Hello, I used to post here until I took a long trip. I’m still traveling, now in the Dakotas.
I hope to write a bit about our travels, but I have to say that one of the oddest experiences we had was visiting Organ Pipe National Monument in Arizona shortly before leaving the US for Baja in January, and then on our return in early April. In January, the rangers were handing out genuine US Grade A 3M N95 masks, and masks were required in all indoor spaces. On our return, masks were “optional,” and almost nobody (except the rangers, of course) was choosing that option. Mexico still takes COVID seriously, with universal masking indoors and a fair amount outdoors in larger cities, so it was an uncomfortable transition to say the least.
Well, back home in Western and Central New York, our collective unmasking has led to predictable results:
This is the map of COVID risk from the CDC. The orange areas are high risk, and that risk moved quickly:
[O]nly three counties in New York were considered high risk three weeks ago: Onondaga [Syracuse], Oswego and Cayuga counties. The list grew to 10 counties two weeks ago, 23 last week and now 37.Central New York is clearly the epicenter for the spread, as detailed in a recent New York Times article. Areas with high Covid risk now include three counties in Pennsylvania and eight in Vermont, along New York state’s borders; altogether, 50 of the nation’s 56 counties with high Covid levels are in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and New Hampshire.
[…]Covid community levels were low enough at the beginning of March that masks weren’t recommended in any New York state county, but cases and hospitalizations increased in Syracuse and the surrounding area due to the rise of highly contagious BA.2 variants, the end of widespread mask-wearing, and the waning of vaccines. The state health department said CNY is the first in the U.S. to see “significant community spread” of more contagious omicron strains BA.2.12 and the related BA.2.12.1, which have spread rapidly.
The area where I live in New York (called the “Finger Lakes Region”), just west of Syracuse, is now a high-risk COVID area. There, 71% are fully vaxxed, but only half of that number are boosted. A combination of sloth and “doing your own research” will probably doom more than a few members of my home community to a preventable, miserable death.
Witnessing a “poor, backward country” doing better than our supposedly highly-civilized and certainly rich bastion of civilization shouldn’t be such a shock, but here we are. (This is the Mexico risk map from their version of the CDC.)
Another Friday Morning Open Thread: Raskin On Fire
germy
CDC: COVID transmission ‘high’ in nearly entire Capital Region
germy
My county is considered “medium” risk but I suspect that will change soon.
I’m often the only masked person in a store. Customers and employees all barefaced.
insert clever nickname here mistermix
@germy: Barefaced, ignorant, and marking their ballots for Elise, I assume.
rikyrah
To be honest, I can’t wait for Fridays. I have always been an introvert. But, now, I try to make it home, and I don’t feel the urge to leave my house until Monday morning.
If not for work, I wouldn’t leave my house at all. Not with folks doubting the seriousness of Cousin Omicron and his little brother.
germy
@insert clever nickname here mistermix:
I’m in Saratoga county. Not my rep but I see her commercials.
There’s still a few TRUMP signs a short distance from my house. The idiots are riled up.
Damien
We’re in a Cold War in a Hot Zone; as long as boosters continue to provide extended protection I’ll roll up both sleeves and take ‘em every month if I have to. And I’ll trust Fauci; he recommends masks then I’ll wear it
trollhattan
South Africa is having wave #5 and we’re well-advised to pay attention, since they were the nation that correctly identified the omicron variant.
Not the time to be dropping mask requirements for flying.
WereBear
it’s a great time to have a good working knowledge of The Twilight Zone.
insert clever nickname here mistermix
@germy: The number of Trump flags and signs around here (rural North and South Dakota) always amuses me. Who are they trying to convince? Everyone already votes for that asshole.
germy
@insert clever nickname here mistermix:
They’re vice-signaling to each other.
RW people who live in “blue” states always feel like they’re under siege. Even in upstate. In their minds they’re surrounded and hounded by liberals.
La Nonna
Indoor mask mandates still in place, including all public transportation in Italy, though there are rumblings of changes mid-May. Il Nonno and I are queued up for 2nd booster next Tuesday, 120 days after vaccine #3…Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, Moderna mix. Lots of asymptomatic still around despite over 90% vaxxed and boosted.
