Just now, DrPhilly said:

That's pretty much the case with everything related to COVID.  We've been working with at best half baked data from the get go in every aspect of this pandemic.

Which is why I believe that getting it is not in my best interests. I have never wanted a disease. I can't imagine saying such a thing.

Just now, Toastrel said:

Which is why I believe that getting it is not in my best interests. I have never wanted a disease. I can't imagine saying such a thing.

That's fair if that's how you feel.  I can point to chicken pox as an example of when it was good to get sick.  You may not have known you wanted it as a kid but you did.

4 minutes ago, Toastrel said:

Which is why I believe that getting it is not in my best interests. I have never wanted a disease. I can't imagine saying such a thing.

Do I want it? No. Do I basically accept that it is becoming endemic and I will likely eventually get it? Yes. 

It's just the reality of the situation.

COVID is for the poors

7 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

Here is a clip from a recent study.  Pre Omicron and not peer reviewed so take it with a grain of salt.

 

Yes, the combination of infection + vaccination does seem to confer more robust immune response but that still doesn't mean you can't get it again months down the line. You can maybe see this as a silver lining to getting infected if you suffer no long-term effects, but it still doesn't make sense to want the virus.

6 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

That's fair if that's how you feel.  I can point to chicken pox as an example of when it was good to get sick.  You may not have known you wanted it as a kid but you did.

Well, as to that, I have anecdotal evidence. I was born before there was a vaccine. My entire family had it when I was five. I did not get it.

Years later, I am in Spain, in the USAF, and my newborn daughter contracts it. I must have gotten a mild case, but did not know it. Decades later, we both had shingles, while no one in my family has ever had that. So it is likely I picked up the pox from her, since we both have the strain that causes shingles.

My chicken pox I never noticed. The shingles, yeah, that sucks hard. I don't even wish it on the likes of Kz!

Hmm, the Danish health ministry or some tiny dude whose identity is built around a virus that posts in CVON.

Sorry, Covid is no longer a socially critical disease, according to experts (and fact checkers agree).

Just now, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

Yes, the combination of infection + vaccination does seem to confer more robust immune response but that still doesn't mean you can't get it again months down the line. You can maybe see this as a silver lining to getting infected if you suffer no long-term effects, but it still doesn't make sense to want the virus.

I gave you some examples of where it does.  I can assure you my daughter would be a much happier person if she were to test positive and get it out of the way.  Serious anxiety isn't child's play.

Here is one more.  Let's start by presuming that one believes that one is going to get Omicron no matter what (as Vikas postulates above). If that's the case and if you are currently protected from a serious bout via your vaccination status then you may absolutely conclude that catching Omicron now is logically a positive thing RATHER than catching it in four months time when the protection against serious illness afforded by the vaccine has waned.  You'd get the super immunity level described in the Oregon study and you might end up being immune for a longer extended period of time.  You'd also be able to go about your life without a risk of getting COVID in the near term at minimum or giving it to anyone else.  You'd be able to count on several months of that nice position if not more.

 

I don't think there is one right answer here given that the data is incomplete and people's realities are not the same.  I'm not saying Toaster is wrong for not wanting to catch it.  In fact, I'm sure he knows his own situation well enough to reach the right conclusion for him.

1 minute ago, DrPhilly said:

I gave you some examples of where it does.  I can assure you my daughter would be a much happier person if she were to test positive and get it out of the way.  Serious anxiety isn't child's play.

Here is one more.  Let's start by presuming that one believes that one is going to get Omicron no matter what (as Vikas postulates above). If that's the case and if you are currently protected from a serious bout via your vaccination status then you may absolutely conclude that catching Omicron now is logically a positive thing RATHER than catching it in four months time when the protection against serious illness afforded by the vaccine has waned.  You'd get the super immunity level described in the Oregon study and you might end up being immune for a longer extended period of time.  You'd also be able to go about your life without a risk of getting COVID in the near term at minimum or giving it to anyone else.  You'd be able to count on several months of that nice position if not more.

