Some current thoughts on Covid and where we stand right now as a nation.
I recently took a trip to New York and Boston. My daughter and I accompanied my husband on a business conference trip he had to take for work. When we made our reservations Covid was not circulating as strongly as it is currently.
We are a masking family. In spite of that my daughter got Covid in early June and we were happy that it was a mild case and we were able to contain the spread to just her. She was probably the safest person to be around on our journey back east .
Though I did not actually attend the conference, my husband did of course .There were between 800 and 1000 people at the conference and few chose to mask.
Two days after getting to Boston my husband ended up testing positive for Covid. We separated into 2 hotel rooms at that point, canceled his flight with us to Texas where we had left our dog and car with my newly wedded daughter and we hoped for the best. I tested negative the following day. On Tuesday we said goodbye and left him in Boston to fully recover while we continued on to Texas. That was difficult but he felt better by then. He was well enough to fly home today directly to Arizona which is great news. Unfortunately, I tested positive yesterday and am in isolation at my daughter’s home in Texas. I say isolation but that is really a modified isolation because she and her husband returned from their honeymoon with covid 2-3 weeks ago so while I am in the guest bedroom, I have on occasion seen them (with masks on). My daughter who traveled with us is still healthy and I have to believe she and they are likely in that sweet but short window of having some boosted immunity right now having gotten covid only 6 weeks and 2 weeks ago.
So my thought? Well, in 2.5 years, nobody in our immediate family got covid and now everyone has.
I believe we really need to impose masks on all mods of travel. Also, if a city doesn’t have a mask mandate, conference organizers really need to impose one themselves.
But really, the thing I want to say is don’t give up. Wearing your mask might inspire someone else to wear one. Don’t eat indoors. Just don’t. ( I ate indoors when there wasn’t a good option, but only took my mask off to eat, then put it on)
if you are traveling with others, it is really difficult to isolate. Impossible really. Make sure you are prepared. Buy tickets and hotel reservations which are refundable. Always!!!
I packed 3 covid tests and we used all three. Make sure you travel with some.
if you are traveling, consider going somewhere you can easily drive. It is safer and you have more escape options.
Don’t get lax right now. There are some pretty serious strains which are out there and growing. Be mindful of you actions. Check how you are feeling through out the day. Delay getting together with others or make it an outside and small event.
If you have read this entire post so far and gotten down to the end here, know that I am feeling OK. Mostly cold symptoms and for that I am grateful. But I am aware that is not the case for everybody and might not be the case with these new variant infections.
Now is not the time to give up!!!
( but dang 2.5 years without covid, daughters boosted, my husband and I double boosted and in 6 weeks… boom!)
@lovendures Glad everyone in your family is recovering well.
I make sure I'm masked before I get out of car to go into places and I don't take mask off until I get into car to leave. I'm really surprised almost all store employees I see still wear masks. They never stopped wearing them.
My family got covid March 2020 before many people were able to get tested. It was only time in 5 years that I had to use inhaler. It was horrible. My daughter got covid. She will never be the same. Within a couple of months she had to use inhaler. Drs thought it was allergies, it wasn't. Covid19 triggered hyperthyroidism (Graves Disease). After a few drs who almost killed her and/or made her condition worse, I woke up being told to go to this certain hospital. I found her a dr there who saved her life. This Dr said she has seen a big increase of patients who had covid that triggered thyroid problem.
@lovendures sorry about your trip and illness… I live in the “NYC Tristate area”… we were hit hard in 2020… and now our infection rate is way up again. Vaxed/boosted/recovered… it doesn’t matter. B5 is everywhere. Friends, relatives who were sick in 2020 then vaxed/boosted are getting Covid for the 2nd time. I’m getting cabin fever again. Sigh. With all the headlines in the news these days… People don’t seem to realize Covid Is literally ever present. Be well.
@lovendures Ugh—so sorry to hear you all caught COVID (except your daughter who just had it.) I am glad you all seem to be recovering well and hope that continues to be the case.
We are traveling (by car) right now and your post is a timely reminder to keep masking (as we have been) and eat outside or separately in our hotel room with takeout.
Be well!
Thanks everyone!