Steve in the ATL
@La Nonna: what’s the science on mixing vaccines? Better, worse, no difference, no one’s sure?
rikyrah
@La Nonna:
90% vaxxed and boosted…I am jealous.
rikyrah
@germy:
Siege from what?
We don’t give a phuck about them.
What are the LEFT oppressing them with?
germy
@rikyrah:
Nobody bothers them but part of their identity is that they’re brave rebels against us. They’re all over the comments sections of my local media. They come across as whiny and resentful rather than brave or rebellious.
Jeffro
@rikyrah: wait…you mean you aren’t out driving your jacked-up pickup truck with a big “BIDEN ‘24!” Flag flying from the back every weekend like the rest of us? ?
RaflW
@germy: “I’m often the only masked person in a store. Customers and employees all barefaced.”
I watch people with pretty obvious poor health just stroll into establishments bare-faced. It boggles my mind (even the healthy can get sick, can have complications, and can be vectors, so all of the mask-avoidance is very weird to me).
Jager
@rikyrah:
Our existence
La Nonna
Not sure about thr science re vaccine mixing, Pfizer was reserved initially for the immunocompromised, like Il Nonno, the rest of us olds were given AZ, then the AZ contract with the EU blew up, non-delivery, so randomly Pfizer or Moderna as boosters now. No Janssen in Italy any more either.
RaflW
@trollhattan: “Not the time to be dropping mask requirements for flying.” FTF judge!
I’m not looking forward to a 3.5 to 4 hr flight to Portland in late June. The conference, I hope, will be worth the b.s. But flying in the pandemic has been pretty stressful already. Now? Gah.
TBH even attending the conference feels weird (though I’ve missed attending, it’s been a regular for me since 2006 – and online didn’t hack it for me, unlike small group zooms which I like just fine). We’ll be watching that orange & red map closely.
Betty
@germy: Biden better zoom his speech to the big dinner.
trollhattan
@RaflW:
Yeah, timing will be crucial for any big events like that, IMHO you’re right to alter plans based on what’s occurring at the time. By sheer coincidence, my kid flew to PDX last night for a presentation she has today at the WPA conference being held there.
germy
@Betty:
I agree!
Gravenstone
Facts.
West of the Cascades
@RaflW: Ugh, I have a three-hour flight to Portland next Monday (after riding Amtrak for three hours on Sunday) – I’ll probably be double-masking to off-set the non-maskers. More worried about the train, to be honest. Probably will just cough a lot and tell people “I have covid, sorry” if they wonder about my masks.
UncleEbeneezer
@rikyrah: They believe that all their tax dollars go to the big cities (and you know, those people). Never mind the fact that the cities are usually the places whose tax revenue subsidizes the rural parts of the state. FAKE NEWS!!
Steeplejack
I can see mask-wearing loosening here in NoVA. I just checked the CDC site, and the risk level in my county (Fairfax) is still “low,” as it is for my town (Falls Church), but it is “medium” for Arlington County, which I live a stone’s throw away from. And I assume the risk level will go up.
On Tuesday I took an impromptu road trip through southern Maryland after a medical appointment in Largo. Had lunch at a barbecue place south of La Plata (“La Plate-uh,” of course), Texas Ribs & BBQ. Excellent brisket sandwich and potato salad. Nobody wearing a mask. I brought mine in with me to read the room. It was well after lunchtime, so people were spaced out enough that I felt (somewhat) comfortable.
I talked with the owner(?)/manager a bit, and he said that they survived the pandemic because they did massive takeout business. He joked that he almost hated to reopen for on-site eating.
The other thing I noticed as I drove through the rural hinterlands, first in Maryland and then in Virginia after crossing the Potomac at Newburg-Dahlgren, was the absence of Trump signs. I saw one place with a jumble of flags in the yard, most prominently one of the blue Stars and Stripes ones that mean something something police, I guess? But I didn’t see any Trump-specific stuff. Anecdata.
There was a lot of infrastructure work going on. I-95 just north of Fredericksburg is a mess—looks like they’re massively widening it—and they’re adding a whole new bridge at Newburg-Dahlgren to augment the current two-lane one. That hadn’t been started when I was through there sometime last year on the way to Colonial Beach. The Potomac is over a mile wide there, so it’s a long bridge.
