To Vaccinate or Not---The Rat Flu Odyssey Continues

[PB]

Having spent a few hours in the Tahoe Forest ER the other day--wife tripped, knocked herself out, broke her nose--I can tell you that some hospitals cannot manage even when there is no covid, no one in the waiting room, no one in the ER being examined.

Oh Hell no. My wife has a shorter fuse than I do regarding the medical profession, so I'd have to step up my reaction time, however, my lizard brain cave man instincts would have had me creating a ruckus STAT.

[SumJongGuy]

Having spent a few hours in the Tahoe Forest ER the other day--wife tripped, knocked herself out, broke her nose--I can tell you that some hospitals cannot manage even when there is no covid, no one in the waiting room, no one in the ER being examined.

Oh man.. That sounds like a terrible day/evening... weekend. I hope she heals up soon. Make the best of it.. Make up some cool stories like tell people she's a pro wrestler and stuff like that..

I've seen that when things are slow at a place that is usually busy everyone working there is sitting on their thumbs waiting for one of the other five people to go do what needs to be done...

[mcski]

Having spent a few hours in the Tahoe Forest ER the other day--wife tripped, knocked herself out, broke her nose--I can tell you that some hospitals cannot manage even when there is no covid, no one in the waiting room, no one in the ER being examined.

I spent many nights in ER hallways w my frequent flyer dad waiting for a room at ucsf. I was amazed hospitals accommodated as well as they did during covid because the key word is patient for a reason

[bodywhomper]

There are 4 kiddo summer camps in my neighborhood all situated around a lake. One just ended early this week cuz of an outbreak.

[riser4]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/21/us/fl...ure/index.html

[old goat]

Kaiser no longer requiring masks. NOW the pandemic is officially over.

[bodywhomper]

Didn't kaiser already try that before?
https://abc7news.com/kaiser-permanen...ents/13165683/

[Cisco Kid]

4 Boomers didn't show up for the Geezer Golf & Dinner league last night. Word was the were exposed to Covid. In other news, we got 16 Covid tests that we didn't order delivered last week. Charged to Medicare, free to me. Wife let the folks at Medicare know. I've got about 30 tests now.

[RShea]

Kaiser no longer requiring masks. NOW the pandemic is officially over.

The 2 biggest hospitals in our city announced in the spring (end of April/May timeframe I think) that masks would be mostly personal choice and optional except for selected areas that traditionally had masks required.

[bodywhomper]

Gotta love the maskless coughing of waiting room patients and (do no harm) staff at the PCP office as witnessed by wife and son there for a wellness visit.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Here are some Covid anecdotes. Ime age is more a factor than healthy lifestyle when it comes to covid. We watched several very healthy but older unvaccinated people die from covid in 21. It seems that obesity was a terrible risk factor for younger people that were unvaccinated. Very few vaccinated people were hospitalized unless they were very old and frail. All my coworkers, mandatory vaccinated, that got covid had attenuated disease like the flu or a bad cold. Some never got symptomatic covid. Alternative treatments like ivermectin had no effect on covid severity or lessened symptoms. We only test people now that are symptomatic. Masking is optional for staff, patients and visitors as of sometime this spring. My opinion is that vaccination works to prevent the spread and severity of covid 19.


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[John_B]

Just checking in after 3 years to say that I finally got covid and spent my birthday flat on the couch with a 102 fever. Balls.

[Dantheman]

Vibes. I did the same thing for my 40th last spring.

[LongShortLong]

Just checking in after 3 years to say that I finally got covid and spent my birthday flat on the couch with a 102 fever. Balls.