 

I don't think there is one right answer here given that the data is incomplete and people's realities are not the same.  I'm not saying Toaster is wrong for not wanting to catch it.  In fact, I'm sure he knows his own situation well enough to reach the right conclusion for him.

I certainly wish I had gotten it a month earlier instead of having it for Christmas.

10 minutes ago, Toastrel said:

Well, as to that, I have anecdotal evidence. I was born before there was a vaccine. My entire family had it when I was five. I did not get it.

Years later, I am in Spain, in the USAF, and my newborn daughter contracts it. I must have gotten a mild case, but did not know it. Decades later, we both had shingles, while no one in my family has ever had that. So it is likely I picked up the pox from her, since we both have the strain that causes shingles.

My chicken pox I never noticed. The shingles, yeah, that sucks hard. I don't even wish it on the likes of Kz!

Yeah, I've heard shingles are horrible.  Sorry to hear you had to deal with that.

3 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

Yeah, I've heard shingles are horrible.  Sorry to hear you had to deal with that.

Thanks. Most painful thing I had happen to me.

15 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

I gave you some examples of where it does.  I can assure you my daughter would be a much happier person if she were to test positive and get it out of the way.  Serious anxiety isn't child's play.

 

My point is that this would be a false sense of security. If she got it, she could still pass it on to someone down the line, maybe even sooner as an asymptomatic case for all we know. So, I don't see why contracting it would relieve her anxiety unless under the false pretense of no longer being able to contract/spread it.

 

15 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

Here is one more.  Let's start by presuming that one believes that one is going to get Omicron no matter what (as Vikas postulates above). If that's the case and if you are currently protected from a serious bout via your vaccination status then you may absolutely conclude that catching Omicron now is logically a positive thing RATHER than catching it in four months time when the protection against serious illness afforded by the vaccine has waned.

 

The hope is that in about another four months or so we have an Omicron-targeted booster, in which case I can hopefully just keep going about my life virus-free

2 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

My point is that this would be a false sense of security. If she got it, she could still pass it on to someone down the line, maybe even sooner as an asymptomatic case for all we know. So, I don't see why contracting it would relieve her anxiety unless under the false pretense of no longer being able to contract/spread it.

Did you get any comfort from getting vaccinated?  Of course nothing is 100%.  In any case, are you suggesting that there isn't a lower risk of contracting the disease a 2nd time if you've just recently had it?

2 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

Did you get any comfort from getting vaccinated?  Of course nothing is 100%.  In any case, are you suggesting that there isn't a lower risk of contracting the disease a 2nd time if you've just recently had it?

 

Obviously, the risk is lower, but the term used was "being over with it" after getting the virus. You might have some enhanced immunity, but there's nothing to suggest that anyone should assume that it will last significantly longer.

5 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

The hope is that in about another four months or so we have an Omicron-targeted booster, in which case I can hopefully just keep going about my life virus-free

You just talked about a false sense of security and yet you bet on "hope" twice in one sentence.  Yes, of course there is a decent shot of yet another and this time more focused booster but just like the natural immunity there is no guarantee AND even with that booster you could be compromised thereafter in any case.

Just now, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

Obviously, the risk is lower, but the term used was "being over with it" after getting the virus. You might have some enhanced immunity but there's nothing to suggest that anyone should assume that it will last significantly longer.

No one should expect it to be forever.  I agree with that.  But the longer part is highly likely.  All studies so far point to the mix being the most effective (and at a much higher level than "some enhanced", the most recent study shown 10x more antibodies for example) and that includes length though to be fair we don't have much data over time yet to look at.

Just now, DrPhilly said:

You just talked about a false sense of security and yet you bet on "hope" twice in one sentence.  Yes, of course there is a decent shot of yet another and this time more focused booster but just like the natural immunity there is no guarantee AND even with that booster you could be compromised thereafter in any case.

