Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe we’re nearly three years into this mess and people like OP still refer to taking precautions as “virtue signaling.”

We past virtue signaling more than a year ago. Things like indefinite masking, social isolation, and pulling people out of school or work for mild cold symptoms are just examples of health anxiety.

Do you not understand that some of us have long term health issues regardless of covid but getting an illness like covid is a huge issue for us. It's not health anxiety. Why on earth would you be ok with getting sick or making someone else sick when some of it is preventable.

All prevention measures have costs. You need to decide whether the costs are worth the benefits. Personally I don’t feel comfortable imposing my cost-benefit analysis in others. YMMV.

There are no prevention measures right now. That is the problem and your choices impact others. If you go out sick, spread covid, flu, cold, rsv, while it is no big deal to you, it can have serious consequences to others. Its sad you don't understand that.

Were you this enraged about people going out with colds before the pandemic?

There are certainly preventive measures YOU can take if you are high risk and the cost of those measure are worth it to you- you can wear high quality, well-fitted masks everywhere. You can stay home from all non-essential activities if you don't think that is enough. The "cost" of my young kids wearing masks all day while healthy, and avoiding all indoor activities such as birthday parties, are not worth whatever theoretical benefits comes from those measures FOR US. We wear masks when we have colds and stay home for any serious illnesses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder whether people who don't mask in crowded indoor areas expect is going to happen to them, exactly?

If you catch covid 1-2x per year from this, and your chance of getting long covid is 15% each time, you're rolling the dice each time and you've got less than 7 years before the jig is up and you get long covid. Less time if you're including others in your family. Barring some major scientific development.

- Do you not believe in long covid and think it is a magical white lady disease? (I saw that earlier in this thread. Good luck with that.)
-- Is it just about hating masks no matter what the cost to your personal health?
- will you not take precautions like masking and not eating indoors again EVER or will you start again if more people around you are being careful again
- avoid any "optional" indoor social activities?
- if someone in your family gets long covid and suffers from constant fatigue and brain fog that doesn't resolve, will you change your mind about what precautions your family might have taken to prevent the exposure or at least reduce the dosage inhaled? Or will you still be happy with the choices you made now?

I'm pretty sure you will say you are happy with your choices because no one can plan for the unexpected. (It's not that unexpected! but whatever you do you)

What? Where on earth are you getting that you have a 15% chance of getting “Long Covid?” That’s crazy. I’ve never heard the estimate to be that high, even 5% seems high with the current strains, never mind 15%. Keep in mind we have lots of “Coronaviruses” circulating, of which Covid-19 is the “novel” Coronavirus, but it’s still just a Coronavirus which causes cold and flu like symptoms. Even if one does have post-viral complications/symptoms, in the majority of people these are resolved within 6 months.

So you’re giving up precious years of your life for something that has a 5% or less chance of happening and if it does, is resolved within 6 months at most. That doesn’t seem like a way to live, to me. Studies have shown that more liberal Democrats tend to OVERstate the risks of Covid to them and the risks of dying or becoming permanently disabled by Covid. Maybe that happened to you?

It’s the CDC’s number. Dispute it or whatever, but it’s not some mystery number. It was widely reported.

And it includes the type of long COVID that many people are ok to risk getting. If I can't run a 5k for 6 months I'll survive. I'm not going to cancel Christmas to avoid that.

I honestly think that some people have never been or have completely forgotten what it was like to be truly sick. I’ve had various illnesses that lingered, I mean REALLY lingered, long before Covid. I caught a bad case of bronchitis on a cruise, or possibly from plane travel to get to the cruise, 10 years ago, and I coughed for probably 3 months after. I remember because it was fall and I was still coughing at night even at Christmas. It sucked but it was only temporary! Was my experience really that rare? I expect to have a lingering cough and some congestion for awhile after a bad bout of whatever respiratory illness. But maybe that’s not been other people’s experiences so they way overreact to lingering symptoms.

You folks have no idea what you are talking about. I had to take 14 months of medical leave from a high-status, professional job because of long Covid. I had frightening cognitive deficients. I couldn’t recall words or remember something I was told minutes earlier. I lost the ability to raise my left arm. I lost 20 (starting with a normal BMI— friends and colleagues described me as emaciated. I had crushing, crushing fatigue. Believe me, you don’t understand what the word “fatigue” means until you’ve experienced this. Like it would be an all afternoon project to walk across a room. I’d be thirsty with a glass of water right next to me, but lifting it required too much effort. Prior to long Covid, I never had any serious medical issues, never missed work for illness, never even caught the flu. I took no medications, no chronic or underlying conditions. I was fit and active and healthy by every objective measure. You do not have any idea what you are talking about. Your views on Long Covid are ignorant nonsense. I hope you never have to learn about it the hard way.

