SARS-2-CoV (COVID-19)

[Erik88]

@E4 No More First of all, I'm very glad you are ok. I guess this explains the symptoms you were having? I'm glad you are still with us.

Also, you are spot on about Phil. I was just thinking about him earlier and the fact that he was hospitalized since July. He had a slow, agonizing death. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. 

[MacGyver]

2 hours ago, deerslayer said:

What is your background and is there anything to the news I've read and heard lately that Pfizer is less effective?

I'm a forensic scientist.  To be clear - I don't work as an epidemiologist or immunologist - but I work with people who've dedicated their whole lives to those disciplines - and I trust them with my life.  I'm comfortable with data - I turn to them for nuance.

Two things up front:

This is going to be a nuanced post.  The left and the right both do something really poorly - and it's hurting us right now.  The left has this "trust the science" narrative that they love but they have no idea what that actually means.  It often gets pushed in the media as "trust me - you're too stupid to know what you're talking about." Thus on the right - people push back against that narrative for a variety of reasons. Maybe they don't trust the people on the left. Maybe they just don't want to be talked down to and told what to do. Whatever.  I get it. But it's killing us right now.  We've got to do better regardless of where we fall on the political spectrum.

1. Science is not truth. Science is the pursuit of truth - and hopefully through rigorous processes we get closer to the truth. If you want an easy way to distinguish between whether or not you should trust someone regarding "science" listen to whether they talk more about what they know or what they don't know. If you choose to listen to someone - pick the latter.
2. The scientists I know and trust are absolutely terrified right now. There's a whole lot we still don't know. Graphs like the one @mikegideonposted above are truly scary. We're about to see some very dark days ahead. That's an exponential curve on that graph - and the thing about exponential growth is that if you're going to change it the only time it really matters is when it seems too early. We're too late.

So with those caveats out of the way - here's the best we've got right now:

@deerslayer to your question on the Pfizer vaccine - yes all of the vaccines are dropping double digits in effectiveness right now.  They're still really good at keeping you out of the hospital with serious illness and are good at preventing death. But, with the transmission numbers we're seeing - it's clear that breakthrough infections are happening.

Here's a chart showing the most recent controlled studies grouped into one place:

That's a lot of data in one place - but basically if you remember the 95%+ numbers you saw back in the spring - they're all dropping a bunch right now.  Pfizer went from 97% effectiveness reported at 2 months to 84% reported at 5-6 months (and those studies ended in May which means current real world data is likely worse.)

If I had to pick a vaccine today I'd choose Moderna as it seems most effective against the variants. But the viruses are still mutating/evolving.  So couple in the fact that the virus is mutating to avoid the vaccines and that antibody levels naturally sag over time - and you're going to see more infections.

Another major factor is that our behavior patterns are changing - especially among the vaccinated - we're out and about and the viral load we're exposed to on a daily basis is likely to be pretty high.  So often in science, we learn in the rearview mirror.  We don't get that luxury here.  But, if you think about the efficacy rates measured in the Spring - most people were still staying inside. They just weren't that exposed by and large. That's different now.

We're seeing a lot of breakthrough infections right now. So many in fact that the public health people can't seem to be honest with people and just say "vaccinated people can get it and spread it" without contradicting what they've been saying about the wild (alpha) variant. This delta variant doesn't behave like the wild variant.

That said, the vaccines still perform quite well at keeping you out of the hospital and prevent you from dying.

So, with all that - how do you take action. Here's what we're doing in my family:

