How to reduce your chance of dying from Covid by 99%? Get vaxxed and boosted

[Steve_L]

I got my booster at lunchtime yesterday. So far the only side effect is a sore upper arm where I got the injection. I’m hopeful knocks on wood that’s as bad as it gets (that’s as bad as it got for my first two shots) since I’ve heard from some of my friends and colleagues that they felt like they’d gotten run over by a truck.

[Skeptic]

Immunity to covid, both from recovering from infection and from vaccines, wanes. So in addition to getting vaxed and boosted, wear a respirator grade mask, and wear it correctly, tightly fitted with no leaks.

The best way to get a respirator to fit correctly is to switch from filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) like N95s and KN95s to an elastomeric respirator - soft rubber, TPU or silicone seals are more likley to give you an effective seal. And, unlike FFRs, you can check the seal on an elastomeric by covering the ports and trying to breathe in or out.

Elastomerics built specifically for source control (no valves) are now available. The easiest to get is the GVS Elipse source control, you can get one on Amazon. But make sure it says “source control” because GVS makes an identical looking one that does have a valve.

[mmascari]

@gracchus

The most compelling chart in the world will do nothing to change the mind of someone who believes that Covid is a hoax ginned up by the government in order to control people and inject them with 5G nano trackers.

The effort behind this statement of the obvious is genuinely appreciated. However, we’re at least 6 months past the point where we should be acknowledging that we’ve once again hit that magic number of the Know-Nothing 27% who won’t change their minds. So, once again, our focus in regard to them should shift to figuring out how best to mitigate the damage these idiots can do to the rest of us.

Accepting the new information now would mean accepting that they’ve been wrong for the entire time before. That’s unlikely to happen.

All solutions now involve finding a way for them to not have to confront that earlier view. A way for them to keep the earlier position and get vaccinated anyway. Since, getting more people vaccinated is the best way to limit the damage to the rest of us.

Enter mandates, passports, and any policy that excludes unvaccinated people from more of society. This allows the completely rational decision to get vaccinated to continue participating in society as the reason and not have to change the original viewpoint at all. As bonus, it also limits the ability of the unvaccinated to inflict damage because of reduced interaction too.

What we need now are state laws implementing mandates. We need CA, NY, and other states to step up and pass laws mandating vaccination for participating in society. All the fighting to date has been that the federal government doesn’t have the authority to implement these, but that the states do. We need some to step up now and do it. More will follow then.

Doesn’t solve the national picture, and FL isn’t gonna step up any time soon. But, need to start someplace.

PS: Everyone get their boosters. While the improvement from unvaccinated to vaccinated is large, the improvement to boosted is just as important.

[blackeye]

@frauenfelder

How to reduce your chance of dying from Covid by 99%? Get vaccinated and a booster.

@gracchus

The effort behind this statement of the obvious is genuinely appreciated.

Agreed. I’m guessing that vaccination status also serves as a marker for other risk-reducing behaviours. Such as mask wearing, physical setting mitigation or avoidance, elevated hygiene, and perhaps generally taking care of oneself and family. In other words, there might be a sub-set of vaccinated people that would have died IF they had contracted Covid.

[Stripes]

@gracchus

The most compelling chart in the world will do nothing to change the mind of someone who believes that Covid is a hoax ginned up by the government in order to control people and inject them with 5G nano trackers.

Yep, although there are a nontrivial number of people who have been vaccinated and not boosted. Seeing the ~7x difference may change their minds. Or in some cases less change minds and moire bump it up from “I’m real busy this week, maybe next week” to “yeah, I should do that today”.

@gracchus

once again hit that magic number of the Know-Nothing 27% who won’t change their minds. So, once again, our focus in regard to them should shift to figuring out how best to mitigate the damage these idiots can do to the rest of us.

A modest proposal: apologies to all the sane hard working folk in Florida, but none the less move anyone unvaccinated to Florida. Tell them we are building a wall to keep “the bad people out” but actually install a whole lot of high explosives on the state border, and once we have enough use them to sever it from the main land mass.