This type of long covid is incredibly rare. It’s amazing that we don’t have any stats on this, because this is what people are afraid of. CDC includes having a prolonged cough or stuffy nose, or even just hair loss as long covid.

Severe long Covid was more common following infection with the original Wuhan variant, before anyone was vaccinated. Incidence of severe long Covid is also related to viral load (people who got Wuhan variant before anyone was masking got sicker). But severe long Covid is not rare, even following Omicron infection and some people do die of it, months after surviving their acute infection. It is most likely caused by viral persistence, itself likely caused by a poor adaptive immune response (possibly attributable to past [non-Covid] coronavirus antibodies—there is a whole literature on those if anyone is interested). There is a gendered gap because women’s adaptive immune system are different from men’s (for reasons related to reproduction). In any event, the best protection against severe long Covid is not getting infected. Second best is having the best possible antibody match to currently circulating variants (which right now means the bivariant booster). Despite popular perception, past exposure to other variants (which creates antibodies that may attach but not neutralize) does not necessarily help you to avoid long Covid (it may even increase the risk). The third best protection against severe long Covid is to avoid a catastrophically large initial viral load. Masks help immensely with that, even one way masking.

For those that believe that significant morbidity or disability from long Covid is rare, or becoming more rare because of less pathogenic variants, I wish you were right, but the current data does not support that view. Of course we’ll only be able to accurately tally the total morbidity rate in retrospect, several years from now. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/covid-19-likely-resulted-in-1-2-million-more-disabled-people-by-the-end-of-2021-workplaces-and-policy-will-need-to-adapt/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder whether people who don't mask in crowded indoor areas expect is going to happen to them, exactly?

If you catch covid 1-2x per year from this, and your chance of getting long covid is 15% each time, you're rolling the dice each time and you've got less than 7 years before the jig is up and you get long covid. Less time if you're including others in your family. Barring some major scientific development.

- Do you not believe in long covid and think it is a magical white lady disease? (I saw that earlier in this thread. Good luck with that.)
-- Is it just about hating masks no matter what the cost to your personal health?
- will you not take precautions like masking and not eating indoors again EVER or will you start again if more people around you are being careful again
- avoid any "optional" indoor social activities?
- if someone in your family gets long covid and suffers from constant fatigue and brain fog that doesn't resolve, will you change your mind about what precautions your family might have taken to prevent the exposure or at least reduce the dosage inhaled? Or will you still be happy with the choices you made now?

I'm pretty sure you will say you are happy with your choices because no one can plan for the unexpected. (It's not that unexpected! but whatever you do you)

What? Where on earth are you getting that you have a 15% chance of getting “Long Covid?” That’s crazy. I’ve never heard the estimate to be that high, even 5% seems high with the current strains, never mind 15%. Keep in mind we have lots of “Coronaviruses” circulating, of which Covid-19 is the “novel” Coronavirus, but it’s still just a Coronavirus which causes cold and flu like symptoms. Even if one does have post-viral complications/symptoms, in the majority of people these are resolved within 6 months.

So you’re giving up precious years of your life for something that has a 5% or less chance of happening and if it does, is resolved within 6 months at most. That doesn’t seem like a way to live, to me. Studies have shown that more liberal Democrats tend to OVERstate the risks of Covid to them and the risks of dying or becoming permanently disabled by Covid. Maybe that happened to you?

It’s the CDC’s number. Dispute it or whatever, but it’s not some mystery number. It was widely reported.

Not the poster you are responding to but things have changed: long COVID studies were including anyone who had symptoms, even very mild, after 30 days which is ridiculous. Many studies also included extremely vague symptoms like fatigue, anxiety, etc. Yes, bone crushing fatigue is one thing but many studies were not excluding things like run of the mill fatigue from being an adult living in stressful times. They also included severe cases of people being hospitalized, and yes, if you were on a ventilator, you are going to have some longer term effects for a few months and not sure that is long COVID or just the norms of being hospitalized for a serious condition and taking time to build back strength. The studies also lump original COVID and pre vaccination time with fully vaxed omicron times and I do think the numbers are going down.

I've seen a lot more high quality large studies that put the number at closer to 2-3% but even in those people most symptoms are resolving in a year. Not saying it would be fun to have even mild symptoms for a year but I do think the people on twitter saying COVID is a slow mass extinction event and will lead to crippling disability in the population are not helping.