1. Get vaccinated if you haven't already. You can literally do it on your coffee break by walking into practically any pharmacy in America. Here's the best source for finding one near you (https://www.vaccines.gov)
2. If I were choosing what vaccine to get right now - I'd choose Moderna. It still seems most effective against the variants. But - you're looking at two shots spaced over three weeks - so a total of five weeks to full immunity. So, if you've not been vaccinated at all it might be worth it to consider the J&J single shot for a quicker response time. If you're wanting an mRNA vaccine but are sketchy about the EUA status - Pfizer should have full approval as soon as this afternoon.
3. Talk to your doctor about it. They have a relationship with you and can give you the best information they've got.
4. If you are vaccinated - don't give your immunity a stress test. This delta variant is causing breakthrough infections. We're out and about more - and thus exposed to higher viral loads. I know we all got rid of the masks this Spring - but for the next little bit it's worth picking them back up.
5. As to children - multiple things can be true at once - the overall risk to children is pretty low - and COVID rocketed into the leading causes of death amongst children in less than a year. Two of my three are vaccinated - and my youngest would be if he could get away with telling the doctor he was 12. 
6. For the next 6-8 weeks, I'd probably stay off of tall ladders and other stuff that could put me in the hospital if I had an accident. Like @E4 No More experienced above - if you need an ICU bed right now - you're likely to have to wait for someone to die first.
7. If you're immunocompromised - you're likely already talking to your doctor about an additional mRNA shot. They can measure antibody response to make sure you're fully protected.
8. If you're in a group that got vaccinated back in January/February - you're likely to be eligible for an mRNA booster soon.  Talk to your doctor about it. The data shows lagging antibody response over time.
9. If you got infected with the original variant - and it's been more than a few months - it's probably worth getting vaccinated.  We know that the vaccines generate a higher antibody response. I know a couple of people who had the original variant and have since died after contracting delta.
10. Talk to the people you care about. There's no harm in offering a sort of collective off ramp.  Just because you've held out so far - doesn't mean you can't change your mind when presented with new data. Viruses should get less lethal over time - this one isn't doing that yet.

If you'd like to do some more reading from that highlights what we know and what we don't - this is pretty current:  https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2021/08/23/lets_stop_pretending_about_the_covid-19_vaccines_791050.html

I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has. I know that I don't know a lot of you personally - but this is a community that I really care about. I'm tired of losing people to this thing. 

Feel free to give me a shout or shoot me a DM if I can help at all.

[Erik88]

41 minutes ago, MacGyver said:

If you're in a group that got vaccinated back in January/February - you're likely to be eligible for an mRNA booster soon.  Talk to your doctor about it. The data shows lagging antibody response over time.

I got the J&J vaccine and I hope to see some data on mixing the two. In hindsight, I wish I had gotten one of the other 2 as they seem to be more effective. I wouldn't be opposed to getting a booster soon but the last I read they don't recommend mixing them. Thoughts on this? 

Edited August 23, 2021 by Erik88

[MacGyver]

17 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

I got the J&J vaccine and I hope to see some data on mixing the two. In hindsight, I wish I had gotten one of the other 2 as they seem to be more effective. I wouldn't be opposed to getting a booster soon but the last I read they don't recommend mixing the them. Thoughts on this? 

The best data we have right now is to suggest a mRNA booster (Moderna or Pfizer in the US) to follow J&J 8 months after initial vaccination.

You're young and healthy - so you don't need to rush it.

I expect you'll see this timeline continue to change as we get better data on breakthroughs and measured antibody response. 

[deerslayer]

31 minutes ago, MacGyver said:

I'm a forensic scientist.  To be clear - I don't work as an epidemiologist or immunologist - but I work with people who've dedicated their whole lives to those disciplines - and I trust them with my life.  I'm comfortable with data - I turn to them for nuance.

Two things up front:

This is going to be a nuanced post.  The left and the right both do something really poorly - and it's hurting us right now.  The left has this "trust the science" narrative that they love but they have no idea what that actually means.  It often gets pushed in the media as "trust me - you're too stupid to know what you're talking about." Thus on the right - people push back against that narrative for a variety of reasons. Maybe they don't trust the people on the left. Maybe they just don't want to be talked down to and told what to do. Whatever.  I get it. But it's killing us right now.  We've got to do better regardless of where we fall on the political spectrum.

1. Science is not truth. Science is the pursuit of truth - and hopefully through rigorous processes we get closer to the truth. If you want an easy way to distinguish between whether or not you should trust someone regarding "science" listen to whether they talk more about what they know or what they don't know. If you choose to listen to someone - pick the latter.
2. The scientists I know and trust are absolutely terrified right now. There's a whole lot we still don't know. Graphs like the one @mikegideonposted above are truly scary. We're about to see some very dark days ahead. That's an exponential curve on that graph - and the thing about exponential growth is that if you're going to change it the only time it really matters is when it seems too early. We're too late.

