Poll: Have you been vaccinated against COVID-19?

[stillstANNding]

Massachusetts still requires a mask indoors at public places and outdoors if you can’t maintain the six-foot distance. There is an exception for during a restaurant meal.

As I understand it, the vaccine will not necessarily prevent CoVID but kept individuals in the trials from needing to be hospitalized or dying.

Peter and I do not mind wearing masks. It’s a simple thing. MIL does resist.

ANN

[agate]

I don't mind the mask either and will keep on wearing it when anywhere near people.

The laundry room is where people tend to get too close but it can't be helped because of the way the equipment is situated. There's a rule about "1 or 2 people at a time" in there and people have been observing it, most of the time.

They've added a container of disinfectant wipes and a note asking us to use them on the equipment before and after each use. I'm doing that but some people aren't. It's hard to get the wipes out of the container. They have to be wrestled out, and some people probably don't want to bother.

[clouds z]

no and im not living in nazi Germany

[clouds z]

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Lockdown-sceptic rock star Eric Clapton blasts vaccine safety 'propaganda' and claims he had a 'disastrous reaction' to AstraZeneca Covid jab which made him fear he'd never play again


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Eric Clapton has hit out at 'propaganda' over vaccine safety, claiming he suffered alarming side effects after his Covid jabs.

[Sunshine 2]

I think I will wear a mask in public forever. With a faulty immune system, I catch flu easily and colds and cannot shake them. This could be a game changer for me and others in my boat.

[agate]

I've been thinking about that too, Sunshine--just always wearing a mask whenever I might come in contact with people. I won't care if I get comments about it. After all, I used to see people wearing masks now and then years ago, and questions about their reasons weren't being asked.

[Virginia]

I can see where persons with compromised immune systems might want to keep on wearing a mask. I will keep one with me at all times, but do not feel the necessity to wear one all the time. If I am in a very large and close group of people I might pull out my mask, but all my friends and family have been fully vaccinated for about as long as I have. I got my second vaccine 2/22/21. I have continued to wear a mask, but now with the latest information from the CDC I will definitely pull back on it. We are no longer mandated in N.C. We also have had a low number of cases for quite some time, but still it was mandated until the CDC said it was no longer necessary.

I trusted the science enough to wear a mask and enough to get vaccinated. Therefore, why should I not trust science enough to shed my mask (at least most of the time) when they say it is safe. I am not sure if some of the grocery stores around here are still mandating mask or not. If they are I will wear one while in a grocery store. Also, I do believe in social distancing when in places like that. What I have noticed is that most people are so accustomed to doing that now that they probably will continue weather they wear a mask or not.

Everyone who has been vaccinated should do what they are comfortable doing. Those who have not been vaccinated should definitely wear a mask, but since one cannot tell who has not been vaccinated then they will just have to take their chances.

If a new variant comes along that the vaccines do not cover, then I will have to begin to wear my mask again. So far, according to the CDC all the variants are covered by the vaccines.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

This is on the CDC's site, dated April 2, 2021:

The risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in fully vaccinated people cannot be completely eliminated as long as there is continued community transmission of the virus. Vaccinated people could potentially still get COVID-19 and spread it to others.

Modeling studies suggest that preventive measures such as mask use and social distancing will continue to be important during vaccine implementation. However, there are ways to take a balanced approach by allowing vaccinated people to resume some lower-risk activities.

I couldn't find an update on this report for May. But, in a month, the CDC changed its guidelines on masks.

I trust science, or at least I want to trust science. But it isn't infallible.

Also, there is political pressure to "open up," boosting the economy by getting people back to work and traveling as the summer approaches.

We've been here before in the last year, when states/cities opened up too soon. The result was a spike in COVID.

Because the vaccines are emergency drugs, they haven't had time to develop a history of how well they work, how they affect people with different medical issues, or if there might be any long-term adverse side effects. Data needs to be collected and analyzed over the long haul of these vaccines for scientists to determine the answers to these questions.

For that reason, I feel we would all be much safer, if we continued to wear masks in public.

For years prior to COVID, Jim, Jon, and I wore masks in public during flu season. The flu can be deadly too, for those whose immune systems are compromised.