On a population scale, even 0.5% of people is a lot of people for such a common illness that most will get, so I do think we should take long COVID seriously but it seems like many people are needlessly scaring people for clickbait.

I hate that our country has put it on the individual to protect ourselves. Yes masking is a helpful tool but why aren't we upgrading ventilation systems and demanding better indoor air quality? This was a problem before COVID for many conditions not just respiratory viruses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder whether people who don't mask in crowded indoor areas expect is going to happen to them, exactly?

If you catch covid 1-2x per year from this, and your chance of getting long covid is 15% each time, you're rolling the dice each time and you've got less than 7 years before the jig is up and you get long covid. Less time if you're including others in your family. Barring some major scientific development.

- Do you not believe in long covid and think it is a magical white lady disease? (I saw that earlier in this thread. Good luck with that.)
-- Is it just about hating masks no matter what the cost to your personal health?
- will you not take precautions like masking and not eating indoors again EVER or will you start again if more people around you are being careful again
- avoid any "optional" indoor social activities?
- if someone in your family gets long covid and suffers from constant fatigue and brain fog that doesn't resolve, will you change your mind about what precautions your family might have taken to prevent the exposure or at least reduce the dosage inhaled? Or will you still be happy with the choices you made now?

I'm pretty sure you will say you are happy with your choices because no one can plan for the unexpected. (It's not that unexpected! but whatever you do you)

What? Where on earth are you getting that you have a 15% chance of getting “Long Covid?” That’s crazy. I’ve never heard the estimate to be that high, even 5% seems high with the current strains, never mind 15%. Keep in mind we have lots of “Coronaviruses” circulating, of which Covid-19 is the “novel” Coronavirus, but it’s still just a Coronavirus which causes cold and flu like symptoms. Even if one does have post-viral complications/symptoms, in the majority of people these are resolved within 6 months.

So you’re giving up precious years of your life for something that has a 5% or less chance of happening and if it does, is resolved within 6 months at most. That doesn’t seem like a way to live, to me. Studies have shown that more liberal Democrats tend to OVERstate the risks of Covid to them and the risks of dying or becoming permanently disabled by Covid. Maybe that happened to you?

It’s the CDC’s number. Dispute it or whatever, but it’s not some mystery number. It was widely reported.

And it includes the type of long COVID that many people are ok to risk getting. If I can't run a 5k for 6 months I'll survive. I'm not going to cancel Christmas to avoid that.

I honestly think that some people have never been or have completely forgotten what it was like to be truly sick. I’ve had various illnesses that lingered, I mean REALLY lingered, long before Covid. I caught a bad case of bronchitis on a cruise, or possibly from plane travel to get to the cruise, 10 years ago, and I coughed for probably 3 months after. I remember because it was fall and I was still coughing at night even at Christmas. It sucked but it was only temporary! Was my experience really that rare? I expect to have a lingering cough and some congestion for awhile after a bad bout of whatever respiratory illness. But maybe that’s not been other people’s experiences so they way overreact to lingering symptoms.

You folks have no idea what you are talking about. I had to take 14 months of medical leave from a high-status, professional job because of long Covid. I had frightening cognitive deficients. I couldn’t recall words or remember something I was told minutes earlier. I lost the ability to raise my left arm. I lost 20 (starting with a normal BMI— friends and colleagues described me as emaciated. I had crushing, crushing fatigue. Believe me, you don’t understand what the word “fatigue” means until you’ve experienced this. Like it would be an all afternoon project to walk across a room. I’d be thirsty with a glass of water right next to me, but lifting it required too much effort. Prior to long Covid, I never had any serious medical issues, never missed work for illness, never even caught the flu. I took no medications, no chronic or underlying conditions. I was fit and active and healthy by every objective measure. You do not have any idea what you are talking about. Your views on Long Covid are ignorant nonsense. I hope you never have to learn about it the hard way.

This type of long covid is incredibly rare. It’s amazing that we don’t have any stats on this, because this is what people are afraid of. CDC includes having a prolonged cough or stuffy nose, or even just hair loss as long covid.

DP
It is very hard to accurately measure this. But I think ti's clear that it's obviously not going to happen to everyone who gets COVID or even 15%, but it is a large number of people who desperately need effective therapies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder whether people who don't mask in crowded indoor areas expect is going to happen to them, exactly?

If you catch covid 1-2x per year from this, and your chance of getting long covid is 15% each time, you're rolling the dice each time and you've got less than 7 years before the jig is up and you get long covid. Less time if you're including others in your family. Barring some major scientific development.

