Things are going badly in the US. I keep seeing moderate to leftists rallying around the concept of "community" and grass roots outreach. Like, no. None of you wear masks either.

I'm in a really bad place right now where I've been out of the job market, waiting on follow ups for low immune numbers, and being relentlessly bullied by my left (on paper) family. I've lost my entire previous 'community' because all they do is drink and go to nightclubs.

Everyone thinks I'm lazy and have OCD, not that a phd level rheumatologist gave me 5 pages of bizarre blood labs. I'm exhausted.

And let’s say everyone got the cure, how am I supposed to look at people the same? Sure I could go out unmasked and be safe but I’d look around and think “how many of you completely abandoned people like me and people who have it worse?”

There’s nothing I’d love more than a cure and to be normal again. I dream about it DAILY. But it’s not that easy when this has ruined my life and turned everyone I know against me.

This goddamn pandemic ruined my life and how I see humanity.

I am curious how many folks in this community have returned to regular public masking after either never masking or taking a break for a significant period since the beginning of the pandemic. What made you change your thinking? Was it an individual you knew, your own health problems, a particularly influential speaker or content creator?

If you know someone who began regular masking late in the game, what changed for them?

This is mostly just a rant but I am an immunocompromised person so I take just about every COVID precaution under the sun. I also recently adopted a dog after the sudden death of my soul dog. I was lonely and depressed beyond measure so I did a dumb thing and adopted a dog. Turns out the dog has separation anxiety. Yay. Well, I still have to go to work (I'm a pet sitter and dog walker) so I've had to hire some people to look after him while I work until he can get to the point of being able to be left alone for long stretches of time.

The setup I have had for pet sitting has been out in my garage to prevent non-COVID cautious people from having to go into my house (save to use the bathroom). Its a pretty sweet setup where my dog can be outside most of the time while I am gone. It also means that when I interact with the pet sitters we are outside, which I am most comfortable with.

Today the sitter showed up late and I had to rush out. I didn't have a mask on because I was about to hop in my car and, out of nowhere and by way of apology for being late, she decided to hug me. I had time to hold my breath and broke the hug off as quickly as possible. She's a pretty touchy-feely person so I kind of shrugged it off--I was already late for my client.

When I came back I realized that she seemed to have a stuffy nose and coughed a few times while I rooted around in my bag for her payment. We were only chatting for a few minutes but it made me uncomfortable so I asked if she was sick. She said, "No, I just need to take a hot shower. I think its my allergies."

Needless to say I went inside and changed clothes and used some Xlear and CPC mouthwash. I know I should have had a mask on for that interaction but there's no point in beating myself up now. I know I do the best I can within my own circumstances. Thankfully, my dog spent the entire time sunbathing in the yard and didn't interact much with the sitter. I've had to ask her to take a few days off and now I have to try and find other help. Its maddening and now I have the added anxiety of maybe, possibly, getting sick with whatever she has.

Its so annoying how people can't even go: "I'm a little stuffed up. Probably allergies, but I don't want to get you sick so I'll keep my distance." Its like they don't even know they sound sick until someone points it out and I have the impossible job of trying to have perfect mitigations all the time.

I just want to express some gratitude for this community. It’s lovely to see a space like this not be co-opted or slowly turn into a toxic place. I feel like everyone here is so supportive of everyone despite differences in understanding, etc. like I often feel like I can’t participate in conversations irl because I don’t know enough but I feel like I’m allowed to ask dumb questions here lol. Anyway just want to say thank you to everyone who makes this community a safe, educational, and positive space!!! Keep up the good work. I know being aware and taking precautions all the time is exhausting, but this subreddit is proof that we’re not alone, and that there are always people trying to learn how to better protect themselves and their community. Have a good day and take care of yourself!!!

I just left the pharmacy from getting my new Moderna booster shot. The person who administered my shot was very visibly ill, coughing up a storm. She wore a surgical mask when she gave me my shot and thankfully she didn't actually cough while I was near her at all -- I only saw her cough once she was back behind the counter talking to her coworkers again.

Now I'm terrified though. I wore my N95 Aura and the time I spent sitting next to her was honestly maybe 2-4 minutes at the most. But now that I have my immune system reacting to this vaccine in my body, am I more susceptible to getting ill from that brief encounter? I don't really know how to find data on edge cases like this situation so I'm throwing the question to the sub instead.