Suzanne
@RaflW:
Last summer, Mr. Suzanne and I were getting an estimate from a local family-owned company for getting our floors refinished. The patriarch/owner came out to our house with an employee (relative?) to measure the rooms and talk to us about the job. Anyway, the man was probably 65, and looked to be in pretty bad health. Walked with a lumbering limp, barely made it up the stairs to our front door. At least 70 pounds overweight and was out of breath just walking around. Was unmasked. While he was in our house, we sent the Spawns upstairs and we stayed masked. We asked if he would mask and he said no, and he said that he was not vaccinated and he could not guarantee us that any of the installers would be masked or vaccinated. Anyway, we did not end up using his service. After he left, Mr. Suzanne and I commented to each other that if Covid was going to kill anybody, he was high on that list. I looked up the company about a month ago and apparently it is permanently closed. I bet I know why.
CaseyL
I got my 4th shot/second booster about 3 (?) weeks ago, and continue to mask up around other people outdoors and indoors – but I do go out to eat, and don’t mask in the restaurant.
One interesting datum I’ve seen about Long Covid for people who had very mild cases or were asymptomatic altogether: the odds of getting Long Covid seem to increase if you go back to your regular routines too soon. So it seems, if you test positive, you should try to add a day or two to your self-isolation if at all possible.
I’m flying to Hawaii in May, and spending 12 days there. Taking a whole lotta masks with me, you betcha.
Roger Moore
I understand why people who are told they don’t need to wear masks anymore are happy to ditch them. The blame lies squarely on the people in authority who have caved to the desire to ditch masks rather than stand firm on the issue.
debbie
Well, I see Ohio’s weekly cases average has gone from 4,808 to 6,890 to 8,731 (as of 4/28). As for variants, BA2 and BA2.12.1 combine for a total of 85.56% of two weeks’ cases. This is the first time B.2.12.1 has shown up in the bar graph. Not one peep from any of the local news programs.
RaflW
@Steve in the ATL: The stuff I’ve read says that following a J&J or AZ shot with an mRNA produces a better effect than a second (or third?) of the viral vector type shots.
For USers who mostly got mRNA, there is some evidence of better response by mixing the booster, but it’s not been studied as much and not expected to be a big difference. My bf and I did P-P-M because it was considered safe and we’d take any small advantage if such is available.
I’m intrigued by a new yeast-grown vaccine (corbevax) about to roll out in India and a few other countries. The makers, who are doing this as a low-cost, high-impact option in lower income countries, and not to make money, claimed in a recent NPR piece that it may show better promise against variants. Huh!
The vaccine creators got a Nobel nomination for their efforts. But I literally only learned about all this a couple days ago.
Steve in the ATL
@RaflW:
Gluten? Ugh.
Kidding, of course. Thanks for the info!
Bill K
Not sure where you get your Mexico map from. CDC is listing the threat of CoVid in Mexico as HIGH.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/covid-3/coronavirus-mexico.
There are quite a few governments that I would not trust to report reliable data.
trollhattan
Webb Telescope is aligned and ready to amaze. This is going to be great.
trollhattan
@Steve in the ATL:
“Smells great while we’re baking it.”
Am signed up for booster #2 in a couple weeks. Can’t come up with a reason not to.
citizen dave
I have to admit I don’t think much about wearing masks any longer. Mask wearing here in central Indiana is around 1 in 50 would be my wild-assed guess. Just checked the Indiana COVID dashboard, and it appears they no longer use the state-derived numbers and maps, and now use CDC information and map. It is various shades of yellow, but I have no idea what the numbers, in xx.K, mean.
I admit to living with a certain amount of cognitive dissonance. Getting the 2nd booster soon.
Indy 500 will have the usual intimate gathering of 300,000 in late May…Tons of concerts happening all summer–LiveNation looking for workers.
trollhattan
If you keep a personal “list of shit not to do” please consider adding “do not collect unexploded ordnance and do not bring your unexploded ordnance to the airport.”
Luckily for the family, Israeli airport personnel are famous for having an easygoing manner and good sense of humour.
Chetan Murthy
@rikyrah:
I really feel this comment. For me, it’s “if not for having to go to the gym” (b/c as my doctor says, “not working out is a bigger health risk for you than covid, at this point”). After two years of covid, I’m starting to rethink living in a big city. I’ve lived in big cities almost continuously since 1991, and …. well, when you can’t use most of the city’s facilities, you start to think about renting a house in the country and just doing delivery for everything. Or, y’know, curbside pickup (and a car). Cheaper, and really, what’s the difference to your life?
