Is Omicron changing your behavior or plans?

[mommyoffive]

Are you going to do anything differently with Omicron sweeping the country?  Or are you going to continue doing things you did before Omicron? 

[Catwoman]

No changes here.

We weren’t doing anything before Omicron and we won’t be doing anything now, either.

And it really sucks.

[Drama Llama]

We were pretty cautious before.  

The biggest change here, and the one that breaks my heart, is that DH's cousin's family was thinking that maybe if we did things outside, and everyone tested and masked, they'd come for Christmas.  They have a high risk 11 month old I have never met other than by Zoom.  It makes me sad he's growing up and doesn't know us.  They also have my GFIL's sister, and he longs to see her.  She came for a long stay when the baby arrived, and again when the baby had surgery, and it made him so happy.  He did get to go to a short outdoor visit, just the two of them, each with one grandchild, but it's not the same as a holiday together.  She's also got some dementia, and it makes me so sad to think that next Christmas she might not recognize him, or even be alive.

So, that's our biggest change.  Since we had already planned a pretty covid safe Christmas, we're going to go ahead, assuming no one is positive at our testing. 

Otherwise, we'd told the kids that they could do more indoor activities after Christmas since GFIL is boosted, and DS11 is vaccinated.  Now, we'll probably pull back on that.  They'll stay in school, and outdoor sports, and virtual things, unless things get a lot worse.    We had also planned to go back to indoor church, but now that's on hold. The cousins were also looking forward to some sleepovers over the break, and we aren't going to do that.  They'll see each other a lot but only masked, with eating outdoors or in separate rooms if the weather is bad. 

[MEmama]

27 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

No changes here.

We weren’t doing anything before Omicron and we won’t be doing anything now, either.

And it really sucks.

Yup, this is us, too.

I plan to return to grocery delivery and locking down hard this winter. We have plenty of places to hike, snowshoe and cross country ski, but I won’t be out in public as much as I can help it. 

[athena1277]

Not making any changes, for Christmas or otherwise.  We all had Delta just before Labor Day.  Even though Omicron is more contagious, it’s suppose to be milder.  We might get it, we might not.  This one is not worth canceling Christmas or locking down long term for.  (Realizing that my answer would be different if we had high risk people in our family.)

[happi duck]

I'm returning to way less grocery shopping and Zoom church

[DawnM]

we have been doing Zoom church most of Covid anyway, so that won't change.   I am attending more things in person right now with close family and friends and will not be changing that.   Dad still refuses to get vaccinated and that is on him.   I give up trying to go overboard to protect someone who won't protect themselves.

The rest of us are all vaccinated other than the 4 year old.   And he isn't attending preschool right now.   

[Jenny in Florida]

I've gone back to wearing a mask more consistently in stores and such. (I had relaxed somewhat pre-Omicron as long as crowds weren't intense.) 

Our daughter had planned to bring her girlfriend (whom we have not yet met) to visit in early January, and they let us know tonight that they are postponing. I'm sad, but I think it's the right decision.

I am scheduled to fly up to NYC to visit her in mid-February and attend an event she's managing. However, there is now serious question about whether that event will happen, so I need to investigate the cancellation policies on my airfare and hotel, just in case. (Obviously, I could still go up just to visit, but if things are dicey enough that the event is cancelled, it's probably not responsible to travel just because.)

And, of course, that "maybe we'll start coming into the office one or two days a week so we can see the whole team in 3D" is now tabled indefinitely . . . again.

[Pam in CT]

We're still *hoping* to do a VRBO over New Years with my brother's family and my mother.

In anticipation of that, we're dialing back the sorts of forays we had been doing:

I drove 7+ hours each way to pick my Pittsburgh kids up by car, rather than have them fly.

Canceled three museum trips we'd planned for this week that my artsy daughter was *really* looking forward to: Yale has a new Kehinde Wiley; the Wadsworth has a Women of the Renaissance that includes one of the Artemesia Gentilesche Judiths, and Springfield has an Ai Weiwei exhibit that's about to close. We hope now to see them after the VRBO.