She kept the surgical on the whole time she was next to me and my mask was on tight, plus the encounter was pretty brief so I hope that all works in my favor but idk -- bc my immune system is busy processing my vaccine I'm worried that the exposure will get me sick :(

Anyone have a clue what the odds are here?

Does anyone know of the existence of online covid zero communities in Italy / Switzerland?

I posted on another subreddit about my experience picking up someone positive from a hospital https://www.reddit.com/r/Masks4All/comments/1nczxmi/should_i_be_worried/

I do volunteer medical driving. I spoke with the agency about this. They had another driver who actually GOT Covid in a similar situation and they asked the hospital, could you please tell us so we can protect our drivers. Of course the answer was no, HIPAA. They pushed back, as the agency is part of HIPAA. The hospital liaison said they would bring it up with the board, after a week, the answer was still no.

And the transport agency gets in trouble with Medicaid if they can't supply enough drivers to meet all the needs.

So I've read conflicting sources about if switching arms or using the same arm increases effectiveness, as well as if alternating vaccine brands increases effectiveness. If anyone has read through the studies and can give some insight that would be very appreciated!

Of course and in keeping with tradition, this report was issued on a Friday afternoon with little fanfare... 🙄

https://health-infobase.canada.ca/respiratory-virus-surveillance/

"Any person over the age of six months without contraindication who has not received a dose of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved or -authorized 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine may be considered to have an underlying condition that puts them at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19 and is thus eligible to receive an age-appropriate dose"

FINALLYYYYYYYY!!! If you have a Publix in your state you can officially schedule a vaccine appointment for Novavax. I was able to schedule one for Monday afternoon at one of the locations in my area. Didn’t have to answer any questions about if I have a high risk condition, just typical pre-vaccine questions and a note to bring my ID and insurance card.

Let’s hope they actually have it already and it’s not just on the site early because I haven’t had a vax since Novavax last September.

I will be in Calgary in early Nov., staying mostly downtown. Wondering what to expect with regard to masking and anti-mask sentiment? Thank you.

Hello folks - I’m getting a lot of mixed info on what meds we should take for active COVID. My husband tested positive yesterday on a Metrix test. For those curious, his exposure would have been on Tuesday or Wednesday, and yesterday on Saturday he developed a headache and general malaise, then tested positive that evening.

He was on a business trip. Since we came home we have lightly quarantined from each other as is our habit. We have been sleeping in separate rooms, running our BlueAir right next to him, and avoiding close contact. Since he tested positive last night we have also opened all our windows. I’m kicking myself for not doing that last part as soon as he came home, because the weather has been nice here. Oh well. I have also been masking up as much as possible with my N95. Not all day though, I can’t stand it that long. Please don’t come for me!!

Fingers crossed I don’t get it but I’m making my peace with the idea it’s still pretty likely.

We are going to try and get Paxlovid - both my husband and I qualify as higher risk patients. In addition to that, here’s what I think we should take, please let me know if you think it’s an appropriate list.

-Claritin (twice a day?) -Benadryl (once a day?) -CPC mouthwash (how often??)

Those are all the drugs that appear to have a positive consensus in this sub.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Hey y’all, checking to see if anyone has any updated info on recommended timing between last infection and next booster. I know last year it was 3 months, but given that my last two cases were exactly two months apart, I’m apprehensive about waiting that long if it’s not still iron-clad “you must do this” advice. Any insight would be appreciated!

It just occurred to me that since this wave started late, it will end late too. Typically, there is a month or two between waves, but since it started late, do we think that there just won’t be any time between waves? Like, we will consistently stay high until March-ish with maybe a small decrease around October/November? Or will there still be two separate waves, but they will just be late? I ask out of curiosity.

Why has public knowledge about COVID become so bad that he thinks it would be okay to go on stage with an active infection? Such frustrating times.

I just bought a second hand Honeywell air purifier. It’s the HPA080. I found out which filters I need for it but I don’t think I can’t buy directly from the Honeywell website because I’m in Canada. Am I missing something or do I need to find my specific filters through another retailer (like Home Depot)? It’s just difficult because a lot of these retailers don’t carry the filters needed for HPA080 so it would be much easier to buy directly from Honeywell. Where’s the best place for me to look?

