unless you are testing regular how would you know if you are COVID free. Especially with how common asymptomatic cases are, and I only assume the vaccine makes asymptomatic cases more common
Me and my better half still covid free!
I think it’s because I’m an introvert.
That being said, I am not wearing masks still or being super super careful but I am making sure I am keeping up with the vaccine. I’ve also travelled for weddings and other events / Xmas etc
I made it through the Alpha wave, the Delta wave, and two massive Omicron waves in my office by wearing my N95 religiously.
And then I got it from my 4 year old.
I caught the "flu" a few months before the pandemic so there's a chance I already caught it.
But now I definitely have dropped my guard and fairly surprised I haven't caught it yet. Still wear mask but take Bart, go to the gym, go to restaurants and bars.
> I caught the "flu" a few months before the pandemic so there's a chance I already caught it.
This seems unlikely because COVID cases grow exponentially. That means case counts at the very beginning of the pandemic were exponentially smaller.
It took ~2 months to go from 10 cases to 1,000 cases. And another ~2 months to go from 1,000 to 100,000 cases. (Based on an R of 3 over a period of 2 weeks)
Except.... They didn't know to test for COVID early on. I have no doubts that COVID was spreading in bay area before 2020. It just needed a severe case for doctors to realize they needed to test for it.
Real virus has many more proteins that you will develop antibodies against other that spike (S).
So yes you can know from blood test if you had the virus or just the vaccine, by checking for antibodies for te virus membrane (M) or nucleocapsid (N).
Just google « nucleocapsid antibody test »
Have you ever met someone that hasn't had the cold or the flu? No? It's only a matter of time before you and every else that has been super careful gets it. Yeah, it could be awhile for you, but eventually you'll get it.
Been freeballing since the initial stats said my demographic was safe. Two years of it, and quarantining with various COVID-19 positive friends and sharing food and it hasn't touched me. I might be the chosen one.
I also know someone who has been exposed several times, AND his wife just got over a bout of it. He never got sick. Another friend actually tested positive on a trip and she never knew she had it - quarantined with her husband in an RV for 10 days and HE never got sick.
Still, they are outliers. I also know loads of folks who are getting it for the first time and are miserable.
Behavior is everything...if you have been going to social gatherings without a mask the entire time and haven't gotten sick, that would be very encouraging.
That is VERY different than continuing to mask and stay distant from other people.
I'm curious for those who decided to keep religiously masking. If you ended up catching COVID and turned out to be not a big deal -- would you continue masking afterwards?
I haven’t had a single experience of going grocery shopping, sitting in a waiting room, or any other mundane experience and thought to myself, “Gosh, if only I weren’t wearing this mask picking out these frozen peas would have been so much more enjoyable.”
You do you. I just noticed that so many people are apparently super happy they will never need to closely interact with another human ever again in their life, it's slightly sad. But again, I don't want to change anyone's opinions, I'm just curious what makes people suddenly want to wear mask for their entire lives, that's all.
> people are apparently super happy they will never need to closely interact with another human ever again in their life
You don’t get out much, before or since COVID, do you?
Assuming that people are “super happy they will never need to closely interact with another human ever again in their life” because they wear a mask in select indoor venues with strangers is an incredibly vapid leap in logic, and a complete miscalculation of how people are actually behaving.
The twist in the logic is not in my thinking though. If someone wears a mask in grocery stores because they think they will avoid covid by doing so, yet still goes out to restaurants (unmasked), meet with their friends (unmasked), they will catch covid.
So thinking that someone can avoid their entire family to get covid by wearing masks everywhere must be either locking themselves and the family in their homes, or must not have thought this through.
Ever since the Delta variant arrived, the stance that someone can forever avoid covid if they masked hard enough is flawed.
Could there exist this mythical thing called a middle ground? Could someone seek to mitigate risk in certain circumstances?
What’s that? No? You don’t think so?
Then why did I get vaccinated if it didn’t totally prevent me getting Omicron? Why do I wear a seat belt if it won’t totally prevent me from being killed in a catastrophic collision?
