on coping with C19 lockdown

[bad hammy]

My sibs and cousins (the Boomers; the Older-Than-Boomer folks are all gone) started monthly Zoom sessions over the summer and will Zoom-visit on Saturday. Even though my brother is only two hours away (the closest physically) there's no point in risking a get-together - I've seen him before! It will just be mr. & mrs. hammy giving thanks at our place, supporting one of the many fine local restaurants we'd like to see survive (Jazzy Ladies, in this case) by picking up a take-out TDay meal Wed. afternoon . . .

[bambam1729]

Well, folks, I got some encouraging news in the last 24 hours, from two different sources, one an infectious disease friend of mine, the other a pharmacist who is setting up the logistics of distribution for CVS. Both of them said the roll-out for the vaccines to be administered looks like it will happen much faster than anyone thought possible. Both said mid-December (they both said around 15 Dec) is a good possibility, which amazed me. Keep the fingers crossed that they are right. Also, I don't know who this will be for exactly, in terms of high-risk population vs general population. Still something encouraging. Conor Dary no longer seems to post but if he did, he would immediately counter (with multiple clippings) that this will probably not happen until around 2029 but I like my sources.

[jeremyp]

We’ve ordered Thanksgiving from a local upscale grocery chain. Food for 7 people to be eaten by two old farts over a few days while streaming alone. Family is in California or New Zealand. Friends are eating alone.

[tandfman]

Our kids are only 20 minutes away. Nobody has Covid, but one of our grandkids goes to kindergarten in person, and there's been an uptick in their neighborhood and ours lately. They didn't want to jeopardize us by having a live family dinner, and it's too cold to do it outdoors. So Mrs. tandfman and I have ordered a full dinner for 3-5 people, which we'll pick up from a local place. We'll Zoom with the family on Thursday and have leftovers Friday.

[DrJay]

Anyone else here having COVID-19 dreams? A couple times a week lately I am having some dream where I am in a building or a space somewhere and there people without masks on (and people with masks on) and I am trying to distance myself from the nonmaskers, trying to pick my mask out of a pile of 7 or 8 on a desk where I was working on a patient's chart etc. Nothing major, not a nightmare, but a little unsettling and I think just a reflection of the times. Wearing a mask 40-50 hours a week at work is a bit of a nuisance, seeing more positive tests the last 3 weeks than before, a patient of mine dying and another one in the hospital right now. Starting to add up. It is hard for me to imagine how hard it is for ICU staff in areas where the hospitals are full. There will be a lot of PTSD among those folks, down the road.

[Django]

I'm a retired internist, and spent my last working years as a hospitalist, and I now have dreams about somehow being back at work, and getting call after call from the ER because there's another patient with Covid who needs to be admitted-- and I'm now up to my 15th admission in the dream!

[Atticus]

There will be a lot of PTSD among those folks, down the road.

Since we'll have been in the pandemic for over a year before the numbers subside, many of us will have lingering effects: germophobia, anti-social tendencies, agoraphobia, paranoia, etc.
I think for many of us, life* will never return to normal*.

*however each of us perceived that.

[user4]

Well, folks, I got some encouraging news in the last 24 hours, from two different sources, one an infectious disease friend of mine, the other a pharmacist who is setting up the logistics of distribution for CVS. Both of them said the roll-out for the vaccines to be administered looks like it will happen much faster than anyone thought possible. Both said mid-December (they both said around 15 Dec) is a good possibility, which amazed me. Keep the fingers crossed that they are right. Also, I don't know who this will be for exactly, in terms of high-risk population vs general population. Still something encouraging. Conor Dary no longer seems to post but if he did, he would immediately counter (with multiple clippings) that this will probably not happen until around 2029 but I like my sources.

Lets not get down on Conor .. back in February/March user4 predicted we would be receiving a vaccine shot in early October at any local CVS despite his MD telling him that it would be Summer 2021 at the earliest. Im going to guess now that user4 is still wrong and that im not going to get my CVS shot until.. you guessed it Summer 2021.

[DrJay]

Since we'll have been in the pandemic for over a year before the numbers subside, many of us will have lingering effects: germophobia, anti-social tendencies, agoraphobia, paranoia, etc.
I think for many of us, life* will never return to normal*.

Lately when watching things like The Queen's Gambit and The Crown, my wife and I are both reflexively thinking "why don't those people have their MASKS on?!"

[Atticus]

It's instructive to remember that back in March, virtually ALL the medical experts insisted that a vaccine, even if fast-tracked, would take a year and half to produce and distribute. Operation Warp Speed cut that in half by cutting through all the red tape, which, in retrospect, was all that we needed to do. I was told by my doctor to expect a vaccine by January at the latest (being 'elderly' and presumably in the first release wave).

[Atticus]

60 Minutes looks at "long haulers" (long-lasting side effects of Covid). Doctors are still searching for answers to why a portion of people who were diagnosed with COVID-19 are still suffering symptoms months later.

I'm unclear what the mystery is. There are many illnesses that result in long-term health issues. A virus leaves lasting damage to organs that continue responding to that damage (lungs, heart, liver, brain, etc.) after the virus itself has been dealt with. I had a mediastinal (benign) lipoma successfully removed that continues to give me odd symptoms like acid reflux and phantom chest sensations.

[bambam1729]

It's instructive to remember that back in March, virtually ALL the medical experts insisted that a vaccine, even if fast-tracked, would take a year and half to produce and distribute. Operation Warp Speed cut that in half by cutting through all the red tape, which, in retrospect, was all that we needed to do. I was told by my doctor to expect a vaccine by January at the latest (being 'elderly' and presumably in the first release wave).

Yes, its an amazing thing that the researchers have done and the fact that they have done it with new technology, mRNA vectors and adenovirus vectors, for the vaccines bodes well for future vaccine development.

[bambam1729]

Wearing a mask 40-50 hours a week at work is a bit of a nuisance ...

Yes, masks are a nuisance. Never wore one 40-50 hours a week, but probably wore one 20-25 hours/week - for 30 years straight (1984-2014). You get used to it.

[jeremyp]

Yes, masks are a nuisance. Never wore one 40-50 hours a week, but probably wore one 20-25 hours/week - for 30 years straight (1984-2014). You get used to it.

I remember walking around Tokyo in October 1965 and at least 50% of the people had masks on. Initially I thought it strange, then it dawned on me. Societal Health consciousness. What a concept!

[Atticus]

I remember walking around Tokyo in October 1965 and at least 50% of the people had masks on. Initially I thought it strange, then it dawned on me. Societal Health consciousness. What a concept!

As we used to walk around Disney World, you could always tell the Japanese tourists from a distance because of their masks, and I remember thinking, 'what a bunch of germophobic loonies'.
Turns out they were just ahead of the curve.