HeartString
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Posts posted by HeartString
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5 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:
I have heard that AU has been more vocal with regards to calling for investigations. I can say that in the US, it *feels* like anyone who suggests addition investigation is "canceled" as an anti-asian racist.
Biden asked for the intelligence community to do a more "intense" investigation into the origins and get a report to him in 90 days, whatever intense means in this context.
I know its asking too much, but I just do not understand why *any* of this is leading to anti-Asian violence. I understand that it is, I just don't understand the impulse. Even if it *was a bio weapon purposefully unleashed by China, the Asian lady at the grocery store or on the bus had nothing to do with it, let alone the third or fourth gen college or high school student, let alone that not every Asian in American even is Chinese. I don't feel the need to go throw rocks at every white guy after a school shooting, ya know? ugh.
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1 minute ago, Amy Gen said:
Apologies in advance if this is not the appropriate place to ask this.
My 14 year old is the last of her friend group to get vaccinated. Yesterday, I read that Moderna might be available to over 12 year olds soon. I asked my pharmacist if I should just wait until next month and see if I can get her a Moderna shot instead of Pfizer.
He told me that they are so similar, and side effects are so individual that the best vaccine is the first one you can get. So I got her an appointment to get her first shot at noon on Saturday. As soon as I got home, I realized she will be gone all day Saturday and I had to call and cancel.
Dd said she is fine getting it whenever. I showed her how to sign up online. Does anyone think there is enough of a difference between the vaccines to choose one over the other?
I would prefer for my kids to get the Pfizer, its been shown to have less incidents of side effects like feeling cruddy for a day or so. My husband and I got the Moderna and felt cruddy for about a day, my oldest got the Pfizer and was fine. His only only effect was irritation at me for asking him how he felt.
Why are you preferring the Moderna?-
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I thought this was shocking, but on the other hand not really…
It says social media influencers in Europe are reporting that they have been offered money to push the idea that the vaccines are dangerous. I wonder how much of that is going on here in the US?
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25 minutes ago, Arctic Bunny said:
People at work wonder why I come home from a night shift, make the kids breakfast, and send them off to school while DH sleeps. Because he canNOT do morning routine quietly, does not believe them - or the schedule on our family calendar - about what time they need to be out the door. So, with all the shouting to get them out the door half an hour early for the bus in -30, the banging of dishes, the SINGING AND TALKING, I’m not sleeping anyway, and the kids may as well have a non-yelly morning if possible.
My dad worked night shift for years when I was little and he swears that making yourself stay up a bit when you get home is better on your body because it’s closer to a “regular” routine. No clue if it’s true or not, but you might be doing it the “better” way this way.
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The issue in my house is the electrical. Not all of the rooms have 3 prong grounded outlets, so we can’t put units every where we would like.
Buy an old house, they said. It will be fun, they said. 🙄
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We moved into a house with no AC a few years ago. We have 4 window units and 2 of the ones that stand on the floor but vent out the window. That number does a good job, but we really need one more. Each bedroom has one, the laundry room, kitchen and Living room.
ETA: We have about 1600 square feet. Our electric bill isn't crazy high, its cheaper than central AC was I think, its hard to compare though. This is the first house that I have ever lived in without AC so we're still learning. If at all possible get programmable ones. I'm always having to mess with the ones that I have that aren't programmable. They just run until they are turned off so sometimes rooms gets colder than I would like. I end up getting up a few times a night to mess with the one in my room, because I get too hot or too cold.
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8 minutes ago, KSera said:
That’s why I think the US vaccinated percentage, while interesting, isn’t very meaningful to no the risk level. The virus is going to behave very differently in the areas with 85% vaccinated than it will in areas with 30% vaccinated. It’s not like it’s all going to average out.
Hopefully the areas with less vaccine up take will be protected with natural immunity. I’m sure vaccination rates will inch up slowly in those areas too, but probably not past 50% or so. There are just going to be pockets of unvaccinated people no matter what we do.
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5 minutes ago, ktgrok said:
Gotcha. It's below that in my state. And we are a tourism hot spot, so I'm very concerned with variants -and with say the Indian variant two shots is pretty important. But for the country at large, that's good news. And I'm hopeful that once kids can be vaccinated we will have a really good percentage of the population vaccinated.
Yeah, it’s going to be uneven but I don’t know how to fix that really. Unvaccinated people will tend to cluster, so will vaccinated people. It’s going to be an issue.
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1 hour ago, ktgrok said:
I don't see us at 50% of the population vaccinated yet? In my area it is 33% I think. And in some areas almost everyone who already had it got vaccinated, other areas, not many at all.
Almost 50% have had at least one shot. We know that 1 shot of Moderna or Pfizer is very protective.
“That means 49.4 percent of the U.S. population had received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 39.3 percent had been fully vaccinated”
Like I said, totally back of the envelope.
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7 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:
No I don’t think it would have been I just wish that health authorities had made it available because the tech was there.
