Every time I hear someone who is dismissive because the say it primary affects the elderly or those with comorbidities I can’t help but hear them saying, “%#%# those guys.” My mother, a former nurse, doesn’t think that pandemic is serious, and that the “overreaction” is some communist plot to take way our freedom, sent me a text yesterday with information about how some study shows that transmissions in schools are super rare. I said, “That’s nice. Susan’s father died last week. Covid.”
I don’t know. Ignoring the disparity in age groups is probably the bigger falsehood. I was blown away when a seemingly well informed poster here had no clue about how much higher the death rate was for the elderly.
Cousin’s boyfriend got an allergy shot on Monday, and that evening he thought he was having a reaction the shot, and went out to dinner with my cousin and another couple.
Next day, Tuesday, he had a Covid test as per the normal schedule and found out he was positive. The other couple also tested positive.
My cousin? She’s already had both doses of the Pfizer vaccine. So far she’s still negative.
My wife, best friend, uncle, and cousin have all had it. Don’t think any have been hospitalized. I’ve been working, going to school (virtual), working out, running errands, and most of the usual life things this whole time and I’ve never been noticeably sick and have tested negative so far. I’ll keep getting tested every 2 weeks and hope if I do come up positive that I’m non symptomatic at the time.
A good friend and her girlfriend has it. My friend is asymptomatic but has been taking care of girlfriend so must have caught it, or was already immune from having had it and not knowing. The girlfriend is on day 9 of fever and general hellish feeling, but the oxygen meter says she’s not in danger at this time.
I live abroad on a tiny little island in South Korea, so I haven’t been exposed. However, a dancer friend back in California blogged her experience with it and she looked and sounded awful. She seems to be better now, though she doesn’t post as often as she used to.
Two other friends work in medicine and have seen patients with it, of course, but neither much talks about it.
I never thought I’d say it but I knew someone who died of Covid.
I was informed by my sister early in the new year that our aunt, my godmother, had been in the hospital since a few days after Christmas and diagnosed with Covid. I don’t remember when I last saw her but might have been when her husband, my uncle (father’s side), died 25 years ago. A couple of days later, sis and cousin confirmed she passed away. She was 8 days away from her 94th birthday and exactly a week before my own mother’s death a year earlier.
As of last Tuesday, I have it. I started feeling off Tuesday, tested positive Wednesday. For me it’s mild fever, mostly body aches and some coughing with stuffy nose, no real lung involvement. Mainly I’ve been quarantining and sleeping. Trying to stay isolated from my parents, who share the house. Mom had one Moderna shot a week before. Crossing fingers hard. I’m getting better, no more fevers, and aches are lessening. Still very tired.
I’m on an email list for parents of kids Moon Unit’s age. So far, 4 of them have tested postive (wide geographic area, no connection).
The latest one was just hospitalized. Her husband was hospitalized a couple weeks ago with pneumonia - NOT due to COVID. But he caught it IN THE HOSPITAL, and brought it home to the family :(.
One of my oldest childhood friends is sick; her younger son tested positive, but her test came back inconclusive because apparently they needed more sample material? In any case, given her symptoms, it sure seems like the retest will come back positive. Her husband and son have no symptoms - not sure whether they got their test results back yet. Her husband is the only one working outside the home at the moment - he is isolating away from them. So far my friend feels miserable, but doesn’t seem to be in any serious danger.
My mother in law has died. She contracted Covid early December and we thought she’d survived, but it left her very weak and she went into a sharp decline last week. She was in a care home - 18 other residents have also died. Funeral is restricted to 25 mourners, with no wake allowed. My sister in law lives in the US and can’t come to the funeral, which is heartbreaking.
Ouch! I’m sorry to hear of your Mother in Law. Best of luck to the survivors.
Sorry for your loss, I hope we are all slowly on the way out of this damned pandemic
My mother passed away from it a week before Christmas. With all her health problems it was very unlikely she would have lasted another year even without Covid so it wasn’t the earthshattering shock I always imagined it would be but still pretty devastating. Her family is pretty strewn out across the country so the memorial service will have to wait until travel opens up. Maybe then it will seem more real.
@RadioWave, @SanVito, I am sorry for your losses.
It’s hard, not to be able to have or to be at the funerals. My father’s death (many years ago) didn’t seem quite real to me until I saw the body.
Thank you, we’re going to have a Zoom wake for the extended family, which will be odd but at least goes some way to celebrating her life. Beige food mandatory and cheap wine! (Is that just a British thing?)
Status update, I am much better. My fever was mild and only lasted a couple of days. The body aches and fatigue a couple days longer. Mine want that bad, considering - no real lung involvement, just a mild cough. I’ve felt worse with a couple of strep infections. I’m back working.
For anyone who has suffered a loss from this, my deepest sympathies and condolences. Even the sick not expected to live another year are still an unnecessary loss.
I’ve had similar experiences. I was in college when one of my aunts died, so I missed the funeral. It didn’t really settle in until I visited my uncle the next time and she wasn’t there.
I had a cousin kill himself with a gun. Even though I attended the funeral, it took a long time to become real. Basically, his wife and sons moved to the city where my sister and parents live, and I now live. So there have been plenty of visits to bring it home that he’s not there.
There’s just something about seeing the body that does more to confirm it psychologically than just having a ceremony with a picture or urn or even closed casket. IMO.
I also feel for everyone who can’t be with their loved ones when they die, and can’t have a real ceremony with all the family and friends. Our rituals and customs and human needs are all obstructed by this horrible mess.
Getting morbid here, but is open casket typical in the US, or just amongst certain communities? It’s not typical amongst us uptight anglos, although my wife’s Irish Catholic family used to do it (although not recently).
It’s typical among certain communities, and not among others. It’s not done among mine, but the immediate family can view the body privately before the funeral if they desire. My sister chose not to, but I needed to.
It’s pretty common here, unless there’s a reason not to, like trauma. It is a bit gruesome even then. Seeing a loved one’s lifeless body is a bit unsettling. At least we aren’t propping them up in the parlor.