Getting my first grocery delivery in 6 months tomorrow morning, sigh. 

Also asked kids to postpone visiting with their friends until after the VRBO.

We're all testing.

 

And honestly, I don't think it will be enough.  Yesterday two of my nephews tested positive; today two local pretty COVID- cautious friends just tested positive and one of my daughter's NYC friends; every one of them fully vaxxed. We don't know for *sure* that it's Omicron but it's gone from unknown to most prevalent in a matter of a few weeks: it's probably Omicron. This variant is different from all the other variants.

 

[wathe]

Yes.

Pulled the kids out of indoor activities at the beginning of last week.

Rapid testing pre Christmas visit with grandparents

Maximizing ventilation and filtration for grandparent visit - Corsi-Rosenthal box, run HRV on max, monitoring CO2 and using the value to decide when to open windows.

Edited December 22, 2021 by wathe

[Spryte]

We have parents stopping by tomorrow. They will walk through the house straight to the back deck, we will turn on the heater and mask. Masks off to eat chili, then back on.

We will open windows and run the air purifiers. If they need the restroom, we will sanitize after, and unboosted DD will use a different one for a day or so.

Our son and DIL are sick and have canceled their Christmas visit.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Spryte

[popmom]

I am in "wait and see" mode. It hasn't hit hard here yet--although its just a matter of time. The news on Omicron changes so fast I can't keep up.  I have been pretty cautious the whole time--relatively speaking. Just recently we did some risky things for the first time since March 2020. We saw The Nutcracker at The Fox in Atlanta, and we did a lot of mall shopping. We ate in restaurants. Went to the zoo. It was a 3 day trip for dd's 16th bday. It was just me, dd 16, dd 20. and occasionally dd 24 would join us.

I was able to get seats at The Fox in a section that wasn't even close to sold out. We had no one within 15 feet of us. The ushers were strictly enforcing the mask requirement. I'm so glad we did it when we did because I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable doing all that now. And wow...what a mood boost. We had so much fun. 

I'm really torn about this latest wave. Dd 16 has been so lonely. She misses her sisters (all out of the nest) so much. Social skills group started back this fall with some new girls, and dd has made a much needed new friend. I don't think we can isolate anymore. I can't do that to her. 😞

I will go back to grocery pick up. I won't be attending church in person. 

just waiting and hoping for good news.

Edited December 22, 2021 by popmom

[1234]

The only thing we’ve stopped doing is eating inside restaurants. We still go out, but we mask. We’re still seeing family for the holidays. We do have a Chicago trip scheduled for after Christmas, and as long as what we’re doing isn’t shutting down we will still be going. We’ve all had our boosters and are hopeful that will keep us from getting seriously ill. 

[regentrude]

No changes. I have been wearing N95 masks since August whenever I am in public. We're not eating out nor attending indoor events.

We will still get together with each of our vaxxed adult children, separately, one at Christmas,  the other a week later. Spending our Covid budget where it's important to us. 

[Not_a_Number]

Yes. We decided to take a road trip to California instead of flying, and I'm not sure we'll wind up doing indoor activities next term. 

Frankly, some of the changes we're making are aimed as much at making this suck less for the kids as at anything else. Like, even if I wanted to send them to indoor stuff, I would guess that if NYC is again overrun, it won't be possible. So I'd rather we had had an epic road trip with awesome memories rather than have them just be deeply, deeply disappointed. 

I'm currently crossing my fingers this variant is simply mild and doesn't seriously raise hospitalizations. So... I'm watching and for now am curbing all indoor activities (except 10 minutes with a KF94 on here and there), since it's SO transmissible, but I'm kind of hoping I can go back to the new normal I was hoping for after the kids were vaxxed. If not, we'll adapt. 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Not_a_Number

[elegantlion]

I've eaten out a few times in the last few months, that's going to stop again. I continue to mask in public and am seriously cutting back on my outings after Christmas. We'll be with my mom and son on Christmas, who have been in our circle all along. In the last two weeks, 7 people in our town have died from Covid in the last week! (no info on vaccine status - probably Delta as Omicron is just hitting our area). 