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: There’s an old guy with a pest-control company in the next subdivision over. Has a nervous beagle that we’ve seen on our walks since it was a puppy. He has a big flagpole in his lawn with a “Let’s go B…” flag. :-/ Across the street is someone with a small “Black Lives Matter” pennant and a multicolored “all are welcome here” banner.
The old guy is nearly unique now – before January 6 there were many more TFG signs, banners, etc. I think that people either woke up or decided to hide their feelings much better. I was optimistic that it meant good things for the November 2021 Virginia elections, but we know how that turned out. :-(
We have to keep fighting them every single day, even if they’re mostly not as in-your-face as they were in TFG’s time – they’re still out there…
Cheers,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack: One of the buildings owned by our local slumlord has a huge “TRUMP WON” flag flying out front.
RaflW
@Suzanne: Yikes.
Our family cabin is in a county in WI with less than 60% vaccination. We had to have several things done on our well & water system, a fair bit of it indoors, and I’m so glad the work happened in Jan & Mar and not now.
The lumbering old lady I saw walking into a Culver’s last night unmasked, from a car with a handicapped tag, was in another low-vax WI county.
People’s blasé willingness to risk their own lives is a curious human trait (I’m sure some people would say that about me and my snowboarding penchant, but at least I wear a helmet, took lessons years ago, and pay attention and try to ascertain risk-reward before deciding on some of the trickier steep stuff (no tricks or jumps, thank you. Dispensed with that 20 years ago)).
WhatsMyNym
@Steve in the ATL:
You do know what gluten is, right?
ETA: I have celiac disease.
Suzanne
@Chetan Murthy:
The difference to your life is your neighbors. If you’re living in a rural red area, they control the agenda and they have the influence.
I am also tempted to fuck off to the middle of nowhere at times. The fact that I would not be able to avoid really shitty people is what stops me.
RaflW
@zhena gogolia: That’s just smart marketing. MAGAs aren’t gonna call a communist county building inspector if they find bare wires poking out of the wall or notice a total lack of fire alarms or extinguishers.
debbie
Listen all the way through to learn why we can’t have nice things anymore:
Suzanne
@RaflW:
I get it — kind of — when it’s understood as thrill-seeking recklessness, YOLO stuff. That at least implies a risk/reward calculation, however basic. But it’s the people who go without precautions and think they’re smarter than the rest of us for doing so who are the ones I can’t really grok.
JoyceH
@Suzanne:
Hey, that’s where I live. And out here, the county is 44% vaccinated and 6% boosted. For over 65, it’s 68% vaccinated and 12% boosted. I don’t get out much. Haven’t been to the Y in over 2 years, and it used to be my home away from home.
JPL
@Suzanne: Last weekend my son and I went to a big box garden center. Although it’s not open air, it’s not enclosed either. We have both been sick with a nasty cold or other virus since then. Because it wasn’t totally enclosed, I felt it was safe. Lesson learned. Covid tests are negative, but I’m going to take one more tomorrow.
Suzanne
@JoyceH: Yeah, that sounds terrible. I’m sorry. I certainly have my complaints about people in Pittsburgh and Philly, but there does seem to be a basic social contract in place.
Also, I’m a bougie piece of shit. I’m sorry. I may as well be honest about it.
zhena gogolia
@Suzanne: My ex-husband used to say, “What’s so bad about being bourgeois and liking good food and wine and theater and stuff like that?”
Wag
@Steve in the ATL:
Eric Topol, an academic cardiologist who is big into prevention, and has been a fantastic source of information on Covid for the past couple of years, is advising mixing mRNA vaccines. Previously I received three doses of the Pfizer vaccine. When I got my booster a week and a half ago I mixed it with Moderna.
Chetan Murthy
@Suzanne: OK, fair cop. I guess by “in the country” I don’t mean Lassen County (CA) but rather, the more-rural parts of Alameda County. So still the Bay Area but not the Big City.
Ain’t no way I’d wanna live around MAGAts.
Jesse
@Bill K: was about to suggest something similar. Mexico has done really bad COVID, too. I 100% get the frustration with the US response, and am frustrated by the childish behaviors of my fellow Americans.