Hope you feel better soon. If you qualify for treatments, the infectious disease doc (Daniel Griffin) over on TWiV says paxlovid is preferred, remdesivir second, mulnupirivir a distant third. Also advises that you take advice from ID docs, or primary care docs who consult with ID docs. You wouldn't see an infectious disease doc for heart problems, also don't take cardiology advice for infectious disease. And to avoid treatments we know cause harm - many doctors still offer these. A common mistreatment is "wait and see" when paxlovid should be started instead. (for the record, I'm not an ID doc)

For those without active covid, he advises to have a plan. Discuss with your doc so you know which medication you qualify for and how to take it, and how to get the prescription written and filled quickly. E.g. Paxlovid has conflicts with other medications and health conditions, remdesivir is an IV drug. Both work best taken early. If you're under 50 and healthy, then there aren't as any options.

[old goat]

Just checking in after 3 years to say that I finally got covid and spent my birthday flat on the couch with a 102 fever. Balls.

Gotta be careful around birthdays. Depending on which birthday it is you could cross into a higher risk group and die.

[SumJongGuy]

I honestly haven't taken a COVID test in at least 6 months. It fees like outside of meeting up with known high risk individuals we've entered the "don't ask don't test" phase of the post pandemic society. I'm still working from home 95% of the time but that's only because my direct manager also is..

As soon as his boss starts making him work on side 2-3 times a week he's going to make the rest of the team do it. About have of them already are.. But, that's because they have to leave the house to take their kids to school or daycare or whatever anyway.

The argument that it's just the flu seems more accurate post vaccinations.. But, it would be nice if people took the flu more seriously when it comes to testing to confirm and staying home when you know that's what it is (i.e. paid sick levee for everyone NOT VACATION/PTO balance to stay home)... Not likely though..

[old goat]

There's no such thing as just the flu. Full blown influenza is plenty nasty, and it kills people, of course.

[PB]

There still seems to be a disturbing amount of ignorance regarding exactly what influenza truly is.

[bennymac]

There still seems to be a disturbing amount of ignorance.

FIFY

[bodywhomper]

Every time I’ve had the flu as an adult and wasn’t vaxed for the season, it sucked. Big time. Never beyond being sick with high fever for 1+ week at home. (Apparently, influenza can be spread from asymptomatic infections). When I acquired viral bronchitis at my office job, it sucked, even more. That was medically managed. From best of my knowledge, I fully recovered from those infections.

Osterholm made headlines this winter by suggesting the goal of c19 infections twice a year for everybody and all experiencing common cold-like symptoms. He is apparently continuing to suffer from long covid, acquired after he made those statements. He claims to have caught it during an elevator ride.

John_B, I hope you feel better soon

[SumJongGuy]

There's no such thing as just the flu. Full blown influenza is plenty nasty, and it kills people, of course.

Pretty sure everyone my age or older has known someone really well who seemed the picture of good health, got "just the flu" and died from it a week or so later. That's a one in a thousand thing, nothing to sneeze at.. But at first it seemed COVID was a one in a HUNDRED thing, at least for those with certain pre existing conditions...

The point is life is now going on much the same as it was pre COVID. I guess we'll know around May if COVID is still killing more people or if we're back to the flu being the alpha bug. Maybe the fact that some people are still wearing masks will continue to reduce flu deaths.

[bennymac]

Also so many people get a common cold that’s a bit worse than what they are used to and they say “ah I must have the flu” - if you get a symptomatic flu you likely will feel like a total bag of shit for a week - it’s not just a runny nose with an occasional cough that you just power through.

[old goat]

Pretty sure everyone my age or older has known someone really well who seemed the picture of good health, got "just the flu" and died from it a week or so later. That's a one in a thousand thing, nothing to sneeze at.. .

Sneezing is not a symptom of influenza.

[bodywhomper]

Also so many people get a common cold that’s a bit worse than what they are used to and they say “ah I must have the flu” - if you get a symptomatic flu you likely will feel like a total bag of shit for a week - it’s not just a runny nose with an occasional cough that you just power through.

But it can be fairly mild if you’re vaxed, no?

[Cisco Kid]

More or less. I've heard recently that some scientists think it depends, like every other disease, on your particular genetic makeup. Makes sense.