3 years after Covid began...

Yup, the world is healing

It’s sad though that a lot of businesses—big and small—were destroyed.

There never should have been lockdowns.

The world has changed for the worse.

Crazy people now abound because of Covid.

Higher prices on everything, everywhere.

Skyrocketing real estate prices.

Many of my favorite businesses have closed.

Just an overall feeling of different-ness, post Covid.

[quote]The world has changed for the worse.

It was a pandemic that killed at least 7 million people and made at least 1 billion people sick. You're gonna get that.

Flu season from now on is going to kill even more people than it used to, and within 10 years maximum, we're going to find out millions have long-term effects from COVID, which will still be circulating in some form.

I acknowledge i might be coming from a place of privilege and really plain good luck (ie, neither I nor anyone in my direct family having fallen severely ill or died as a result of Covid) by saying this but… i also know I’m not alone in saying I look back on summer 2020 with nostalgia. I weirdly miss it. I was / still am in NYC too, which was arguably hit the hardest (at least certainly during the first wave(s)) and probably one of the most difficult environments within the US to endure the formal lockdowns. Yet despite all the craziness - I found myself really, genuinely bonding with my close close friends (who thankfully didn’t and still don’t live far from me), reconnecting with old ones, and trying my hardest to make the most of life in spite of the restrictions. Many outdoor parties, small indoor gatherings with friends - any excuse to go outside and socialize.

Tell my two friends who just came down with Covid that it’s over.

I’m still masking in stores, elevators, and on transit. I still don’t go to theaters or restaurants.

Later night shopping has been ruined.

I got the vaccine in early August and then a month later the bivalent vaccine came out. They told me to wait until early November, but I got a virus so they told me to wait. December, I get COVID. January, I get another virus. I'm now in bed under 1000 blankets because yet again I have another virus. This cold season has fucking SUCKED. Old people or the immunocompromised or people with comorbidities are probably dropping like flies at this point.

I'm on my second bought of covid and it's 10x better than my first bout. It barely registers but I feel a little off, and have a bit of dizziness when I bend down. But RSV was a lot worse and lasted for 3 weeks,

[quote]Old people or the immunocompromised or people with comorbidities are probably dropping like flies at this point.

At least 25,000 Americans have died of Covid so far this year, per the New York Times.

For work, I had to go to nightly work events 3x a week and I did that roughly 50 weeks a year for about 30 years.

That's 4500 events.

So when the shutdown came along, I switched over to ZOOMS and enjoyed being home alone.

I lost a parent during COVID and we weren't able to have a memorial. I want to still have one but get zero support from siblings. that's depressing.

There's no family. I'm too old to find someone and even if I were to find someone I'm afraid I'm too set in my ways to make a successful go of it.

I don't mind being alone. Except for the loneliness.

R6 how can you look back on these times " fondly?" Bizarre. Like you I was fortunate in terms of direct Covid impact on me and my family/ friends but... Look, I'm the least triggered person however there was a point in late March/ early April where I truly thought we were all gonna die, like this was the end of humanity. The constant media coverage of death counts didn't help either

r7, you're being paranoid. The cases have dropped and unless you're not vaxxed, you have nothing to worry about. I finally caught it in November and was surprised it was a big nothing burger for me. I had all the vaccines, boosters, etc and still caught it. Life goes on.

Summer of 2020 was nice. I was living in an area that's usually packed with tourists during the summer. That summer ... not crowded. That summer was very relaxing.

[quote] I lost a parent during COVID and we weren't able to have a memorial. I want to still have one but get zero support from siblings. that's depressing.

R12, sorry to hear. Maybe you can do something that's meaningful to you, whether or not your siblings want to go along.

The winter of 2021 and early 2022 was insane. I don't think anyone believes me when I say this but all told I knew 22 people who died of COVID, all acquaintances rather than relatives or close friends, but it was a lot and it was mostly the winter of 2021. Four guys I went to high school with died in the space of three days. The guy I caught my first round of COVID from died of it. And during all this my doctor turned into a rightwing nutjob just out of the blue, and still to this day complains about masks and handwashing, and sometimes even Obama, who he said NOTHING about while he was actually president.

The lockdowns saved thousands of lives until the vaccines were available. Science has saved us from destruction. All hail science!

Sttange but it seemes Covid has brought a lot of street people ( druggies, homeless) to the burbs.

A relative who "does not believe in covid" is just recovering from it.

