OT-- Covid is humdrum-- except when it's not

What a mystery! We know now that the vaccine does not prevent us from catching or spreading the virus, as we were originally told. However, now the 'experts' tell us that the vaccine prevents severe illness. It makes me wonder how many vaccinated people are suffering from symptoms of 'long covid' like this unfortunate lady? It would be helpful for them to show us some data on that. It should be easily retrievable. I sure hope she's accurately diagnosed and effectively treated. Wishing her the very best!

At the time the EXPERTS made the statement that the vaccine prevents infection, it was a correct comment. While there were breakthrough cases with Alpha and Delta variants, they were few and far between, and not unexpected, as everyone knows, there is no such thing as a perfect vaccine.
Today we are facing a completely different variant in Omicron, so the statement no longer applies. But all studies and all stats show, that there is good protection, even with BA5 (albeit less good) when fully vaccinated and fully boosted from severe disease/hospitalization.

As far as long Covid, we've been told time and again, that between 10 and 30% of Covid infections turn into SOME form of long Covid. The Experts are working hard to understand the causes of Long Covid and hope it will lead to better treatments once they gain said understanding.

Either way, getting it generally sucks. A fact that is not talked about much, although i read about it quite a bit over the last month, is that after recoving from Covid, even without Long C, many patients who are otherwise healthy have a higher chance of heart issues, regardless of age. In fact, my son, who recovered from Covid a few weeks ago, has an appointment with his internist tomorrow for this reason. The Dr told him that they are seeing a lot of patients, otherwise healthy coming in with heart issues in the 12 months following recovery. And he is asking all patients who get infected to come in for a workup every three months for the first year after recovery. I dismissed that originally, as none of the hundreds of others i know who got Covid were told that. But then i started seeing articles discussing it.

Thats why i dont understand why most people are walking around like Covid doesnt exist, with no precautions. Restaurants are packed with waitstaff not wearing masks, same with stores i go into, people are traveling on planes, ships etc, with no worries. I think the public is vastly undereducated regarding what we continue to face. Of course some are aware and just feel they dont want to give up lifes pleasures and taking their chances is worth it. Thats a personal decision. Good luck to them though with the level of contagion of the newest variant.
I for one, will continue to mask, eat only at restaurants that offer outdoor dining, stay away from movie theaters and concerts in arenas. I'd love to travel again, but honestly I've done plenty of traveling and i can live without it if thats the cost of staying healthy. So far I'm one of the minority in the U.S. that has not gotten infected . Yet. How long that will last who knows. But if i get it, it wont be because i didnt try to take precautions. Especially with pretty serious heart issues to begin with.
Off soap box

Apologies, when I started this post, i didnt intend to write a book. I'll stop rambling now.

A very sad story, but I don't concur that she ever had covid.
Never a positive PCR test, just a positive antibody test, which, as she states, is likely due to her vaccinations.

She wrote
Since my doctor could not prove a connection to COVID, he suggested we treat this as an undiagnosed illness.

A real medical mystery (and I hope that she will recover soon, somehow).

I think it's wonderful that those who choose to mask up and take every covid vaccine and booster available to mankind are able to do those things in our great nation for their own peace of mind. In fact, I agree those who are immuno-compromised should do all they can to protect themselves from all viral and bacterial infections for obvious reasons. I chose to remain covid vaccine free and I'm happy to report I've been covid free as well. What do I attribute to my success? Mostly, washing my hands, not touching my face in public and staying away from those who show signs of infection. But I have done this for years, before covid, and rarely suffered a respiratory illness. It might not work for everyone. But it's certainly worked for me. The large majority of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) indicate that masks are either useless - whether compared with no masks or because they do not add protection to good-hygiene alone - or actually counterproductive. People often wear the wrong masks, have an improper fit or wear ones that are contaminated. Th viral particles are so small they can penetrate the masks that people commonly wear. In a recent Danish study with 4,800 participants it was concluded that there was no statistically significant difference in infection rates between mask wearers and non mask wearers. Covid seems to be losing it's punch. I watched a press conference last Friday at USC Medical Center. Both the chief medical director of L.A. County and an epidemiologist mocked the "media hype" on the latest variant BA.5 and commented that nothing has really changed on admissions in the last few months (remains lows) and virtually none go to the ICU with pulmonary disease. Not even one is on a respirator. Yet L.A. County is proposing another mask mandate at the end of the month. lol. I love our nation and served in the Armed Forces to defend the rights of everyone, to include those who take the vaccine and boosters and those who decline - those who choose to wear masks and those who don't. Choice has always been a critical American value that defines our country. We've never mandated flu vaccines, even with tens of thousands of deaths. The covid variants appear to be following the physiological course of their predecessor viruses and show signs of weakening virulence. That is good news for all. Ok. In unison with a previous poster, I'll get off my soap box. Rambling over. lol. As always, I wish everyone good health and happiness!