But I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be in Mexico with COVID. I’m not even sure those are reliable numbers. Also too different places go through things differently. Here in Germany the numbers were way higher than in the US and have only very recently started to come down. They were baffled at Americans ditching masks in March/April. But this is, I think, understandable: the numbers were In fact very low, and dripping like a rock all over. I think you can sustain a “mask up mofos” message for only so long under those conditions, even if that is indeed the right policy.
I oredict that if the numbers skyrocket again — if what we’re seeing now is a spike, not a bump — masking will come back.
Suzanne
@zhena gogolia: Right?! Like, I occasionally interact with these dumbshit people who are so proud of being dumbshits and I’m like….you never felt the urge for self-improvement? Might I provide some encouragement?
My uncle says, “It used to be, being educated and elite was seen as a good thing”.
insert clever nickname here mistermix
@Bill K: That’s the Mexico DoH COVID risk map, current copy here:
https://datos.covid-19.conacyt.mx/#SemaFE
My impression from following it pretty closely for the last few months (since, literally, my life depended on it) is that they’re as honest as they can be within the limits of the data they collect. AMLO pretty much goes along with the advice of his health advisors, though Mexico has lagged the US in recommending boosters as well as vaccinations for under 15, though both of those are now happening.
@Jesse: I agree that Mexico had a very bad start and a terrible 2020/early 2021. Now, after a relatively successful vaccination program (roughly at par with the US in terms of % fully vaxxed at the moment) and a heavily-enforced masking policy, they’re doing OK.
HeleninEire
Got my second booster today. I had Moderna the first 3 times so I mixed it up and got Pfizer.
Chetan Murthy
@Suzanne:
Heh, not in East Incest, TX. More-or-less, not in any of the rural parts of TX, and frankly, not in much of suburban TX either, when I was growing up (70s). The anti-intellectualism was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
RaflW
@Suzanne: If people don’t feel the freedom of having recirculated air blow across their nose and lips while ordering a double scoop of frozen custard with crushed oreo topping in a completely generic fast food joint, what’s the point of even living, man?!
Suzanne
@Chetan Murthy: I get not wanting to live in the denser urban core, suburban living can be good. Exurban areas start getting really Republican, and most rural places are far too red for me.
I also like services. Not just like roads and ambulances and schools and parks and stuff, but, like quality healthcare and art museums and good hair salons and cosmetic dermatology and non-chain bookstores and arugula and Dijon mustard, you know?
Betsy
@rikyrah: Specifically, we are not letting them oppress other people. And that is an infringement of their freedoms
trollhattan
Hi Pope Frank? This fuckin’ guy needs his chain yanked. Right hard.
“A kind of amok” sounds like a Star Trek episode.
Suzanne
I should note that I fucking love arugula and Dijon mustard. Not in a metaphorical way. I love that shit. I eat kale and enjoy it. So great.
UncleEbeneezer
I can’t get my second booster until December (unless CDC guidance changes) so I will continue to wear a mask when indoors, anywhere. I live in SoCal (warm weather) and work outside, so it’s pretty easy for me, but I don’t really even understand the urge that so many people have to ditch them in public, indoor spaces. About the only reason I would, would be if I was gonna rehearse/jam with other people, but that’s not really an issue right now anyways.
trollhattan
Hah-hah, Donny, you didn’t appoint those New York judges.
JPL
@Suzanne: Arugula and apple salad is on the top of my list.
If you like mustard, page down and look at the mustard batons recipe. looks easy
Party starters: What to serve when your guests arrive | Meta Bulletin
JPL
@Wag: Did you notice any difference with your reaction to the vaccine. Except for a little soreness in my arm, I didn’t have a problem with Pfizer. I’m afraid to jinx it.
Dan B
@insert clever nickname here mistermix: There were two employees at our local co-op market without masks Wednesday. They’re the first staff I’ve seen without masks. I was at a loss for words but moved away rapidly. One looked shocked. It occurred to me to say, “You’re terrifying immunocompromized people. Do you think of them?”
Next time I’ll let’em have it. Locked and loaded for non-thinking selfishness.
Steeplejack
@HeleninEire:
? I went PPPM; got the last one on April 7.
NotMax
@Suzanne
Arugula recipes are … rocket science.
