Coronavirus general discussion and chit-chat

The Quarantine Zone
1785

A friend of mine caught Covid this summer - while on a cruise (how unoriginal!). She was on a 3-week cruise that went around Europe and then crossed the Atlantic. She spent several days in quarantine on the ship, as she came down with it during the Atlantic crossing - then had to quarantine in New York for a week before being able to return home.

I understand the cruise ship enforcing quarantine (she knows she was not the only one in, er, that same boat) but I’m not up on the latest restrictions regarding domestic travel. To be sure, it’s jerkish to get on an airplane or whatever when you know yourself to be contagious (as would have been the case for her), but I’m also quite sure most people would have done so anyway.

1786

Well crap, I’m positive. Our annual golf group got together over the holiday weekend after a two year cancellation due to the virus. I came home to our kids/grandkids house on Wednesday to find emails that two folks had tested positive. I’d spent some time on the course with one (open air in a golf cart) and next to the other at our final Sunday dinner.

Monday night I started with some cold symptoms typical for me - a mild sore throat and stuffed up head. A little under the weather part of Tuesday but I was fine Wednesday until I read the emails.

Home test lights up like a Christmas tree. Forget faint C and T lines, it was as if someone went wild with a sharpie.

I’m great today, what happens next? I’m staying away in the downstairs kitchen/bedroom from the grandkids. Do I test in a few days and then go back to normal if negative? How long? Good source for the current thinking?

I’ve had both shots, both boosters, and the bivalent and now the virus. Fortunately mild like a 24 hr head cold.

1787

Yes. If you don’t have any serious symptoms, just isolate while you are infectious, and then return to normal when you test negative.

1788

This, according to the CDC:

… If You Test Positive for COVID-19 (Isolate)

Everyone, regardless of vaccination status.

  • Stay home for 5 days.
  • If you have no symptoms or your symptoms are resolving after 5 days, you can leave your house.
  • Continue to wear a mask around others for 5 additional days.

If you have a fever, continue to stay home until your fever resolves.

The long form of that advice:
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1227-isolation-quarantine-guidance.html

Depending on your age and therefore risk, you may wish to consult with a doctor about treatment with Paxlovid.

1789

Thanks to both above. Guess I’ll work on a couple of projects up in the barn for a few days. That’ll keep me busy and out of contact.

1790

Fwiw, i believe that rapid tests are a more reliable indicator of whether you are infectious than the number of days that have passed, and the CDC guidance is based on not wanting people to need to obtain tests. (Good enough, and cheaper.) But if you have access to rapid tests, I’d use them. And making for a few days after you return to public is a good caution, as well as telling your friends that you care about them.

I agree with @BippityBoppityBoo about checking with your doctor about your risk level, and whether paxlovid, or other treatments, make sense for you, though.

1791

It’s just that masks are terribly comfortable – I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.

I don’t see a time when I won’t be wearing one when out of the house, and every time I put one on before leaving I curse the idiots who made it necessary.

1792

Many cloth masks have pockets for sliding filters into. I have a couple like that and while I generally wear the N95s, I have them (with filters) for backup if necessary.

1793

I’m developing a nice wardrobe of masks. I have n95s for higher risk activities, and for when i need to wear one for hours, and my ears might get tired. And i have kf94s in a variety of colors and patterns for everyday. I like to wear one that goes with my shirt. :smiley:

1794

A Covid-19 tale:

A certain steak and seafood restaurant on Route 1 in southeast Maine is on our “never again” list for past gross transgression. I check online reviews of the place from time to time, and one of the latest is a doozy.

It seems that the people were apprised beforehand that the place was short on help but that they were accepting customers, so they decided to dine there. After placing their orders they waited…and waited. 45 minutes later the waitress came by and said that 7 kitchen employees had tested positive for Covid-19 and that they had to shut down the restaurant.

The next day, the customers drove by and there was a sign out front saying the place was closed due to a “staff shortage”.

Apparently the owner figured that sounded better than admitting the truth, or just saying "Closed due to illness. Way to be up front with your clientele.

*not too many restaurants are capable of screwing up a cheeseburger, but this one is.

1795

Sign of the times that this thread went almost a month between posts when the threat is still out there… I guess even for the most cautious, it’s just become one more thing to deal with that we have two years of practice in considering now?

Anyway, to my question: with holiday parties coming up, I’m wondering whether y’all think it’s worthwhile to wear a mask to an event where you’ll know that you’ll take it off to eat anyway (e.g. a Thanksgiving or Christmas party with many people or even just a restaurant). Is it just a waste of energy?

Another thing: I kind of miss the days where a mask was a clear, direct, and solid indicator of one’s moral fiber. Like, if you didn’t wear a mask in public, you were 95% sure to be an idiotic MAGAite who cared about nothing but themselves. Nowadays, it’s more of a hazard. I’ve often wondered if not wearing a mask today (or not taking similar precautions) means that you don’t care about getting or spreading Covid, and started threads about that question. This is one aspect of it.

