Hunker Down

[WZ JUNK]

Bruce,I am glad you are feeling better and I hope you fully recover quickly.

I wish the vaccines were 100% effective but they are not.  They are very good at preventing hospitalization, and death.  Locally, people are not hospitalized because of side effects from the vaccine and boosters.  The logical conclusion would be that the vaccine might not keep you from getting sick, but it reduces your chance of going to the hospital, and reduces the chances of dying from the virus, while usually only causing you minor discomfort.  While my wife and I are doing many things today, that we did not do a year ago, we are being as cautious as possible while trying to enjoy life. 

There was an article in the news this morning where different groups are looking into penalizing doctors who have led people astray with bad medical advise about the virus and how to treat it correctly.  It seems that doctors are like auto mechanics, there are good ones and bad ones.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

I forgot to mention: my friends with recent virus stuff.  They lost their taste and smell of things as a first clue what was up.  We just had late lunch with them. She says the taste and smell has not returned yet.

[enjenjo]

I forgot to mention: my friends with recent virus stuff.  They lost their taste and smell of things as a first clue what was up.  We just had late lunch with them. She says the taste and smell has not returned yet.

If they are your friends, the didn't have much taste to begin with.

[jaybee]

WZ Junk, gotta say if the vaccine (and booster) keeps me from dying, being hospitalized, or suffering any of the many long term health consequences of COVID then I'll always figure it did its job. That'll be true whether at some point I develop a breakthrough infection or not. As you say, breakthrough infections are on average much less severe than experienced by those who haven't been vaccinated.

[idrivejunk]

Bossier, eh? That's where my brother-in-law and sister-in-law live. Way on the north side of town, north of Airline High School toward Benton.

Yeah cool, I was on Garden St and got my start at United Bumper. Before the casino boats. Seems like we might have had this conversation years ago and I just forgot.

[jaybee]

Nope, that's a new discovery as far as I know. We've eaten a number of times at one of the casino buffets and watched the riverfront area. Have to admit I don't find much to recommend the place other than the fact family lives there. I'd guess you feel the same way since you've moved away.

[idrivejunk]

Ha. Yeah I once asked Dad why they never revistited the area and he said he didn't lose anything there. I made lateral moves into Texas from there. Here to be with family again.

My high school buddy lives on Shreve Isle. Nice pool table. I visited a couple times this century, didn't recognize much. Never knew which way to feel about living right under Barksdale AFB, safe or endangered. But that area used to be the spot to be whether you needed an S-10 (from the GM plant) or an A-10 (Warthog).

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Chat with my brother about a mutual friend from grade school daze and later.  I worked with the fellow in the late 1970s..  He went into the hospital for heart illness.  Contracted the chinese virus.  He died a week ago at age 74.  I do not know if he was vaccinated or not.

[jaybee]

I talked to my Dad on Christmas day. He told me of 4 or 5 people he's known for decades who have died from COVID.

[123pugsy]

Just got my booster dose. 2 Pfizer and one Moderna now. Anyone want to see the pics of my tails when they sprout?

[WZ JUNK]

I have some thoughts on the wearing of the face mask when you are the only one in the car.  I found myself doing just that this morning while I was making several stops within a short period of time. 

A couple of weeks ago I started wearing hearing aids that are behind my ears.  I also wear glasses full time now.  When you have hearings aids, glasses, and a face mask on at the same time, you are overloaded and overwhelmed. It is tricky to remove the mask without it getting bound up in the hearing aid and remove it also or causing it to fall off of your ear.  (That could get expensive). I have found that by using my finger and going up under the ear loop of my face mask,  and then over the top of my ear, I can undo the mask without unintentionally removing the hearing aid.  This is a lot like pealing a tire off of a rim on a tire machine.  You still need to go slowly and be reasonably careful.

So what this all means is, that it is much easier to leave the mask on if you are going to be using it again soon.  Whenever I get upset and want to throw the thing away, I remember to be thankful that I do not have to wear one all day at work like many people do these days.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Now I am told the recent family friend that passed did not have the chinese virus. He had a serious heart attack and did not survive. Jim is still dead.  To me its another situation of what to believe. I have not talked to the family and I would not bring the subject up.

John:  I understand what you are saying about the mask , glasses & hearing aids.  Early on this chinese flu mess I had problems with pulling my hearing aids out of my ears when I removed the mask. That was the reason I started to wear the gator style covering when needed.

I have a doctor appointment in  january. The last time I was there a gator face cover was fine for them. Other wise I do not wear a mask anywhere.

[WZ JUNK]

The last 10 days we have left home and traveled to the U S Virgin Islands.  The trip was planned months ago after we were vaccinated and boosted.    We were told that as long as we followed the protocols, we should be okay.  Then the next strain of Covid developed.  It was a real tuff decision to make but we decided to continue with out plan.   Everything went well.  In 4 or 5 days we will have a test and see if we picked up the bug in our travels.  In the mean time, I will self isolate here at the house and shop.

It seems that the traveling and the time on the Islands were safer than here at home.  In the airports and airplanes everything was wiped down and everyone was masked.   On the Islands they have went to extremes to require mask and a safe as possible environment.  We spent our time on the beaches and hiking trails and organized our days to avoid crowds.  There were occasion exceptions, but everywhere they followed better protocols than here at home.  Since we landed and left the airport, it has been like the wild, wild, west.  Odd than during the most contagious part of this pandemic, our population seems to be the most careless.

[kb426]

I read about a month ago that an Ivy league specialist made the prediction that people's patience would run out and they would go back to their normal lifestyle. From what I see, I tend to agree with that.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

I read about a month ago that an Ivy league specialist made the prediction that people's patience would run out and they would go back to their normal lifestyle. From what I see, I tend to agree with that.

We are coming up on 2 years of only needing 2 weeks to flatten the curve on the Wuhan flu virus pandammic. So I tend to agree, people are tired of it regardless of the results of their actions.

We are told to follow the science. The science seems to be a vaccine that works poorly if we need more and more boosters?


We have a local official that tested positive for a 'breakout" case of the virus.. There were no symptoms, the person was vaccinated and had a booster too. So why was the covid test administered? I have not seen that answer , altho I have not spent a lot of time looking if there was a answer given.

Months ago: medical staff that still refused the vaccine were to be terminated.  Suddenly that narrative disappeared as the 'new" Omucrom variant suddenly appeared. Now all I hear now is hospitals are overloaded again.