No corona virus thread???

[zannej]

So, the Moderna vaccine is now available in my area. Our GP said my mother should get it asap. Trying to find where she can get an appointment. There are 3 options it seems but she needs to choose one. All of the medical personnel at my doctor's office have been vaccinated and have not had problems with it. Some places are still doing the Pfizer vaccine as well.

 

[zannej]

Anyone heard much about the differences between the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine? I've read the Moderna one stays good in a broader range of temperatures but I haven't heard anything consistent about side effects, effectiveness, etc.

 

[havasu]

Zanne, no idea as to which vaccine is suppose to be better. After just finding out that this vaccine will be administered on either a bi-annual or annual basis, maybe try one this year, then try the other next year?

 

[Spicoli43]

Anyone heard much about the differences between the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine? I've read the Moderna one stays good in a broader range of temperatures but I haven't heard anything consistent about side effects, effectiveness, etc.

Not much different besides the temperature. They are both Russian Roulette.

 

[havasu]

This thread involves the Corona Virus, which has segwayed to Republican versus Democrat issues. Nobody here will be able to change my mind, nor Flyover's mind, nor Zanne's mind. For this reason, please limit discussion/debate to the Corona Virus discussion.

 

[oldognewtrick]

Well let this topic stand as long as it's kept civil.

 

[Flyover]

For the record, I'm always happy to have my mind changed with new evidence.

 

[Flyover]

By the way, I 'get' why you posted what you did

Right. I was making a point, by analogy, about people who think masks don't work because there are still Covid cases in places that have mandatory masking.

Those people are erroneously comparing our present reality to the false expectation that if masks "work" they should eliminate 100% of infections, rather than to the actual alternative in which nobody is required to wear a mask and so very few people would, with the result that the infection rate would be much, much higher.

 

[zannej]

So, my friend got some blood results back and discovered he has Covid antibodies. So, he apparently had it at some point. There was a point a few months back before the testing was available where he got so sick he had to use a nebulizer. He is afraid that he may have given Covid to his neighbor because his neighbor gave him the nebulizer and died 5 days later. Neighbor was elderly and had cancer. I told him it's not his fault. But, he mentioned that blood clots can be one of the Covid side effects. So we don't know if the clots were caused by Covid or by his ex caving in his eye socket with her phone (and cracking her phone's screen) or a combination of both.
We are all still wearing masks in public. Some of his family & their friends came by his house after his grandfather's funeral. One of them went to shake my hand but I had just scratched my nose and I started reaching and remembered and said "Oh wait, I was just scratching my nose and I'm sick" so she was cool with it.

I hope this crap is all cleared up before summer because I'm fine with wearing a mask in winter when it's cold, but wearing one in summer when it's hot really sucked- although it's tolerable and preferable to being put on a respirator.

 

[Flyover]

I hope this crap is all cleared up before summer because I'm fine with wearing a mask in winter when it's cold, but wearing one in summer when it's hot really sucked- although it's tolerable and preferable to being put on a respirator.

Hah, I'm the opposite: this year I learned that I prefer a sweaty face to foggy glasses.

Particularly because if I have a mask on I'm usually in a store or something like that, which is likely to be air conditioned in the summer anyway. I tend to rip the thing off my face as soon as I'm out the door and away from any other people who are entering/exiting.

 

[zannej]

I'm supposed to wear glasses but I've never gotten any that really worked for me. They were always still blurry. My mom had me get my eyes checked and get glasses when I was in Albuqueque, but the change in pressure from there to where we live affected my eyesight. Up there, my left eye was worse than my right, but down here it's the opposite. The glasses give me a headache and don't really help. I don't like extreme temperatures but I can handle cold better than heat. I get hot flashes already and I get overheated far too easily. I also feel sick if I breathe in air that is too cold so the mask keeps me cozy. When I had to wear one in the summer months, I put a tissue inside to sop up the sweat on my face. It also made the fabric feel better on my face. My current mask has a band at the top that lets me mold it to my nose so I don't have air blowing out the top of the mask as much to fog things up. I also have aviator's goggles that seal up around my eyes so they can't fog up from a mask. I usually wait until I get into my truck to take my mask off.