So with those caveats out of the way - here's the best we've got right now:

@deerslayer to your question on the Pfizer vaccine - yes all of the vaccines are dropping double digits in effectiveness right now.  They're still really good at keeping you out of the hospital with serious illness and are good at preventing death. But, with the transmission numbers we're seeing - it's clear that breakthrough infections are happening.

Here's a chart showing the most recent controlled studies grouped into one place:

That's a lot of data in one place - but basically if you remember the 95%+ numbers you saw back in the spring - they're all dropping a bunch right now.  Pfizer went from 97% effectiveness reported at 2 months to 84% reported at 5-6 months (and those studies ended in May which means current real world data is likely worse.)

If I had to pick a vaccine today I'd choose Moderna as it seems most effective against the variants. But the viruses are still mutating/evolving.  So couple in the fact that the virus is mutating to avoid the vaccines and that antibody levels naturally sag over time - and you're going to see more infections.

Another major factor is that our behavior patterns are changing - especially among the vaccinated - we're out and about and the viral load we're exposed to on a daily basis is likely to be pretty high.  So often in science, we learn in the rearview mirror.  We don't get that luxury here.  But, if you think about the efficacy rates measured in the Spring - most people were still staying inside. They just weren't that exposed by and large. That's different now.

We're seeing a lot of breakthrough infections right now. So many in fact that the public health people can't seem to be honest with people and just say "vaccinated people can get it and spread it" without contradicting what they've been saying about the wild (alpha) variant. This delta variant doesn't behave like the wild variant.

That said, the vaccines still perform quite well at keeping you out of the hospital and prevent you from dying.

So, with all that - how do you take action. Here's what we're doing in my family:

1. Get vaccinated if you haven't already. You can literally do it on your coffee break by walking into practically any pharmacy in America. Here's the best source for finding one near you (https://www.vaccines.gov)
2. If I were choosing what vaccine to get right now - I'd choose Moderna. It still seems most effective against the variants. But - you're looking at two shots spaced over three weeks - so a total of five weeks to full immunity. So, if you've not been vaccinated at all it might be worth it to consider the J&J single shot for a quicker response time. If you're wanting an mRNA vaccine but are sketchy about the EUA status - Pfizer should have full approval as soon as this afternoon.
3. Talk to your doctor about it. They have a relationship with you and can give you the best information they've got.
4. If you are vaccinated - don't give your immunity a stress test. This delta variant is causing breakthrough infections. We're out and about more - and thus exposed to higher viral loads. I know we all got rid of the masks this Spring - but for the next little bit it's worth picking them back up.
5. For the next 6-8 weeks, I'd probably stay off of tall ladders and other stuff that could put me in the hospital if I had an accident. Like @E4 No More experienced above - if you need an ICU bed right now - you're likely to have to wait for someone to die first.
6. If you're immunocompromised - you're likely already talking to your doctor about an additional mRNA shot. They can measure antibody response to make sure you're fully protected.
7. If you're in a group that got vaccinated back in January/February - you're likely to be eligible for an mRNA booster soon.  Talk to your doctor about it. The data shows lagging antibody response over time.
8. If you got infected with the original variant - and it's been more than a few months - it's probably worth getting vaccinated.  We know that the vaccines generate a higher antibody response. I know a couple of people who had the original variant and have since died after contracting delta.
9. Talk to the people you care about. There's no harm in offering a sort of collective off ramp.  Just because you've held out so far - doesn't mean you can't change your mind when presented with new data. Viruses should get less lethal over time - this one isn't doing that yet.

If you'd like to do some more reading from that highlights what we know and what we don't - this is pretty current:  https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2021/08/23/lets_stop_pretending_about_the_covid-19_vaccines_791050.html

I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has. I know that I don't know a lot of you personally - but this is a community that I really care about. I'm tired of losing people to this thing. 

Feel free to give me a shout or shoot me a DM if I can help at all.

Thank you for the in-depth answer.  I was trying to nicely ask “why should I trust you?” and I think you answered that.  
 

