rduncan

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from my State Department of Heath indicating I might be eligible for a second booster shot since I indicated I might be immunocompromised. I was directed to call them so they could determine if I qualify. I may contact my Gastroenterologist first to get his take but I'm not opposed to another vaccine if it helps. I've received Pfizer each time.

Nick Danger

I bought a packet of KF94 masks. I got a selection of colors and sizes from an importer recommended by the New York Times. I chose that site because I wanted the masks were approved by the South Korea drug agency, not forgeries.

If there is another surge and we suddenly need masks, they won't be available. If we don't need them, I will have wasted an hour's pay. I'll wear them when I get the flu or something.

danwiz

Does anybody still take a look at the JHU dashboard now and then? I still do a "screen capture and save" of it every day. On the far left side of the chart, where it gives the confirmed cases by country, the USA became #1 on or before 3/27/2020. On August 10, 2021 the JHU revised that far left portion of the chart to show 20-Day cases/deaths and started ranking the countries by their 28-day totals. The USA remained #1. The USA remained #1 through 2/25/2022. On 2/26/22 Germany took over the top spot for 28-day cases and the USA became #2. On 2/28/22 the USA became #3, with Germany still in the #1 spot and Russia in the #2 spot. On March 5, 2022 the USA dropped to the #4 position. On 3/9 we dropped to the #6 position. On 3/10 we dropped to #7. I'm not going to give every drop, but it's gone quickly since 3/10 and the USA is now in the #14 position. Based on this, I believe that we are in for at least one more big surge in the USA.

If anybody is interested, I can create a zip file of all 692 screen captures I have saved and post them somewhere on my website for you to download.

Josh-da-man

The local Walmart has had boxes of free 3M N95 masks that are individually wrapped in plastic, and we've been picking a few up every time we shop, and acquired a nice stockpile. "Just in case."

I don't really trust ordering them online, as there's so much counterfeit and sketchy shit out there floating around, but I figure that the ones Walmart have are legit.

zyzzle

Except... by now, my "just in case" scenario has switched to "just in case" meaning staying at home (lockdown) rather than going out and wearing N95 masks. That's very unlikely, unless we're at 2020 levels again, so I'm willing to take the risk of going out now and getting back to some sense of normalcy by not having to wear an N95 mask. If shit hits the fan again, it's back to self-imposed lockdown for me... Even being 3x vaccinated.

Nick Danger

I haven't looked at the Johns Hopkins dashboard for a long time. I'm still looking at the state dashboard a couple of times a week.

TomOpus

I meant to post this yesterday.

GOVERNOR PARSON ANNOUNCES END TO COVID-19 CRISIS IN MISSOURI

slop101

So I've had a sore throat for a couple days now (no other symptoms as far as I can tell), so I'm immediately thinking covid. I am triple-vaxxed.
I have a covid test scheduled for Monday, so we'll see.

DJariya

Why wait until Monday? Aren't there any free COVID testing sites in your area? There's one in my area that does Rapid or PCR.

AGuyNamedMike

We're signed up for 2nd boosters tomorrow after work, getting flu shots as well. In spite of our Governor, the state health apparatus is still fighting the good fight.

slop101

I wasn't "waiting" until Monday, I already scheduled one more than a month ago because it was required for an upcoming procedure.
I ended up using one of the tests we got through the USPS, and it came out negative.
My sore throat is gone, and now I have mild sniffles.
I guess you can still catch a common cold!

andicus

I'm not sure about the rapid tests you received, but i know some are now recommending cheek/throat AND nasal swabbing (in that order ), as the Omicron variants are not as well detected with rapid tests.

I've been feeling out of sorts, this week, so I've done a couple of tests. They both came up negative, within the specified timeframe (15-20 minutes), but having just left them on my desk, about an hour and 45 minutes later, there was a faint curved line, in addition to the control line.

It must be some sort of residual effect from the buffer being drawn up the test strip, as it's not a line at the T (test) line, which you would expect to be straight.

This is about 2.5 hours after taking the test:





DJariya

Rochelle Walensky just posted this. Of course everyone in the comments thinks this data is bullshit and being manipulated



and I just read Covid pundit Eric Feigl Ding has Covid now.

eXcentris

Quebec has extended the mask mandate until April 30th. I'm probably the only one here who still has to wear a mask in stores. Not that big a deal to me.

Norm de Plume

Good for Quebec. Our imbeciles lifted all mandates a couple of weeks ago, and duh, whaddya know, cases have taken flight again and we're in the sixth wave. Based on my limited observation, most people here (>75%) are still masking.

andicus

Ooh, you're lucky. In my brief excursions, here, since the removal of mandates, I would say maybe 30% are still wearing masks. That's based on trips to Costco, a supermarket, and going to a local hockey game. Disappointing, to say the least.

Draven

We dropped our mask mandates weeks ago, schools and businesses included. Our cases have barely moved. Either there's no surge or no one is testing anymore. I've mentioned before that the testing place I drive by every day that was packed back in the winter is empty now.

tiloup13

So Quebec is going through the same sixth wave as Ontario but they still have a mask mandate but Ontario ending their mask mandate is the reason for their sixth wave? OK there...

Personally, I am not wearing my mask anymore and very glad to be able to.

cultshock

I'd say it's about 50/50 in most of the stores I've been to (I still wear a mask in stores). And yeah, as soon as they removed the mask mandates, Covid has been spreading like wildfire in my kids' schools, while the cases were very minimal at the schools when they were wearing masks, gee what a surprise. Amazingly, my kids haven't caught it although many of their friends and classmates have (on some days nearly half of their classes are empty). Both of my kids are smartly still wearing their masks in school, that's probably why.

fujishig

School is probably one of the only places where they're still testing regularly

cultshock

Not schools here in Ontario unfortunately.

fujishig

Oh, how did they detect so many cases in schools then? They're all symptomatic?

Norm de Plume

Testing of wastewater.

TomOpus

I could see that detecting Covid but how does that determine numbers?

Norm de Plume

Mea culpa. It doesn't determine numbers, just increases and decreases.