- Do you not believe in long covid and think it is a magical white lady disease? (I saw that earlier in this thread. Good luck with that.)
-- Is it just about hating masks no matter what the cost to your personal health?
- will you not take precautions like masking and not eating indoors again EVER or will you start again if more people around you are being careful again
- avoid any "optional" indoor social activities?
- if someone in your family gets long covid and suffers from constant fatigue and brain fog that doesn't resolve, will you change your mind about what precautions your family might have taken to prevent the exposure or at least reduce the dosage inhaled? Or will you still be happy with the choices you made now?

I'm pretty sure you will say you are happy with your choices because no one can plan for the unexpected. (It's not that unexpected! but whatever you do you)

What? Where on earth are you getting that you have a 15% chance of getting “Long Covid?” That’s crazy. I’ve never heard the estimate to be that high, even 5% seems high with the current strains, never mind 15%. Keep in mind we have lots of “Coronaviruses” circulating, of which Covid-19 is the “novel” Coronavirus, but it’s still just a Coronavirus which causes cold and flu like symptoms. Even if one does have post-viral complications/symptoms, in the majority of people these are resolved within 6 months.

So you’re giving up precious years of your life for something that has a 5% or less chance of happening and if it does, is resolved within 6 months at most. That doesn’t seem like a way to live, to me. Studies have shown that more liberal Democrats tend to OVERstate the risks of Covid to them and the risks of dying or becoming permanently disabled by Covid. Maybe that happened to you?

It’s the CDC’s number. Dispute it or whatever, but it’s not some mystery number. It was widely reported.

And it includes the type of long COVID that many people are ok to risk getting. If I can't run a 5k for 6 months I'll survive. I'm not going to cancel Christmas to avoid that.

I honestly think that some people have never been or have completely forgotten what it was like to be truly sick. I’ve had various illnesses that lingered, I mean REALLY lingered, long before Covid. I caught a bad case of bronchitis on a cruise, or possibly from plane travel to get to the cruise, 10 years ago, and I coughed for probably 3 months after. I remember because it was fall and I was still coughing at night even at Christmas. It sucked but it was only temporary! Was my experience really that rare? I expect to have a lingering cough and some congestion for awhile after a bad bout of whatever respiratory illness. But maybe that’s not been other people’s experiences so they way overreact to lingering symptoms.

You folks have no idea what you are talking about. I had to take 14 months of medical leave from a high-status, professional job because of long Covid. I had frightening cognitive deficients. I couldn’t recall words or remember something I was told minutes earlier. I lost the ability to raise my left arm. I lost 20 (starting with a normal BMI— friends and colleagues described me as emaciated. I had crushing, crushing fatigue. Believe me, you don’t understand what the word “fatigue” means until you’ve experienced this. Like it would be an all afternoon project to walk across a room. I’d be thirsty with a glass of water right next to me, but lifting it required too much effort. Prior to long Covid, I never had any serious medical issues, never missed work for illness, never even caught the flu. I took no medications, no chronic or underlying conditions. I was fit and active and healthy by every objective measure. You do not have any idea what you are talking about. Your views on Long Covid are ignorant nonsense. I hope you never have to learn about it the hard way.

This type of long covid is incredibly rare. It’s amazing that we don’t have any stats on this, because this is what people are afraid of. CDC includes having a prolonged cough or stuffy nose, or even just hair loss as long covid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe we’re nearly three years into this mess and people like OP still refer to taking precautions as “virtue signaling.”

We past virtue signaling more than a year ago. Things like indefinite masking, social isolation, and pulling people out of school or work for mild cold symptoms are just examples of health anxiety.

Do you not understand that some of us have long term health issues regardless of covid but getting an illness like covid is a huge issue for us. It's not health anxiety. Why on earth would you be ok with getting sick or making someone else sick when some of it is preventable.

All prevention measures have costs. You need to decide whether the costs are worth the benefits. Personally I don’t feel comfortable imposing my cost-benefit analysis in others. YMMV.

There are no prevention measures right now. That is the problem and your choices impact others. If you go out sick, spread covid, flu, cold, rsv, while it is no big deal to you, it can have serious consequences to others. Its sad you don't understand that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you call virtue signalling having to see people literally die and/or have a stroke in their 50s w/o any other underlying conditions other than a recent COVID infection, by all means, I'll own the virtue signalling.

The question is, why does it offend you?

I am about to be slammed in the hospital yet again because people like you get so offended by COVID.

Here is what I recommend:

1. Wear a well-fitting, high quality mask (KN95 or N95) during surges in all indoor settings when mixing with non household members.