I'm supposed to TA in person classes starting at the end of January. I'm seriously hoping the professor I TA for will do what she did last spring - move everything online for the first five weeks of classes. It gets us through the back-to-school transition and the bad weather months. 

 

[DreamerGirl]

Both DH and I went to our country of origin this year. DH as recent as this month for 10 days. He came back just as the new restrictions regarding testing before entry took effect and squeaked through days later. It was in the beginning of Omicron. We decided to risk it.

We do not have major changes to our daily routine. We still mask up, still maintain a pantry stocked 4 months deep, bought meat and fish for months. We did go out to the grocery stores to shop with a mask on, but we do not go out weekly. Amazon deliveries have begun again once in 2 weeks. We grow herbs and salads now so we do not depend on amazon weekly. Veggies are processed and frozen. All things we started and refined during the pandemic.

We were lucky to have one big party, distanced with friends in Nov. Windows open, air purifiers on. So that was very nice. 

Our biggest risk factor is DS going to PS. We decided that is an acceptable risk and it was what he needed. We HS DD. We cook more at home now and go for take out. Both DH and I work from home. DH FT, me PT.

I go once a month to have eyebrows threaded and have my hair colored. It is alternate months for each so it is a nice monthly outing for me. Both ladies who do the eyebrows and hair have become pros in it. Even the eye brow threading lady masks and does it holding the thread via a clip (?) of some sort completely masking. I needed it.

DH is a happy introvert and a techie so he keeps upgrading our systems so we can chat with friends and family.

We were supposed to go the UK for Christmas, booked tickets and everything. But cancelled.

Both DH and I are now comfortable wearing a mask for almost 20 hours non-stop and will travel to our country of origin between bouts of the variants. We vaccinate, mask up and go. We have the process down now. We met loads of people, travelled, even touched people. But we wore a mask a lot, washed hands when needed and wore gloves, tested constantly. We keep a watch on the CDC risk level for a country and will travel again when it is a lull. Kids will not go and parents will not come again, it is what it is. But we do a lot of virtual calls.

We used to be gym going and outside extracurriculars family. After a year of hiccups we have figured out a rhythm. We have extracurriculars like dance, martial arts, language and music for the kids. All virtual. Even DH and I have started virtual classes for martial arts.  We finish doctors appointments including dentists diligently. We even started kayaking.

Last year this time, I was despondent. But this year we did a lot of things we did not think we could including travel. So we have adapted. I miss going out to eat. Would have loved to watch the spider man movie on a giant screen in a theater. But I feel we have figured out something that works for us. It is virtual a lot and lacks much of outside contact. But still it is rich in its own way and now this time of year seems a good time to hunker down. So no, not a lot of change to what we have figured out works for us.

[Shoeless]

I am back to not bringing DS13 into stores with me. I am avoiding going into the pharmacy as much as possible. There is ALWAYS someone coughing and sneezing in there!

Honestly, not much has changed around here since March 2020..We started visiting the zoo again, but I will pause that until after kids are back in school after Christmas.

 

 

[Tap]

Nothing has changed here. Omicron doesn't scare me any more than a normal cold/flu season does. Due to Covid in general, I am still keeping family celebrations small. We will have our core 4 people, plus dd and her husband on military leave for 10-14 days, plus grandparents for only one meal. I usually host up to 25 for several fall events, so this is much, much smaller than we are used to. DD15 is the only unvaxed person. Our extended family (those who are part of the typical 25) have many unvaxed people. Hence, we are not wanting to mix in a bunch of unvaxed people.  I support everyone's personal choice, but I don't want to be the house that causes a family wide outbreak. 

