Topic: Corona Virus Panic/Discussion Thread

@Th3solution I think in the UK, the third jab is only for the over 70's? So I don't think it as bad as it first sounds.

@JohnnyShoulder @Thrillho That might make sense (the seniors being the targets for a booster) as a public health approach. I guess we’ll find out as they do the experiments on whether it’s even necessary. In my observation, it seems the senior citizens are much more acceptable to vaccines than the younger population anyways. There’s not a lot of 70 year old anti-vaxers running around it seems. And when there are, it’s probably because their kids or grandkids show them a Tik Tok video of a rant with a bunch of nonsense taken out of context.

@JohnnyShoulder @Th3solution

From a recent Guardian article;

The JCVI recommends that if a Covid booster programme goes ahead, then stage one should offer a third dose to:

Adults aged 16 years and over who are immunosuppressed.
Those living in residential care homes for older adults.
All adults aged 70 years or over.
Adults aged 16 years and over who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable.
Frontline health and social care workers.

Stage 2 would offer a third dose to:

All adults aged 50 years and over.
All adults aged 16 to 49 years who are in an at-risk group for flu or Covid.
Adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals.

So quite a cohort!

So funny story...

I'm in Oklahoma now and have pretty much stopped wearing a mask entirely because it's like wearing a scarlet letter but I'm in this tiny, very locally owned furniture store the other day to buy a mattress and the salesman is openly carrying. I'm there with my grandmother, who literally has a bookshelf full of stuff like Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck and Joel Osteen, and for some reason she asks, somewhat scandalized, "Oh now why do you have a gun?" A question only an old lady can get away with but anyway he goes into this seemingly rehearsed, slightly indignant mini rant about how dangerous the world is, and he's got kids, and no matter what he plans to go home at night... blah blah blah.

I could hardly hold back laughter honestly. Here's a guy working in a furniture store in a town with a population below 30k who probably doesn't see but like 10 customers a day (it was completely empty the entire length of my visit) and he thinks he's gonna need to go all John McClane at work someday.

Now ask that same guy if he's vaccinated, or if he ever wears a mask. Or ever did.

I just don't get how people's perception of risk could be so skewed is really all I'm saying. Masks are super cheap now, vaccines are free, and firearms are neither. And while I imagine his risk of dying from Covid is relatively low, I can promise you his likelihood of dying in a mass shooting at his podunk furniture store is far lower. But where does he invest resources? A gun. Lol.

Like, why?

@zupertramp That's a great psychology study right there. Same for those saying they don't want to take the risk with the vaccine. I don't know how many people have already died of COVID, but the handful of people that died after getting the vaccine (which are yet to be linked to vaccine itself) is what worries them.

@Octane yeah I'm guilty of harboring my own irrational fears but I have a sense that they are irrational. Which keeps me from putting too much work into protecting myself from one-in-a-million type threats.

I'm just sure we'd all like this New Covid World to be behind us. And the simplest way to put it behind us is to just get the vaccine. It's not as if I'm not skeptical of pharmaceutical companies (and by extension vaccines). I voiced my initial concerns already and they proved to be misplaced. There's no I Am Legend scenario playing out before us. The absolute worst one-in-a-million thing that might happen is a blood clot if you're a female in a certain age range or heart inflammation if you're a male within a certain age range. And both those things are very treatable anyway. One with ibuprofen.

So, mocking aside, really please just get the dang vaccine so we can go back to our old lives. Cause these variants could potentially drag on forever. Do any of us want that?

*Obviously not all of this diatribe was directed at you Octane.

It looks like Europe and UK are continuing to open up more? It seems like in the States things are actually scaling back again a little. With delta out there the case loads and hospital rates are creeping back up in a lot of areas, so I hear some places are going back into masking and restrictions. This is an endless nightmare.
So I was wondering over there what’s going on, since in general the European community has been a bit more tolerant of the social restrictions.

@Th3solution England (and therefore the UK) is now at the Purge stage where anything goes baby!

@Thrillho I think us and Wales are a bit more cautious since we have some rules still in place but yeah, we seem to be drastically heading towards a ‘f**k it’ mentality. Which doesn’t exactly sound very responsible.

Poland technically hasn't changed any restrictions lately but some events are coming back now (both outdoor and indoor). There's a limit to how many unvaccinated people can attend such an event but I'm not sure how they're verifying anyone's status - I don't think the organizers can ask for any proof, other than just a declaration (and people will lie about this for sure).
I'm playing a small show myself next week but I'm fully vaxed now and everyone attending had their chance so I'm not too worried tbh... Also the number of new cases has been consistently low lately (~100 new cases daily in a 38 million country is not bad) and we have a pretty good vaccination rate here in the city (60-70% vaccinated).
It's not as good in some regions (Poland's east is like USA's south in many ways) but I'm not going anywhere near there anytime soon.

@Kidfried good to hear. How do you feel?

@Thrillho @Th3solution @nessisonett
Really does seem to have devolved into a screw it mentality. But it's been mentally exhausting so I do get it... The vaccinated figure they're probably fine and the voluntarily unvaccinated have generally thought this was always much ado about nothing so here we are. I guess the only people I feel sorry for are those that can't get vaccinated. Edit: well, that and the more unvaccinated, the greater the chances of another variant emerging.

But it's palpable how numb and apathetic everyone has become regarding Covid. Which is more of an observation than a critique, to be clear.

@Kidfried I imagine yearly vaccinations will become a thing. Hope you feel better soon.

@zupertramp The way its going, I think there will be a new set of lockdowns and restrictions come the Autumn/Winter.

Yearly vaccinations?! Yikes!! You trust these companies enough to push a yearly edition?? Not I. Follow the $$$$$.

@Snottie_Drippen I mean, if the data suggests yearly vaccines will substantially reduce risk then, idk, seems reasonable to at least consider it. But that's me.

And for what it's worth, I don't think any financial examination would reveal a plot to purposefully kill people. At worst we get shot up with placebos. I mean, selling us all saline would probably provide the greatest amount of profits if we're really going full conspiracy theory here.

@Kidfried Maybe only for people over a certain age it will be for. I know my parents have the flu jab every year and they are in the seventies, so it could be something similar for covid.

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, my Nana gets all sorts of jabs and boosters and stuff every year too since her immune system is about the opposite of immune. Wouldn’t surprise me if we had to get boosters every once in a while and it honestly is a minor inconvenience compared to being stuck in my house all day.

@JohnnyShoulder I do believe some health authorities are currently recommending booster shots for some “increased risk groups” or whatever the wording is. That includes the elderly as well as people with certain conditions.

@nessisonett The amount of pills my mum has to take these days is pretty insane!

@Voltan Yeah I think a third jab could be on the way for the elderly and people with certain health conditions in England, think I heard a few weeks back. I've not kept that upto date with it all as I'm pretty healthy and am not that old. My parents would have to though.