2. Test before gathering with non-household members

3. Do 1 and 2 to keep schools and daycares open

4. Do 1 and 2 so I can do my job in hospitals.

Again, sorry if this offends you

OP here. Thank you for sharing. Speaking specially to your post, I appreciate you being specific about what you want. I'm sorry that things in healthcare settings are difficult right now. What "offends" me about your specific post is basically the implication that COVID (and the flu, and RSV) is the fault of anyone who is engaging in indoor dining in restaurants/indoor activities with people they don't know and can't be sure are testing. And I'm curious - aside from the fact that we're going on three years, which is a long time for people to avoid these types of activities (my child was 12 months old when the pandemic hit, which means these have been three very key years in her social development and yes it has impacted her very much), it also means that many businesses and their employees lose their livelihoods. I know I know, how can I possibly put MONEY above PEOPLE'S LIVES. I think that's a pretty dumb and selfish argument because you're not the one who can't put food on the table.

So I think we can agree that you think I am a terrible person, and I think that's quite unfair at this point.

NP. Pandemics, by their nature, are not "fair". They suck and they are tough to live through. There is a lot of collateral damage going on right now between sicker than normal school children, people in their 20s-40s having higher rates of cardiac arrest, and a high mortality rate for seniors. As someone who doesn't post about it but does still think it's a threat to the general population, it appears that you are annoyed by being reminded of that. I haven't eaten inside in three years, nor have my kids, but I'm not pointing fingers at my friends who have. But I do think that now during this triple-demic winter is a good time for many people to take measures to decrease viral spread - RSV, flu, and Covid are all surging. There is a lot of suffering going on, and it's obvious from just reading this topic daily. We all live in a society. I'm not here to demonize anyone, but at the same time you have to appreciate the burden on healthcare workers and do what you can from time to time to help them out. As viruses ebb and flow, we have to pivot. There is no steady state that "covid is over".

Of course pandemics are not "fair", nobody said they were. PEOPLE can be fair in how they judge people and what they put out into the world. You say you don't post about this, but you just did. You say you're not here to demonize anyone, but clearly you feel people shouldn't be going to any indoor public places unmasked right now, even if they are feeling well.

Sorry, but I have good reasons not to keep my child socially isolated on the weekends (she cannot wear a mask effectively and hates the cold). She has already paid a high enough price (a price which people like you NEVER acknowledge). That is not going to change. What I do think is reasonable is for people to stay home if they are sick and to be conservative about that. But when I see posts like yours, a part of me is like, f*ck it, clearly that's not enough so why try anyway?

Don't need an imagination to get there from here.

Oh. You're one of those people that thinks the impacts of social isolation are not real.

Actually I think your daughter has probably had quite a hard time. But you are also behaving like a martyr in this thread. They're not mutually exclusive.

I also think long covid is real though and not a made up disease, so *shrug*

I also think long COVID is real. Sorry you think I'm a martyr. You yourself don't sound very compassionate. My daughter's issues are very real and extremely painful. I would not wish them on any child.

You've judged and namecalled my side throughout this thread without justification (P.O.S. psychopath etc etc) so while I'm sure you are having a hard time, and while I'm sorry for the stuff your daughter is experiencing, I don't think you're justified in taking it out on random people on DCUM, or in blaming other people for your own actions. But go off.

This. I feel bad for her kid, but her posts are nasty and overwrought.

People say this on here all the time flippantly, but I mean it sincerely. Talk to a therapist PP with kid with issues. You sound like you are taking out your poop on random internet strangers. Not healthy.

And BTW, everyone's kids suffered during the pandemic. If you think we were getting through a worldwide pandemic unscathed, I don't know what to tell you.

Lol it's really sad how you only see things in terms of one side vs the other. There has been lots of nastiness on your "side" that's what I've called out. If you think you can concern troll me into stopping, I will not be doing that.

Now you've gone over into not making sense. I was an NP, had not responded to you before. What "sides"? Only talking to you and your overdramatic, nasty posts. You aren't educating anyone, you are just vomiting up your bile. Do it with a therapist and go away.

But you, you are so kind and not at all nasty

Stating facts. Not nasty. Accurate. She needs to step away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you call virtue signalling having to see people literally die and/or have a stroke in their 50s w/o any other underlying conditions other than a recent COVID infection, by all means, I'll own the virtue signalling.

The question is, why does it offend you?

I am about to be slammed in the hospital yet again because people like you get so offended by COVID.

Here is what I recommend:

1. Wear a well-fitting, high quality mask (KN95 or N95) during surges in all indoor settings when mixing with non household members.