"And here is a thought…..maybe the author of the story is suffering from side effects of the shot and not an actual covid infection. There are always risks."

here's another thought. maybe the author has something not related at all to covid

For those that don’t believe masks worn correctly don’t work in fighting bacterial and viral infection. I would suggest those same individuals ask their surgeons and nurses to de-mask in their next surgery. Now that is a scary thought. Also, isn’t it funny that lab technicians in the CDC labs with viruses that are easily spread not only wear masks, but in some cases moon suits as well. You won’t find them unmasking there. Maybe a long time ago, they found out that other workers died when exposed to those viruses. Then through trial and error, low and behold masking up kept them alive. Covid in any form is not the flu. The flu is slow to mutate. The scientist have time to develop a vaccine that works year to year. Covid mutates much quicker and as long as people think it is over, it will continue to mutate. It is not becoming weaker it is actually becoming more contagious and easily spread. The reason more people are not dying is because many people are now vaccinated and or have had it. I wish the best for all vaccinated or not. I for one don’t like getting sick from any disease, so I will follow the recommendations of those that deal with these viruses on a daily basis. My best to all.
Jack

Comparing the flu to Covid is just plain laughable. Might as well compare pneumonia to a sore throat.

Mel

Actually, in reality there are some relevant comparisons between the flu and covid. Has anyone read the history of the H1N1 (influenza) pandemic of 1918? 500 million infected worldwide and 50 million deaths. 675,000 deaths in America when our population was only about 103 million compared with 330 million today. The world was a MUCH smaller place. Even though the flu does return occasionally with a punch (nearly 100,000 Americans died from it a few years back), we've seen nothing that compares with the devastation seen of 1918. With covid 19 we've seen a similar pattern. A big punch in 2020 when it first arrived after being imported from China, and now variants are much weaker, as far as virulence is concerned. This is the general lifecycle of related viral infections. Big impact - then as time marches on transmissions increase but the virus loses it's punch as far as severe illness and death. I encourage the readers to watch the video of the Town Hall at the University of Southern California that took place last Friday. The Chief Medical Director of L.A. County USC and the Chief Epidemiologist at USC mocked the "media hype" of variant BA.5 and said that they did not have a single covid patient in their ICU at the time of the presentation. Little or no severe illness from covid, and haven't seen a severe case since last February. Like night and day compared with 2020. Please watch the video for your own education. Yet they're bringing back mask mandates in L.A. county and some other jurisdictions, even though the large majority of RCT studies on cloth and surgical masks (the norm worn in the communities) show they are largely useless in the war on virus infections and can even be detrimental due to contaminated products. It's best to keep our eyes wide open and examine all sides of an issue based on current data so we don't get lost in the fog. But, my all means, if someone feels safer with a mask on - I say for WEAR IT FOR PROTECTION with the understanding that those little ingenious viral particles often find ways around it. And keep in mind that vaccinated folks are becoming infected and can transmit covid just as the unvaccinated folks do. Some people still have a false sense of security around the vaccinated. We NOW KNOW that is a false and dangerous assumption. With that, I wish covid 19 never happened and pray we never see a deadly outbreak like we did in 2020. And I certainly hope we NEVER see a deadly flu outbreak like we did in 1918. With what we know about viral infections and their evolution - the odds are on our side. God bless all and stay safe!

Why close it? Because someone gives a different point of view based on factual information? Geez.

I am with TJ123.

Firmly.

But I understand the fear.

As long as this thread simply contains differing opinions and they are respectfully presented there is no reason to close it. If it strays into spreading potentially dangerous COVID mis-information (e.g. unproven remedies) then it is likely to be shut down. Anyway, so far there are no real flames thrown so it's ok.

Personally, I liked Prato's earlier explanation about the change in guidance about prevention. The vaccines and boosters appear to have been effective against the earlier strains -- preventing both infection, serious illness or death. The current strains seem to be more contagious so vaccinated people are getting them with frequency as well as the unvaccinated. But there does seem to be some vax protection when it comes to serious illness or death -- though the current strains seem to be less dangerous anyway so that protection is somewhat muted.

For me, I'm vaxxed and double boosted. I think there is enough evidence to demonstrate that the vaccines are safe and enough for me to believe that I get some protection against more serious illness. But I have changed my position on forced vaccinations. Earlier when it was the unvaccinated who were spreading the virus I was all for mandates to get folks vaxxed to "stop the spread". Now that all of us, whether vaccinated or not, can spread the virus I could care less if someone gets the vaccine. Before their risk was also my risk. Now it's only their risk and I'm ok with people accepting risks for themselves. I don't walk in the rain during thunderstorms but if someone else wants to do that I don't care -- I may have an opinion about their choice but as long as it doesn't effect me (or society generally) then have at it.

Jim

P.S. By the way, re living life -- we are pretty much back to normal with minor exceptions. When flying to visit my infant grandson recently we took COVID tests before our visit and we wore KN-95 masks at the airport and on the plane. We wanted to minimize the risk of us carrying the virus to the little one. On the way home we still following our usual good practices of washing hands and trying not to be in people's faces but we skipped the masks. And, despite the fact that my wife got COVID on a recent European vacation we have two more cruises planned. Tick-tock -- I'm almost 76 years old so am looking at quality of life before I'm really an old geezer. There will be plenty of time for rest once I'm gone...

Mel, thanks for sharing. I believe every bit of the article and believe it's a good idea to get vaxxed and boosted...hence my 4 shots already and plans to get the variant specific booster in the fall. But since I realized than vaccinations don't really prevent people from getting the current virus or spreading the current strains of the virus I've softened my stance on mandates. Personally I think folks are nuts who don't get vaccinated and boosted but they probably think the same about me...and that's ok.

Yes, I suppose there are the extra costs we all bear in our health care systems for those who are not vaxxed and get really sick but that's true about a lot of things like smoking, obesity, not getting flu shots, etc. But I've now taken a live and let live approach since as long as the unvaccinated are not spreading any more than the vaxxed then it's their funeral and not mine.

Jim