I can’t believe I tested positive for COVID again this past Sunday. It’s fucking awful.

R21, does she believe now?

Yes! He was sick as a dog and lost ten pounds!

[quote] It's great to see life back to normal again,

We agree!

r25, people die every day. Most of them die from Heart disease or cancer. I'm sure you're upset about those deaths, too!

Did you say the same thing on 9/11, Matt-fatso?

La is still disgusting. Homeless (wrong word, these people are lunatics) roam free everywhere.

R25: or is that the 521 people who died in the USA yesterday ‘with’ Covid.

R3 I disagree. During lockdown people really thought about their lives and what they wanted. That’s why we saw so many job resignations and divorces. People realized how unhappy they were and changed for the better.

It was worth it.

I was 33, I’ll probably be 70 by the time I get that much time off again.

Three years in and denialism and conspiracy theories are as strong as ever.

One interesting thing is that there was no spike in births after the lockdowns. People really can do birth control.

Always find it hilarious that the folks who tout “normal”aren’t the ones intubating individuals who are gasping for air courtesy of Covid pulmonary pathology.

Nor are they the ones with an increased patient load with all kinds of complications from virtually every organ system relating to Covid sequelae. (As a poster noted in a document above, Covid is an inflammatory process involving ALL tissues of the human body).

It’s the folks who haven’t lost heaps of friends or family, nor had to deal with the trauma/drama Covid has wrecked upon the global populace.

They are the equivalent of toddlers running around with fingers in their ears screaming “La La”! “Conspiracy”! “Everything’s Normal”!

My favorite anti masker whose wife just died last month in Anchorage from Covid. She was the same as this guy.

Everyone is trying to get back to "normal", but the "mask" has been ripped off of people's eyes and mindsets. There's the end of the 5 straight days in the office work week for millions of people.

There are an enormous amount of people (me included) who are very happy- and satisfied - to not go to restaurants, big social events, work events, etc. Look at all of the places that have gone out of business!

Plus the health issues that are striking people down every single day, much earlier than they otherwise would have died.

We haven't seen the end of the pandemics impact, that's for certain.

I am still stuck at home, and we're still wearing N95 masks wherever we go. Everyone has probably blown the whistle too soon - the viral season isn't necessarily over quite yet. I feel trapped and honestly, my mental health has taken a huge slide since this recent winter lockdown, mostly due to the severity of the flu. My parents aren't risking it, my dad's immunity post-Chemo isn't exactly rock solid. I felt safer in November 2021, when I actually went on dates and had a boyfriend... Normalcy is but something in the rearview mirror for this boy. I'm glad everyone else is having fun I guess.

I had Covid throughout February. I’m still feeling tired and congested, but the coughing and fever are gone. I sleep a lot still, so much so, that I wonder if I’ll have long Covid.

I miss the Covid lockdown days.

I agree with r4. The world has not changed for the better. I find there is a general uneasiness everywhere I go. There is more antagonism, more stress, and more competitiveness.

Ticketmaster's prices for tickets are astronomical.

We are mostly back in the office so it's back to all that pre-pandemic gossip and bullshit that I didn't miss.

I also miss the lockdowns when I had my solitude and didn't have to deal with the rat race and everyday nonsense. I could fully embrace being a loner and not feel guilty about it.

I didn't even experience a severe case of COVID (yet, anyway), and no one I know died from it, but in a strange way the entire pandemic experience (from a major city in Canada) led to what feels like the reckoning of my adult life. Maybe it was lockdown and all that solitude and quiet? The feeling of being in it together, but alone (which I didn't enjoy but also didn't...not enjoy - not at first, anyway, before minds started getting lost)? Whatever it was, I feel different now, and have made changes that I don't think I would have made without COVID. Real changes, too. Healthy ones. Also faced a bunch of shit about myself and my life, which continues to be difficult and sad but also feels good and has led to feelings of self-esteem and accomplishment for the first time in a long time.

My cat had to go to the emergency vet during the tightest lockdown here and I don't know that I will ever forget the utter strangeness of driving down a deserted 12-lane highway downtown, a highway I had never seen anything less than pretty busy, at 5:45pm on a weeknight. It felt surreal and otherworldly and in some ways it feels like everything is back to normal and in others like nothing will ever be the same. It's probably me who won't be the same.

I wish I could hug everyone who feels sad or broken by this. And I hope we're not going to shit now the lid has been ripped off just how horrible we can be to each other.