The left/right politics of the vaccines are irrelevant to me (other than government mandates).  I have been hesitant because I don’t know and I don’t trust most who claim they do.  I generally don’t like medication and take as little as is necessary.  Some have called me anti-vax and that is a complete mischaracterization.  I have no doubt the vaccines work to varying degrees, but have always been concerned about what will be learned about them 10 years from now.  Throw in the lack of liability the drug makers politicked for and got (I get it—this needed to happen to expedite the process, but big pharm aren’t exactly angels) and the speed at which they were developed, and I don’t see how a prudent person wouldn’t have some concerns.  

[hipower]

1 minute ago, deerslayer said:

Thank you for the in-depth answer.  I was trying to nicely ask “why should I trust you?” and I think you answered that.  
 

The left/right politics of the vaccines are irrelevant to me (other than government mandates).  I have been hesitant because I don’t know and I don’t trust most who claim they do.  I generally don’t like medication and take as little as is necessary.  Some have called me anti-vax and that is a complete mischaracterization.  I have no doubt the vaccines work to varying degrees, but have always been concerned about what will be learned about them 10 years from now.  Throw in the lack of liability the drug makers politicked for and got (I get it—this needed to happen to expedite the process, but big pharm aren’t exactly angels) and the speed at which they were developed, and I don’t see how a prudent person wouldn’t have some concerns.  

As I've said before; I was and still am mistrustful of all this. I do agree there was, is, and evidently will be more trouble from the release of the Covid-19 virus from China.

But have taken the Moderna vaccine in March, I'm looking into the boosters now. As with me, my wife, a retired nurse, has had many reservations on taking any of the vaccines; but since she has not, and in light of the current comments, we are discussing whether she should.

I believe she is going to go ahead and do it. Looking now for a location to take the Moderna. Can't get it from where I did, since I was injected thru my Oncology Clinc.

Mac...I really appreciate your last few posts here. I appreciate the opinions and facts you have presented. It's well worth knowing your background and understanding your rationale.

Makes it easier to show all this to my wife.

Thank you.

[deerslayer]

4 minutes ago, hipower said:

As I've said before; I was and still am mistrustful of all this. I do agree there was, is, and evidently will be more trouble from the release of the Covid-19 virus from China.

Before this is over, I wouldn’t mind releasing a few dozen cruise missiles on Xi’s presidential palace or mud hut or wherever he lives.  I ignored the origin debate at first, but now I’m suspecting its release maybe was not accidental.  

[TennesseeCamper]

2 hours ago, E4 No More said:

I got out of the Ascentian St. Thomas hospital in Murfreesboro yesterday after nearly dying from a large pulmonary embolism last Thursday. After they removed the clot, I was eventually moved to the ICU until it was safe to be moved to the cardiac floor on Saturday. I had to wait for a bed to come available in the ICU which took a few hours. Once I got up there I was struck by the amount of people hooked up to ventilators looking like dead bodies just waiting to die. It was easy to determine the COVID rooms because they had constructed what amounts to glass/lexan man traps between the hall and the patient doors. The staff were completely robed, gloved, shielded, and wearing what looked like active carbon respirators before entering the rooms. One of them mistakenly entered my room outfitted as such startling the out of me. My wife, having walked slower past the rooms, got a better look and was shaken by the experience. She said it was like a floor of dead people that were waiting to officially die.

Folks, this is no joke. It is a VERY lonely and terrible way to die. Please learn from Phil Valentine and get the damned shot. Many of you I consider friends that I haven't met. and I don't want to hear of you dying this way.

Glad you are out the hospital and ok! Thanks for your the update on your experience.  Exactly what I thought was happening regarding ICU beds. 

[MacGyver]

1 minute ago, deerslayer said:

Thank you for the in-depth answer.  I was trying to nicely ask “why should I trust you?” and I think you answered that.  
 

The left/right politics of the vaccines are irrelevant to me (other than government mandates).  I have been hesitant because I don’t know and I don’t trust most who claim they do.  I generally don’t like medication and take as little as is necessary.  Some have called me anti-vax and that is a complete mischaracterization.  I have no doubt the vaccines work to varying degrees, but have always been concerned about what will be learned about them 10 years from now.  Throw in the lack of liability the drug makers politicked for and got (I get it—this needed to happen to expedite the process, but big pharm aren’t exactly angels) and the speed at which they were developed, and I don’t see how a prudent person wouldn’t have some concerns.  