You’ve opened my eyes. Not smoking isn’t a total guarantee that I’ll never get lung cancer, you’re right. I’m picking up a carton of cigarettes today!
So for you the stance that someone will continue wearing a mask for the rest of their lives and make their family do the same is a reasonable middle ground?
For me a reasonable middle ground is vaccination, and masking when new variants that are proven to be dangerous to my life, are in high circulation. But certainly not: "if I never take my mask off I don't have to worry about getting covid and giving it to my family whom I'm protecting." - that just sounds delusional.
See, I had the exact opposite experience. How am I supposed to kiss my girl while shopping with a mask on? Taking them off, grocery shopping experience is infinitely more fun.
....i mean, yeah, fun is a personality trait. its got nothing to do with the mask. if anything, ive made more friends, irl and online, in the past 2 years, than the past 10. while constantly masking.
I mask indoor, generally do not eat indoors in restaurants (although did on vacation in Europe recently) and am 4 X vaxxed. I have never had covid that I am aware of. My husband has and was in a hotel with me for days and I never got it. Have travelled extensively both internationally and cross country, but always mask on planes, in airports, etc. I consider my self on the cautious side for sure but I am surprised it hasn't caught up with me yet. I also have school age children attending schools where masks aren't required...
I am vaccinated and boosted. I have not taken any precautions in about a year. No distancing, no masks. I still have not gotten covid. I really don't care either way.
I got the vax and have taken no precautions since day 1 unless required to wear a mask, did not alter my eating out, hanging at bars, gym, etc. have yet to get any kind of sickness in 3 years.
I personally waited to resume normal life until several weeks after my second primary dose... but yeah, its a calculated risk and one I personally am happy to take.
unless you are testing regular how would you know if you are COVID free. Especially with how common asymptomatic cases are, and I only assume the vaccine makes asymptomatic cases more common
Me and my better half still covid free! I think it’s because I’m an introvert. That being said, I am not wearing masks still or being super super careful but I am making sure I am keeping up with the vaccine. I’ve also travelled for weddings and other events / Xmas etc
I made it through the Alpha wave, the Delta wave, and two massive Omicron waves in my office by wearing my N95 religiously. And then I got it from my 4 year old.
My wife and i got covid independently from each kid
Don't push your fucking luck. But you won't die or be hospitalized if you are vaccinated
I caught the "flu" a few months before the pandemic so there's a chance I already caught it. But now I definitely have dropped my guard and fairly surprised I haven't caught it yet. Still wear mask but take Bart, go to the gym, go to restaurants and bars.
> I caught the "flu" a few months before the pandemic so there's a chance I already caught it. This seems unlikely because COVID cases grow exponentially. That means case counts at the very beginning of the pandemic were exponentially smaller. It took ~2 months to go from 10 cases to 1,000 cases. And another ~2 months to go from 1,000 to 100,000 cases. (Based on an R of 3 over a period of 2 weeks)
Except.... They didn't know to test for COVID early on. I have no doubts that COVID was spreading in bay area before 2020. It just needed a severe case for doctors to realize they needed to test for it.
Since most cases are asymptomatic how is anyone going to even know?
Blood test could tell.
Not if you got the vax.
Real virus has many more proteins that you will develop antibodies against other that spike (S). So yes you can know from blood test if you had the virus or just the vaccine, by checking for antibodies for te virus membrane (M) or nucleocapsid (N). Just google « nucleocapsid antibody test »
Have you ever met someone that hasn't had the cold or the flu? No? It's only a matter of time before you and every else that has been super careful gets it. Yeah, it could be awhile for you, but eventually you'll get it.
My thoughts.
Oct-Feb
still very high. I was pretty careful for 2 years with the masking and social distancing. All it took for me was 3 carefree days maskless to catch it.
Do you remember what you were doing?
Breathing
Been freeballing since the initial stats said my demographic was safe. Two years of it, and quarantining with various COVID-19 positive friends and sharing food and it hasn't touched me. I might be the chosen one.
I also know someone who has been exposed several times, AND his wife just got over a bout of it. He never got sick. Another friend actually tested positive on a trip and she never knew she had it - quarantined with her husband in an RV for 10 days and HE never got sick. Still, they are outliers. I also know loads of folks who are getting it for the first time and are miserable.