This may not pass constitutional muster, but once we light the fuse a court can’t really undo it anyway.

@anon33932455

The media needs to stop presenting these anti-vax stories, and anti-mask incidents as “another part of the story” and talk about them for what they are: a danger to the American body politic.

Well they are “another part of the story”, and presenting them is fine. So long as they are actually presented as “this is the part of the story that means lots of people die every day”, and “some of these people are misguided and deserve our sympathy, but others don’t believe the BS they spout and are just dragging others to their death for financial gain, or to get their jollies. Why aren’t we treating it as manslaughter?”

@cannibalpeas

Who knows what to chalk it up to, Omicron fears, holiday travel needs, fatigue, but I was surprised to hear Psaki the other day cite the statistic that we are now at 87.5% vaccination rate among the adult eligible population (ok, at least one dose, but still, that’s a lot) and over 80% for all groups 5-18. I’m assuming at least some of this population overlaps with the 27% know-nothings.

Nice! Some good news to take the bitter edge of…me I guess. I’m cranky today.

@Steve_L

I got my booster at lunchtime yesterday. So far the only side effect is a sore upper arm where I got the injection. I’m hopeful knocks on wood that’s as bad as it gets (that’s as bad as it got for my first two shots) since I’ve heard from some of my friends and colleagues that they felt like they’d gotten run over by a truck.

My wife had some flu-like symptoms and a sore arm for a while. I had a very vague soreness (like if I lifted something with that arm it felt like maybe I had bruised a small spot a few days before), and was a little tired.

I hope you have symptoms more like mine then like anything bad.

@mmascari

All solutions now involve finding a way for them to not have to confront that earlier view. A way for them to keep the earlier position and get vaccinated anyway. Since, getting more people vaccinated is the best way to limit the damage to the rest of us.

…so… “hey that old COVID wasn’t so bad but the new one is a doozy, get vaccinated!” ? (which sadly doesn’t line up with the actual new COVID which is “not as deadly for any given person but you are way more likely to get it, so overall we will see just as many deaths and come closer to medical systems collapse which will amplify the numbers that die…lets avoid that please!”)

@blackeye

Agreed. I’m guessing that vaccination status also serves as a marker for other risk-reducing behaviours. Such as mask wearing, physical setting mitigation or avoidance,

You would think that.

I was at the emergency vet last week, the receptionists had no masks but I overheard one talking to another that they were scheduled for their booster the next day. (& yeah, it was an emergency otherwise I would have looked for a “masks required” not “masks optional even though CA requires them, but apparently I’ve found the red part of CA!”)

My best theory was the owner required them to have no masks? I don’t know. I really wasn’t in a state to gather more information at the time.

[Steve_L]

@Stripes

I hope you have symptoms more like mine then like anything bad.

Thanks.

@Stripes

I was at the emergency vet last week

Hope that went okay.

[Stripes]

@Steve_L

Hope that went okay.

It didn’t really, two weeks ago he suffered chronic heart failure & I knew my dog (really he was my wife’s soul dog, but I loved him too) was getting close to the end, three to six months likely, and a very slim chance of a year or more. Then he had 2 other serious conditions, and treating one of them would make the CHF kill him, and treating the CHF would make that kill him, and even if that impossible pair of issues could be solved there was very little chance of getting him past the third. On the other hand during those two weeks he was happy, and I wouldn’t trade them for what it cost to get him through the CHF. Plus we recently foster failed two puppies and he really loved snuggling with them (when they were calm), so he got some time for that. & he was 15, both longer than he was expected to make it, and no where near long enough. I’m sure everyone feels that way about their dogs though.

[Steve_L]

I’m sorry for your loss.

[anon33932455]

@Stripes

Well they are “another part of the story”, and presenting them is fine. So long as they are actually presented as “this is the part of the story that means lots of people die every day”,

Pretty sure that’s what I wrote, yes.

