I'm in Canada and nobody seems to remember COVID 19. No masks anywhere, people coughing on everything, if you wear a mask people look at you like you're psycho. I tried getting test kits and nobody has them anymore and one pharmacist even commented that nobody is worried or testing anymore. I got it for a second time this year, and everyone I knew was also sick but in denial, everyone insisting "it's just a cold"
this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
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I got it from my boss last week. She "had a cold" for a couple weeks but wouldn't stop coming into the office and complaining that she can't stop getting sick.
I should have tried to avoid her more effectively. I've been on the couch for 5 days and I think I still have a couple more.
I should have tried to avoid her more effectively.
Don't victim-blame yourself. It's her fault for not doing the reasonable and considerate thing: staying home so that you don't infect your coworkers.
Good luck! May you have a speedy recovery with no long COVID.
Hmm, the crazy part is that I'm in Alberta and people are masking here, not alot, but more than you would expect given our history. And it's totally still possible to get covid kits here. I am in a smaller town, but it looks similar when I have traveled to Edmonton recently.
Unfortunately we have the same scenario in Europe
Where in Canada you at? I'm in Ontario and I wear a mask and see a few other mask wearers around. Although in Markham there's a larger Asian population so I don't think too many people look at you too weird.
Mississauga. I tested positive but was only sick for less than a week. After I felt better I went out but kept a mask on, and nobody else at the mall had one on.
That more or less seems true globally.
But, if you have been keeping up with your vaccinations, covid is fairly mild these days. There is still the risk of complications and "long covid" but that is true of a lot more illnesses than anyone wants to acknowledge.
Personally? I still mask up when I go to the store or on public transportation. But I am not going to avoid eating out at a restaurant anymore and generally don't bother at airports or conventions since I am going to eat at some point and I am likely fucked regardless. But it is also less about covid specifically and more about just not wanting to get sick period.
if you have been keeping up with your vaccinations, covid is fairly mild these days.
Sure, if you're <70 years old and not immunocompromised or otherwise unable to vaccinate you'll probably be OK. If you do fall into one of those categories you're at high risk every time you leave your house.
And you have those threats with other viruses. There is a reason there was always such a strong push to get people to get flu shots. Plenty of people die from pneumonia and other complications.
Covid is/was a global threat because of the combination of being highly contagious, having dangerous symptoms, and being something most people have no antibodies for. Vaccination, as well as mutations, have negated a lot of those. This is why getting covid in early 2020 was a potential death sentence and would leave you curled up in a little ball unable to function. Getting covid in late 2023 is often so mild that people may not even think to test.
And if you have a compromised immune system or are otherwise at risk? You really should be masking up and avoiding crowds anyway. Because influenza is still a thing as are plenty of other colds. The only difference is that the vast majority of people won't bat an eye if you wear a mask to the supermarket these days (aside from the hardcore republicans who may scream slurs at you).
These threats didn't start in late 2019 when we were starting to hear about some weird "coronavirus" that was totally going to be the next Y2K joke. Like, I remember my cousin (rest in peace). She didn't need to live in an outright clean room but she generally avoided going to crowded spaces because nobody knows how to sneeze into their arm. And when we went to visit, we were expected to reschedule or stay outside if we at all "felt sick".
In a perfect world? We would have learned from covid that you cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze and to try to avoid being near people when you are sick. Instead... we at least semi-normalized wearing a mask?
Im immunocompromised and I got the covid vaxx. was a bit of an issue with getting it though, needed to jump through some hoops. doctor basically said that this is bullshit, I especially should get vaccinated
Some immunocompromised people can get the vax, for others it's not recommended or but very effective. Same as with other vaccines.
