Coronavirus

I love you Old Sag. Feel better.

Today I attended a memorial service for an old friend of the family who died of Covid last year, on Christmas Eve. Surprisingly, it was very much like an ordinary funeral. I kind of expected something more uplifting since it had been 6 months. Instead the preacher informed us all that we might die this afternoon, and by default we were going to Hell. No one mentioned Covid at all.

On the way home I got to hear my dad spout off crackpot theories about how Obama is the Shadow President. I need a drink.

Those are real tough, hotseat, I sympathize. We had a similar thing last month listening to my spouse's grandmother tell us all these covid conspiracy theories. It's either throw down for no reason with some old person who won't listen or just nod and be like "I think you're information is wrong, I cannot agree" and try to avoid it.

Yeah, I flat out asked him where he was getting this Obama stuff. He had nothing.

Hard to believe Obama is shadow president while also running a network of radical madrassas. He’s a master of time management skills.

On-topic: a week from today I leave for a family camping trip with my anti-vax mom and brothers. Going to try not to discuss it.

My state legislature just passed a budget bill not only outlawing requiring vaccines at universities, which we all expected, but preventing any university from doing mandatory covid tests or having any mandatory mask rules for unvaccinated. It is fucking terrifying if we get hit with delta hard, I have no idea how to handle this right now.

It’s so sad that a public health crisis has been politicized and people are willingly self-selecting as viral incubators.

Just this last weekend, I have noticed an increase in mask wearing, especially at the gym. I guess these would be people who take COVID-19 seriously but are afraid to get vaccinated. I understand that there are people who can't get vaccinated or won't necessarily get decent efficacy from a vaccine, but this seems like too many people to fall within just those two groups.

My wife's grandma is obsessed with the disease, terrified of it and follows health guidelines religiously, and also won't get vaccinated because of lunatic conspiracy theories. So these people do exist.

But beyond that, I think there's a lot of fear about the new delta variant so people following health advice are kind of starting to mask a little more even if they are vaccinated, so that's possible too.

Ironically, if people would just get the fucking shot, the Delta variant would have no hosts. People are such selfish assholes.

Not everyone is able to be vaccinated.

n815e wrote: Not everyone is able to be vaccinated.

Yeah, I get that. But that doesn't explain a sudden and recent increase in local mask wearing. It's not like a bunch of people suddenly lost the ability to get vaccinated.

n815e wrote: Not everyone is able to be vaccinated.

I get this is true in some cases, but I suspect this represents less than 1% of the unvaccinated in this country. And those are possibly the majority of the unvaccinated that actually wear masks...

Regarding those that are immunocompromised, it's almost certainly worth it for them to get vaccinated even if the affect is greatly lessened. There's some new evidence that a third shot can actually significantly increase the amount of immune response, and a friend of mine who has such issues is trying to get into a study with Baylor Univ. right now for a third shot. I also know from him, as he's quite active with the Immune Deficiency Foundation, that based on the cause of your immunity problems that doctors suggest different vaccines that will hopefully provide the most benefit.

Still waiting to see if the new Delta+ causes a new surge here in the US, as I'm currently working in a small office (actually a townhouse) with up to 17 others (all vaccinated). May start masking up or working from home more if numbers start going up again. But I think the vaccine makes the risk manageable for the time being. Still probably as likely to die on my 20 mile commute to and from work as to Covid...