ETA: DD15 has had several high risk Covid exposures over several months. Including being quarantined 2 weeks with 3 people who had positive tests. And was with my son for the week prior to his positive Covid test. I suspect she already had Covid, or is naturally resistant. I work in healthcare, my x-h is in a fist line job, and my son (her caretaker) is a pastor/student/works with youth. She has been potentially exposed soooo many times, but has never tested positive (10 quick and/or PCR tests!).  But, she is also high risk if she gets it!! I try to minimize her chances, but I don't completely limit company either. 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Tap

[ScoutTN]

We have shifted some activities to outdoors, are skipping others, and are back to ordering groceries and library books for curbside pickup. 
 

We will test before having Christmas with my mom in her AL facility and before my kids leave for a trip next week.

[Ali in OR]

I'm thinking ahead to January. I teach in a high school and we actually hadn't had any emails of people in our school testing positive for weeks. But then we did get an email of two positives the last day school was in session. I'm expecting it to blow up in January. I really do not want Covid, not so much for fear of the illness, but I know it keeps me out of school for 10 days which would be very difficult (planning for a sub, making sure kids really learn some math, etc). So I'm planning a few changes:

-I just ordered some KN95's. I usually wear homemade cloth masks. I may even double mask for January.
-More aggressively monitor students' masks. A few have trouble keeping them over their nose (wider faces).
-I think I will eat lunch in my classroom. We have a workroom/lunchroom where there are usually 8-10 people eating. We can space out a bit, but it's still probably my highest risk time at school.

[Lawyer&Mom]

We never really do anything indoors anyway except school for the girls.  The number of cases was already going up at school, masks are mandatory but I think people were getting pretty loose with socializing outside of the classroom, especially now that kids could be vaccinated.  I’m dreading January.  I hope if things are going to get bad they get bad quickly enough that the governor closes the schools for a few weeks.  I don’t want to try to go back and have it blow up in our faces.

Managed to snag a booster for my husband yesterday so he will be fully boosted before school starts.  It is really hard to get a shot around here again.  

[JapanDad]

Omicron luckily hasn't invaded our area of Japan just yet, but because of the omicron surge in the US and the rapidly-changing border restrictions including mandatory hotel quarantines upon return, we had to cancel our trip the the US to visit the grandparents for Christmas - it's been over 2.5 years ago since the grandparents have seen the children in person. One of them was only a year old the last time the grandparents saw them - he's 3.5 now and a totally different person than they last time they were with him.

[Carrie12345]

I’m sadder.

I’m not as afraid of getting sick, but I am more afraid of spreading it around. Ds (11) is not getting his freedom back the way we told him he would when he got vaccinated, and I wish we hadn’t gotten his hopes up. My 18yo is practically back to being “grounded” other than work. I’m not scheduling a flight for my oldest in January like I had planned.

My current hope is that we will be able to really live it up this summer. I regret not taking more advantage of lower stats this past summer. I mean, I still think we did the “right” thing, but if I had known…  (I did get to see ds, thank goodness!)

I have a fairly outdoorsy family, but I super hate the cold. I’m trying to work up the gumption to plan some outside activities this winter anyway.

 

[Guest]

Well, like “everybody”, Omicron has me in a Christmas quandary. My dh’s friends are having a party Christmas Eve and I reluctantly agreed a few weeks ago to go. I did just recently go to a party with *my* friends (all vaccinated, many boostered), and I know that if I now tell dh I don’t want to go he will be super butt-hurt about it. Anyway, the risk in my eyes, is him getting it, because he is unvaxed. 
 

For my part, I am not concerned that I will get very sick or die if I get it despite three shots. I just don’t want the disruption that will add to my life. I would be under quarantine when my dd and son in law plan to come after Christmas. 

[Tenaj]

We haven't changed any plans at this point.  We will be hosting Christmas at our house which will be the 7 of us who live here, my adult son (unvaccinated but had Covid three weeks ago so I'm more comfortable than usual being around him), my adult dd and her 2 year old son and my in-laws.  All except baby and my adult son are vaccinated and most are boostered.  

