I mean, yea. Getting sick sucks. But wearing a mask is the worst.
A case of N95s arrived today so I guess that trauma isn’t over yet.
I had a nice two year stretch during the pandemic where I didn’t get sick thanks to everyone wearing masks
Now that it is back to raw dog breathing everyone’s lung gas I’m getting sick more frequently
Friday was the first time I went to a medical appointment without wearing a mask since before COVID. I didn’t wear a mask because it was a wellness visit and I did not feel ill. If I went to the doctor because I was feeling sick, I would of course wear a mask.
So, I’ve begun my daytime camping in the waiting area of a small-medium-sized hospital in a small southern city.
There is at least one COVID case on the floor (overheard a doctor talking to the patient’s family). Professional staff is going about their duties without masks (although I assume they mask up around that patient).
I’d think most ER/urgent care/primary care type staff have been pretty much constantly exposed to COVID for 4 years now so I’d think they would treat it no differently from other respiratory viruses.
And just blindly breathe it into everyone’s face.
But it took ages to convince doctors to wash their hands. I suppose i shouldn’t be surprised.
Hospital acquired infections are a huge killer. That used to mostly mean staph, but hospital acquired covid is pretty common these days.
Mandated procedures exist to protect patients. Hospital staff will otherwise make personal decisions based on their own priorities.
But also, COVID is a much lower risk now than it was a few years ago and the CDC guidance is merging it in with other respiratory viruses.
Yes. And i get that the CDC wants simpler guidance for the public, that doesn’t require lots of testing. But I’m underwhelmed with their new guidelines. My household happened to have a lot of tests, so we tested several times during the course of our infections. The CDC guidelines told us it was okay to go out and about just as our viral load (and probably our infectiousness) peaked. Whereas flu infectiousness peaks at or right before the onset of symptoms. (People who have prior exposure to covid develop symptoms much faster than people with a naive immune system. At the start of the pandemic, it was common to become infectious before feeling sick. That’s much less common now.)
And while covid is no longer overwhelming the morgues, it remains more dangerous (in terms of mortality, hospitalization, and likelihood of residual damage) than current strains of flu and other common respiratory illnesses.
For instance, in 2017, it appeared that the incidence of type 2 diabetes was leveling off
Diabetes 2030: Insights from Yesterday, Today, and Future Trends - PMC(type,than%20%24622%20billion%20by%202030.
But the incidence has jumped in recent years, especially among youth. There are both statistical and theoretical reasons to think this is a side effect of covid.
Considering the average age of people I’ve seen in the waiting room, if I were a cynic, I’d suspect the reduced precautions will help drum up future business for the hospital.
Could the diabetes be related to lockdown inactivity? Instead of going white water rafting with my friends I sat on my ass watching tv.
An indirect (but no less real) impact.
That is probably part of the increase, yes. But the increase, especially among young people, is larger than expected from that, and continues now that lockdowns have been lifted. And covid is known to attack the pancreas.
From my second link:
research has shown that coronavirus-binding via angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors damages islet cells and may cause acute diabetes, and hyperglycemia and insulin resistance have been noted in patients with COVID-19 infection without prior indicators of diabetes risk.11 Additionally, diabetes risk factors may have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic including limited physical activity, increased sedentary behaviors, sleep disturbances, and increased intake of processed foods
thanks GoF!
Or here.
Frequently Asked Questions: COVID-19 and Diabetes | ADA.
No cites for the supporting studies, but it says:
Q: Does COVID-19 cause diabetes?
A: Several studies have suggested that adults face an increased risk of diabetes diagnosis after contracting COVID-19. Youth younger than 18 years old with COVID-19 were shown to be at higher risk of developing diabetes more than 30 days after their COVID-19 infection.
I have heard about a lot of things that COVID might cause. I am sure some of them are true, and also many are probably not. COVID is inflammatory and it should be unsurprising that it could push many at risk conditions into diagnosed conditions. I’d also think there are going to be many things that are diagnosed simply as a result of the extra medical attention that might come with someone having a moderate to severe case of it.
In absolute numbers, yes. The one thing that is lacking in the data is any understanding of individual risk as the only reliable thing to measure is # of vaccines or how long its been since someone had a booster. I think it would be helpful to understand the frequency of severe outcomes in both that context as well as other risk factors.
On masks, the CDC has to weigh both costs and benefits of their guidance. Over-masking guidance leads to more publish pushback and perhaps even fewer people wearing masks than an approach that reduces the importance of COVID as a differentiator as you might get some people at the margins on board with masking for other viruses, which could be a net benefit overall.
I’m dubious. Republicans say that all the time, “i can’t do that because you told me to do it.” They weren’t going to do that anyway.
They could, for instance, have said,
“You often remain infectious with covid for several days after your fever breaks. If you are well enough to return to regular activities, you should wear a mask if possible, especially when ventilation is poor. You should also avoid contact with vulnerable people for about 5 days after your symptoms improve.”
That wouldn’t even be very different from what they actually said, it would just be more strongly worded.
That wouldn’t even be very different from what they actually said, which is:
When you go back to your normal activities, take added precaution over the next 5 days, such as taking additional steps for cleaner air, hygiene, masks, physical distancing, and/or testing when you will be around other people indoors.
- Keep in mind that you may still be able to spread the virus that made you sick, even if you are feeling better. You are likely to be less contagious at this time, depending on factors like how long you were sick or how sick you were.
In fact, you are probably contagious with covid, not possibly contagious. And while not everyone knows what virus they have, many do, and they could have given some general guidance for covid, flu, rsv, and colds. The viral dynamics have been studied and are reasonably well understood.
I suppose they can’t give credible guidance on masking, because they’ve given such terrible and varying guidance over the course of the pandemic. But that weakens us as a nation.
not a republican, not wearing a mask. i’ll take the same precautions i did before covid. stay home when i feel really bad. resume mostly normal activities once i start feeling better. avoid all or prolonged contact with infants, elderly, and hospitalized until recovered.
actually, I would be upset if someone doesn’t feel well and they think wearing a mask in public solves the problem.