saturday. I mean, one of my other 2d cousins bought my aunt a My Pillow for her birthday last year! I don’t want to attend a superspreader event. I’ve been through childhood diseases, one when I was adult; attempted suicide twice; had near-death food-poisoning and appendicitis; I am NOT about to let some damned virus take me out if I can possibly prevent that from happening!
I contacted my bride-to-be 2d cousin & asked if preventative measures will be taken.
If she doesn’t plan on doing so, I’d suggest skipping it, and sending the couple a gift instead, maybe promise to meet up with them later to celebrate their wedding. People keep acting like this is over, and it’s most certainly not.
It sucks that those of us trying to be responsible keep having to make these choices to keep ourselves and others safe, and keep being told we’re being unreasonable.
After sitting on the fence and waiting until the last minute before RSVPs were due, I ultimately bailed on my niece’s wedding next month. Everything is scheduled to be outside, but Cape Cod, the middle of July, just seemed like a wall-to-wall spreader event for the weekend. So we gave our apologies and sent an extra special gift instead.
I think the rest of the family thinks we’re wimping out though.
Well, there’s not going to be temp-taking, but masks are welcomed and social distancing will be encouraged.
We may not be going, as my brother’s driving, and our attendance hinges on whether or not he has the virus, as he’s going to wait and see if he shows any symptoms before taking his home test in a couple of days.
He got upset that I said I wanted to burn someone for possibly infecting him, as it turned out to be someone whom he cares about. I got not just a text but a phone call. And he’s TEXTING ME now, sheezus-pleezus!
And he’s like, oh well I was an alcoholic for 35 years, why don’t I need a liver transplant and blah blah and not having a spleen notwithstanding, I think I won’t get it (he has been vaxxed and boosted once; not sure if he’s had his 2d booster). REALLY? He does wear a mask, but STILL…
Ugh, got my 2d booster yesterday, and feel icky today. Felt icky yesterday after I’d mowed the front lawn w/the push-reel mower.
No fever, but those aches & pains in the joints. Wouldn’t it be nice to have temporary out-of-body experiences when one is ill or feeling physical discomfort to whatever degree, lol?
My brother works at a Trader Joe’s in Portland, Maine, and right now 14 employees at that store are out due to Covid.
St. Louis is back in the “high community spread” category with a 20% positivity rate. It’s hard to say what that actually means, given at-home tests etc. but for comparison, two months ago it was 3% – so of course, most people pretended it was all over and stopped taking precautions (if they took any at all in the first place).
As you infer, positivity rate is meaningless now, due to at-home testing. What’s happening is that people who test positive at home, and want to get Paxlovid or one of the other anti-virals, are discovering that their healthcare providers insist on another, traceable test performed by an actual lab or clinic lab to prevent stockpiling and/or hoarding. People suck.