I wear masks whenever I'm out but found out this weekend that my dh doesn't.  We were going into Kroger's together and I reminded him to wear a mask.  As we walked through I was amazed at how many masks I saw compared to the previous weeks when I had been out.  Afterward though he made a comment about how "we were the only people masking in the whole store" - lol!  I guess we see what we want to see.

I have stockpiled only 7 tests here so I really don't have enough on hand to do much with.  Saving them for my boys who are in the middle of basketball season in case we need them (which I'm sure we will).  I can't afford to buy the amount that we would really need to be careful and the library systems are out as of yesterday.

[Kanin]

10 hours ago, Pam in CT said:

And honestly, I don't think it will be enough.  Yesterday two of my nephews tested positive; today two local pretty COVID- cautious friends just tested positive and one of my daughter's NYC friends; every one of them fully vaxxed. We don't know for *sure* that it's Omicron but it's gone from unknown to most prevalent in a matter of a few weeks: it's probably Omicron. This variant is different from all the other variants.

 

Yikes. I hope they're not feeling too bad!

[Laura Corin]

Two weeks after getting our boosters we went out to eat twice. We are no longer doing that. We are back to caution until more is known about Omicron. 

[HomeAgain]

It's beginning to sweep through here.  It's not changing our plans, exactly, it's just making us more conscious.  It helps that we have no plans, though. 😄
Ds got a blissful two weeks in which we did not make him wear a mask under his bubble shield for hockey.  Last week he still chose to wear a mask.  We aren't going out places over the next two weeks.  We'll probably stay more locked down through the middle of January, when we have data back from vacation spikes.  Oldest ds has finally been prodded to make a booster appointment sooner than the one he has (end of January).  His phone pinged him with a close contact, which turned out to be a guy he worked with.  Scared him enough to get on the vax finder site and try to get something closer.

[Pawz4me]

We aren’t changing our plans for the next few days, but our normal (even holiday normal) is probably considerably quieter than for most people. Then we’ll just watch and see what happens. I’ll continue to grocery shop in person. I’ve never been convinced that’s much of a risk at all for someone wearing a decent quality mask and shopping at non-peak times. 

[Kassia]

34 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

Two weeks after getting our boosters we went out to eat twice. We are no longer doing that. We are back to caution until more is known about Omicron. 

Isn't it amazing how quickly things change?  Ds2 and his gf went on vacation a week before coming home and said they would test before they came home.  I said that was nice, but felt it was a bit overkill since they were both boosted.  Now I'm freaking out because they have all kinds of plans while they are here which involve going out and being in the public.  I went from not being worried exposure for an entire vacation including dining in restaurants, various airbnbs, airports, etc. to getting incredibly stressed with every. single. thing. they want to do.  It's awful.  

[Eos]

Five of us traveled to be with my mother for Christmas, but otherwise we don't do anything indoors.  That's not really a change, I guess.

[TheReader]

I have really mixed feelings on this, honestly.  We're all immunized, and going to go ahead and get our boosters (those of us that want them). None of us are at risk/in a high risk category for Covid.  Some of us are at risk for mental health/depression/anxiety which has to be protected and so is a strong factor in our decisions.  We have made some choices along the way that protect that while being "risky" for Covid. 

So, I'm torn. This variant seems so very mild, and we're not at risk anyway, so it feels like -- why lock back down??  (we are still masking in crowded places, and still not doing a ton of things, but did go to our first movie in a theater in 2 years last night....). 

On the other hand, of course we don't want to spread it to others who are higher risk (although I'm reading that Omicron is far less likely to be transmitted by a vaccinated person that gets it, unlike Delta, so again this seems to lean towards no need to lock back down). 

So I just don't know.  We did go ahead and go to the movies. We will probably go to in person Christmas Eve church. We're still grocery shopping. 