Additionally, WHO is contemplating how to plan for "the next pandemic." Vice President Harris met with WHO to discuss this potential issue. We don't know what is on the horizon. We're always in the middle of a crisis, waiting for the next crisis in this world.

If COVID could happen, what else can happen? We never expected COVID or this horrific pandemic. In our zeal to return to a pre-COVID life, we may be placing ourselves in jeopardy of exposure to COVID. We are not close to controlling COVID, let alone eliminating it. For the safety of everyone, I feel that it is too soon to relax our guidelines. They were working. And, every time the guidelines are relaxed, COVID cases increase.

There is a strong contingent of people, who refuse to be vaccinated or wear masks. While the vaccines provide protection against severe cases, it doesn't prevent us from getting COVID. While we might have a less severe case, does that mean that we won't have long-term COVID symptoms? Being vaccinated and getting COVID ~ does that mean that we could have a COVID relapse? How many times can a person get COVID? I don't know.

California has left the mask mandate in place, at least for now. But I don't need a mandate to determine whether I should wear a mask. Even when the mandate is lifted, I will wear a mask in public, indoors or outdoors, for the rest of my life.

My motto has always been: Better safe than sorry.

Prayers, healing, positive energy to all ~

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

*Virtual Hugs Are Germ-Free!


THANKS!

[SweetChoco]

(Off topic) SweetChoco, I clicked on that agate in your post just to see what happened. It took me to my Profile. I don't know how you got it to do that but I'll try @Sweet Choco to see what happens.

hahahaha you are so cool agate. Well done!

[agate]

Thank you, SweetChoco.

Rose and others, we're by no mean free from more pandemics. This longish article is one I found well worth reading--a review by Jerome Groopman of a book by Peter Hotez, Preventing the Next Pandemic:

[Virginia]

I haven't read the article, but we have always been apt to have another pandemic and at some time in the future will. They are not that often and usually not this severe. Maybe if the same people are still alive when the next one hits, people will pay attention sooner and take whatever precautions they are advised by the scientist to take. I hope so.

By the way, I saw the last part of an interview with Wolf Blitzer and Franklin Graham on CNN. I don't know what the first part was about, but the last part Franklin said he and his family, even grandchildren have all been vaccinated. Wolf Blitzer asked if he had talked to the former President about coming out forcefully and recommending that people get vaccinated. He said he had not, but might give him a call tonight and mention it. Wolf Blitzer seemed to think that would get more people to do it.

[agate]

You have to wonder where some people were when they had high school biology, or maybe they didn't take high school biology?

Every student was taught to use a microscope and we soon learned how much is going on that we don't see with the naked eye. Cells dividing and multiplying, that kind of thing. We learned about the horrible diseases in the world, along with parasites and other nasty stuff, and how fast and horribly some of them can kill you. You'd think most people would have learned that somehow but maybe they've forgotten.

[houghchrst]

I had intended fully to wait to see how things went but the death by Covid of a close friend of 30yrs changed my mind. I made appointments for my son and me to both get done as soon as I found out my friend was in the hospital on his belly dying from Covid.

I don't know how to do the cool linking trick y'all got goin' on here.

[agate]

Chris, I'm so sorry you're losing a dear friend to COVID.

I'm not sure how many people are able to do linking tricks here. I haven't yet got links to show up as just links. They show up as two links--one of them going to the page I want it to go to and the other one going to the main page of the source of that link.

When you click on that link icon at the top left of the message window and enter the URL that you've copied and pasted, you'll be looking at a situation where there are probably 3 opportunities for editing, shown by the little pencil icon. You can also check a box that lets you remove the "thumbnail" view that is probably being shown just to the left of the 2 links.

I always remove the thumbnail view but you might want to include it. It's up to you.

There's also a bit of description in a separate box below the 2 links. I always edit that out too. You can just highlight all of that text and remove it.

As for tinkering with the 2 links, I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm hoping that the admins will find a way to make this simpler but it may not be possible.

[stillstANNding]

So sorry about your friend, Chris. I’m glad that you and Jared will be vaccinated.

Everyone in my entire family is now vaccinated. This includes the PHD pharmacist in Florida and the twenty-somethings in Illinois. We don’t currently have any younger than that.

I am grateful.
ANN