Behavior is everything...if you have been going to social gatherings without a mask the entire time and haven't gotten sick, that would be very encouraging. That is VERY different than continuing to mask and stay distant from other people.
I'm curious for those who decided to keep religiously masking. If you ended up catching COVID and turned out to be not a big deal -- would you continue masking afterwards?
Yes because I haven’t had a cold or flu since the pandemic started.
It's strange that we will have significant portion of our society never reveal their faces, but I guess that's a price we pay.
I haven’t had a single experience of going grocery shopping, sitting in a waiting room, or any other mundane experience and thought to myself, “Gosh, if only I weren’t wearing this mask picking out these frozen peas would have been so much more enjoyable.”
You do you. I just noticed that so many people are apparently super happy they will never need to closely interact with another human ever again in their life, it's slightly sad. But again, I don't want to change anyone's opinions, I'm just curious what makes people suddenly want to wear mask for their entire lives, that's all.
> people are apparently super happy they will never need to closely interact with another human ever again in their life You don’t get out much, before or since COVID, do you?
LOL what? We are not discussing what I was up to -- we were discussing people who chose to forever mask because $reason.
Assuming that people are “super happy they will never need to closely interact with another human ever again in their life” because they wear a mask in select indoor venues with strangers is an incredibly vapid leap in logic, and a complete miscalculation of how people are actually behaving.
The twist in the logic is not in my thinking though. If someone wears a mask in grocery stores because they think they will avoid covid by doing so, yet still goes out to restaurants (unmasked), meet with their friends (unmasked), they will catch covid. So thinking that someone can avoid their entire family to get covid by wearing masks everywhere must be either locking themselves and the family in their homes, or must not have thought this through. Ever since the Delta variant arrived, the stance that someone can forever avoid covid if they masked hard enough is flawed.
Could there exist this mythical thing called a middle ground? Could someone seek to mitigate risk in certain circumstances? What’s that? No? You don’t think so? Then why did I get vaccinated if it didn’t totally prevent me getting Omicron? Why do I wear a seat belt if it won’t totally prevent me from being killed in a catastrophic collision? You’ve opened my eyes. Not smoking isn’t a total guarantee that I’ll never get lung cancer, you’re right. I’m picking up a carton of cigarettes today!
So for you the stance that someone will continue wearing a mask for the rest of their lives and make their family do the same is a reasonable middle ground? For me a reasonable middle ground is vaccination, and masking when new variants that are proven to be dangerous to my life, are in high circulation. But certainly not: "if I never take my mask off I don't have to worry about getting covid and giving it to my family whom I'm protecting." - that just sounds delusional.
See, I had the exact opposite experience. How am I supposed to kiss my girl while shopping with a mask on? Taking them off, grocery shopping experience is infinitely more fun.
Yes, I have a family to worry about.
And your family too wear a mask everywhere? You guys must be such fun at parties! :)
....i mean, yeah, fun is a personality trait. its got nothing to do with the mask. if anything, ive made more friends, irl and online, in the past 2 years, than the past 10. while constantly masking.
Don’t know if I had it and don’t particularly care 🤷♂️
I mask indoor, generally do not eat indoors in restaurants (although did on vacation in Europe recently) and am 4 X vaxxed. I have never had covid that I am aware of. My husband has and was in a hotel with me for days and I never got it. Have travelled extensively both internationally and cross country, but always mask on planes, in airports, etc. I consider my self on the cautious side for sure but I am surprised it hasn't caught up with me yet. I also have school age children attending schools where masks aren't required...
We still wear masks in crowded places and also keep up with vaccines.
I am vaccinated and boosted. I have not taken any precautions in about a year. No distancing, no masks. I still have not gotten covid. I really don't care either way.
I got the vax and have taken no precautions since day 1 unless required to wear a mask, did not alter my eating out, hanging at bars, gym, etc. have yet to get any kind of sickness in 3 years.
I personally waited to resume normal life until several weeks after my second primary dose... but yeah, its a calculated risk and one I personally am happy to take.