I got it for the first time this year, I think from work. My boss and his friend a PM, don’t really care about bringing stuff to work. My family is similar, multiple people were sick at Christmas but we didn’t cancel it. I just tried to keep my distance but I probably should’ve just left :/
I had completely forgotten about it too, but my mom got it two weeks ago. Fortunately she was fine, but the virus totally dropped from the conversation, news, everything. It's mostly just a memory
The situation here in Switzerland is similar. Every time I go to the grocery store, it's full of people (especially kids) that cough on everything and everyone. A couple of my colleages at work came in sick from what turned out to be covid. I somehow managed to avoid getting infected.
Last week a person in a supermarket basically coughed on me while passing by, and now I have a cold. According to the rapid tests (which are still available here, fortunately) it's not covid, but still. The pandemic has not taught us anything.
Despite being inundated with popular movies amd video games dramatizing the concept of a life threatening pandemic for decades, many westerners are utterly unable to grasp the idea that such things are in fact real and pose serious questions about government, society, medical systems and personal customs.
Even living in Seattle, supposedly a bulwark of progressive thought in America, the vast majority of people I knew personally either were vaccine and mask skeptics (one of these was even a charge nurse at a local clinic so thats terrifying), or they abandoned meaningful protective measures when they were inconvenient for them personally, or abandoned them when they simply got tired of it, regardless of what the actual state of transmission was.
I, a heavy smoker, and at the time for the below stories, obese as well, ended up eventually quadruple vaccinated.
And I had to endure essentially delusional hypocritical insanity from every individual I spent a decent amount of time with in person since COVID broke.
...
My brother was a neurotic doomer who was obsessed with following every covid related update. I followed such events as well, but I had to spend a huge amount of time and energy handling his constant breakdowns and depression.
Then he, a self described anti social person with no friends and social anxiety disorder, decided to go to Las Vegas, via plane, to attend a business convention where he was going to... mingle with people?
I told him this was an extremely bad idea as it was essentially the easiest way to maximize covid exposure in a short time. I was living with him at the time so I was pretty worried he would bring it home.
He went anyway, caught covid, gave it to myself and his gf. Obviously nothing came from his opportunity to network, as he has the social skills of a, well, neurotic depressed hypocrite.
So that sidelined me from a month of work.
Some how I did not get long covid.
...
Before this saga, I was dating a woman who had no ability to plan any part of her life or be responsible for any problems she ever caused, and would just have a panic attack that she would nearly hyperventilate from, and then become nearly suicidally depressed, any time anyone pointed out she had made a serious mistake.
(I am autistic and terrible and spotting red flags relationship wise if you cannot tell, lol)
This woman I was dating had some friends that were worried about covid where we would wear masks when around, and other friends who didnt take any of that seriously. One of this second group of friends included the aforementioned charge nurse who only wore masks and such at her job amd never did in daily life because she didnt believe they worked.
I would point out how that doesnt make any sense, and all of this friend group, and my gf at the time, would switch to collectively woke scolding me for whatever topic was trending on twitter at the time, twisting various unrelated things I said into 'having the vibe' of some bad opinion having person or group.
Then, in private, my gf would tell me she actually agreed with me. I would ask her why she didnt stand up for me then, and she would have a panic attack and become depressed for 2 months to the point of needing me to spend eventually thousands of dollars on order in food for her because she was too depressed to move.
Then she would get a bit better, and talk to her friends, and then I would also be the bad guy anew because I caused her depressive episode, in their eyes.
Anyway, I eventually broke up with her but still talked as friends for a while. She ended up getting sexually molested by a friend of idiot nurse, but because this person was a friend of idiot nurse, idiot nurse convinced that whole friend group that the molestation either did not happen or was not really that bad.
I stopped talking to all of these dysfunctional morons around the time I realized I was just being used for emotional support (8 hour phone calls for nearly every day for nearly a year) to the point that being there for my ex /was my entire life/, and that she was totally incapable of change.
...
