Got Covid.

[Woody Sound]

Ugh, feel like shit, tested positive the day before my church Christmas party and my father's 95th bday party.

[ccroft]

What a drag. It's still around. I hear people say it's no big deal now. "Nothing more than a case of the flu."

But... but I hate the flu. For me that's about a week of feeling really really bad and a lot of bed time. I sure don't want it. Happy to say I haven't had it in years since I started getting flu shots.

Get better soon!

[QAman]

Ugh, feel like shit, tested positive the day before my church Christmas part and my father's 95th bday party.

Wishing you a speedy recovery - and congratulations on your dad's 95th bday.

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk

[wintermoon]

Wishing you a speedy recovery - and congratulations on your dad's 95th bday.

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What he said!

[sgosnell]

I avoided it for a long time, but I've caught it twice in the past few months. The first time I wouldn't have known I had it if I hadn't tested after my wife got sick with it. The second time was much worse, not nearly fatal but certainly no fun. We missed Thanksgiving with our son and his family because of it. We've both had our 6th vaccination, but it's almost certain that we will need a new one annually, just like the flu. It mutates rapidly AFAICT, so the vaccines can't totally prevent it, just make it less virulent. Masking and using sanitizers and washing hands is still important.

[Gitfiddler]

Ugh, feel like shit, tested positive the day before my church Christmas party and my father's 95th bday party.

Get well soon!

If there is anything positive about your illness, it's good you found out prior to seeing your father or spreading it to church members.

[Alder Statesman]

Gws

[mr. beaumont]

Ugh, hope its mild and you feel better soon.

It finally caught me last March. Being vaccinated and boosted it wasn't terrible, but its a weird virus...My symptoms were different every day. One night with a fever was the worst. And I did lose all smell and taste for about a week.

When you feel better, I'd like to talk to about your dreams while fighting the virus. I, and several other people I know, experienced very detailed, memorable, and lucid dreams. And they were pleasant too, not nightmares. Definitely the best part of this nasty virus.

[Stringswinger]

Wishing you a speedy recovery - and congratulations on your dad's 95th bday.

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk

+2

I got the Novavax shot last month. No side effects at all, unlike the nasty side effects i got with two of the three Pfizer shots that I had and the one Moderna shot that I had. No more Mrna shots for me, I will stick to the traditional vaccine shots. Every fall I will have one flu shot and one Covid shot. So far, so good this year.

Last year I did get Covid after playing a Christmas party gig. After 4 days of a headache from hell, I got Paxlovid. 6 hours after the first 3 pill dose, my symptoms went away. It still took me another 10 days to test negative so I still missed a bunch of gigs. But the Paxlovid worked like a charm for me.

Covid sucks, but what doesn't kill you......(or so they say)

[frabarmus]

Ugh, feel like shit, tested positive the day before my church Christmas party and my father's 95th bday party.

I hear you! I've caught it at the end of October and was "floored" in bed for a week and my wife caught it from me.

Wish you a swift and complete recovery!

Cheers.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Here’s to a full and fast recovery!

With low vaccination rates for all 3 respiratory diseases (Covid, flu & RSV), the holidays, and winter at our doors, it could rapidly get much worse again. My wife and I often take the bus when we go into town and did so last week. There are now notices on the video displays that “masks are required on public transportation”. It’s not a city requirement AFAIK, so it must be the transportation system’s. But it was sobering to see this.

[skiboyny]

Ugh, feel like shit, tested positive the day before my church Christmas party and my father's 95th bday party.

Covid probably won't kill you at this point, but for the first 4-5 days you might wish it did! Everybody reports different, but for me the time it takes to feel completely normal is the worse. It's a flu but it does go after your lungs. You will notice if you do any running or strenuous activity. Feel better!

[joelf]

Wow, sorry, man.

Guess I'm lucky---unvaxxed for 3+ years and zero precautions. (Though as soon as a vax was available 4 years ago I burned rubber, Philly to NYC at 90 MPH, and gave a phony address at the armory.) Depression lasting 2 years will do that, get you to let your guard down and play with fire. But no excuses, just a confession of stupidity.

My brother lives in assisted living where they're packed in like sardines. Tested positive, no symptoms.

I have a good friend wherein she and her hubby are anti-vaxxers, I think for religious reasons. Never contracted it. They're damn lucky too.

OTOH, my lifelong friend took every possible precaution and still died of it. (But he had pre-existing conditions and it was pre-vax times).

I wonder if it's partially a crapshoot, and/or there really is inborn immunity---or you get a mild case and can't get it again. But how could that be with so many variants cropping up with alarming regularity?

Finally was vaxxed. Were you (the OP)? At least there would be no fatality. And get well soon...

[Doctor Jeff]

I think everyone has had it by this point, vaccinated or not. I bet if your antivax friends Joelf were tested for antibodies they’d be positive.

It was horrible a couple of years ago—winter of ‘21 and ‘22 particularly bad—but now in my experience is not a major cause of severe illness, unless you’re immunosuppressed or have bad lungs.