I think we've all witnessed a giant failing in our public health arm of the government. Here's some stuff that I expect y'all have been thinking about same as me.

1. I wonder if we were so ill-prepared for this because for decades we thought pandemics were things that happened in places that we don't really care about? That may be overly critical, but the CDC and others really seem to have been caught flat-footed here.
2. This is a place where "the media" hasn't helped.  Wanting to drive clicks by looking at "both sides" hasn't helped to get people better data to make better decisions.
3. I think our public health infrastructure has really done a disservice by talking in "faculty lounge language" instead of speaking plainly to the American public about what we know and what we don't know. So many of these folks have focused more on being right than they have in admitting that we're shooting at a moving target and what we thought 8 months ago may have changed.
4. Lesson learned - going forward, we need to train/hire more science communicators who can take complex data and put it into a form that we all can understand.

I do want to address the vaccine development.  To be clear the only things that were shortcut in the Warp Speed process were the funding delays that are normal in vaccine development and the government bureaucracy (to a lesser extent - government is going to government). We have more actual data regarding these vaccines than we have any vaccine in history.

The average vaccine development timeline is about 12 years.  There's not 12 years of science happening in there.  There is 12 years worth of waiting on funding and need studies and places like the FDA where pay day is still on Friday whether they pick up your application or not.

It's totally fair to be a bit nervous about trusting something new.   mRNA technology has been around for a while - but we've not applied it like this.

To be clear - one of the geneticists I mentioned in my post above who I would absolutely trust my life to - waited a couple of days to really dig into the data before she made the decision to vaccinate her children.

It's okay to acknowledge that nervousness - and not beat people up about it.

The hard thing right now is that this virus is demanding that we move very quickly - and that's something that we're generally just not built for. There are things we still don't know. Could there be some long tail side effect of mRNA vaccines we don't know about - you bet there could be. But, we've been researching these things since the late 60's and haven't seen evidence of it yet. So, measured against the potential side effects of COVID - which are death at worst and increasing long COVID cases - it's probably worth it to  choose the vaccine even in light of the unknowns.

[hipower]

Just now, deerslayer said:

Before this is over, I wouldn’t mind releasing a few dozen cruise missiles on Xi’s presidential palace or mud hut or wherever he lives.  I ignored the origin debate at first, but now I’m suspecting its release maybe was not accidental.  

I never thought or believed anything else of it.

[mikegideon]

2 hours ago, E4 No More said:

I got out of the Ascentian St. Thomas hospital in Murfreesboro yesterday after nearly dying from a large pulmonary embolism last Thursday. After they removed the clot, I was eventually moved to the ICU until it was safe to be moved to the cardiac floor on Saturday. I had to wait for a bed to come available in the ICU which took a few hours. Once I got up there I was struck by the amount of people hooked up to ventilators looking like dead bodies just waiting to die. It was easy to determine the COVID rooms because they had constructed what amounts to glass/lexan man traps between the hall and the patient doors. The staff were completely robed, gloved, shielded, and wearing what looked like active carbon respirators before entering the rooms. One of them mistakenly entered my room outfitted as such startling the out of me. My wife, having walked slower past the rooms, got a better look and was shaken by the experience. She said it was like a floor of dead people that were waiting to officially die.

Folks, this is no joke. It is a VERY lonely and terrible way to die. Please learn from Phil Valentine and get the damned shot. Many of you I consider friends that I haven't met. and I don't want to hear of you dying this way.

A pulmonary embolism is no joke either. Glad you dodged that one.

[mikegideon]

The Pfizer vaccine was fully approved by the FDA.

[TennesseeCamper]

As for the vaccine I told my wife I was getting it early on. She had reservations but she decided to get it after I did.  The military had already given me every vaccine known to man, so what was one more. I always believed in being prepared. 

Most of my immediate family have been vaccinated. we take precautions, we still mask indoors in public places and get snickered at for doing it. 
 

The family hold outs are in Alabama and that whole group don’t believe nothing the guvmint says. And they get all their science from FB memes. They had at least 5 cases of covid, two hospitalized.  They won’t listen to anything I say.  I fear I will lose them, I fear for my grandchildren. 