I’ve tried to explain to people that this vaccine works just as well as others. My son had an RSV vaccine, and got a mild case anyway. Two of my kids had the chickenpox vaccine, and got mild cases anyway (and gave it to early-40-something unvaccinated me). It happens. But for them it’s just evidence of "see! vaccines don’t work!!)

Sorry to hear about your pupper. Pics to post here?

[subextraordinaire]

@Stripes

I was at the emergency vet last week, the receptionists had no masks but I overheard one talking to another that they were scheduled for their booster the next day. (& yeah, it was an emergency otherwise I would have looked for a “masks required” not “masks optional even though CA requires them, but apparently I’ve found the red part of CA!”)

I’m also very sorry for you and your wife’s loss.

I wish there was a way to report businesses and medical practices who do not require their employees to mask up. I also live in CA, but I think these mask mandates are really handled by the county level. If you’re in a more red county, I fear you won’t get much help at the local level.

[hecep]

Having already been Pfizer-ed twice, I got boosted with Moderna today. Marched out into the world, masked, confident, and not a dick.

[DukeTrout]

Early on, I reported them to the county health authority. I have no idea if that worked, but it felt important.

Lately I haven’t been seeing businesses with employees not masking, but definitely being lax about enforcement of the mandate with customers. And what are they supposed to do? It’s above a retail clerk’s pay grade to confront an anti-masker who might be armed or just plain violent.

I still think the best approach for private businesses is to charge a “public health surcharge” to everyone who walks in the door, to be waived if the customer properly wears a mask the whole time. It wouldn’t require any legislation or regulatory action and it wouldn’t put staff in harm’s way. Refuse to pay it and we won’t sell you anything. Oh, and we will warn you that you are banned from the premises and put your photo on the board that reads “Call police immediately if this person walks in the door”.

[Elmer]

Yeah, “getting run over by a truck” pretty much describes it. Luckily it doesn’t last too long - for me the worst is usually over by the end of the day after.

[subextraordinaire]

@DukeTrout

Lately I haven’t been seeing businesses with employees not masking, but definitely being lax about enforcement of the mandate with customers. And what are they supposed to do? It’s above a retail clerk’s pay grade to confront an anti-masker who might be armed or just plain violent.

Yep, I totally agree. I’m lucky because it’s rare to see anyone without a mask in my part of the woods.

We were in Seaside, OR at the beginning of September, and it was funny hearing retail workers telling people, “Welcome! You need to wear a mask to shop here, or stand in the doorway.” They did not take crap from anyone.

[DukeTrout]

Love it. There’s an ACE hardware near me that doesn’t take that shit, either. They get almost all my spend, even for things like phone charging cables and tape.

[Bubble_T]

Working in this field, this timeline is nothing short of miraculous.
I’m tearing up just looking at it. We really got lucky and dodged a bullet.

Kudos to all the elbow grease from Moderna and Pfizer.

[blondie]

I got my Moderna booster (all my shots have been Moderna) Monday. Aside from a sore arm I haven’t had any side-effects until this one.

I stayed up late watching hockey and tennis and went to bed around 3:30am. I woke up at 6:30pm, lol. I’m still working at re-orienting myself.

[Grey_Devil]

I’ve been lucky that none of my Moderna shots had any bad side effects, most i had was getting real tired by the end of the first and second days. The booster didn’t give me noticeable tiredness like the previous ones and my arm was faintly sore. Glad you got all your shots tho!

[Steve_L]

This one was Pfizer (my first two were Moderna) and so far so good. The injection site is still a bit sore, but that’s all the side effects I have had.

I think I’ve probably slept more than 12 hours at a stretch only a handful of times in my life; once was 14 hours on the couch when I had a really bad cold as a kid.

[anon47182935]

My booster made me feel like I had the flu for a day, and then it gave me “Covid arm”. My whole upper arm swelled up, turned red, and itched for about a week. It was aggravating as hell. But it was worth it.