2. Test before gathering with non-household members

3. Do 1 and 2 to keep schools and daycares open

4. Do 1 and 2 so I can do my job in hospitals.

Again, sorry if this offends you

OP here. Thank you for sharing. Speaking specially to your post, I appreciate you being specific about what you want. I'm sorry that things in healthcare settings are difficult right now. What "offends" me about your specific post is basically the implication that COVID (and the flu, and RSV) is the fault of anyone who is engaging in indoor dining in restaurants/indoor activities with people they don't know and can't be sure are testing. And I'm curious - aside from the fact that we're going on three years, which is a long time for people to avoid these types of activities (my child was 12 months old when the pandemic hit, which means these have been three very key years in her social development and yes it has impacted her very much), it also means that many businesses and their employees lose their livelihoods. I know I know, how can I possibly put MONEY above PEOPLE'S LIVES. I think that's a pretty dumb and selfish argument because you're not the one who can't put food on the table.

So I think we can agree that you think I am a terrible person, and I think that's quite unfair at this point.

NP. Pandemics, by their nature, are not "fair". They suck and they are tough to live through. There is a lot of collateral damage going on right now between sicker than normal school children, people in their 20s-40s having higher rates of cardiac arrest, and a high mortality rate for seniors. As someone who doesn't post about it but does still think it's a threat to the general population, it appears that you are annoyed by being reminded of that. I haven't eaten inside in three years, nor have my kids, but I'm not pointing fingers at my friends who have. But I do think that now during this triple-demic winter is a good time for many people to take measures to decrease viral spread - RSV, flu, and Covid are all surging. There is a lot of suffering going on, and it's obvious from just reading this topic daily. We all live in a society. I'm not here to demonize anyone, but at the same time you have to appreciate the burden on healthcare workers and do what you can from time to time to help them out. As viruses ebb and flow, we have to pivot. There is no steady state that "covid is over".

Of course pandemics are not "fair", nobody said they were. PEOPLE can be fair in how they judge people and what they put out into the world. You say you don't post about this, but you just did. You say you're not here to demonize anyone, but clearly you feel people shouldn't be going to any indoor public places unmasked right now, even if they are feeling well.

Sorry, but I have good reasons not to keep my child socially isolated on the weekends (she cannot wear a mask effectively and hates the cold). She has already paid a high enough price (a price which people like you NEVER acknowledge). That is not going to change. What I do think is reasonable is for people to stay home if they are sick and to be conservative about that. But when I see posts like yours, a part of me is like, f*ck it, clearly that's not enough so why try anyway?

Don't need an imagination to get there from here.

Oh. You're one of those people that thinks the impacts of social isolation are not real.

Actually I think your daughter has probably had quite a hard time. But you are also behaving like a martyr in this thread. They're not mutually exclusive.

I also think long covid is real though and not a made up disease, so *shrug*

I also think long COVID is real. Sorry you think I'm a martyr. You yourself don't sound very compassionate. My daughter's issues are very real and extremely painful. I would not wish them on any child.

You've judged and namecalled my side throughout this thread without justification (P.O.S. psychopath etc etc) so while I'm sure you are having a hard time, and while I'm sorry for the stuff your daughter is experiencing, I don't think you're justified in taking it out on random people on DCUM, or in blaming other people for your own actions. But go off.

This. I feel bad for her kid, but her posts are nasty and overwrought.

People say this on here all the time flippantly, but I mean it sincerely. Talk to a therapist PP with kid with issues. You sound like you are taking out your poop on random internet strangers. Not healthy.

And BTW, everyone's kids suffered during the pandemic. If you think we were getting through a worldwide pandemic unscathed, I don't know what to tell you.

+2

This person really has some serious issues that need help to resolve. Their participation in this forum appears to be exacerbating their rage.

Anonymous wrote:*create strawman by accusing others of engaging in behavior that no one is engaging in*
*Call those people horrible names*
*Get mad when someone calls you out on namecalling behavior and recreate strawman by saying they must have engaged in that mythical behavior*
4. Profit!

Nailed it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe we’re nearly three years into this mess and people like OP still refer to taking precautions as “virtue signaling.”

We past virtue signaling more than a year ago. Things like indefinite masking, social isolation, and pulling people out of school or work for mild cold symptoms are just examples of health anxiety.

Do you not understand that some of us have long term health issues regardless of covid but getting an illness like covid is a huge issue for us. It's not health anxiety. Why on earth would you be ok with getting sick or making someone else sick when some of it is preventable.

