How are you dealing with life now with the Covid-19 virus situation? (1 Viewer)

[ManW_TheUncool]

We received another COVID vaccine 2 weeks ago. A week ago we decided to start easing off on wearing masks when in public indoor spaces. Three days later I woke up with a sore throat. It's not COVID (I've tested daily). I'm in middle of the worst cold I've had in many years. My rib cage is killing me due to all the coughing. My wife has it too, but not as bad as me.

Three days! That's all I made it while exercising freedom from a mask. This is the first time I've had a viral infection since February 2020. And, as mentioned, the worst cold in many many years.

Yes, we are going back to wearing masks.

Mark

I don't really know... but I wonder if very diligently (maybe even obsessively) wearing masks (and exercising certain other similar routines) all the time might actually worsen/weaken one's immune system and general ability to tolerate illness (at this point... vs back during the height of the pandemic). I'm guessing yes and "practicing" accordingly for myself anyway.

Not suggesting mask wearing and other preventive measures are generally bad at all, but maybe best to (thoughtfully) exercise in "moderation" instead (like w/ very many other things)... like wear (a good) one mainly when around/near clearly sick people or those immuno-compromised (to protect them), but not around those who are not, especially if not spending extended time very close-up...

But sure, you gotta do whatever makes you comfortable (enough)...

_Man_

 

[jayembee]

I don't really know... but I wonder if very diligently (maybe even obsessively) wearing masks (and exercising certain other similar routines) all the time might actually worsen/weaken one's immune system and general ability to tolerate illness (at this point... vs back during the height of the pandemic). I'm guessing yes and "practicing" accordingly for myself anyway.

Interesting hypothesis. One might wonder if some of the Asian cities where a significant percentage of people wear masks due to air pollution have a higher incidence of people with weaker immune systems. Then again, if so, how to determine whether it's because of lack of exposure to germs/viruses or from pollutants.

 

[Malcolm R]

I thought I read somewhere that they'd already determined that was a factor? That people protected themselves by wearing masks during the pandemic. Then when they stopped wearing masks regularly, flu and other viruses came back with a vengeance because herd immunity was low since most people hadn't been sick with "everyday" viruses for a couple of years.

I know I was sick for the first time in several years back around Thanksgiving (sinus infection, not Covid).

 

[Carlo_M]

Then when they stopped wearing masks regularly, flu and other viruses came back with a vengeance because herd immunity was low since most people hadn't been sick with "everyday" viruses for a couple of years.

Just to clarify, cold and flu viruses mutate very regularly so there really isn't such a thing as herd immunity (unlike say polio, measles, smallpox, etc.). Which is why annual vaccination is so important for influenza, even if they don't always predict the right strain by the time it comes around to the U.S. For 20 years now I've been getting the flu vaccine and over that time, I maybe have had 3-4 years where I still got the flu, and in those cases, most or all were mild.

Prior to that, in my teens and twenties, when theoretically my immune system was stronger, I would get the flu annually (during all of this time I've work at a college campus which is basically a huge petri dish for sickness since students are notorious at not taking care of themselves when they're sick), and some years it left me miserable.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Just to clarify, cold and flu viruses mutate very regularly so there really isn't such a thing as herd immunity (unlike say polio, measles, smallpox, etc.). Which is why annual vaccination is so important for influenza, even if they don't always predict the right strain by the time it comes around to the U.S. For 20 years now I've been getting the flu vaccine and over that time, I maybe have had 3-4 years where I still got the flu, and in those cases, most or all were mild.

Prior to that, in my teens and twenties, when theoretically my immune system was stronger, I would get the flu annually (during all of this time I've work at a college campus which is basically a huge petri dish for sickness since students are notorious at not taking care of themselves when they're sick), and some years it left me miserable.

Hard to know...

Personally/anecdotally, I've never had a flu vaccine and have not gotten any significant case of the flu in the last 30 years. I may have gotten a mild case on occasion (often accompanied by a cough that wasn't severe, but could be hard to kick and lasted much longer than any other symptoms), but nothing that made me think actual flu... until 2 Thanksgiving ago when I probably caught the rhinovirus or whatever was prevalent at the time. Even that felt more like a mild flu than anything that severe -- I did get an unusually strong/difficult cough for 3-4 days that seemed/felt a tad worse than when I actually caught covid a couple months later.

But yes, like you, I had also gotten more miserably sick mostly back when I was still growing up and into college, but not so much since then.

_Man_

PS: FWIW, I wouldn't call any of that "herd immunity" though as that's not what that would be.

 

[Mark Booth]

My wife and I are feeling much better. Still some lingering cough and excess mucus, but we no longer feel "sick". Sunday was the worst day for me. Ugh!

We've both been taking Airborne (fizzy tablet in water) twice a day. Plus Mucinex DM. And our doc prescribed Tessalon Perles, which helps with the cough.

We went to our favorite casino today. We wore our masks, of course. It had been about two weeks since our last visit and we noted an increase in the number of people wearing masks compared to 14 days ago. I asked one our hosts if she'd noticed an increase in masks and she said yes. The word she got from several of her VIPs with masks was "there's a bad cold bug going around". Now they tell me!

I didn't catch it at the casino because our visit was many days before I got sick. I probably picked it up at our magic club meeting a week ago Monday. Plus we went to Denny's afterward.

Regardless, it was a bad time to start feeling comfortable about dropping the mask. We are feeling inclined to NOT make that mistake again.

Mark