I feel like we're getting off the rails a little bit here. My point is that I don't see how contracting the virus offers any greater degree of security outside having a temporary period of enhanced immunity, essentially serving as a booster itself. If you want to say that, by getting the virus after being vaccinated, you'd feel more safe for a time period than with vaccination alone, that's fair. But saying that getting infected would allow you to be "over it" is probably a bridge too far.

Just now, EaglesRocker97 said:

I feel like we're getting off the rails a little bit here. My point is that I don't see how contracting the virus offers any greater degree of security outside having a temporary period of enhanced immunity, essentially serving as a booster itself. If you want to say that, by getting the virus after being vaccinated, you'd feel more safe for a time period than with vaccination alone, that's fair. But saying that getting infected would allow you to be "over it" is probably a bridge too far.

Well ok but that depends on the time horizon.  For my 21yr old college student four or five months is to be "over it".

For me personally, I'll stick with "give me a year" and I'll gladly take the four days of feeling run down and maybe having a low fever.  I'm triple jabbed so I'm pretty confident.

23 minutes ago, Toastrel said:

Thanks. Most painful thing I had happen to me.

Worse than 9/11 and Pearl Harbor? 

11 minutes ago, mikemack8 said:

Worse than 9/11 and Pearl Harbor? 

Worse even than when Biden called a Fox reporter an idiot.

They’ll probably die with Covid, not from, after the arrow goes through their heart.  
 

https://6abc.com/wild-deer-covid-19-in-animals-new-jersey-wildlife-nj-covid/11508770/?ex_cid=TA_WPVI_FB&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0JlHEVFbz4-ygU7l5sItLj1Ro0sr_H5M7wM3w4HgZuJbCJlq9LcpDin9c

Weird that hospitalizations reached an all-time high in a country that now allows a fourth booster.

Strange that the CDC's data all says that those with the vaxx are something like 2 billion times less likely to require hospitalization and 9 katrillion times less likely to die. So odd.

1 hour ago, Toastrel said:

Which is why I believe that getting it is not in my best interests. I have never wanted a disease. I can't imagine saying such a thing.

Yup, aside from the risk of long-term symptoms, who wants to be sick like that? I don't want the flu either even though I know I'm vulnerable to getting it even with a vaccine every winter. Saw the bbc reporting this morning that two thirds of people surveyed with a recent covid infection said they had it at least once before. Meaning, omicron can punch through natural immunity as well so getting it now doesn't mean you will have sterilizing immunity for life. Not analogous to chicken pox at all.

Researchers Have Identified 4 Health Factors That May Explain Why Some People Get Long COVID

https://people.com/health/researchers-have-identified-4-health-factors-that-may-explain-why-some-people-get-long-covid/

Quote

The researchers followed more than 200 COVID-19 patients for two to three months after their diagnosis and found that regardless of if they had mild or severe cases, they were more likely to have four commonalities. One was a high level of coronavirus RNA in their blood early on in their illness, indicating a high viral load. Another was a history of Epstein-Barr virus, which many people can have at a younger age (typically as mononucleosis) and then lives on in the body.

A third factor was having autoantibodies — those found in autoimmune disorders — which mistakenly attack the immune system. And the last factor was type 2 diabetes, though the researchers said that in further studies with more patients it may just be that diabetes is one of many conditions that can lead to long COVID.  

 

The head of the Norwegian national health department just went on record to say that Norway believes it is better for its citizens to contract COVID now just after their 3rd jab then to contract it down the road when the vaccine's protection will have waned.  They base that on the level of protection they believe the 3 jabs provides from the risk of serious illness.  Norway is following Denmark and soon Sweden in planning to remove all of its COVID restrictions over the next couple of weeks.

So all three of these Scandinavian countries have reached the same conclusion and it is very much based on their overall national health programs.  Restrictions are lifted and everyone gets mildly sick (vast majority anyway with few needing hospitalization) until a basic form of herd immunity is reached.    Might be short lived if a new variant comes up but that's where these three normally level headed countries have decided to go and the driver is protecting the hospitals from overload in a few months' time.  Remember that all three countries have very high rates of fully vaccinated individuals (not kids under 12 though which is another interesting detail).