So much deceit and manipulation of the public

I also don't care about celebrities and their entitled lives and bullshit.

Grifters were infuriated by the quarantine, they still are

I had Covid medium-bad very early on. I lost a cousin, an acquaintance and a Supervisor to it. I had to work all through it because my job was 'essential'. The 30-story skyscraper was otherwise nearly empty for two years.

Thanks to Covid, The Great Resignation, the booming Biden economy, etc.- I got a good job I wouldn't have even been interviewed for 3 years ago.

I feel being gay made me not so freaked out about the whole thing. I think you never really feel safe 'n snug as an LGBTQ. You have to be open to change- and the occasional catastrophe. We're tough.

[quote] Later night shopping has been ruined.

YES!

What the fuck is with that?

After the lockdowns were lifted, businesses started closing much earlier, and most of them are still closing early.

Why??

r37 COVID lasted about seven weeks for me: one week of feeling like I was coming down with something, followed by three weeks of primary illness, two weeks of feeling exhausted with regular but unproductive coughing, with another week to 10 days of occasional "catches" in the throat which caused brief coughing. If you're still feeling badly on the 10th week then I'd see a doctor about it.

Lack of employees r45, at least around here. Local places are shutting down Mon and Tues and have notes on their webpages that they're hiring.

Nothing that used to be open late is anymore. Sometimes some place like a McDonald's will stay open until midnight, but after a few months they go back to closing at 8PM. I can't get used to everything being closed by maybe 9PM at the latest, even in the 1990s there was always something open 24 hours but not anymore. Coffee shops and grocery stores also don't open until 8AM now, I have to wonder what the old people who used to get coffee at 6AM are doing these days.

Meh - I still wear a mask indoors or when I know I'm going to be in a crowd.

It really doesn't bother me all that much wearing one.

All else being equal, I'd rather not get sick with anything, including covid, than get sick. Even if you don't die, covid is as miserable as the flu with potentially longer-term effects. If a mask reduces the chances by even 15%, that's similar odds as removing one bullet from a revolver while playing Russian roulette. Who of us wouldn't remove a bullet if forced to play Russian roulette.

[quote] So much deceit and manipulation of the public

So much denial and conspiracy theorizing by ignorant people.

I know the world has always faced shit times, but everything felt better from 2015 to 2019. Nothing will ever be or feel the same because of COVID. Despite the world trying to recover, it can't. It's not just because of what was lost from the pandemic because that can't be fixed and repaired in time. But people everywhere seem worse now and more empty than ever before.

can be*

R40 I had the same experience with my dog and an emergency vet in April 2020. Driving on wide-open highways at noon, then waiting in my car while vets in masks, gloves, goggles and plastic gowns took my pet inside.

What a time.

[Quote] Grifters were infuriated by the quarantine, they still are

This is a very astute point. There are many, many people who excelled at work due to "office politics" once the office was supplanted by working from home, which to a limited extent continues to this day with the rebellion against the old ways of meetings and post-work drinks - their grifting powers diminished.

It is long overdue and very welcome.

Aircraft noise overhead is now completely unbearable. I only noticed it when it started up again in 2021. It seems more frequent than before the pandemic, but that could be all in my head. And it's happening at 2AM.

An acquaintance of mine worked at Golden Corral for years and lost her job over Covid. They all apparently closed down due to the buffet style of service. It truly is sad how many jobs were lost, but more importantly it was terrible for the kids to be out of school for a whole year. Glad things are back to normal. The funny part, all my doctors are still requiring masks. I'm not sure that will ever end.

[quote]The funny part, all my doctors are still requiring masks.

Hmm, can't imagine what would motivate medical professionals to cling to such a rule.

I would find a new doctor R18....

There is a general mental shift, at least in NY, that I don’t believe will ever go away. People just don’t seem light. Even at social outings, it’s like there’s an underlying fatigue or fakery or something.

[quote]Tell my two friends who just came down with Covid that it’s over.

Nobody said nobody will get COVID ever again, you dimple. Just that, for all intents and purposes, we're far, far better off than we were three years ago. It's now very manageable for the overwhelming majority of people.

[quote]If you're still feeling badly on the 10th week then I'd see a doctor about it.

If he's feeling badly, he should see a neurologist first. He may have nerve damage in his fingers.

I agree with r57. Definitely find a new doctor. The pandemic showed 'who was who' in my world, and my doctor was a casualty to me of that. My doctor turned very similar to r18's and I got a new one.