But, we have flights/rental car/hotel scheduled for a trip to Disney (we have yet to get those tickets though), and now DH is debating whether or not we go or postpone until later.  We have tickets for Hamilton in our city in February. We have assorted concert tickets for March and April. The thought of cancelling any of that just makes me angry all over again, and the risk of Omicron, particularly if we do get our boosters, just doesn't feel worth cancelling everything. 

Honestly, Omicron, the way it behaves, feels like the best we're going to get out of Covid -- a super mild illness, that, while highly contagious (like the common cold) isn't very severe at all (like the regular flu).  And shutting in/shutting down life over that feels awful and unnecessary, at least for us. 

[mlktwins]

We aren’t changing much here. We were already planning a low key Christmas anyway because DS1 is having oral surgery tomorrow morning.  Both of my in-laws passed away this spring and they were always a big part of our Christmas celebrations so that will be very different this year. Both boys are scheduled for their booster next Wednesday. Boys will continue year round swimming and 2 outside classes, although it will stress me out until the end of the school year. I used to mask and go shopping while they were in class, but not anymore.  Will bring a book or cross-stitch to keep me busy.

I am moving back to all curbside pickup as of now. My dad is having lots of new medical issues so I will be at all those appointments with him. No other option really.  And…6 caregivers will still be rotating through his apartment every week.  Also, no other option. He isn’t boosted yet because he was pretty sick during the first appt I made for him and now has a foot swelling/ rash thing going on for a month that we can’t figure out what is going on (2 rounds of antibiotics has not fixed it). Doctor has said to hold off on the vaccine.  I am nervous for him.

We have not eaten in a restaurant since February 2020. We just started eating take out in May 2021.  Will continue that, but less often because we will be eating healthier here at home. 

Biggest change for me is that I plan to lose weight, exercise, and finally start taking care of me. I am the most likely the weak link in my house for covid complications.  And…with the mass exodus of health care workers, hospitals being overrun with covid patients and possibly not being able to get help for other medical emergencies, etc. it is time to do what I can to not require those services. I also know I will need an eye surgery at some point and want to get healthier for that recovery.

Edited December 22, 2021 by mlktwins

[Faith-manor]

Our normal has been very quiet and distanced since March 2020. We let up a little this summer when cases were so very low and actually ate inside a restaurant, spent time in the Detroit Institute if Arts masked, and I played a couple of Biscotti with Bach events. I accompanied a college vocal senior for her recital in early fall. But with omicron ramping up and Michigan hospitals overwhelmed and broken (people are dying of all kinds of treatable diseases and injuries because it is up to a 16 hour wait in ER's on our side of the state and a 2-3 hour wait for ambulance, sometimes more), I took my name off the accompanist list for all of 2022. I figure my music career, fledgling and fragile at best after trying to return to it post-homeschooling, is dead, utterly dead now.

I have issues with the people of Michigan who refuse to do a damn thing on behalf of our healthcare workers, and do not give a crap who dies because they won't stop partying, won't mask, won't test, and go to work sick, send their kids to school sick. I really don't have any use for these people, and I blame the general public for a lot of death here, and for so many HCWs quitting.

I would not say I am changing a lot of specific plans because of omicron since we weren't making any plans to resume a pre-covid "normal", but that the response to covid in general in this nation and the callousness of half the country has changed me permanently. I simply do not want to socialize and share spaces with people anymore. I am happy to be just our small, inner circle permanently, and have an even greater appreciation of the outdoors.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Faith-manor

[Elizabeth86]

IDK. I woke up with a really bad feeling this morning that our family will get covid soon due to Christmas gathering and the funeral we will attend. My parents, my kids and I are careful. My dh, sister, sil and niece are not. My sil, sister niece will be gathering with others who aren’t safe. We have to do Christmas and the funeral. My mom wouldn’t hear of us not getting together this year. We can’t really ask anyone to mask that doesn’t want to.🤷‍♀️I do know I will hug my parents extra tight and really enjoy our time together. Also, if we all survive. I’m not visiting until things die down a bit. My anxiety is through the roof today. I personally haven’t been too risky in the things I do, but it never matters because dh doesn’t mask. Same with seeing my sister and sil and niece. So I’m just going to keep on doing what I’m doing.  All the adults in the Christmas gathering are vaccinated except dh, but I imagine vaccine rates are low with the funeral gathering.