I’ve got about a million dollars worth of medical charges that says ortherwise, including a 5-day hospital stay not long before the pandemic for what was essentially a cold. So yes, I do understand what it is like to live with serious, chronic health conditions. I'm sure my life would be a lot easier if it wasn't for the autoimmune disease I have. But I knew long before covid that I was responsible for my own health. And I learned at a young age that life isn't without risks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder whether people who don't mask in crowded indoor areas expect is going to happen to them, exactly?

If you catch covid 1-2x per year from this, and your chance of getting long covid is 15% each time, you're rolling the dice each time and you've got less than 7 years before the jig is up and you get long covid. Less time if you're including others in your family. Barring some major scientific development.

- Do you not believe in long covid and think it is a magical white lady disease? (I saw that earlier in this thread. Good luck with that.)
-- Is it just about hating masks no matter what the cost to your personal health?
- will you not take precautions like masking and not eating indoors again EVER or will you start again if more people around you are being careful again
- avoid any "optional" indoor social activities?
- if someone in your family gets long covid and suffers from constant fatigue and brain fog that doesn't resolve, will you change your mind about what precautions your family might have taken to prevent the exposure or at least reduce the dosage inhaled? Or will you still be happy with the choices you made now?

I'm pretty sure you will say you are happy with your choices because no one can plan for the unexpected. (It's not that unexpected! but whatever you do you)

What? Where on earth are you getting that you have a 15% chance of getting “Long Covid?” That’s crazy. I’ve never heard the estimate to be that high, even 5% seems high with the current strains, never mind 15%. Keep in mind we have lots of “Coronaviruses” circulating, of which Covid-19 is the “novel” Coronavirus, but it’s still just a Coronavirus which causes cold and flu like symptoms. Even if one does have post-viral complications/symptoms, in the majority of people these are resolved within 6 months.

So you’re giving up precious years of your life for something that has a 5% or less chance of happening and if it does, is resolved within 6 months at most. That doesn’t seem like a way to live, to me. Studies have shown that more liberal Democrats tend to OVERstate the risks of Covid to them and the risks of dying or becoming permanently disabled by Covid. Maybe that happened to you?

It’s the CDC’s number. Dispute it or whatever, but it’s not some mystery number. It was widely reported.

And it includes the type of long COVID that many people are ok to risk getting. If I can't run a 5k for 6 months I'll survive. I'm not going to cancel Christmas to avoid that.

I honestly think that some people have never been or have completely forgotten what it was like to be truly sick. I’ve had various illnesses that lingered, I mean REALLY lingered, long before Covid. I caught a bad case of bronchitis on a cruise, or possibly from plane travel to get to the cruise, 10 years ago, and I coughed for probably 3 months after. I remember because it was fall and I was still coughing at night even at Christmas. It sucked but it was only temporary! Was my experience really that rare? I expect to have a lingering cough and some congestion for awhile after a bad bout of whatever respiratory illness. But maybe that’s not been other people’s experiences so they way overreact to lingering symptoms.

You folks have no idea what you are talking about. I had to take 14 months of medical leave from a high-status, professional job because of long Covid. I had frightening cognitive deficients. I couldn’t recall words or remember something I was told minutes earlier. I lost the ability to raise my left arm. I lost 20 (starting with a normal BMI— friends and colleagues described me as emaciated. I had crushing, crushing fatigue. Believe me, you don’t understand what the word “fatigue” means until you’ve experienced this. Like it would be an all afternoon project to walk across a room. I’d be thirsty with a glass of water right next to me, but lifting it required too much effort. Prior to long Covid, I never had any serious medical issues, never missed work for illness, never even caught the flu. I took no medications, no chronic or underlying conditions. I was fit and active and healthy by every objective measure. You do not have any idea what you are talking about. Your views on Long Covid are ignorant nonsense. I hope you never have to learn about it the hard way.

This was an amazing comment. Thank you for posting. I hope you have recovered though it sounds like it was an incredibly long road.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe we’re nearly three years into this mess and people like OP still refer to taking precautions as “virtue signaling.”

We past virtue signaling more than a year ago. Things like indefinite masking, social isolation, and pulling people out of school or work for mild cold symptoms are just examples of health anxiety.

Do you not understand that some of us have long term health issues regardless of covid but getting an illness like covid is a huge issue for us. It's not health anxiety. Why on earth would you be ok with getting sick or making someone else sick when some of it is preventable.

All prevention measures have costs. You need to decide whether the costs are worth the benefits. Personally I don’t feel comfortable imposing my cost-benefit analysis in others. YMMV.