We have about 20 folks at my hospitals (4) with COVID, most in there for something else. None in the ICU or on vents. When COVID was worst, we had I think 200 in the hospitals, with 40-50 on vents. One day I personally had 4 patients die of COVID. I never got to know them or their families because they went down the tubes so quickly.

My observation is that right now it’s no worse than the flu. In fact, I’d probably prefer COVID to the flu. I had COVID in August 2022 and had a mild 3-day illness.

I’ve actually never had the flu that I know of—have been vaccinated annually going on 40 years—but the patients I see feel the worst of anybody I take care of who’s not gonna die from their illness (some do of course, again frail people).

[Stringswinger]

Wow, sorry, man.

Guess I'm lucky---unvaxxed for 3+ years and zero precautions. (Though as soon as a vax was available 4 years ago I burned rubber, Philly to NYC at 90 MPH, and gave a phony address at the armory.) Depression lasting 2 years will do that, get you to let your guard down and play with fire. But no excuses, just a confession of stupidity.

My brother lives in assisted living where they're packed in like sardines. Tested positive, no symptoms.

I have a good friend wherein she and her hubby are anti-vaxxers, I think for religious reasons. Never contracted it. They're damn lucky too.

OTOH, my lifelong friend took every possible precaution and still died of it. (But he had pre-existing conditions and it was pre-vax times).

I wonder if it's partially a crapshoot, and/or there really is inborn immunity---or you get a mild case and can't get it again. But how could that be with so many variants cropping up with alarming regularity?

Finally was vaxxed. Were you (the OP)? At least there would be no fatality. And get well soon...

I think it is a crapshoot. My brother and mother (at 88 years old) have both tested positive with no symptoms (my brother twice) after friends that they were with got very ill. Sadly for me, I had nasty symptoms from three of the shots that I had (all lasting about 48 hours) and catching Covid after 4 shots still sucked for me with some nasty symptoms.

But speaking of "luck", an old friend who is a right-wing anti-vaxxer caught Covid and spent two weeks in the hospital on a ventilator. That turned out to be quite lucky for him as he fully recovered, but while hospitalized, they discovered that he had aggressive lung cancer (he has been a heavy smoker since his teens) and they were able to remove the affected tumors and lymph nodes and he is now cancer free almost two years later. Talk about blind, dumb luck. Had he been vaxxed, he probably would have never been hospitalized and the lung cancer may well have killed him.

Death is certain, life is not.

[joelf]

I think it is a crapshoot. My brother and mother (at 88 years old) have both tested positive with no symptoms (my brother twice) after friends that they were with got very ill. Sadly for me, I had nasty symptoms from three of the shots that I had (all lasting about 48 hours) and catching Covid after 4 shots still sucked for me with some nasty symptoms.

But speaking of "luck", an old friend who is a right-wing anti-vaxxer caught Covid and spent two weeks in the hospital on a ventilator. That turned out to be quite lucky for him as he fully recovered, but while hospitalized, they discovered that he had aggressive lung cancer (he has been a heavy smoker since his teens) and they were able to remove the affected tumors and lymph nodes and he is now cancer free almost two years later. Talk about blind, dumb luck. Had he been vaxxed, he probably would have never been hospitalized and the lung cancer may well have killed him.

Death is certain, life is not.

Yes indeed. Every healthy day is an opportunity to live like it's the last terrestrial one---and count our blessings...

[joelf]

I think everyone has had it by this point, vaccinated or not. I bet if your antivax friends Joelf were tested for antibodies they’d be positive.

It was horrible a couple of years ago—winter of ‘21 and ‘22 particularly bad—but now in my experience is not a major cause of severe illness, unless you’re immunosuppressed or have bad lungs.

We have about 20 folks at my hospitals (4) with COVID, most in there for something else. None in the ICU or on vents. When COVID was worst, we had I think 200 in the hospitals, with 40-50 on vents. One day I personally had 4 patients die of COVID. I never got to know them or their families because they went down the tubes so quickly.

My observation is that right now it’s no worse than the flu. In fact, I’d probably prefer COVID to the flu. I had COVID in August 2022 and had a mild 3-day illness.

I’ve actually never had the flu that I know of—have been vaccinated annually going on 40 years—but the patients I see feel the worst of anybody I take care of who’s not gonna die from their illness (some do of course, again frail people).

I've mentioned that I play, unmasked, weekly in a hospital infusion center. I wonder when my luck will run out.

When we played the lobby there, at Covid's dawning, one guy declined the gig, citing his wife forbidding him to play in a hospital. They're both smarter than me.

Then again you take risks every time venturing out the door. What's the alternative, staying home in the cocoon? I'll take the risk factor over that any day...

[sgosnell]

If you want to see people who take great great effort to avoid catching Covid, look at cancer patients and their families. They know they're extremely vulnerable, and use extraordinary care to prevent infection by any disease. A cancer hospital is probably safer than any other public space where people congregate.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I've mentioned that I play, unmasked, weekly in a hospital infusion center. I wonder when my luck will run out.

