We, the nurses who have worked there longer, have actually been given a pay cut at the hospital I work at. The pay for new nurses has improved a small amount. Needless to say, feels like a kick in the teeth after the last few years. Sorry don’t want to derail the thread - back to maternity leave/pay. I had a year of maternity leave in the UK with both my babies. The first 6 ish months paid, the rest unpaid, but they had to keep my job for me.

It’s actually possible to make the illness worse by taking steroids too early. If they’re given during the active viral phase, they can dampen the immune response and make you worse. They need to be saved, and given, if needed, during the second, over-active immune system phase.

If she is in the USA she absolutely should have qualified. That is crazy that the dr said that. You have to take Paxlovid in case you’re going to have serious symptoms, it can be too late if they wait to see what happens.

We bought bulk flowers from Sam’s club, shipped to the house. We got a hundred roses, a hundred stems of baby’s breath and a huge box of greenery. The greenery was fantastic but way too much, don’t buy the bigger box unless you are putting together a forest! When I got it all out of the box I had about 8 buckets full, but it was fresh and a good variety. The baby’s breath was also excellent. The roses were a bit hit and miss, although mostly good, and we didn’t really get the color pink we ordered. We wanted to order ranunculus from there but I read quite a few bad reviews, so we got those and a few extra things from Gerbes/Kroger. You do have to be a member to order flowers from Sam’s but we borrowed a friend’s card.

Maybe listen to the TWIV podcast with Daniel Griffin for another view point. I have not researched this myself, so I don’t know which argument holds more water, but he is pretty positive about Paxlovid, so far, so it may be helpful to hear his rationale too.

Wow! You’re lucky then!

Not sure if I understand what you’re saying. Are you, as a healthcare worker, saying the vaccines are making people get Covid? If so could you explain the mechanism that makes that possible?

The Holy Post is like a lifeline to me. Virtually every Christian around me is quite into Christian Nationalism and listening to the podcast makes me realize I’m not the only one who thinks differently.

We’re flying to the UK next week. I plan on N95 while boarding and deplaning and then switching to KN95 while air system is on in the plane. I have read that it is helpful to have your air vent blowing down on you full blast. When I’ve flown before I would take a quick drink or a bite and put my mask back on while I chewed etc. Not sure what I’ll do in the airport, will probably depend on how crowded. Last time I flew I was able to find a really deserted place to eat quickly.

If you listen to TWIV they say that the rebound thing is actually a function of the natural disease, without Paxlovid, in about 30% of cases.

Tell her she should listen to the TWIV podcast. Might help her understand it better.

May is a lovely month for flowers and blossom in the UK- my favorite month to visit! I definitely recommend taking one of those double decker bus tours around London. You see so much and can decide what things you want a closer look at. I lived in London for years, but didn’t take one of those bus tours until I returned with my children years later, and it was so interesting.

Whatever the figure it’s still way more than just about anywhere, if not anywhere, in the world. I don’t know how so many Americans accept it as just a normal part of life. It’s not normal. Accepting there’s a problem is the first step. People, who do not live with this occurring all the time, can not fathom the attitude here. In my opinion they have the right idea. It is sick and crazy! I can’t believe it is a part of every day life here!

I still go places and do what I have to do, I’m not avoiding all risk. For me that’s impossible because of work etc. But I wear a mask inside public places, and I do everything possible outside. I took my biggest risk at my dd’s wedding a few weeks ago. We were super careful the 2 weeks before, but did not wear a mask for the wedding. I wanted to reduce my risk to others as much as possible by taking extreme care in those days before. We are almost 2 weeks out now and so far have not heard of any transmission from the day and I am so thankful for that! It is hard to keep up precautions when almost everyone has abandoned them.

I have changed my motivation for continuing to mask, despite being 1 of about 10 in my whole county who do, from being mostly to protect others to mostly to protect myself. I have so far escaped Covid and I would like the long term effects to be a whole lot clearer before I can relax. It’s hard to have that conversation though, because so many have already had it, and don’t seem to want to think about that aspect, and I can certainly understand feeling like that! I came across someone last week, in their 40s, whose heart function is extremely poor now and previous Covid is the prime suspect. These are hard times to live in.

Interesting. How did you come to that conclusion?

Have they considered the possibility that they had an easier time with Omicron because they had the booster?

I work with a number of people who lost taste/smell from Covid. For several it’s coming up to 2 years now. Most of them have recovered a little bit of smell but for a couple of them it is mostly a bad smell. Some of them have tried steroid nasal spray but I don’t think it helped. I know some were talking about trying the retraining method of smelling several scents several times a day, but not sure if they really stuck with it.

I wonder if the difference in outcome from Covid in your area is more people being exposed after being vaccinated. I know lots of vaccinated people who have had very mild Covid too. But I live in an area with only about 55% of the population vaccinated so that may be why I’ve seen more bad outcomes from Covid. Fortunately my friends and relatives in the UK and the US have almost all chosen to be vaxed, and amongst all of these there have been no serious or long term vax complications, for which I am very thankful. We have just had very different experiences, but again the countries we live in have had very different experiences and it would be good to learn why.

It is crazy how unlucky the people you know who have been vaccinated are. I know loads of people who have had at least 3, some 4, and I do know some who felt unwell for a short while, a few days, but only one, and it was the friend of a friend, so I don’t know many details, who may have had myocarditis. On the other hand I’ve seen many people die from Covid, and I work with a number of people who have long Covid symptoms. It’s amazing how different all our experiences have been. It makes me realize how important unbiased data is.

I spent the first 10 years of my childhood near Manaus. It is beautiful!

@Not_a_Number I tried to pm you but wasn’t able to. Just wanted to say I’m thinking of you. I think I remember that your family has connections with Ukraine and I hope they are all safe.

I don’t know if I’ve missed it but has anyone mentioned the brain MRI findings from the UK study? The more I hear about these recent studies, the less keen I am to get Covid, but I always feel inclined to reserve judgment, as some of the studies are so poorly conducted. This seems hard to ignore though.

Homeschool parent near me posted on FB yesterday that Ukraine was a child trafficking hot spot and the Russian soldiers have rescued lots of the children. And lots of people liked the post. Words fail me.

We use GoodRx often. In fact, often the pharmacy does it for us. I always go on there website to check prices because it does vary between pharmacies, but fortunately the one we use is usually among the cheapest.