Yes, eat in your room if need be. We did that in Boston for breakfast and where careful. But there were 2 dinners and a lunch my husband was at so …
The natural history museum required masks and was great. Not sure if they still do but it felt safer than many places. The other museums were 50 -50 masked people.
i am so glad you followed the message you were given and found the right doctor!
May the long covid symptoms dissipate and may you lead a healthier life.
there wasn’t much you could have done that early. Keep listening to spirit and your intuition!!
I felt like the only sane person around sometimes. Once when nobody else had a mask on in a room I was in, I even “checked” myself one evening and asked is it just a me thing? Am I over reacting? I got that I was the one dealing with reality and the 400 other people in the room, yes 400 , were not dealing with reality.
In the end it didn’t matter what I did, but I was clearly told and shown that people will create and believe their own reality, and the more people follow that path, the harder it is for others to resist.
I prefer science during a pandemic.
I am currently away from home on a work-related trip. I was one of just a few people on the plane wearing a mask. Crazy.
Glad you are all feeling better. Sorry this happened to you, thank goodness it was a milder variant.
I agree entirely with your post. I have eaten indoors though, but I always go really early - if the restaurant opens at 4:30pm or 5pm that's when we go. We always ask for a booth that is away from the fray, and only go with another couple who we know doesn't have covid. We wear our masks in all the stores etc. and I won't stop just because people want to pretend it's gone. I'm completely boosted, as is my husband.
We've been lucky, we're the only people we know besides another older couple who have not had covid. Every one of our friends and family has had it at one time or another. Even folks who are somewhat careful and all have been vaccinated seem to have had a mild version.
My family in Germany all got it, even though they were twice boosted. My cousin and her husband who live in Bamberg, and work in a hospital, got it in May, and it they ended up in the hospital for 3 days. So what they had was not the milder omicron version it seems. They still have lung issues. At the same time, my other cousin who lives 4 hrs south of them, got it too, but very mild. We were supposed to visit them all in May, and we were grateful we cancelled the trip at the end of April because of the war and covid.
I am praying I can see them next year since it's been since 2017 and we're all in our 60s or older.
Stay well! ❤️ 😷
I can't help but wonder if the rapid spread of BA.5 results not only from the inherent makeup of the virus, but is exacerbated by the failure of most people to wear masks.
I was on two plane flights last week. Maybe 20% of people in the plane and the airport were wearing masks and hardly anyone seemed to bother with social distancing. I figure the chances of getting COVID while wearing a mask are doubled if no one else is wearing one. Kind of pisses me off. (So far I'm OK.)
Really glad to hear you are ok so far.
We have the most contagious variant so far of the pandemic, while also dealing with the least amount of masking. Conventions and conferences are taking place with no precautions and it is summer so the whole world wishes to travel, thus planes are crowded.
I guarantee you there are people on those planes who know or think they know they have covid and some of those maskless. There were repeated individuals hacking away without a mask at the airport.
My suggestion? If you Wish to vacation with family right now, use whatever means possible to travel by car. A car will allow you an option to leave if you need too. You have control if things go south with a car. You don’t want to be stuck somewhere far away without a way home.
Also make sure your travel reservations for hotels and transportation are refundable or will give you credit for future use. It will give you options and peace of mind.
If possible, travel somewhere that has a mini kitchen so you can have meal options.
Eat hotel provided breakfasts in your room or outside. Always.
Museums might be ok if you go early, keep distance from others , keep a mask on and hopefully the buildings are large.
Should you mask outside? Depends. Are you right on top of people in a crowded area?
Just thoughts to consider.
If you must travel for work, what is their action plan if you get covid? If they are hosting the conference, what are their safety protocols?
Is telemedicine an option?
My dad who just came back from the UK and my brother in law who wears a mask everywhere, both have tested positive for covid today.
I am telling you, if you are not extra vigilant, you will get it! It is wildfire.
Yikes. So, if I put on a great tight N-99 mask when I go on a plane trip in a few weeks, do not remove it for any reason. Not for a drink, or a bite. I think I can do that for the four to five hours it will take from the moment I enter the airport to emerge into the open air. I will take a taxi once I get there but I will keep the mask on and open the car windows. So can this virus penetrate that mask? It is very tight-fitting, molds to my face.
I confess that I believe people who get it have let down their guard in various situations. On a transatlantic flight, did your parents keep their masks on the entire time? Did they eat anything? You can't keep your mask on if you eat. What are their masks like?