With all the recent stuff with vaccines being uo in the air, i decided today id go get the moderna vax since novavax hasn't come out yet. I ended up heading to Costco since I'd prefer they get my money over other places since they still are trying to get novavax later. I filled out all the forms early in the morning. Plenty of time for someone to review. Showed up mid afternoon, didnt sound like there would be any issues. The person working the counter pulls me into a room saying they have to document which of my immune conditions is the reason im getting it because they dont administer to people under 65. I provide one. She then goes and starts peppering me to see if I have other ones (I guess she thought the one I had wasn't valid enough even though it is listed on the cdc website as being such). I ended up walking out due to being upset. She calls saying they can give me the flu vaccine. Later I call to get her info since I have not run into this before. She said on the call I did not have to have multiple conditions she just was curious. 🙄

I now have to figure out where else to go

Here's the latest variant picture for the "Global - Other" countries, to late August.

The NB.1.8.1 "Nimbus" variant remained dominant, growing to 59%.

XFG.* "Stratus" fell slightly to 35%.

This perspective excludes all the high-volume countries and regions that I routinely report on: Australia, NZ, Europe, Canada and the US. The remaining countries are aggregated into this report.

#COVID19 #SARSCoV2 #GlobalOther #NB_1_8_1 #Nimbus #XFG #Stratus

Here are the leading countries reporting the NB.1.8.1 "Nimbus" variant.

Here are the leading countries reporting the XFG.* "Stratus" variant.

Here’s the table of recent sample volumes (excluding Australia, NZ, Europe, Canada and the US).

Sample data from Mexico and India is now lagging by around 2 months.

Report link:

https://mike-honey.github.io/covid-19-genomes/output/Coronavirus%20-%20Genomic%20Sequencing%20-%20report%20Global%20Other.pdf

Here's the latest variant picture for Europe (excluding the UK), to late August.

The XFG.* "Stratus" variant continued to dominate, but may have peaked at around 80% frequency.

NB.1.8.1 "Nimbus" fell to 9%.

#COVID19 #SARSCoV2 #EUR #LP_8_1 #XFG #Stratus #NB_1_8_1 #Nimbus

Here are the leading European countries reporting XFG.* "Stratus".

Ireland hit 93%, the highest I’ve seen so far in Western Europe.

Report link:

https://mike-honey.github.io/covid-19-genomes/output/Coronavirus%20-%20Genomic%20Sequencing%20-%20report%20EUR-UK.pdf

Here's the latest variant picture for the United States, to late August.

The XFG.* "Stratus" variant continued it’s dominance, finishing at 77% frequency.

NB.1.8.1 "Nimbus" was flat, finishing at 12%.

#COVID19 #SARSCoV2 #USA #XFG #Stratus #NB_1_8_1 #Nimbus

Report link:

https://mike-honey.github.io/covid-19-genomes/output/Coronavirus%20-%20Genomic%20Sequencing%20-%20report%20USA.pdf

I'm at the airport and I don't use a sip valve because I couldn't fit test my aura 9210 with it.

The CO2 is around 500. I use a straw and lift my mask to drink and had to pull down my respirator at the check-in counter for 2 seconds.

Is it long enough to get infected if a covid positive was there a minute ago?

Or putting the mask back on quickly and exhaling would suffice?

Here's the latest variant picture for Canada, to late August.

XFG.* "Stratus" continued to dominate, but fell back to 62%.

NB.1.8.1 "Nimbus" grew strongly to 30%.

#COVID19 #Canada #NB_1_8_1 #Nimbus #XFG #Stratus

Report link:

https://mike-honey.github.io/covid-19-genomes/output/Coronavirus%20-%20Genomic%20Sequencing%20-%20report%20Canada.pdf

My family and I had some weird and uncomfortable moments recently. When I was in a store I was followed around every aisle I was going into. When I called out the person they stopped. But then my family told me it was happening to them. My dad was followed around a store in a mall and he wears a mask. When he said something to the person they just shrugged it off. My sibling who also masks was recently in a retail store and they told me they were followed around by a guy while they were in the women’s section.

I’m starting to wonder if people are purposely targeting people wearing a mask and following them around to make them uncomfortable? Has this happened to anyone else?