My youngest is on virtual school today, because there are so many teachers out sick. Not clear and not really relevant whether it is covid or RSV. I was supposed to be out to dinner tonight, the couple we are meeting cancelled because both have covid. Hospitals and schools are on their knees right now, in its own way it is every bit as weird as the lockdown times.
My wife had covid in October. I was sort of amazed I never tested positive, still never have. We still keep a box of tests, which is how we were able to confirm she was and that I wasn’t.
Youngest had his class ‘sent to virtual’, which is really just closed. Too many teachers out with the 'vids, then the substitutes, so his class was sent home mid-week. He tested positive the next day. Finally cleared yesterday, we somehow managed not to have it spread in the household - mostly due to masks.
The timing is superbly shit. Little ones school play tomorrow and we’re either roping in relatives or we pull him out of it. Undecided yet and part of it will be how comfortable he is without us or whether he comes down with it himself.
Symptoms aren’t too bad, I can still work albeit from home. Again timing is shit, I prefer going in.
I have anti virals being delivered this afternoon. So at least that side has been super efficient.
It usually is. I tend to time illnesses perfectly to holidays.
Last Christmas I had three weeks off which was the first proper long break I’d had since the pandemic started. I went down with Covid on the first day and wasn’t fit to work again for a month.
I’ve had the 2 mandatory doses of AstraZeneca plus one booster rose.
I’ve consulted my docs in the family on whether I would require another dose. None of them really said it was needed. Wonder what’s the advice being given in other places?
In Germany, the official advice is boosters for over 60s, the infirm and health workers (my wife and I both had a booster because we fall into the latter category).
At the moment there are huge numbers of people with respiratory illness but few being hospitalised. That would indicate that the approach is working.
My wife and I were ill a couple of weeks ago but we both tested negative for Covid. However, I’m fairly certain it was as I had heavy cold symptoms and a loss of taste. We didn’t test immediately as it just seemed like a seasonal infection. I’m fine now but it seems to be dragging on with my wife.
Edit: just seen on the news that the Chancellor has covid, so it’s still going around.
Our advice here is maintaining boosters. I have lost count of how many I have had, the most recent booster was September. The vast majority of people have stopped bothering.
I stopped at my second booster that I had last Thanksgiving.
I dont think the data is great that for a person in my situation with regards to protection against symptomatic disease - double boosted already plus a couple of bouts of the real stuff. So for me was mostly about reducing transmissions, but the effectiveness on that has gone down the toilet. So without the benefit of reducing the chance of me giving it to someone else I spend time with over the holidays I haven’t bothered getting another booster this year. I’ll reevaluate next year and see where we are then.
That is actually why we planned on doing a round of boosters this month - reducing the chances of contracting it in advance of the holidays. However, with two cases of covid in the house in the past two months or so, I think the chances of me not having been directly exposed are vanishingly small, so it is probably overkill.
It is sort of bizarre that wastewater testing is showing we have more covid in circulation than during the Omicron wave, but it is all business as usual. I feel entitled to some day-drinking or something.
I had a booster a couple of weeks ago, the latest of several given my risk level due to dodgy kidneys.
Yet again UK policy is nonexistent. Being in a high risk group I have access to tests and of course boosters. Everyone else seems to be left to fend for themselves, and I include care workers in that I think. That’s what I’m hearing anyway, probably wrong but also possible with our shit governance.
Really struggling to think where, how we could have contracted it. We became symptomatic at the same time but really haven’t been anywhere together in the last 2 weeks. I can only guess a client of hers or me being in contact with someone at work. But no one said anything or has been off.
In this area, our wastewater tracking is showing really high levels, but there is basically no testing data outside hospitals. Rapid tests are freely available though, we still keep a box and were using it. But given my youngest son had covid that he almost certainly got from his class (2 teachers and multiple classmates had it), and a team I played footy against last Sunday was down about a third of their players (5 of 14) this Sunday with covid, I have just giving up where it could be coming from. The current variant is incredibly infectious and the overwhelming majority of cases are mild, if I was not planning on seeing vulnerable relatives over the next few weeks I would not be that concerned.
It is wild how different the Vancouver data is that @Semmy linked is versus what we are seeing. Covid is absolutely everywhere, masks aren’t mandated but you see them every day right now.
Covid may now be endemic, and it may even now be stable in a mild form, but it very definitely has epidemic properties. This region is seeing an epidemic.
Hospitals are again being pushed (parallel wave of influenza, and high though stable levels of RSV). Schools are getting absolutely pounded, just not enough substitute teachers to keep classes open. But the hospitalization/serious/fatality rates are a fraction of what they were.
we went to the mall on Saturday as we had finally gotten over a week-long cold. Nobody wearing masks, maybe 1 in 200 people, and it was packed. Business as usual.
Probably 1 in 20 wearing masks in public settings right now, skewing heavily to older people. Business as usual, but I have had two dinner get-togethers in the past 7 days cancelled because someone had covid.