Edited August 23, 2021 by TennesseeCamper
Dystypia

[deerslayer]

2 minutes ago, TennesseeCamper said:

The family hold outs are In Alabama and that whole group don’t believe nothing the guvmint says. And they get all their science from FB memes. They had at least 5 cases of covid, two hospitalized.  They won’t listen to anything I say.  I fear I will lose them, I fear for my fear grandchildren. 

They Crimson Tide fans?  Just sayin

[E4 No More]

3 hours ago, Erik88 said:

@E4 No More First of all, I'm very glad you are ok. I guess this explains the symptoms you were having? I'm glad you are still with us.

Yes, and to be clear here's what happened:

For the past 4 weeks I have been experiencing shortness of breath. At first it wasn't too severe leading me to believe that my atrial flutter was back.

On August 12th I presented myself to the VA's Urgent Care in Murfreesboro with shortness of breath, (more so than in the beginning), non-productive cough, slight runny nose, and swelling in my left leg. The VA did an EKG which showed normal "P waves" (no atrial flutter), so they performed a COVID test for breakthrough COVID which was negative. They did an X-ray that was clear and took some blood for labs. They sent me on my merry way with an echo-cardiogram on the 16th which only showed some valve leakage that's normal for someone of my age. I was to follow up with the cardiologist on Friday the 20. No one every said anything about my blood labs, and that's key here.

For the next week my shortness of breath was worsening. At times I was so bad that I thought I'd pass out, but it would let-up with rest.

On Thursday the 19th I woke up at 2:00 AM. I battle insomnia so that really isn't unusual. I slowly walked into the living room and sat in my recliner to watch TV. My breathing got worse, and by the time that I got up to take my normal medications I found that I could only take a few steps at a time. I keep my meds in the kitchen by the back door, and I had to stop several times to reach them. There's only 2-3 steps from my medicine cabinet to the island, and I had to stop at the island because I felt that I'd pass out. I gathered myself and only made it to the other end of the island before I had to stop again. I gathered myself again and made it two steps to the end of the couch. Once again I waited and then barely made it to my recliner to fall into it.

So here I sat wondering WTF was going on. I could breath but my blood was not oxygenating. I felt no pain in my chest so I did not suspect either an MI nor a pulmonary edema. I sat in my chair trying to think of what to do. I was unable to wake my family up because their phones are off at night, and I couldn't walk back to my bedroom. I didn't want to call 911 because I didn't want them breaking my door down to get to me. I sat there waiting until my 13-year old granddaughter came downstairs for breakfast before school. I then had her go wake my wife. We then called 911 because I knew that I couldn't make it to the car.

When I got to the hospital the ER doctor immediately suspected a Pulmonary Embolism. This was bolstered by the fact that my blood test showed extremely elevated enzymes that indicate a blood clots. This is where the VA Urgent care failed me! Why didn't the VA run the same damned blood test when presented with the same damned symptoms? I almost died because they failed to do their due diligence and exercise due care.

Moral of the story:

1. If it isn't a routine medical condition then go to civilian healthcare if you can. Just because they call their selves Urgent Care does not equate to competency.

2. Serious problems can present atypically. Don't fail to act because you don't present with classic symptoms.

[TGO David]

Passing thoughts...

1. I really resent the fact that so many people have become self-proclaimed medical experts during this pandemic.

2. I really resent the fact that so many people have become amateur pundits on the topic of COVID-19 during this pandemic.

3. Social media has made the past two an even bigger problem, so I resent it at a higher level than I do #1 and #2

4. There aren't many people who trust the government and that's a big problem when the government perhaps tries to do the right thing during a pandemic but can't persuade people to believe them.  I resent politicians more than I do any of the the first three in this list.

5.  I am so tired of the proselytizing.  So tired.  I'm more tired of it related to COVID-19 than I ever am of it during political cycles, and that's saything something - because I f'king hate it during political cycles too.   People have talked this subject to death to the point that a lot of folks just tune it out now.  There is no signal to noise ratio because no one cares... it's all noise now to most people.

6.  GO TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR.  Follow their advice!

also...  see this link.  I should have amended my comments. 

 

 

[TGO David]

4 minutes ago, E4 No More said:

I was unable to wake my family up because their phones are off at night, and I couldn't walk back to my bedroom. I didn't want to call 911 because I didn't want them breaking my door down to get to me. I sat there waiting until my 13-year old granddaughter came downstairs for breakfast before school. I then had her go wake my wife. We then called 911 because I knew that I couldn't make it to the car.