No more civid all indicators are down, we aren't required to wear mask anywhere, not even the hospital, and people don't. Get over it.

Cough.

Cough cough.

I wonder how the world will react to another pandemic. Hopefully, better than the last time.

It blew apart so much of society - combined with Trump and BLM. It feels like the world is a worse place socially. Inflation, even more extreme inequality, and a health care system in tattters has destroyed basic infrastructure.

The crazy people on the street are declining. Hopefully the gun and other violence slowly subsides. But I can’t help feeling like life as I knew it ended and isn’t coming back. Entered my mid-50s over the past 3 years. Glad to be alive after ANOTHER pandemic. But the thrill is gone.

Yet The NY Times feels compelled to run another article on “long Covid”. This time the supposed symptoms are constipation and gerd, or rather increased reporting of those by people claiming “long Covid.”

Misguided liberalism really went off the deep end three years ago. Greater concern for criminals’ rights than victims; the bullshit narrative that gender is separate from biology; holding China unaccountable for the covid spread. Millions died of Covid thanks to China and, meanwhile, what’s Hollywood doing in typical tone deaf bleeding heart fashion: awarding a weirdly overrated movie about Chinese American life. It’s just….. beyond.

Also everyone in South Carolina knew she was Indian American when she ran. She used a nickname the same way Beto used one. That’s the type of low level partisan racist talking points that makes DL unreadable nowadays.

^ Wrong thread

I had covid in Dec - lasted 6-7 days. (About 2 days were sick). A week later i had hand trembles for a few days. Followed by shingles on my face (have shingles shot). So it’s out there & fucked up things still happens post. Unrelated/related: I still think lockdown should’ve been shorter. I won’t forget how the fox people & lib anti-vax folks acted.

The only thing good about the pandemic for me was that my Dad not being around to witness it. His Dad died in the swine flu pandemic of 1918 when my Dad was just a baby. They both went into the hospital with the flu and only my Dad came out alive.

He would have been shocked and appalled at the number of Americans unwilling to come together on a public health issue. He was even a conservative (back in the day when it was fiscal not cultural) but wouldn't have questioned that public health is precisely when big government is necessary.

R54 Are you in the DMV?

What R66 calls "keeping the fear alive" and sane human beings call "science."

But when will shithole China pay up for their crime against humanity?

[quote]—No point to my post.

Oh, honey, most posts on the board have no point. But without those, how do you keep a message board going? Your post was just as credible and deservedly here as any other person's post.

Plus, you got that little twinkle in your eye that makes you sexy.

R48, I've had the flu and recently, Covid. The flu was FAR worse for me. The only way I knew I had covid was that I started sneezing a lot and thought it was either allergies or Covid. Took a test and it was Covid. Didn't even really feel sick, just tired. I've had ALL my boosters.

The flu, on the other hand made me wish for death more than once.

I know it's not the same for everyone, but saying it's worse than the flu isn't true for all. Also, we're as protected as we're ever going to be right now unless they come up with a cure and that's not happening anytime soon. Time to live your lives.

Aww R48, you just continue wearing that security blanket to your little hearts content, just as long as normal don't have to.

I cared for my boyfriend who nearly died from liver failure, through recovery after a liver transplant in October of 2021. He was doing great! He was triple-vaxxed. Then he went on a trip to Colorado in the fall of 2022, caught COVID, and had to be taken off of his anti rejection medication to combat the COVID. He began rejecting his new liver and died at the end of August. I’m heartbroken.

R17, thanks.

One wants to do nothing and he gets a bit of a pass or at least understanding as he lived locally and managed to get a funeral home to take Mom's body and there was a burial with a priest and him and his wife (who used to snap at him all the time; I regret not turning to her one Thanksgiving and saying, 'You should leave him. You can do better. Christ, find someone who can load the dishwasher properly.' But sarcasm only works on TV.)

The other is an ass; he wasn't around when Mom was dying. he just wants to have a lunch with other relatives who can't stand him. Idiot.

I'll have to plan something in my own. Whoever shows, shows.

TY.

[QUOTE] Time to live your lives.

R76 define "live".

I am not teasing you r76 but I am simply pointing out that is what has changed. Or has been broken, or fixed. However you look at it.

All the pre-Covid stuff has returned, but now n people have been liberated from the business lunches, the church services, the afterwork bar parties, the family gatherings. What you buy and eat and watch. It has all been altered. Finally!