I’m still mad that we never got to the point of at at home tests. Like pregnancy tests that we could all have voluntarily done a couple times a week. I really think a “test like crazy” plan could have worked to keep numbers low.
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So my back of the envelope math makes me think we have about 65-75% immunity in the country right now. Roughly 50% from vaccine. I’m seeing that about 1/3 of the population already had COVID, I’m rounding that up to 40% to account for an under count (and for a round number) and I’m thinking that half of those previously infected are included in the vaccinated number. So 50% vaccinated plus 20% with natural immunity only is 70%. Add 5% on either side…65% to 75% with some sort of immunity. Of course that means nothing, but it’s fun to think about.
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1 hour ago, mathnerd said:
https://slate.com/technology/2021/04/covid-19-vaccine-breakthrough-infections-cdc-data.html
Experts still don’t know why some people aren’t completely protected by the vaccines. According to Bloom, early unpublished research suggests that some people respond to them by making the wrong kind of antibody. Instead of making antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein—which is what’s supposed to happen—some people appear to make antibodies against the nucleocapsid protein, and those antibodies don’t have the same protective effect. Other early research, he said, shows some people don’t make antibodies in response to the vaccines at all.
Which makes total sense. There are those people that caught chicken pox multiple times, or COVID multiple times or don’t have titers for something despite being vaccinated. Bodies are weird and in populations of hundreds of millions there will be oddities.
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Some people who have had Covid still got vaccinated so there is overlap between those 2 groups.
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42 minutes ago, Muttichen1 said:
Maybe? I'd have to be convinced that masks actually work. What I would do (and what I am doing now and have always done) is to stop from spreading germs in ways we know are effective -- keeping some distance, staying home when I'm sick, washing hands obsessively when I've been in public, not touching my face, and so on. I'm a germophobe anyway and I rarely get even a cold.
All of those are precautions that would have been good last year when CDC was still saying the virus wasn’t airborne. But they have now admitted what everyone else knew, that it’s airborne. Washing hands and not touching your face won’t help you not breathe it in. Neither will distance if you are in a place with poor ventilation. The particles can travel much further than 6 ft. Not trying to change your mind because I suspect that’s not something you’re interested in. Just giving you the most update information to base your decision on. Or to disregard, whatever suites you.
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19 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:
Well, I think not having measles outbreaks is in the interest of everybody.
I understand not mandating flu shots or HPV shot or the likes. But some things (highly infection and/or deadly) though society decided was worth mandating. The way I look at it, kids either public schoolers or homeschoolers are engaged in a ton of activities. If these illnesses are so dangerous that mandate is necessary in schools, then it should be necessary for just being out in public because what difference does it make is you spread it school or a dance studio? But yes, we don’t need it for every single possible vaccine. And I am not advocating Covid shots to be required either here. Just musing over the system a little.
It is a tricky system. Partly because so many do just get the shots, so the one or two people not getting it doesn’t effect anything. They get to coast off those of us that do get it. Which makes me angry sometimes because I’m taking the (minuscule) risk and they aren’t, yet we both benefit. But measles doesn’t need to be mandated further most places because enough people take it to avoid outbreaks. The measles vax works well enough that if there is an outbreak among the unvaccinated it doesn’t tend to bother the vaccinated. So it’s all circular.
(obviously I don’t get angry about people that can’t medically get them. That’s what community is for, to protect vulnerable people. If your child can’t get vaccinated I am GLAD that my child’s shot also protects your child)
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Just now, wathe said:
I have. multiple times, as part of a provincial spot-check program (RIDE). It's normal here.
Police set up spot checks and stop every single vehicle, usually on holidays, and usually after bar-closing time.
I actually have a pretty high chance of being stopped tonight as I'll be working a late shift and today is a holiday here, and my route takes by through an intersection where RIDE spot checks have been set up several times before.
That’s a thing where I live too. They set up random check points, usually on back roads but sometimes near a sports event or around the corner from a bar.
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24 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:
We were prohibited from wearing perfume during choir rehearsals and performances. As a mother of asthmatic, I completely get it. I have a collection of perfume at home (all gifts) that I never wear. 🙂
I am not talking about experimental (Covid)vaccines though. I am talking about established things, like measles. There are children who might not be able to vaccinated for medical reasons. I would hate for them not to be able to visit Disneyland or join a dance studio plot generally participate in life. But that’s what it looks like to me.
It’s the balance of public interest versus personal autonomy. Public interest says everyone takes childhood vaccines. Personal autonomy says I get to decide what to put into my body or my children’s body. It’s a complicated dance we do.
Sometimes I do feel like they should be mandated and be done with it. But really I don’t think we want the government to have that authority over our bodily autonomy. That has far reaching implications. There’s no way to make it “fair”.-
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3 minutes ago, Pen said:
You are in more or less San Fran area? I have some people I know in that area (but not with school age kids) and what you are saying makes sense for there from what bits I have gathered from them
Otoh, I know people in Southern Cal - especially in Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino areas - who have described the situation differently.
