D&D and the rising pandemic

[Dannyalcatraz]

While Delta is the current big bad bully, Lambda is making a name for itself, too.

There’s yet another COVID strain spreading. Here’s what you should know about the Lambda variant

The World Health Organization (WHO) has added the COVID Lambda variant to its list of coronavirus variants of interest, meaning it could be more contagious.

fortune.com

 

[Imaculata]

Now that the Netherlands has lifted the mask requirements, instantly I am the only person at my local supermarket wearing one. It seems most people in general only wear a mask because they have to, and not because it will protect themselves or others.

When this whole thing began, long before masks were mandated, I was the first person in my neighborhood to wear one. People looked at me funny, like I was some kind of weirdo. As soon as the requirement dropped (a few weeks ago), gone were the masks, and the social distancing, and the cleaning of hands and shopping carts.

But just because the requirements have been lifted, does not mean the risk is gone. The Delta variant has made its way to the Netherlands, and has already infected countless people. And a lot of adults in the Netherlands have not had their second shot yet, if they are vaccinated at all. So they are at best about 20% protected. Do people care so little about their own health or that of others?

But again it seems I am the odd one out. Yesterday I saw only one woman at the supermarket also wearing a mask. Everyone else was walking around maskless, brushing up against each other, and talking up close. It was an ff'ing nightmare. And again they look at me like I'm the weirdo for wearing my mask, disinfecting my cart (and scrubbing the handles with a paper towel), and wearing plastic gloves. If you care about your own health, why would you not take every precaution possible until you're at least fully vaccinated?

 

[Mirtek]

It's all a matter of risk perception. Even with Delta the risk for healthy adult below a certain age is not that high.

So it comes down to how high you rate the risk that you may not be as healthy as you think you are (and an infection will be bad due to a hidden factor you were not aware that you already suffered it all along) and the general risk of being one of the few unlucky that are hit hard despite really being healthy.

At work we had the mask requirement accidentally lifted for a day due to an unfortunately worded mail from risk council. Immediately 95% of us went maskless. Next day they send a ne message fixing their announcement


And yeah, each to their own, but gloves, scrubbing and disinfecting are overkill. Spread by smear infection is all but meaningless for Covid

Especially since you are not actually disinfecting anything. Look at the instructions on the stuff. Just rubbing it with a towel wetted with it or spraying it on a surfacing and than rubbing it of won't do anything. It requires a few minutes to do it's work, otherwise you might just as well use water.

 

[Mirtek]

BTW in German (and AFAIK all of EU) it's now the official recommendation to Mix vaccines.

So if you got Astra at your first shot, you will get Moderna or Pfizer for your second

 

[CapnZapp]

It's all a matter of risk perception. Even with Delta the risk for healthy adult below a certain age is not that high.

I assume you're talking about vaccinated young(ish) adults. If so, then yes - the vaccine reduces the risks to background levels (i e. as long as you take your yearly covid shot for the foreseeable future, you ought not to worry)

Among unvaccinated COVID-19 remains a plague that poses a considerable risk - not just of death and hospitalization, but of permanent reduced life quality due to complications that simply fly under the radar ("long-term covid").

Claiming anything less is just irresponsible.

 

[Mirtek]

I assume you're talking about vaccinated young(ish) adults. If so, then yes - the vaccine reduces the risks to background levels (i e. as long as you take your yearly covid shot for the foreseeable future, you ought not to worry)

Among unvaccinated COVID-19 remains a plague that poses a considerable risk - not just of death and hospitalization, but of permanent reduced life quality due to complications that simply fly under the radar ("long-term covid").

Claiming anything less is just irresponsible.

That depends entirely on where you draw the line for "considerable".

Long/Post Covid has no clear definition and reported high rates (up to 20%) are only with those definitions that include a broad range of symptons that are not very severe and/or not that long.

There are definitions that arrive at high rates by including having minor symptons after 5 weeks which mostly vanish after 8-10 weeks. E.g if your sense of taste had not fully recovered after 6 weeks, but is fully fine since 9 weeks after, you're included in some long covid Definitions.

The more severe and more permanent cases (up to being wrecked for life) exist too, but fortunately those are much more rare.

 

[Horwath]

Do people care so little about their own health or that of others?

Yes they do, but I would say that people just simply had it with this s#$t.

You get numb to danger and bad news after certain amount and that is it.
Especially if nothing happens to you and still media and politician talk about Covid 24/7.

I am not saying that there in no danger. There is. Just saying that people ignore Covid rules and recommendations because they had enough of everything.

I had positive antigen test result several months ago. Without any symptoms, yet I got both Moderna shot just to be on the safe side. And to not infect any members of my family.

Also, I was in Denmark for Croatia-Spain Euro2020 match last week, and no one wear masks there. Anywhere. And the stadium was packed.
I only had to have mask on the flight in and out of Copenhagen.

 

[Mirtek]

Also for the majority of people who are yet wearing masks it's clear that they do it only as a chore they must do rather than something they want to do simply by watching how they don/doff them and handle them inbetween.

Graping them full frontal with the full hand and crumpling them into a pocket just like this. Either they do not understand how masks work or they simply only wear masks because they have to, and only because they have to

Then you have some people that are outright hilarious. E.g. during the last small heatwave i Was standing in line for ice cream. One person in the whole line actually wore those rubber OP glooves.

When she got her cone, and was passing by the still waiting queue the melting ice cream started to drip on her gloove.

Any she just licked it off her glooved hand! Lady WTF are you taking the trouble to wear these things if you lick them?!

 

[Umbran]

Graping them full frontal with the full hand and crumpling them into a pocket just like this. Either they do not understand how masks work or they simply only wear masks because they have to, and only because they have to

If getting covid via fomid is "all but meaningless" then how they handle the mask is irrelevant.

 

[Mirtek]

If getting covid via fomid is "all but meaningless" then how they handle the mask is irrelevant.

It is. But it shows that most people only follow rules because those are the rules and happily leave the masks off as soon it's no longer mandatory.

Do you know any example of a significant large part of people wearing masks somwhere it's not required? Everywhere in europe where it's no longer required the masks fly off in the blink of an eye. All pandemic the issue has even been with enforcing masks rather than the reverse.

Those crumbled masks being fished out of the trouser pocket also have all their sides rubbed against each other and whatever got stopped on their outside is also on their inside and breathed in next time. Mostly the common viruses and molds