Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
Visit with unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
Refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure if asymptomatic
Resume domestic travel and refrain from testing before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel.
Refrain from testing before leaving the United States for international travel (unless required by the destination) and refrain from self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States.
For now, fully vaccinated people should continue to:
Take precautions in public like wearing a well-fitted mask and physical distancing
Wear masks, practice physical distancing, and adhere to other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people who are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease or who have an unvaccinated household member who is at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease
Wear masks, maintain physical distance, and practice other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households
Avoid medium- and large-sized in-person gatherings
Follow CDC and health department travel requirements and recommendations
I certainly am not planning on ripping my mask off and going out into a huge gathering, but my statement mostly applied to things like ‘going to the store (masked) and not worrying that I’m going to be a major vector’. But I am looking forward to having some small gatherings like home dinners with some friends of mine that are vaccinated as well once we hit the point, and then if cases drop far enough, going back to normal.
Same, and same! My honey and I got our second Modernas (thanks, Dolly!) at around noon:30 today.
I’ll keep wearing at least one mask when out and about. I prefer avoiding not just the plague, but all the minor bugs, too. Working at a bookstore in a vast office/retail building meant catching at least 2 colds every winter, until I began taking zinc every day. One year my coworkers caught 4-6 during autumn and winter, but the zinc kept me healthy. I’d told them about it to save them from suffering, but none of them got any, and they were sick all the time. You can lead a horse to water, etc. /shrugs
My arm bothered me almost every night, long after the tetanus shot-esque pain that immediately followed getting the 1st shot on 24 March. It was even sore last night. That surprised the nurse. The 2nd made my arm hurt a lot more quickly than the 1st did; fingers crossed it won’t be as bad this time. Hope the neck, shoulder, knuckles, ankles, the place where my leg broke years ago, knees, and hips won’t ache as much as they did after the 1st one. I’m also hoping I won’t have the emotional pain - suddenly weeping for little to no reason is wretched. That also surprised the nurse, even after explaining I’d lost mom last summer, our wonderful dog the day after Valentine’s, and two old friends over a 3 week period last month.
I got my first shot on Monday and I think I managed to get a little lucky, as I just had a few days of sore arm but it wasn’t too bad. My poor wife’s second shot is landing in a busy period for her at work unfortunately, so she’s setting up coverage from her team for it. I’m hoping mine lands on a quiet week for me where I can afford to easily take a day or two sick in the worst cast.
Still, beats intubation, or knowing you accidentally passed along the virus and got someone else killed.
just got my second Moderna shot yesterday morning. Pharmacist said “you’re going to start feeling poorly midafternoon. Maybe a fever, chills, fatigue. Get some sports drink for tomorrow when you feel bad and make sure you have some food available that doesn’t require a bunch of cooking because you won’t feel like it.”
But I’ve felt great except for a bit of arm soreness ever since. Guess I’m lucky.
Whoo, just got my first shot of the Dolly Parton vaccine. (I’m sorry, that’s just what it’s called, now.) Look forward to feeling kind of crappy, though most people I’ve talked to only felt poorly after the second dose.
Yeah, possibly ever, given the behavior and vaccine-avoidance of too many Republicans.
Trump getting vaccinated in secret really shows his completely contemptible cowardliness. He cared more about not alienating a few of his supporters than the lives of Americans. That one act really exemplified his (total lack of) moral fiber.
Quite literally, I think. His experience running a company was to make decisions and sign off on other people’s decisions. But as president he a) his powers weren’t what he thought they were, b) he was completely out of his depth and knew nothing, and c) he couldn’t be bothered to learn or actually make any effort. So he didn’t do a lot of that - much of his “decision making” was actually just publicly stating his opinions about how he thought things should be (but not actually doing anything about it, nor even asking anyone else to). His whole notion of “politics” is to attack. When he had a political problem where there was no one to attack (e.g. covid), he was lost. I think he actually believed stating his opinions and attacking people constituted leadership, if he thought about it at all.
Unfortunately you don’t need to have to be hospitalized for covid to be really nasty. I some statistic that indicated a majority of kids who get covid symptoms end up with some degree of “long covid.” I was reading about one example where a kid didn’t have the energy to get out of bed for 8 months. It’s still pretty scary even without the risk of death or hospitalization. So yeah, not letting kids be around unvaccinated people is wise.