[quote] I wonder how the world will react to another pandemic

You find out soon yankee dog

If I didn't see the title of this thread, I would think that everyone posting was posting from March 2020. C'mon people.

I'm sorry r78. That is very sad. But it's nice your partner had you to help him.

[quote] If you're still feeling badly on the 10th week then I'd see a doctor about it.

Um, I'd see a doctor after 10 DAYS.

I still, after all this time, want someone to explain (I mean really explain, not just calling me a big whiny baby liberal bleeding heat lockdown loving leftie commie virtue signaling bitch boy) where the condescension and hostility from people like R77 come from. I thought the whole point of the stance "I am opposed to other people telling me what to do with my body" was, you know, people being allowed to make decisions on masking for themselves.

But that doesn't make sense if you take such issue with those who masked/still mask to a greater or lesser degree. Why do you CARE, R77? In what negative way does it affect you to the point of needing to attack strangers? Why should you have been free to go unmasked during a public health crisis but others need to be berated and insulted for going masked now it's mostly over?

I'm starting to think these anti-science 'tards never really cared about autonomy or oppression at all, and that it's never been about anything more than a toddler level you-can't-tell-me-what-to-do!! defiance.

(note that I'm not the poster you were responding to and don't wear a mask anywhere anymore, unless I'm hanging out at the Sick Old People Convention etc.)

One good thing that happened is that I stopped watching the Real Housewives.

I used to be a regular watcher of all the franchises, before Covid.

When the shows started filming again during the pandemic, it just wasn't the same.

And let's be honest. Masks just aren't fun or glamorous.

So I stopped watching.

The fact that masks were such an enormous, world-shattering issue for so many is not a good sign for the west. Which ironically is what so many of those anti-masker types pretend to be concerned about (but western culture!!).

Such fragility and hysteria over a piece of cloth. Who knew they were the snowflakes all along?

My husband has felt like shit all day and I feel a little under the weather but not bad. We just took Covid tests and he is positive and I’m negative. He never gets sick and I tend to catch colds. I’ve never seen him this sick: coughing fever, chills, dizzy, eyes rimmed in red, lethargic. We are both current on vaccines including the bi booster. Both 61.

Have there ever been any studies that showed a paper or cloth mask prevented a virus 40 times smaller than bacteria from entering your body?

[quote]the world is healing

Amen!

[quote] Have there ever been any studies that showed a paper or cloth mask prevented a virus 40 times smaller than bacteria from entering your body?

Of course masks are beneficial for preventing the spread of covid and other airborne illnesses.

Why the study referenced at R91 was flawed:

I think the the people who have dug their heels in on masks are in a place where they can't get out of. If they take off the masks, if they admit that masks weren't the magic bullet they thought they were then it somehow means they are siding with Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a moron, the people who were Covid deniers were morons, and masks not being the shield that everyone was told they were can all be true at the same time.

My favorite eye rolling line from that last year or so has been, "I wear my mask everyone, but I took it off that one time and got Covid." Do you really believe it was that one time that did you in?

Masks work if a lot of people wear them. They have shown effectiveness in countries like Japan where nearly everyone wears a mask, though are not as effective as hand-washing or vaccines, so people in the US shrugged them off. Then of course, it became political.

I think mask-wearers these days are people who are compromised in some way, or people who know that it's effective and don't want to "give in" because everyone else decided to stop wearing them. I get the impulse. I'm not angry at them like most people on here are.

r88 ask the doctor if it's early enough you guys can get some Pavloxid.

r84, no one goes to their GP for COVID on the 10th day. Does anyone even go to the GP for COVID at all? Most clinics want you to stay home so you don't spread it.

If things get worse on the 10th day then you're probably heading for the ER and not your local family clinic.

Honestly I don't even know what the fuck you're trying to say.

Only putting on a mask now in crowded situations where the other people look they could have COVID (or any other communicable disease). So: NY subway system, yes; a restaurant with ample spacing between tables, no.

So far, it's worked.

[quote]eyes rimmed in red, lethargic.

r88, tell him I said, "oh, honey, that's not a good look for you. Try the blue, or maybe green, eye shadow next time."

I hope you and he get a laugh out of that. That's all I was trying to do to make you both feel better.

You don't R97? Waiting 10 weeks to see a doctor is ridiculous.

[quote] Of course masks are beneficial for preventing the spread of covid and other airborne illnesses.

Why do surgeons wear masks while operating? If masks did not prevent covid and other airborne illnesses, they’d rip those babies off in a heartbeat.