So sorry you got Covid! I, too, have been extremely careful and have not been infected in over 2.5 years. Family emergency required a trip down to Florida for a month in June where virtually NO one wears a mask! I am from NYC and the majority DO mask here. Bottom line: After having 2 vaccines and 2 boosters, I took off my mask for about one hour in the Florida airport to eat lunch, masked up again in the airline and 2 days later became sick as a dog with what I assume is Variant B.5 and I tested positive for Covid via an at home test First 5 days were like a bad flu. Chest filled up terribly. Coughing and fatigue was relentless. I can understand now how the early Covid patients (prior to vaccines) "drowned" in their own chest liquids. It's been 21 days now since initial infection and, thankfully, am much improved - although still fatigued. While Variant B.5 evades prior vaccine protection, I assume all my prior vaccines helped me to survive somewhat. My point to everyone on this site is: BE SURE TO WEAR YOUR MASKS!! This is a very infectious and unpleasant Variant! I plan to avoid any social gatherings until mid-Fall when the new vaccine (which will target Variants 4. and 5) is supposed to arrive. I blame my uncharacteristic "laxness" (in terms of removing my mask that one time) on my becoming ill.
They took it off to eat and drink.
The flight was London to Houston. Second flight on to California.
They ate and drank at least twice.
They took it off to eat and drink.
The flight was London to Houston. Second flight on to California.
They ate and drank at least twice.
Thank you for that valuable information! People keep telling me when they get covid that they were extremely careful. If you take off your mask to eat and drink, I totally understand and empathize with the need to do that, especially on a transcontinental flight, but you can breathe in enough covid droplets when you take off your mask to get infected.
I still have not heard of a covid case in which someone had a strong mask, tight fitting all around, and did not remove it ever while indoors with other people nearby or did not go maskless in a crowded outdoor setting.
I wonder whether any of the intuitives on this site have any feelings as to when this pandemic will subside? It seems like we are stuck in an endless cycle of newly evolving variants, some becoming "smarter & smarter" at evading prior vaccine protection. Scary and kind of dispiriting. Will life EVER be "post-Covid" and our lives go back to normal?
I think that much like the 1918-20 Flu Pandemic, COVID-19 will become endemic but not seasonal, however I do not feel it will "quiet down" for at least 3-4 more years, longer in places (like the US) that refuse to protect at risk populations.
Same here.
I am aware of several family groups that have traveled long distance for the first time since the pandemic began, this summer. All were vaxxed x4. All were super careful, only removing masks to eat or drink on long flights, and wearing masks in public at their destinations. By masks I mean surgical or KN95 style (no cloth).
90% of them came down with Omicron, most severely, ruining their trips. The 10% who didn't get sick weren't even asymptomatic - they were negative on all tests.
My husband is aware of many business colleagues who are vaxxed x4, relatively careful. Appears that about 50% of those cases are similar to common cold, but the other 50% are very sick for about 2 weeks.
No one has been hospitalized or died, several people have high risk factors like MS, cancer survival, etc.
So bit of a mixed bag.
A month or two ago we were thinking of where we would go on our first trip abroad, focusing on countries with lower infection rates. New Zealand? Portugal? Uruguay? Iceland? We weighed all of these, I did extensive research.
Then all the reports of people we know getting very sick after flights longer than 5 hours.
So we ditched that idea again, and this fall will just take a drive up the CA coast (again) to visit friends and relatives along the way and visit a couple of spots we haven't been to yet. And I did start planning for what used to be our regular trip to JazzFest in New Orleans for next April, since we had planned to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary there in 2020 and had to cancel completely. I figure it's outdoor, but crowded, so I will continue to mask, not making any indoor restaurant reservations, staying in a house rental, and a very short flight. I can cancel with no penalty up to March. Fingers crossed.
As I type this my husband is in DC at a conference. Indoors. At a secure government facility. Masks optional but he has good NIOSH N95s with him. He also waived off 2 colleagues and 1 boss because they are all sick with Omicron - reminded them he is high risk and would rather handle it alone than risk illness. They agreed to steer clear, thankfully, but our protocol when he returns on Friday is to test him immediately, then he will sleep in the guest room for 2-3 nights and we will retest then, sooner if he develops symptoms.