I was amazed at how efficient my vaccination was, and how streamlined they had made the process and how they had removed opportunities for confusion. I was practically sprinting through the thing. The longest bit was sitting for 15 minutes afterwards for observation. It’s a big facility and they’ve been doing it for a while in that location, so they’ve gotten good at it, obviously.
I was reading that the CDC is being a lot more permissive than other countries’ health organizations, in their advice to people who have been vaccinated. The US is getting a bit of side-eye from other countries on this.
I can’t find information on guidance for Canadians or others to compare to (or even WHO guidelines), so I don’t have much to go on for this to really disagree or agree with you on that. The EU seems to agree with the CDC however: EU Agency Says Masks, Distancing Can Be Relaxed If Vaccinated - Bloomberg
That all being said, as someone with a general understanding of the situation and based on my wife’s professional opinion I think the CDC guidelines are reasonable ones, and if they change them to be more stringent as more information develops, I’ll continue to follow their guidance as well. The breakthrough rate for COVID19 is extremely low, and so the likelihood that two groups of vaccinated individuals would pass the disease is radically low, even for mutant/variants - the data I could find indicates that they still generally help prevent hospitalization and death for mutant strains.
I feel pretty strongly that it’s okay and healthy to see some hope on the horizon. Being a pessimist does not prepare you better for the future in any event; lord knows my therapist has been beating that into me for years. The concert I wanted to go to this summer got cancelled, I’m not going to be heading down for any big family gatherings, but a highly vaccinated populace will absolutely help drive down cases, and those members of the populace that get vaccinated I think are safe in following health department guidance in responsibly meeting and celebrating.
After I got the second Moderna I felt fine for 24 hours, then lousy for 24 hours, feeling flu-ish, chills, fever probably, so I spent lots more extra time under a blanket during that period, then after that I was fine.
Well hopefully Norway is not trying to emulate US type spread of COVID-19 and July is soon enough. Canada has had rampant spread is some areas and seems to be racing vaccination vs infection now.
I got both shots, Pfizer. First, mild sore arm for a few days. Second, similar sore arm, then 12 hrs later chills, delirious fever sleep, woke exhausted, achy, and slept entire next day.
Otherwise nothing has changed or will change caution wise till we go 30days without new infections - so probably never.
Ain’t that no shit! I’m just whiny b/c old lady w/low pain threshold
[Edited to add] Bonus:
We went to a local hospital’s vaccination center, and there was no one ahead of us for any step the first time. The second time, there was one person ahead of us for registration and then uptake, but got our shots as soon as we walked into the cafeteria. We were a little late both times (entirely my fault), but it didn’t matter.
Yeah, you’re right. The flip side is that I have been living a relatively open life this last year. While I was in the home office most of the time I could come in to the office when I needed to and I even travelled a few times.
Still, I’m getting antsy when I see the success stories elsewhere. Especially because international travel is still a long way away for me, which is not great for someone who has moved on his own to a different country a year and a half ago and whose friends and family are almost all a plane ride away.
I was lucky enough to get my shots early, but have been wearing a mask and will continue to do so until the mask mandates are lifted. I’m not going to be one of those “masks forever” people, but I’ll definitely wear a mask whenever I’m sick… just like I did before the pandemic. I’m also visiting other people who are fully vaccinated. I realize there’s some risk, but compared to the risk I face every day just going to and from work, it’s minuscule. Only about half the people in public ever bothered wearing masks to begin with, and now that people are getting vaccinated that number is dropping rapidly. If there’s a new variant, there will be no escaping it at this point unless I quit my job and barricade myself in my house for… I don’t even know how long. Forever?
vaccine appointments seem very hard to get in my neck of the woods. Which may be a good thing. Or my lack of car ownership means that I’ve been too damn picky.
Better than getting the Michelle Pfizer vaccine is all I’m saying. Dolly Parton vaccine team all the way!
(I jest, I would have gotten either one of course. But this way I get to sing “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine vacc-III-IINE” and mean it. Don’t know what I’d sing otherwise. “Livin’ in the Vaccine Paradise?”)
I think the recent statements that this will not be eradicated or defeated took a lot of wind out of my sails on whehter or not we get enough people to take the vaccine. I don’t think we’ll have enough, and that the hesitancy won’t go down in degrees it needs to to get us there.
Ultimately, we’re likely going to be getting COVID boosters for the rest of our lives as new variants escape old vaccines.
