How do you know if it’s omicron? Here we know it’s in the city because they test the sewage but I don’t think people know if they themselves have omicron.
DD 14 didn’t catch covid when it went through our house. So it’s definitely tempting to just go get her the third shot as she hits 6 months out this week.
My personal hesitation is to simply take the largest advantage of my personal immunity. Have not decided yet how omicron changes that. DH had a terrible time recovering from the 2nd vaccine (two weeks) and said actual covid wasn’t as bad. He’s hesitant to get a booster.
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Also. Was pleasantly surprised by the latest hospital covid data released Monday for our area. Numbers slid down a bit which I wasn’t expecting for the week after Thanksgiving.
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I wondered the same thing. I assume they’re planning to let people know but they haven’t in the past as far as I know.
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Sitting (unmasked) in dentist waiting room as DD15 gets a cavity filled and reading to keep my mind off dying cat… 
THIS is why people don’t get tested. If an entire family is brought to a halt, yet maybe dad didn’t contract, but then he does a month later… then they are halted again?
My friend went to primary care in eastern TN mid-October with upper respiratory symptoms and a headache and lost smell. The MD told her how he planned to treat it. Then he asked if she wanted a Covid test. He said it wouldn’t change his treatment on way or the other, so it was up to her. She opted not to test. Her DH had already had Covid back in NY and she didn’t want him locked down from going to the store, etc. He works from home and they homeschool. When they’d lived in NY and he had it, the health dept checked on him everyday by stopping by the house. She had layers of reasons to not bother knowing. She’s planning to give blood soon and see if she has antibodies.
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I found out yesterday that a high school friend (we were seat mates on a 20 hr bus ride to Canada for our French class trip to Quebec) passed away on Tuesday from Covid. Age 49, healthy. I do not know her vaccination status although some of her extended family members were vocally against the vaccine. She was married and had 2 kids, ages 22 and 20. So many have died in my small, rural area in the last 2 weeks (Covid plus cancer and a few other health concerns) and this one hit me particularly hard. Her daughter wrote a letter to her on FB, listing all of the things that she’d miss about and doing with her mom. I was really shook.
My DD24 and I have a 4 day trip planned to WDW next weekend that we’ve been planning and looking forward to for a long time. Already postponed once. We are both vaccinated and boostered and our family has been very very careful this whole time. We have KN95s. For me, I worry about omicron AND exposing other family members at our house on Christmas. We will all be testing before gathering. But also, after my friend’s death, I feel like DD and I won’t get this time back. She will be doing year round clinical rotations for vet school and then on to a residency. So no time off. I’ve really been torn about the trip. Our exposure vs. YOLO.
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Sorry about your kitty. I know how hard that can be. Our 18 yr old girl passed away earlier this year from kidney disease.
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I’m sorry about your cat. That’s really hard.
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I’m sorry, that’s very sad. It is hard to know how to get the balance right.
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Thank you. And @magical_jo
I’m more sad for my kids.
I have been pretty unattached. They were not my babies at all. But my kids are taking it hard. It’s another loss after a giant move. Lots of losses etc. over the past two years (certainly NOT like losing a classmate!). I think this is their permission to open the grief floodgates.
I have six kids. I don’t know if I have enough Kleenex or energy for this. Even my 21DS was crying before he left for work.
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I am probably the least concerned person still posting on TP re: Covid, so keep that in mind. But- I would take the trip. If you have a window that you can both go and enjoy it, and you have all those safety things in place, the odds of you dying from Covid bc of going to WDW are slim.
Life is just constantly changing. You may not get this window again. I churned cards and pinched Pennies and knocked myself out to get us to MVMCP in 11/19 before DD started college work and we wouldn’t be able to go. We have said hundreds of times how glad we were we made it happen. Because that window wouldn’t have been there in 2020 or 2021 bc of Covid even if she weren’t in college.
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FDA just authorized boosters for ages 16-17. Still needs CDC authorization.
I think FDA skipped their advisory committee so expect CDC will too?
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I’m sorry for your loss. May their memory be a blessing.
It very much puts things in perspective to lose someone unexpectedly. That time with loved ones is so important.
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I’m so sorry about your kitty. As a parent, the kids’ grief over lost pets is so compounding.
@magical_jo I’m really sorry about your classmate. That’s very sobering.
I’m probably at the other end of the spectrum and I wouldn’t rule out going either. Omicron isn’t that common here yet. With you both fully vaxxed/boosted and wearing KN95s diligently, you are extraordinarily unlikely to have any long term health consequences, even if you do catch it. But…
That would probably be my bigger concern. (Not the exposure so much if you’re testing*, but what happens if you come up positive?). If one of you catches Covid and you have to scrap the Christmas gathering (or pivot it), will you have big regrets or just mild disappointment? Are people’s schedules flexible enough you could move it back a bit if needed? (And really, that could happen even if you don’t go to Disney…always have a Plan B!)
*In this situation, I’d be sure to test at least twice after you get back, including once the day of the gathering before anyone arrives.
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Thanks for your thoguhts! We’ve thought about how it (us being positive) might affect our gathering and that is definitely a concern! My oldest and her partner are coming to our house plus my DH will be there. so it could be a problem at home as well. Our larger family gathering will be 10 people, all vaccinated and boostered (one child is 6 and will be double vaxxed.) We plan to test when we get home, plus after 3 days and on Christmas morning before we see the rest of the family. I agree that Covid could happen whether we go to WDW or not. A few folks are coming from NY and my parents are not always as careful as I think they should be.
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Thanks for your response! So much to think about and consider!!
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When I read about the cat, I thought the kids might be taking it hard. So sorry for them and you.
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This variant is different enough that it shows up differently on some PCR tests so they have a pretty strong indicator whether it’s Omicron without needing to sequence it. So I guess they’re planning to feed that info back along with the positive test results.
Oh, also a good time to mention (because #headlinessuck) that there is apparently a variant of Omicron that does NOT flag on PCRs this way. The tests DO still flag that you are positive for Covid, they just don’t have the handy “and it’s probably Omicron” flag.
Also, any variant prevalence data we’re seeing may be skewed towards an artificially high prevalence of Omicron since many places are giving sequencing preference to those PCRs that have the “probably Omicron” indicator.
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Thank you.
I wish I could count on the buckets of anticipatory tears helping to diminish the final tears, but it’s not at all a guarantee.
My kids have had no experience with death. Life experience… 
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Yep, CDC just authorized. Same article updated. I think DS17 wanted to cut school one day next week anyway (exams he’s exempted from), so…
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