;)
Suzanne
@NotMax: :::smack:::
Sure Lurkalot
@Suzanne: I commented on a thread last week that it was in the early 80’s when a fellow employee told me that he wasn’t preparing for his kids’ college educations…he was doing perfectly fine without one so it held no value to him.
My father didn’t go to college but the desire for his kids to go was FIERCE. He wanted his kids to have a better start in life than he had.
Maybe it’s debatable now with the cost of college what a “better start” is. Some do attend when they are not inclined to succeed and rack up needless debt. But there are alternatives to a 4-year college stint that can teach you skills to better yourself and your chances of earning a good living. So, I was left with the thought, who doesn’t want their kids to have a better start in life than they did?
sab
@Dan B: Good response. I always say “I wear a mask because my grand-daughter is in kindergarten and we spend a lot of time with her and that age is always sick. I am protecting you not me.”
PAM Dirac
@JPL: My wife and I did triple Pfizer and then a Moderna. I had less arm soreness but a bit more fatigue. Lasted about 36 hours. My wife had pretty bad muscle aches for about 48 hours, but then completely gone. She had much milder aches with the Pfizer. I wouldn’t want to need to be sharp and focused for about a day after, but I’m not sure I want to even if I had gotten a 4th Pfizer.
Citizen Alan
@Chetan Murthy:
I think you greatly overestimate what delivery options are available out of the sticks. None of the grocery stores, including the Walmart, in my mother’s hometown will even do curbside pick up. Even the Walmart expects everyone to come in and drive a buggy around for an hour while surrounded by unmasked unvaccinated strangers.
In happier news, I just got my 2nd booster 3 hours ago. Between that, a mask, and a first class seat, I am much more relaxed about the thought of my upcoming 3 hour plane trip from queens back to Mississippi.
Suzanne
@Sure Lurkalot: I have said before that I think that that behavior is insecurity manifesting as parenting. For a lot of people, the only way they know if they are doing well is if they are envied/esteemed by others, and the desire to have your kids “follow in your footsteps” is the biggest part of that. Rejection of the life path feels like rejection of the person. This is, of course, (explicitly patriarchal) bullshit, and it deserves to be rejected as such.
sab
@Suzanne: My husband likes kale unless he knows it’s “kale.” He also likes any kind of cabbage anyway, so kale should not be a stretch.
If he keeps it up I might make him eat shredded boiled canvas totebags since other vegetsbles are not okay.
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
I feel a bit out of step even with people I agree with. The Sighthound Hall mob went to New York City during spring break a few weeks ago, and right after that Bro’ Man and his husband flew to Las Vegas for Easter weekend. They had brunch with our mom and our RWNJ brother, whose birthday fell on that Sunday, but they also went to a rager party thrown the night before by a friend of ours who moved there a few years ago. So I was looking at pictures of this party (“middle-aged gay men gone wild—eek!”) and then pictures of my brothers posing the next morning with Mom—all unmasked—and wondering what happens if she mysteriously comes down with COVID. Plus she lives in an assisted-living facility. I can’t help but do the math.
Anyway, no bad news so far ??, but I’m feeling increasingly out of step on the COVID front. And, since I have the luxury (and temperament) to self-isolate, I also have a lot of time for excessive rumination. Two-edged sword.
Dan B
@debbie: People like this woman who believe teachers are having sex with their students at Disneyland are desperate for victories that put “others” in their place. They’re afraid of monsters that don’t exist. It excuses their extreme discomfort with what they view as a loss of order. If they are not in charge it must mean that chaos will destroy America. What it really is is they fear their world will change and they won’t know what to think or to do.
Every minority has had to figure out what to think and what to do. We had to learn. These screamers have no inner compass. Their compass comes from their in-group telling them they are important.
Suzanne
My Amtrak is stuck behind a freight train and we are currently crawling over the Susquehanna. It’s quite idyllic.
zeecube
@JPL: I am matching and mixing. Started with double dose of Moderna last March, Pfizer in October, and Moderna 2 days ago. For both boosters, muscle soreness at injection site for a day was as bad as it got.
frosty
All it takes is knowing one vaxxed, boosted, cautious friend who caught it and is dealing with Long COVID…. you’ll wear your mask any time you’re indoors.
Suzanne
@Steeplejack:
I hear that.