I know many high risk people including one extremely high risk person and they do not think it is reasonable to expect children to miss significant amounts of school every semester or the general public avoid all unmasked indoor activities to protect them. I don't think the PP's perspective is the norm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder whether people who don't mask in crowded indoor areas expect is going to happen to them, exactly?

If you catch covid 1-2x per year from this, and your chance of getting long covid is 15% each time, you're rolling the dice each time and you've got less than 7 years before the jig is up and you get long covid. Less time if you're including others in your family. Barring some major scientific development.

- Do you not believe in long covid and think it is a magical white lady disease? (I saw that earlier in this thread. Good luck with that.)
-- Is it just about hating masks no matter what the cost to your personal health?
- will you not take precautions like masking and not eating indoors again EVER or will you start again if more people around you are being careful again
- avoid any "optional" indoor social activities?
- if someone in your family gets long covid and suffers from constant fatigue and brain fog that doesn't resolve, will you change your mind about what precautions your family might have taken to prevent the exposure or at least reduce the dosage inhaled? Or will you still be happy with the choices you made now?

I'm pretty sure you will say you are happy with your choices because no one can plan for the unexpected. (It's not that unexpected! but whatever you do you)

What? Where on earth are you getting that you have a 15% chance of getting “Long Covid?” That’s crazy. I’ve never heard the estimate to be that high, even 5% seems high with the current strains, never mind 15%. Keep in mind we have lots of “Coronaviruses” circulating, of which Covid-19 is the “novel” Coronavirus, but it’s still just a Coronavirus which causes cold and flu like symptoms. Even if one does have post-viral complications/symptoms, in the majority of people these are resolved within 6 months.

So you’re giving up precious years of your life for something that has a 5% or less chance of happening and if it does, is resolved within 6 months at most. That doesn’t seem like a way to live, to me. Studies have shown that more liberal Democrats tend to OVERstate the risks of Covid to them and the risks of dying or becoming permanently disabled by Covid. Maybe that happened to you?

It’s the CDC’s number. Dispute it or whatever, but it’s not some mystery number. It was widely reported.

And it includes the type of long COVID that many people are ok to risk getting. If I can't run a 5k for 6 months I'll survive. I'm not going to cancel Christmas to avoid that.

I honestly think that some people have never been or have completely forgotten what it was like to be truly sick. I’ve had various illnesses that lingered, I mean REALLY lingered, long before Covid. I caught a bad case of bronchitis on a cruise, or possibly from plane travel to get to the cruise, 10 years ago, and I coughed for probably 3 months after. I remember because it was fall and I was still coughing at night even at Christmas. It sucked but it was only temporary! Was my experience really that rare? I expect to have a lingering cough and some congestion for awhile after a bad bout of whatever respiratory illness. But maybe that’s not been other people’s experiences so they way overreact to lingering symptoms.

You folks have no idea what you are talking about. I had to take 14 months of medical leave from a high-status, professional job because of long Covid. I had frightening cognitive deficients. I couldn’t recall words or remember something I was told minutes earlier. I lost the ability to raise my left arm. I lost 20 (starting with a normal BMI— friends and colleagues described me as emaciated. I had crushing, crushing fatigue. Believe me, you don’t understand what the word “fatigue” means until you’ve experienced this. Like it would be an all afternoon project to walk across a room. I’d be thirsty with a glass of water right next to me, but lifting it required too much effort. Prior to long Covid, I never had any serious medical issues, never missed work for illness, never even caught the flu. I took no medications, no chronic or underlying conditions. I was fit and active and healthy by every objective measure. You do not have any idea what you are talking about. Your views on Long Covid are ignorant nonsense. I hope you never have to learn about it the hard way.

I’m so sorry PP. and that you will now have to live your life in fear of getting Covid again. No wonder you take lots of precautions. The other posters should do the same and help protect others.

I don't see where the PP said they take "precautions". They are describing their experience with long COVID.

Disabling long COVID doesn't have to affect 15% of people to be a serious issue. It is a very serious issue and I hope there is significant investment made to find effective therapies, for both long COVID and other similar post viral conditions.

*on others.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe we’re nearly three years into this mess and people like OP still refer to taking precautions as “virtue signaling.”

We past virtue signaling more than a year ago. Things like indefinite masking, social isolation, and pulling people out of school or work for mild cold symptoms are just examples of health anxiety.

Do you not understand that some of us have long term health issues regardless of covid but getting an illness like covid is a huge issue for us. It's not health anxiety. Why on earth would you be ok with getting sick or making someone else sick when some of it is preventable.

All prevention measures have costs. You need to decide whether the costs are worth the benefits. Personally I don’t feel comfortable imposing my cost-benefit analysis in others. YMMV.