Not to pile on, really! I listened to a report about Long-Haulers on NPR today. This isn’t anything like the flu; these poor souls.
I mean flu-like in numbers. The vaccination strategy is working. COVID is spreading rapidly again. But we’re not seeing a surge in deaths. And a much smaller “surge” in hospital admissions.
There are nastier diseases than COVID and we don’t shut down entire countries for months on end because of them.
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oh yes, I see what you mean here!
Interesting development for my cruise.
Unlike DCL, MSC were not requiring (adult) passengers to be vaccinated. The English government has now said cruise lines may increase passenger numbers to 50% but only if they are fully vaccinated (both shots plus 14 days).
MSC has ditched its policy and is now requiring full vaccination. If you don’t like the change they are offering a free date change or a full refund.
I’m delighted.
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I was really happy about it for mine as well. Only because we’re both fully vaccinated of course. I’d have been annoyed if we weren’t going to be in time.
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What do you think of the latest WHO recommendation (for all) to pick up masks again due to the Delta variant?
edited to add: I’m just curious b/c well… there were hardly any masks at HS today, to include children. I saw 3-4 families w/ masks. I know I could catch and carry the Delta V. and wouldn’t want to. I’m not sure how careful I need to be (as a fully vaxed person)?
I have a friend that is a long-hauler. It really hasn’t been a good year for her (she was originally sick in spring of 2020). She posted last week w/ an update sharing that she still has ongoing lung issues as well a joint & muscle pain. 
Long COVID scares the crap out of me. It isn’t just about who survives this virus, but also what the virus does to many that don’t die.
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Most countries haven’t had the opportunity to vaccinate that the US has. So, globally they have many people unvaccinated not-by-choice they are trying to protect.
If you are not in close interaction with anyone unvaccinated, the risk continues to be fairly low. (I’m continuing to mask because of the twins being unvaccinated.)
Disney’s policy is the unvaccinated are still supposed to be masking inside and on attractions, so if they are unmasked and unvaccinated, I’m thinking they are pretty clearly signaling they don’t expect you to do anything to protect them.
I’m sure anyone wearing a mask would appreciate it if you kept physical distance between yourself and them and/or wore a mask.
YLE put together this graphic to help understand that the vaccines are still very effective against Delta, even with half the new adult cases in Israel being among the vaccinated.
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There have been remarkably few occasions where I have had to wear a mask. Mostly because I’ve avoided places where I would have had to have worn a mask.
And the mask rules at theme parks here were much more lenient than those at DLP, or WDW.
I will see how I feel. I am still doing 100% of my teaching online and I don’t know when that will change or by how much. The decision is mine to make.
I will continue to avoid crowds. As things stand, mask-wearing is required on my cruise. Should it become optional I will take some masks anyway and put one on if I feel like I want to. And I will avoid (more) crowded areas where I can.
Indeed, those changes may be permanent. (Which brings me to handshaking. I hope never to do that again. But I’m not sure how well I’ll deal with the awkwardness of declining someone’s outstretched hand.)
I’ll also get a flu shot every year from now on. And a COVID shot if that’s a thing.
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Look up car accidents — injuries and fatalities. What is your general comfort level with driving / being driven. How great are the risks and threats compared with COVID?
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I cancelled this year’s WDW trip primarily because I thought it unlikely it would happen anyway and I wanted to make other plans.
Since then there have been times when it looked like a trip would be possible. But I’ve not been rushing to change my plans back.
Honestly? WDW isn’t a place I particularly want to go to right now. Next summer? Sure. Excited about it. But now? Nah.
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nope… not today… anywhere. And only fully vaxed CMs are allowed to be maskless and I saw a mixed bag of un/masked CMs; makes me wondering how they are verifying who is/isn’t vaxed.?
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I’ve got a mtg coming up and I’m already rehearsing my “no thanks” stance.
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Except we really don’t have good numbers on the risk of long Covid yet, I think? Even for those infected pre vaccinations being available, let alone those vaccinated? I’m hoping it follows the same trend as hospitalizations for the vaccinated, but since long covid here has popped up even in those that had mild symptoms, I don’t know if that is a safe assumption?
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What about long-depression. And long-poverty.
It’s not all about COVID as a disease. It has had myriad other effects and we have to think about those, too.
We can’t lock ourselves up forever. We just can’t.
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oh that piece on NPR talked about all the negative impacts on the mind and body of Long Haul covid. They have a high suicide rate.
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Oh, I don’t doubt it. But if they aren’t following a policy largely meant to protect them, I don’t see any impetus for you to go above-and-beyond to protect them. You should be largely protected.
Now, if you really, really don’t want to get Covid, even a mild case, a full capacity mostly unmasked WDW is probably not the place to be, even with a mask.
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Thank you for your honesty. I don’t like the sounds of it, but in my heart of hearts I agree.
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This is my thinking too. My issue is that I have two under 12 who cannot get vaccinated yet. I worry about them, especially the potential of long term effects from a Covid infection.
One thing that I haven’t been able to find much on is whether the vaccinated people who test positive are spreading the virus to unvaccinated family members. The missing piece of information is important for those of us with young kids. The CDC seems to treat this risk as very low, but it seems this advice is based on theory (the vaccine significantly reducing the viral load in the upper respiratory area) rather than actually data. Also, Does Delta change this???
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Well, the immediate topic at hand was the WHO recommendation on masking. Not lockdowns.
There are A LOT of options between “lockdown” and “completely normal”, not permanently, but for the time being. But a large portion of the US is pushing for “completely normal” immediately so we’re going to need to deal with whatever those consequences are.
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