Later, after both of these episodes, I was made homeless by a complex chain of events kicked off by my neurotic brother that gave me covid, and my QTard Fail-Dad.
basically my medical team told me after 3 years of therapy and psychology, I am Autistic. I told my family this and they told me I was delusional and tried to force me into a long term group home for schizophrenics and druggie burnouts. I grabbed all my stuff and got in my car and left... long story but I ended up losing the car, my belongings, and my job.
Anyway, point is, I am crashing for about a month at the place of a young woman who is a self avowed clean freak who is "Never Wrong." She would scream at me for not taking my shoes off the instant I came in, but also for using drano to clear a clogged up tub, and would use absurd amounts of cleaning products to clean up her cats that pissed and shit everywhere instead of actually solving the problem by giving some of the cats away as she planned to, or get more litter boxes.
She brought up the flu vaccine at one point and I began to explain to her how yeah we are going to just need a yearly covid vaccine for the rest of our lives now due to how poorly our society amd the world reacted to it. She got bored and started talking about some mumble rap artist.
So yeah, little miss 'clean freak' doesnt know anything about germ theory or viral spread: Her bf caught covid, gave it to her (who was asmptomatic) who gave it to me.
It was absolutely impossible to explain to her how asymptomatic spread can occur. I actually just got tired of her absurd abuse and went back to being homeless.
Barely survived being homeless with covid, but again I somehow did not develop long covid.
Yay vaccines!
...
So I have now had covid twice, somehow have not developed long covid, and am no longer obese due to having to walk probably about 2000 miles in the past two years now!
Anyway, I bring up my personal stories here because it is cathartic to type them out, but also to illustrate that... it basically seems to be near impossible to predict how seriously literally anyone will take covid at this point.
It didnt matter what experts said. It didnt matter how many personal stories were documented by HermanCainAwards and propagated or echoed toward the more online.
Seemingly everyone I knew would either believe in utter nonsense, or become hypocrites when it became convenient to them personally.
The worst part is that all of these fools blame the people they are hurting for pointing out that they are hurting them.
...
If you are concerned about me after reading this, don't be. I wont lie, I could use some donations or maybe a real friend, but I am now halfway across the country in a motel I can afford o stay indefinitely as I hilariously qualify for SSDI due to my Autism counting as a mental disability by the Social Security Administration. I will just be staying put while I build up some cash and repair the credit damage from my stolen identity and credit cards to be able to afford to actually rent a studio somewhere.
Don't you fucking take him, COVID. Don't you fucking dare.
Don't worry he has politician healthcare not plebeian deathcare like us peons
It at least pleases me to know this level of care is something he wishes to extend to all Americans. Many in Congress with this care would deny it to the rest of us as if it were some sort of favor.
I really wish Bernie the best, but Covid has this whole cardiac component to it which makes it INCREDIBLY dangerous for heart patients, of which Bernie is one. :(
He does have the best health care in the country though so here's hoping!
If there's one person whose head should be put into a jar Futurama-style, it would be him.
I'm sure he had his updated COVID shot, so hopefully his symptoms are mild. Fingers crossed.
I know he's up there in years but Bernie's no idiot so I'm sure he's caught up on vaccinations. Hopefully that means he'll do fine.
More importantly though, more politicians need to take up the progressive mantle.
Wish that man a speedy recovery. He has given so much. Good luck Bernie.
For God's sake provide soup to this man. Give him something to return!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Thursday he tested positive for COVID-19, amid a nationwide spike in infections.
The 82-year-old Sanders, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, he was experiencing “minimal” symptoms and will continue to isolate while working from his home in Vermont.
The Senate finished its legislative business for the year last week and won’t be returning for votes until Jan. 8.
The U.S. is seeing elevated levels of respiratory illness this winter, and the Northeast is experiencing the highest levels of viral activity, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wastewater data.
Nationally, the wastewater viral activity level for COVID-19 is the highest it’s been since the omicron surge in 2022.
It is too early to know whether or to what extent JN.1 will cause an increase in infections or hospitalizations,” the CDC said, adding that existing vaccines, tests, and treatments still work against JN.1.
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