San Fran and San Bernardino are practically 2 different planets, and Orange County is a whole different planet from the other 2, so I would expect them to have different feels around Covid.
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Is it because of the cicadas? I read somewhere that a lot of forest things are tied to that 17 year cycle. The dead cicadas apparently fertilize the forest floor, so I wonder if the trees are trying for extra tree babies since the ground will be more fertile.
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2 hours ago, Pen said:
I don’t know that they would join your homeschooling groups, or even WTM, but I expect a lot of parents who do not want their children to be given the shots nor to be exposed to people who got the shots are likely to shift to homeschooling. It may be in separate pods so you may not need to worry about unvaccinated people joining you if you are vaccinated. They may not want to as they may consider the vaccinated likely dangers.
I do wonder how long they will consider us vaccinated people to be unsafe. How long after the vaccine do we stop shedding the infertility causing whatever whatevers? Weeks? months? Never?
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14 minutes ago, HSmomof2 said:
Honestly, I think it’s me being anxious more than anything else. And I will need to get over that. Dh is fine with her going, and he works in public health and takes Covid very seriously. Dh, ds, and I are a month past our second shots, so we’re fully vaccinated. I think we’re only higher risk due to being overweight. I have some autoimmune issues, but don’t think they make me have a higher risk, since I don’t take steroids or immunosuppressants. My parents that we see frequently have also been vaccinated. Our main circle of frequent contacts have all been vaccinated. There’s also a decent chance the weather will be nice then, and they’ll watch the movie with the outdoor projector in friend’s backyard.
I think we’re all going to be struggling with the anxiety of going back to normal. It’s hard to flip the switch from “lock it ALL down” to “normal”. I walked into Aldi’s with no mask today and was a bit freaked out. I had planned to mask but a last minute vehicle change meant we had no masks with us and driving back to get them seemed silly when we are vaccinated. This next phase is going to bumpy. But we *do* have to get through it.
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I would let her go.
In 3 weeks the kids with Covid will be over it and immune. To continue to avoid them 3 weeks from now sounds a bit like stigmatizing them. At what point will they be safe?
6 of the 8 kids will be vaccinated or immune, including your daughter. Even if one of the 2 unvaccinated kids is infected that night there is such a tiny chance of a break through infection in your daughter and and even tinier chance that a break through infection would make her ill. Tiny tiny.
I remember well the hell I caused as a teenager when I *knew* my parents were being objectively unreasonable. It feels like control for controls sake and it was very damaging to that relationship.
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2 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:
I did kind of have the same reaction!! It'd be hard for me to name a large category of people that DD8 has never met!
I worry about this sometime. My kids don’t know many people of other races well. It’s not a purposeful thing. We just lived for most of their childhood in the same town I grew up in. A town that was almost all white. (Less than 10 black children in my high school class of almost 400, none that were ever in any of my classes). Add in homeschooling, which is majority white and you have almost no racial diversity. But what to do about it? Where do you meet a racially diverse population when you live in the South in a town that had been vast majority white since my great grandparents lived there?
(It’s not zero, but much less than I would like. A few of which we were very close with)
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3 hours ago, Pen said:
We are in a phase 3 trial ...
it seems very early to be concluding “obviously true”
I think 2024 after phase 3 ends in 2023 might be better for “obviously “ statements if situations are obvious by then
I would prefer to read something like it currently appears that ____
Maybe you are trying to convince the vaccine hesitant, but at least speaking for myself, it doesn’t come off the way you think if that’s the case
I think especially as a numbers and statistics person, (eta) probably someone who people look to for accuracy in regard to numbers, statistics and similar, I think the more you are honest, transparent and do not exaggerate, or use hyperbole, the better.
vaccines have not been proved to prevent transmissionI have no way to conclude that being in a highly vaccinated area will be protective
children were already at extremely low risk with the wild virus
but if leaky vaccine problems causing “hotter” virus emerge that may no longer apply
Eta: but even if “hotter” virus emerges from “leaky vaccines” it does not necessarily mean taking more of the leaky vaccines is the right approach.
Vaccines have been shown to nearly eliminate transmission. They were being very cautious and saying that we didn’t know for sure a couple of months ago, but it’s now been shown to be an incredibly low risk.
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CDC mask announcement (a new thread)
in The Chat Board
Posted
Subjectively more difficult, yes. Enough to affect your oxygen level, not really. This article is a doctor running a marathon distance while masked and monitoring his oxygen level, which stayed at 98% or above the whole time. I get what your saying though, when I first upgraded from a simple 3 ply cloth mask to a KN95 I felt like it was harder to breath for the first several minutes. I think it was just more work than I was used to. It felt more claustrophobic than anything.
https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a33521706/face-mask-oxygen-levels-running-myth-coronavirus-doctor-fact-check/