I get so pissed at my family for turning their ringers off on their phones.  What's the damn point of the phone if it doesn't ring??  But, I digress.   Call 911 first next time.  If they bust your door down, I bet we can rally the troops on TGO and get it repaired.

 

[mikegideon]

I was vaccinated with the J&J shot on April 4. So, I'm just waiting on booster info. My significant other's doctor wouldn't let her get anything but the J&J, so I just went along. I'll take the booster when it comes.

Right now, we are sitting on the peak for new cases nationwide. Worldwide indicates similar. There are some hot spots that seem to correlate with very low vaccination rates. As much as I hate to agree with HoJo, they need to get the numbers up.

[E4 No More]

6 minutes ago, TGO David said:

I get so pissed at my family for turning their ringers off on their phones.  What's the damn point of the phone if it doesn't ring??  But, I digress.   Call 911 first next time.  If they bust your door down, I bet we can rally the troops on TGO and get it repaired.

 

I appreciate that. Hopefully, there won't be a next time.

In the case of my wife, she gets emails from over seas at all hours of the night because she's the treasury manager of a global company. The ding-ding-ding of her phone would keep us up at night, and since I battle insomnia anyways, that ain't good. In the case of my grandchildren, they've normally ran their phones down and not put them on the charger. Danged kids!

Edited August 23, 2021 by E4 No More

[Danger Rane]

Dang @E4 No More sounds like a rough and serious experience. Glad it worked out and that you are still here with us. I hope you continue to mend.

[TGO David]

@E4 No More how much time had elapsed since you took the COVID-19 vaccine and when the pulmonary embolism presented?  Do you have any concerns that the two were related?

[E4 No More]

20 minutes ago, TGO David said:

@E4 No More how much time had elapsed since you took the COVID-19 vaccine and when the pulmonary embolism presented?  Do you have any concerns that the two were related?

I had the Moderna in March. I had a history of blood clots in the legs well before the vaccine, so no, concerns.

The civie doctors were a little annoyed that the VA did NOT have me on any blood thinners after having a blood clot in each leg over the past few years.

Edited August 23, 2021 by E4 No More

[Mike1000]

Glad to see you\re doing better, that's a scary experience!!

[GlockSpock]

54 minutes ago, E4 No More said:

I appreciate that. Hopefully, there won't be a next time.

In the case of my wife, she gets emails from over seas at all hours of the night because she's the treasury manager of a global company. The ding-ding-ding of her phone would keep us up at night, and since I battle insomnia anyways, that ain't good. In the case of my grandchildren, they've normally ran their phones down and not put them on the charger. Danged kids!

For what it's worth, especially for you since it could theoretically be a lifesaving change, consider the following settings on a phone:

At least for IOS and I couldn't imagine Android doesn't have a similar possibility, dig heavily into the "Do not Disturb" and "Favorites" settings. For example, I go on call at work. Obviously people need to reach me during those times 24/7, but I don't want my phone dinging all night long because Hertz wants to quote my insurance and the like.

In my example, I setup "Do not Disturb" to silence everything (including text messages) but allow phone calls through. You could have it block all calls as well, but if someone calls twice within three minutes it will let the call through. You can also set a favorites list to let people through, but for that to work you have to know what number to call.  You can manually or activate this "Do not Disturb" mode.

If you are at all interested in any of this, send me a message. I'd be happy to walk you through any/all of it, but for someone even the least bit tech savvy they should be able to read the potential options on their phone and set it up as they wish. I would also recommend testing such a thing.

[TGO David]

OH, I do want to amend my previous comments about how exasperated I am about this.  I should have framed my comments to state that I am not exasperated by anyone on TGO about the ongoing conversation.  Actually, I tend to think that this is one bastion of sanity and civil discourse about the topic.

I am probably on the verge of mental exhaustion when it comes to COVID-19 just because of how inundated we are with the subject at work, how much of a schism there is about it in my own team, and how "in your face" the company is about it with the employees.

I really just need some relief from it.  I want to respond "Unsubscribe" every time that I see a post or email about it at work or on social media.