[MEmama]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

We aren’t changing our plans for the next few days, but our normal (even holiday normal) is probably considerably quieter than for most people. Then we’ll just watch and see what happens. I’ll continue to grocery shop in person. I’ve never been convinced that’s much of a risk at all for someone wearing a decent quality mask and shopping at non-peak times. 

I tend to agree, but I had a minor freak out moment a couple days that still makes me mad and worried, so I’m back to delivery just for my peace of mind. Honestly, I know it’s a silly thing to get worked up about, but on a walk we had a runner run right behind us and forced us off the sidewalk instead of just running around us in the (empty, neighborhood) street, leaving us breathing in their belabored exhalation. I held my breath as long as I could, but still— it felt rude, especially now. And wouldn’t it figure that after nearly two years of being extra cautious we could get covid from a disrespectful runner? Lol. I’m still irritated.
 

I think this level of concern is indicative of a constant background stress I’m not always aware of. Swapping the grocery store for delivery right now feels like it might be a good move for my mental health, even if the actual risk is exceedingly low.

[mommyoffive]

4 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

I’m sadder.

I’m not as afraid of getting sick, but I am more afraid of spreading it around. Ds (11) is not getting his freedom back the way we told him he would when he got vaccinated, and I wish we hadn’t gotten his hopes up. My 18yo is practically back to being “grounded” other than work. I’m not scheduling a flight for my oldest in January like I had planned.

My current hope is that we will be able to really live it up this summer. I regret not taking more advantage of lower stats this past summer. I mean, I still think we did the “right” thing, but if I had known…  (I did get to see ds, thank goodness!)

I have a fairly outdoorsy family, but I super hate the cold. I’m trying to work up the gumption to plan some outside activities this winter anyway.

 

Me too, 1000%.

[Moonhawk]

I had decided that I would host Christmas Eve as the compromise to see my unvax'd parents for Christmas, which I posted about. I figured with the windows open, air purifier, etc., I could have a semblance of control and keep the 4yo (only unvaccinated person in my house) from getting it. Now with omicron, I feel like even if they don't bring it to the house for Christmas, someone at my work will give it to me from their own Christmas despite my distancing and masking, which I'll give to the 4yo. So I don't know if I should even worry about my parents at this point because this variant seems like a matter of time more than avoidable.

[Pam in CT]

2 hours ago, Kanin said:

Yikes. I hope they're not feeling too bad!

Thanks.  So far, all mild, what we'd have called "bad cold" or "flu" up through 2019.  But it's only 2-3 days in, so who knows.

 

 

[ScoutTN]

I did stock up on KN 95’s a while ago and order some rapid antigen tests.

I expect my son’s tiny private school will require PCR testing from all in January. 

[Kanin]

Just now, Pam in CT said:

Thanks.  So far, all mild, what we'd have called "bad cold" or "flu" up through 2019.  But it's only 2-3 days in, so who knows.

 

 

So stressful to wait and see what happens. Thinking good thoughts for them. 

[Ottakee]

1 hour ago, Faith-manor said:

 

I have issues with the people of Michigan who refuse to do a damn thing on behalf of our healthcare workers, and do not give a crap who dies because they won't stop partying, won't mask, won't test, and go to work sick, send their kids to school sick. I really don't have any use for these people, and I blame the general public for a lot of death here, and for so many HCWs quitting.

 

This.  My area was at 27% positivity rate last week.   Hearing of more people in 40s dying of COVID with no underlying conditions.