1796

I don’t think so. If you are going to spend enough time, unmasked, with people to exchange diseases, i don’t think another hour or two matters.

My family will rapid test before getting together. And the immune compromised member will be eating with just her partner, unless it’s warm enough to eat outdoors, well spaced out. (Which it won’t be, in November.)

1797

To give one anecdote:

I no longer wear a mask in public as a matter of course. I had done so from March 2020 into March 2022, when our governor lifted the state’s public health emergency order regarding indoor masking in public.

Today, I wear N95 masks in healthcare facilities and essentially nowhere else. Crowds aren’t part of my daily life – but if I were, say, riding crowded mass transportation, I would want to be masked.

To answer your specific points: I no longer care very much about getting COVID myself. I’ve had five shots and a presumptive case (long story) back in January 2022. I am not concerned overmuch with “secret” asymptomatic COVID spread either from or to myself – I think it happens (as with many other diseases) but the risk of it is exaggerated in the popular media.

I’ve rarely had any kinds of respiratory symptoms since COVID started (excepting the January case) – and when I have, I stayed home. In the event I am symptomatic and do have to run out of the house for groceries or something, I will don an N95.

1798

We stopped wearing masks as a matter of course earlier this year. But, we started again a few weeks ago when we were approaching some family get-togethers that we wanted to maximize our chances of being healthy for.

1799

Why I’m still masking most of the time:

Overall, the researchers found that people with COVID-19 reinfections were twice as likely to die and three times more likely to be hospitalized than those with no reinfection.

Additionally, people with repeat infections were 3½ times more likely to develop lung problems, three times more likely to suffer heart conditions and 1.6 times more likely to experience brain conditions than patients who had been infected with the virus once.

Repeat COVID-19 infections increase risk of organ failure, death – Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

1800

I just tested positive for the 'rona today, the second time in two years. I had a cough Tuesday and Wednesday, no superior, and felt tired and run down. I’ve been vaxxed and boosted. I haven’t had a fever and my appetite came back and my cough went away. The symptoms seem to be pretty mild and I should be able to get away with isolating for a few days.

1801

I’m still not wearing masks, no vax, and not a single person has accused me of getting them sick.

I have not understood the mentality of those who follow all covid protocols this late in the debacle, but this message board is shedding some light on that. you guys havent attacked me for my stance, and you seem to truly believe in the things you are saying. so I’ll keep reading and see how this all unfolds.

it’s hard to know what to believe when everyone has a different, compelling (most of the time) opinion, and when I’m no doctor, or expert in much of anything. so far things are going well, the way I’ve approached it, fortunately. I was concerned about getting the elderly sick but I was also tired of being afraid to touch anything or see anyone. this risk I took, snowballed into seeing that literally nothing bad happened when I took my life back. it’s been more than 2 years now. until I see evidence in my metropolitan area that I should do more than basic, thorough hygiene practices, I’m not going to go through that paranoia again, where everything felt hopelessly tainted and unsafe.

I admit I have glared at people in masks because I’m so tired of this perpetuation of what I think is a lie. I feel ashamed that I glared. I don’t think common people are the enemy. someone is deceived, whether it’s those who believe in the mainstream covid narrative, or those who do not, and so I shouldnt blame random people on the street for what’s happening.

what’s underneath my glare, is that i cannot easily/directly fight what I truly feel is the enemy, so it’s easier to take out some of my bitter energy on those who wear masks. I am sorry that I’ve come to that. I used to say, “people aren’t your problem; they are your purpose.” I need to get back to that. I’ve lost sight of what we are actually fighting here, and I’ve lacked love for the strangers in masks. so sorry.

being in your company shows me I need to stop the us-vs-them mentality, stop dividing between mask-vs-no mask, and look upon each person as someone to care about. for we do not fight against flesh and blood, but unseen forces of darkness.

each person, even if they choose evil, is still alive for a purpose, and I need to get back to the Jesus mentality instead of resenting my brothers and sisters. I’m sorry that I grew to resent. I fell for the temptation to blame others. it will take time to undo my bitterness, but that is my new goal. thanks for helping with that.

1802

I got COVID around 10 days ago, and will soon be venturing back out into public, like the grocery store. When I do I will absolutely be masking to protect everyone else. (Probably for a week or two?)

Just imagine that’s the case for everyone you see in a mask. Pretend they aren’t using it as a preventative “just in case”, but rather they are wearing it because they just had COVID.

It might make it feel less judgy to you.

1803

Thanks for posting this alllllz. I think that’s an admirable and constructive attitude.

1804

I’m going to Taiwan in a few days (plane lands on Dec-7.) My parents, in Taiwan, are both sick with Covid right now (mild symptoms) but insist it’s fine for me to stay at their house because “we’ll no longer be contagious by Dec-5.”

I…don’t feel comfortable about that. Can anyone advise if this is risky or relatively safe? FWIW, I got my last Covid booster shot in Sept-2022.