It’s not your luck that matters, Joel. The incidence of totally asymptomatic Covid is quite high, especially among the vaccinated. So there are still lots of people walking around spreading it despite not even knowing they have it. Even with no symptoms or signs of illness, it’s contagious as long as the bearer is antigen positive. So it’s the patients whose luck you’re threatening.

The infusion centers at our best regional medical centers (major academic institutions) require masks for all visitors, along with the other Covid precautions (eg no + test or symptoms for at least 10 days, rigorous hand hygiene etc). I’m both amazed and saddened that a hospital based infusion center is apparently not doing this to protect their patients. Almost all infusion center patients have diseases that put them at increased risk for infection and carry a higher probability of being on the severe end of whatever they catch.

There’s very strong evidence that these precautions greatly reduce the spread, mortality, and morbidity of Covid in compromised patients. Nothing is stopping you from doing the right thing.

[mr. beaumont]

Now the flu-- I had that once, in college. Was a complete ass kicker. Laid me out a full week, fever as high as 104?...and it got me at essentially the best shape I was ever in! Get a shot religiously now, every year. I do not want that again.

Covid, the way my doctor explained it to me, is a virus that has mutated enough to keep itself going forever. Which means it won't be nearly as deadly either, as viruses who kill a large portion of their hosts can't spread as far.

I'll keep getting my boosters/yearly Covid vax too. Even though it wasn't that bad, it was weird enough that I don't want it again.

[Cunamara]

Working in nursing homes for the last 33 years, I was very diligent about COVID-19. Among my residents who caught it in the first year, nearly 20% died from it. As soon as the vaccine was available, I got it at least as much out of ethical considerations for protecting my clients as for protecting myself. I've had all the available boosters, as well. For about 30 years, I've been getting the flu shot every fall and I've not had the flu; one year I missed it and got the flu right at Christmas. Geez, what a nasty little virus! Now I make double sure that I get my vaccination because I don't want to go through that again.

Every time in American history that there has been a contagious disease for which of vaccine is available, anti-vaccination for rises. There was a smallpox outbreak here in Minnesota about 120 years ago and the exact same behaviors that we saw around vaccination for COVID-19 arose. The same behaviors arose during the massive flu outbreak in the early 1910s in terms of resistance to taking steps to reduce transmission. It's a remarkable aspect of human nature.

Woody, wishing the best for you in terms of feeling better soon, recovering fast, being able to get back to your family and friends for the holidays! So sorry you missed your dad's 95th birthday (but better that than giving him COVID-19 as a birthday present).

[frabarmus]

My observation is that right now it’s no worse than the flu. In fact, I’d probably prefer COVID to the flu.

Agreed. In my experience it was as bad as a flu, no more than that. Infact, last time I've had the flu (around Xmas 2018/new year 2019) it was much worse, I also lost my voice for a few days (that was scary!) and when it came back it was an octave lower for a day+, before it got back to my normal pitch.

I got covid this year (for the first time, as far as I can tell) end of Oct/early Nov, I've had 4 shots of covid-vax (since it became available) though the 4th was 22nd July 2022...

[joelf]

It’s not your luck that matters, Joel. The incidence of totally asymptomatic Covid is quite high, especially among the vaccinated. So there are still lots of people walking around spreading it despite not even knowing they have it. Even with no symptoms or signs of illness, it’s contagious as long as the bearer is antigen positive. So it’s the patients whose luck you’re threatening.

I presented with self-reported symptoms a month or 2 ago and went right away to get tested. Was negative. I'll probably do that periodically no matter how well I feel. Hell, it's free and a 5 minute drive.

I don't want to get or spread it.

Plus, Englewood Hospital requires all volunteers to show evidence of flu vaccination or wear masks. I got the shot.

As far as the rest of your post, I'd appreciate if you applied the Golden Rule and not be so quick to judge---me or EH. If I didn't want to uplift, not sicken the patients (also myself) I wouldn't be there in the first place. (Plus, the Jazz Foundation pulled everyone off the lobby gigs the minute the pandemic broke, for everyone's safety). And if they weren't concerned first and foremost with the protection of their patients they'd quickly and roundly be criticized and worse. I've been associated with them for almost 20 years, as both patient and performer, and can tell you that as hospitals go there are none better or more compassion-driven in my experience: doctors, nurses, social workers and general staff, so...

[Woody Sound]

But speaking of "luck", an old friend who is a right-wing anti-vaxxer caught Covid and spent two weeks in the hospital on a ventilator. That turned out to be quite lucky for him as he fully recovered, but while hospitalized, they discovered that he had aggressive lung cancer (he has been a heavy smoker since his teens) and they were able to remove the affected tumors and lymph nodes and he is now cancer free almost two years later. Talk about blind, dumb luck. Had he been vaxxed, he probably would have never been hospitalized and the lung cancer may well have killed him.

Death is certain, life is not.

So is he an anti-vaxxer for health beliefs? But he's a long time heavy smoker? Weird.

[frabarmus]

There was a smallpox outbreak here in Minnesota about 120 years ago and the exact same behaviors that we saw around vaccination for COVID-19 arose.

I didn't know about it... I've heard about a violent uprising against smallpox- vaccination in Montreal (1887 or so)...