I am concerned for our health care workers as they are getting so burned out and the wave is still growing, not going down.

[Kanin]

I think we're going back grocery pickup, maybe... too bad because one of my favorite tasks is grocery shopping. My K-8 school of 150 kids went remote this week because too many kids had covid or were quarantined as close contacts. If omicron really is as contagious as people are saying, then I don't see how we'll get through school without either going remote for a long time, or just having everyone get it. Scary. I also know that probably less than half of the kids who could get vaccinated, are vaccinated. Even some of the teachers aren't. 

And yes, we mask... but we also eat lunch, snacks, etc. and masks are not always worn correctly. 

[bibiche]

1 hour ago, TheReader said:

…. Honestly, Omicron, the way it behaves, feels like the best we're going to get out of Covid -- a super mild illness, that, while highly contagious (like the common cold) isn't very severe at all (like the regular flu).  

This “mild illness” has landed a (formerly) perfectly healthy vaxed friend (50s) in the hospital, so I wouldn’t be so quick to assume it is not as severe as other variants. I don’t know that there is evidence to support the “like the common cold” theory.

[Lecka]

I am avoiding a group of people who are all more Covid conscious than I am right now, because they are being more careful, and I don’t want to say “oh I’m not being as careful.”

So far this mainly means I skipped a holiday party I would have gone to otherwise.  I anticipate skipping some things in the next month. 

One of these is a woman who has severe asthma.

I wear masks around them, don’t have an attitude, and we are all vaccinated and boosted in my family (who are old enough), but I am just not as cautious as I know they are.  

[math teacher]

I will be meeting with my family for Christmas only if they agree to test. I am providing the tests. If they can't be bothered to do this to me with dh being a cancer patient, I fear for our relationship going forward.

When school starts back on Jan. 3, I will eat lunch alone in my classroom, and keep my door closed more often. If it's open, coworkers tend to drop by especially because my desk is right inside the door.

I will go back to grocery pickup and amazon only for shopping. 

I will stay farther away from people at church. 

[teachermom2834]

No. We are all vaxxed. The young people are not boosted but dh and I are. The unboosted young people are very healthy. We will have visitors for a few hours on Christmas day. They are vaxxed but not boosted. I wish they were boosted but they are all competent adults who are capable of making the decision and assessing their own risk. The weather is going to be nice and we will have open windows but that is the only precaution we are taking. 

My oldest ds is 23 yo and had Covid and is vaxxed. I don't even think he should get a booster, honestly. I'm obviously not anti-vax but I do think there are some risks possible from the vaccine and a healthy 23 yo who had Covid already and is fully vaxxed really might not need to get yet another shot. He has been traveling extensively for work over the past couple weeks and plans to test before we gather just to be sure he isn't passing it along. I have a few more rapid tests available here and we may or may not test before gathering. I worry if there is a testing shortage if I will regret testing without symptoms.

If dh and I were not boosted, Omicron would have pushed us to that. But we were so I guess the only extra precaution we are taking is possibility of rapid testing as a precaution. 

We did not gather last year for Christmas. We are not going to miss another one based on the current info. If Omicron really is so transmissible that we will all get it (which is what I keep seeing) then we are not going to skip Christmas to delay the inevitable to later when we are even further out from vaccines. 

[lewelma]

My son cancelled his trip. He had to go through 6 airports/4 flights to get FROM his 92 year old grandma (where he is now) TO his 80 year old grandparents and then BACK to his 92 year old grandma.  He is not yet boosted (happens tomorrow). Just not worth it.  Glad I made the call on Sunday, as his second flight was scheduled for tonight. 

Looks like DS may not be invited back to MIT for the January term. 😞

[lewelma]

In contrast, there is still no Covid in my city, not Delta and not Omicron. So I am just watching agast at what is going on in the USA. The main thing I am changing is to read the American news every day so I can advise my ds as to how to navigate this new phase of the pandemic.