Femgroup, I'm sorry to hear about your cousin's ex-wife.

 

[68bucks]

I'm sick of wearing a mask. I worked my whole career in the chemical industry and as such wore masks and resperators a lot and at times had to do a lot of physically demanding work. Nothing worse than a sweat soaked paper mask that sucks to your face with every breath.

 

[zannej]

68bucks, I don't blame you for being sick of wearing masks. I imagine being on a respirator/ventilator or not being able to breathe at all is worse than the paper mask though. But it still sucks.
Hospitals in my area are swamped (although people who want to live are not going to the nearest one because no one with Covid has survived there). So people from my town are clogging up hospitals in other towns that have better quality care.
Governor just put out a notice about the hospitals being over capacity & how Covid is back on the rise again. Meanwhile, people aren't even willing to do the bare minimum to stop the spread.

 

[Eddie_T]

Biden keeps saying follow the science but they are not using science. Doctors are not scientists unless they are in research. Fauci is the head of his organization not a current lab researcher. Many of the doctors I have dealt with have trouble with logic and are driven by the pharmaceutical industry and the accepted standard of care. I have particularly experienced that with respect to wound care and blood inr control.

Those that would confuse us actually avoid logic. If the COVID virus travels on aerosol particles as minute as the humidity of our breath why must they ram a probe almost to the sinuses to get a test sample? I ran a simple experiment, I often use my breath to fog my eyeglasses for cleaning. I tried fogging them with and without a mask and was unable to fog them indoors with a mask on. I didn't try outdoors. That does confirm my theory that masks have benefit and reduce aerosol even in a somewhat exaggerated breath situation.

If the scientific method were for some strange reason invoked a simple test could be used in the ICU. Simply expose slides to a COVID patient's breath with and without a mask and examine the slides for the presence of the virus. Anything less is opinionated hype.

So my common sense tells me that others are safer if I wear a mask and since a mask is two way device I am also safer if I wear one. Blowing out candles with a mask on is not science.

 

[Flyover]

@Eddie_T

That is good thinking. I am not a medical professional and don't know why they swab instead of get a simple breath sample. If I had to guess though, it's because they need a certain amount of the virus to be present in the sample in order to easily detect it with their equipment, and there's just a lot more, by volume, in mucus than on aerosols. Or possibly it's because they want your cells to see if the virus has infected your cells rather than just whether you've inhaled/exhaled the virus without getting infected (which probably everyone has).

 

[Eddie_T]

I can't wear glasses with my mask as I can't get the mask leakproof and it directs air under my glasses both fogging the inside of my glasses and irritating my eyes.

Fortunately as I age my nearsightedness is regressing and I can see pretty well w/o glasses so I just don't wear them with the mask. I have a Snelling card sized for a six foot distance and can almost read the 20/20 line w/o glasses. I need to drag out my trial lens set and retest my eyes.

 

[zannej]

I have masks with a little metal piece over the nose that can conform over my nose to hold it tighter and I fold a tissue and tuck it under the mask at the top. It tends to stop the steam from coming out and fogging up my glasses (when I actually wear my glasses).

My best friend's mom's boyfriend now has Covid and my friend is certain his mom probably has it too since they live together. She's quarantining with her bf. He's high risk because he's obese, older, and has preexisting conditions. His mom is a tough cookie so she will likely survive. Fun fact: She's related to Clint Eastwood and Clint Eastwood used to change her diapers.

The governor of my state said we are in Phase 2 again, but people are fatigued and not willing to wear masks, wash their hands, or distance. I hate having to go to the grocery store. Well, I usually hate going to the grocery store during flu season anyway because I often get sick. I do think that people being a little more careful has reduced the spread of the flu to an extent.

I'm hoping the vaccine will actually help to reduce it enough that things can get back under control & that we won't have another bad virus like this for another 100 years.