The latest coronavirus uptick has me ready to go stand in the backyard and scream. It won't help much but it can't hurt.
Affecting the unvaccinated far worse and in far greater numbers than the vaccinated, the Delta variant is pretty good test of how well the coronavirus vaccines work. They work well; if you've had the shot, you're less likely to fall ill from the virus and far less likely to be very sick if you do. But that's the only good news, since even if you're only a little sick, you can spread the Delta variant far more readily than any of the others, even if you've had the vaccine.
It sucks. It makes sense; we already knew that a fraction of vaccinated people might still fall ill, and from early on it was obvious that the vaccine greatly reduced the bad effects of the virus for most of them. But nobody counted on a variant that left you with a nose full of the bug even while you felt good enough to be up walking around, sneezing.
I had been hopeful that things might get back to normal by this Fall. I'm not as optimistic now, and some changes may be lasting. I won't be surprised if outdoor dining and masked retail workers are an ongoing trend for the next few years, no matter what happens.
As for what will happen over the next few months, I don't know. The UK saw a rapid rise in infections followed by a rapid drop in them and that's the best-case scenario. But there are plenty of other variants chasing Delta and the U.S. still has a large unvaccinated population where the worst bugs can fester and spread. I hope things don't get worse. I am pleased to see that there hasn't been a spike in deaths corresponding to the increase in infections; medical science knows a lot more about treating cases now and the most vulnerable are also the most likely to be vaccinated -- but that's small comfort to families who have lost loved ones.
Take whatever precautions you are comfortable with; I'm not the boss of you. Just understand this thing isn't done yet. Dammit.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
5 comments:
I am one of the unvaccinated people, who have been reluctant to get the shot, due to several issues. Some of them are related to the vaccine itself, but to be honest, one is related to my dislike of being told by the government what I must do.
I hope that I have learned over my life to change my mind when shown that I am wrong. In this instance, I have been wrong. And tomorrow, my 25 year old daughter who lives with us, and has health issues that require she stay as healthy as possible, will get her second shot, while my wife and I get our first one.
Looking at the side effects, one only has to look as far as daytime television and the drug ads, and the lists of possible side effects, to realize that all drugs come with possible side effects, and this vaccine is no different. The people saying that this is not a real vaccine, because it works differently, on the RNA, should look at the anti CGRP that I am taking in an attempt to get migraine headaches under control. The newest in a long line of attempts to treat chronic migraines, it works differently than the past drugs, and is just as different as this Covid treatment.
Unlike the mask wearing, which I did not for myself, but rather for others, as I did not think it was helpful, but it was a rule, and I didn't want to force a worker to be put in a bad position of having to argue with a non-compliant customer, I am getting this vaccine for myself, not for others. It might be that it helps prevent pass the virus to others, which I certainly would not want to do. But the main thing is, if I can avoid getting either sick, or as sick, by getting the vaccination, then I need to do so. That I have waited so long, I cannot help, and I am not looking back.
I can't tell others what to do, but I will tell them why I have made my decision. At this point, I don't think that there should be a mandate by the government forcing the vaccination. The actual death rate of Covid 19 is much less than 1%. Treatment should be an important area of study now. Because I don't think that we will ever totally get rid of every variant of Covid. It is normal for all Covid viruses to mutate, as we have seen both in the past, and also now with Covid 19, with especially Delta, which seems to be more easily spread than the original virus, something expected with a virus, one would think.
The worst thing that Covid 19 seems to have brought with it, aside from of course the death and suffering, is the division that came with it. In a country already divided, to expect any other outcome probably would have been just wishful thinking.
Thank you for that comment. It is unflinchingly honest and I think you speak for a lot of people.
I always figured that everyone, vaccinated or not, would be able to carry COVID. The vaccine is internal - COVID is outside the body until introduced inside body. Vaccine does not kill COVID on contact so everyone is a player.
What is surprising is how quickly the vaccine seems to wear off. So booster shot will likely be needed very soon for the people who took it when it first became available (elderly and front line who took it).
I agree with Pigpen51 above - I think COVID will be here for the long haul, just another flu with stronger effects. Plenty of 'eradicated' diseases have come back from the dead and COVID will be no different.
I hear you on the wanting-to-scream. When I wrote my (college course) syllabi in June, before Delta hit big, I thought, "I can teach unmasked, I won't have to ask my students to mask, we can go out and do field trips using the crowded field vehicles, everything will be cool, I won't have to keep seating charts and report every time there's an unexplained absence of a student!"
NNNNNOOOOPPPPPEEE.
I admit I am kind of angry: I held up my "end" of the "bargain" - stayed home strictly for over a year, masked when I did go out (mostly just for groceries), got vaccinated when I could, continued to work through what felt on some days like a slow motion trainwreck.
I know no one is really truly to blame - it's the virus' fault if it's anything's, and viruses gonna virus. But my inner seven year old is throwing a perpetual tantrum over "But I was supposed to feel safe going back to movie theaters at this point!!!"
(Yes, I probably AM safe, but BEING safe and FEELING safe are two different things.)
I am going to continue to wear a mask because (a) I have friends with unvaccinated kids and (b) I have a friend on chemo. I know breakthrough cases are rare and passing it on to others is rare, but still....I'd rather put up with a little continued discomfort than spin that roulette wheel.
The whole thing puts me in mind of the Stockdale Paradox, regarding who didn't make it out of the North Vietnamese prison camps: "Oh, that's easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart. This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."
We will get out of this virus thing, eventually. Sooner or later enough waves of variants will wash over us that we'll approach something approximating herd immunity. Sooner or later, effective treatments will be developed (or allowed). But in the meantime, I expect we have some rough months – hopefully not years – before us.
OK, can I go out back now and scream too?
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