When I go to visit my in-laws in NW Arkansas, I feel like I’m on another planet. And they’re liberal (genuine white working class Democrats) and they just sold their farm and bought a new one because, over time, civilization encroached too close. But it feels so weird being there.
Ruckus ??
@germy:
I live in LA county and I’d say around 50-60% are masked in stores. I still wear my N95 when I take my morning 2 mile walk or am inside anywhere with anyone else.
I know of 3 people in my 140 unit apt complex that have had Covid. I don’t know everyone by far so there could be more. One is 95 or 96 and I don’t see her around much any more on her electric scooter, but she’s still here. The other 2 are around 70. I live in a seniors complex, one has to be over 55 to live here. I saw more people being carried out feet first before covid then now, I think/know the masking and the less socialization has kept more people here from getting Covid.
Ohio Mom
@JPL: I had three Pfizers, the first was followed by a day of feeling tired but the other two were forgettable.
Had a Moderna booster on Tuesday and Wednesday my arm hurt. Totally fine yesterday.
Sure Lurkalot
There is little mask-wearing in the Denver metro area now; it has been dropping off steadily to about 5% since the mayor ended the city-wide mask mandate in early February. I’m retired and thus out and about with a lot of people in my 65+ age cohort so it’s surprising that even those at higher risk think it’s too much of a bother.
I have no issues with wearing masks indoors and do without fail. No one has hassled me in any way, at least not yet. I’m not sure how or if I would respond as it’s nobody’s fucking business.
sab
Duly noted that I just put another guy in the pie filter from last thread comment. I don’t have Omnes’ fortitude ( he doesn’t like pie filters.
Matt McIrvin
Well, there’s clearly more than just unmasking going on because they did that everywhere but central New York state is getting it super hard. My understanding is that a still-more-contagious sub-sub-variant popped up there.
NotMax
@Suzanne
Pretty countryside out Lancaster way.
Ruckus ??
@rikyrah:
What are the LEFT oppressing them with?
Freedumb. Leaving them free to be dumb.
Thing is that they seem to cherish being dumb, they wear it like a badge of honor, that their betters know more than they do (which is likely true) that they can’t be freer than they are in a rethuglican state. I didn’t say there was any logic to it whatsoever.
NotMax
@Ruckus
More like Me-dumb.
//
Leto
Avalune and I just got back from Italy. We visited the extremely small town of Dasa, which is in Calabria (southern Italy). Pretty much everyone there masked up indoors, and a significant amount were masked up outside too. We’re still traveling back atm, and while traveling through Logan International almost all Americans were massless. Just… ugh.
Matt McIrvin
@Dan B: I’m particularly struck by how they regard any media or discussion that isn’t cis-hetero-normative as pornography. (Even saying that something could BE “cis-hetero-normative”, rather than just the way normal good people are, is pornography.) Show a picture of a baby with two daddies and that must have prurient intent, same as hardcore gay porn; show it to a kid and you must be trying to molest that kid.
It’s a very brittle worldview.
Jado
“I Used to be Disgusted”
But now I try to be amused…
Ruckus ??
@JPL:
I’ve had 3 Pfizer and second booster Moderna. First and third Pfizer were a bit frazzling and Moderna made me a bit tired for a day but all of that was less than one day with Covid has been for many people. And I’ve spent 9 days in a hospital with a 105 degree fever after passing out in the chow line from vaccinations before. Of course that was in boot camp and they gave us quite a few vaccines in the space of about a minute. (I recall 4 air guns and 4 needles) After that 9 day experience, Covid vaccines have been a delight.
Ruckus ??
@NotMax:
Sorry that I can’t help you with that…..
//
JeanneT
@JPL: I got Moderna for my 2nd booster after 3 Pfizers. Moderna reactions were sore arm, minor body aches and fuzzy headedness the day after. Taking an afternoon nap got me through it nicely.
raven
@Ruckus ??: They stopped using the guns because they learn that the were unsafe!
Ruckus ??
@raven:
Yep!
How many of us got shot with air needles before they determined that they were crap? It has to be in the millions.
But I don’t think it was the air guns, some people (like me!) are just rather sensitive to medications. I’ve been prescribed 5 medications that have been around a long time and 4 of them give me hallucinations. I’ve never taken acid but I know some who have and one of those 4 drugs gave me hallucinations worse than any acid trip that’s been described to me and they lasted for a day and a half, from one pill. Good times. Not.
Tenar Arha
@Steeplejack: This. It’s disconcerting.
We had our first extended family Passover Seder in a couple years with just over 2 dozen people & everyone was pretty much fully vaccinated & boosted. Yes, a door to the patio was propped open to the outside because it was hot (& for Elijah), but the windows didn’t open, & there was so little ventilation….
Yet somehow I was the only one who was masked at all, even with all the chanting & walking around socializing we were doing. AFAICT it all turned out okay, & no one picked up anything from anyone else, but it really laid bare that my risk calculations are significantly different from my family’s. (Clearly they’re not in the get their boosters as soon as available, mask everywhere they can, & save all their risky behavior for occasionally dining out in less crowded places/times when the local biobot numbers are low camp).
@frosty: There weren’t any vaccinations back when my friend caught it, but yes, one friend with Long COVID reminding me “you don’t want to get this” does make me more careful.
JoyceH
@Dan B:
Big elitist words like ‘immunocompromised’? Nah. Say ‘cancer patients’.
rikyrah
@Sure Lurkalot:
I have never grasped that either.
raven
@Ruckus ??:
raven
@Ruckus ??: Worse or better depending. . . :)
rikyrah
@Suzanne:
Nice image :)
rikyrah
@frosty:
This is true.
raven
So were are making fun of fearsome RWNJ’s while being afeared of covid?
debbie
@Dan B:
You have far more compassion than I. She is fucking nuts.
Dan B
@Suzanne: NW Arkansas, oh my! My mother’s family is from Fort Smith, Clarksville, and Hackett – Interesting places when you’re a clueless kid. And there’s some interesting scenery like the Buffalo River. I spent an “interesting” week there in August before air conditioning. We lay on sweat drenched sheets with a big fan blowing 90% humidity air on us. I was delirious from noon to 4 PM. My grandfather changed into his short long-underwear, with long sleeved shirt and wool pants, of course.
Dan B
@Matt McIrvin: There is a view among the Neo Calvinist right that two men together can only be about sex, because there cannot be an emotional or spiritual connection between two people of the same gender. There’s a notion that women tame and civilize savage men who are otherwise only thinking of sex. Two men, therefore, can only quadruple the sex and the savagery. The notion of being equal partners in a relationship is inconceivable to them, strange and threatening to the “Natural Order” even. They view foreign relations as the pursuit of dominance. Their philosophical foundation is like dogs, cats, and horses. They have zero knowledge of Bonobos or other cooperative species. It’s all dominance and submission / surrender to a wrathful God.
sherparick
@RaflW: I would obtain and wear N-95 or KN-95 masks as they do give substantial protection apparently, even in situations where lots of people are unmasked. I note that those counties in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, & Maine are of course all infected with RW craziness as well as COVID.
Dan B
@JoyceH: How about “weak immunity”, or “weak immune systems”? I could switch them up. (I was tempted to use the seven dollar ? word, “alternate” but I am suitably chastised.*
*Oops, more high-falutin werds…
Dan B
@debbie: Batshit crazy
may beis applicable.Q RWNJ saying ejaculate, and other gems, at a school board meeting, was not on my bingo card. Her mouth is illegal in Flah-ri-dah!
RaflW
MPR News sez that the wastewater detection program for the Twin Cities area has, as of today, logged an 11% increase in viral load compared to just a week ago, and sampling has now found the even faster spreading BA.2.12.1 in recent days (what is widely said to be the factor in the NE U.S. rise).
Last Sunday was my BF’s final Sunday in the pulpit at the congregation he’s served for 8 years. We’re so glad the well attended farewell party (with cake, I ate outside even if it was about 50 deg. that day, I wasn’t the only one though most stayed in the social hall) was then and not this coming Sunday. Ugh.
Denali
Just returning from a family reunion in Tennessee. I am faxed and double boosted as is my husband. It was upsetting when my Mormon cousin and her husband announced to me that they were unvaccinated and felt that because they had had co-vid, they were immune. They are both medical people. I asked her if she had a bad case, and she said yes it was awful and they were very sick. She also said she knew 5 or 6 people who had died from co-vid. I was speechless. I just don’t understand this at all.