The study that R91 references is problematic for many, many reasons.

R94, when I wore a mask it was a physical reminder to keep my distance from folks.

If I had a mask on, I'd keep 6+ feet apart from folks; when I don't wear a mask, I would get closer.

The mask isn't Iron Man's armor but it's a physical reminder to stay far from people.

[quote]If a mask reduces the chances by even 15%, that's similar odds as removing one bullet from a revolver while playing Russian roulette. Who of us wouldn't remove a bullet if forced to play Russian roulette.

OT, R48 but in Russian roulette, there's just one bullet placed in the revolver, then the cylinder is spun. If you removed that one bullet, then all the chambers would be empty.

Plus, in Russian roulette, if you’re unlucky enough to land on the chamber with the round in it, then pulling the trigger will be fatal. By contrast, contracting COVID in the vast majority of cases is not fatal.

But your point is valid. We're still wearing masks in stores. Why not reduce the chances of infection just by wearing a mask while you’re in the store? It's such a minor inconvenience.

After denying it for months, I am now convinced I have cognitive issues resulting from my three COVID infections. It can ebb and flow, but my brain is constantly foggy, some of my executive functioning skills lessened, and a lot of things I used to not mind or even enjoy are not difficult chores. I’m looking in to a combination of vitamin and drugs that has been successful for some.

Can anyone read r104's post? It's all just letters, symbols, and gibberish. It looks like someone was just hitting a keyboard with no concern at all for what was being typed.

r104, are you ok, hun?

R87, it was mostly just a big deal in the U.S.

The organization behind the study referenced at R91 is disavowing the idea that "masks don't work."

“Many commentators have claimed that a recently updated Cochrane review shows that ‘masks don’t work,’ which is an inaccurate and misleading interpretation,” Karla Soares-Weiser, the editor in chief of the Cochrane Library, said in a statement.

“The review examined whether interventions to promote mask wearing help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses,” Soares-Weiser said, adding, “Given the limitations in the primary evidence, the review is not able to address the question of whether mask wearing itself reduces people’s risk of contracting or spreading respiratory viruses.”

Of course masks work.

If you poke a condom full of holes and then wear it on your balls, that won't work either. Doesn't mean condoms don't work, does mean you have to use them properly.

The House on Friday unanimously passed its version of a Senate-approved bill that would force the White House to declassify intelligence reports about the origins of the global pandemic and its ties to a Chinese lab.

The 419-0 vote sends the bill to Biden’s desk completely unopposed in Congress after the Senate approved the measure by unanimous consent last week.

However, Biden himself did not say whether he would sign the legislation, telling reporters as he left the White House for his Delaware home: “I haven’t made that decision yet.”

I loved the shut down but then aside from eating out I'm pretty much a misanthrope and avoid crowds like the plague.

[quote]However, Biden himself did not say whether he would sign the legislation, telling reporters as he left the White House for his Delaware home: “I haven’t made that decision yet.”

Doesn't sound like he has much choice. If 519 voted aye, it's veto-proof.

Why did Covid ravage Italy and China but Africa escaped comparatively unscathe? So much more needs to be known about Covid but the deep questions just do not seem to be asked.

Agree r112 and also the Caribbean and Latin American countries too.

During Covid it seems like Western governments and agencies were waiting for Africa to be wiped out and just like that, it didn't happen. Covid deaths on the continent of Africa was amongst the least globally. I think only Australia had fewer deaths

I only know of two people who died of Covid. They were older.

Of course you loved the shutdowns r110, there were every losers dream, forcing normal people into an abhorrent way of life.

It was back a while ago. It didn't even take three years.

"Abhorrent," r115? A little strong, don't you think? The Warsaw Ghetto, that was abhorrent.

Surgeons who wear masks while operating on a patient don't need em?

Not really R115.

R115 I think you meant "they"

yeah, the lockdown sucked; shut-ins couldn't go out and meet assholes and losers.

Never said I was a shut in. I like individuals but large crowds suck and, as R120 said, full of assholes and losers. Why so touchy though? I'm actually interested.

I’ve just started to work for a health organisation and from its internal reports and from the daily media it gathers it seems they are just waiting for the next pandemic. Something huge, something unpredictable. And yes, long COVID is absolutely something to worry about.

[quote]Covid deaths on the continent of Africa was amongst the least globally.

Africa's population is very young - the median age is around 19. Only about 3% of inhabitants are over 65, and there are virtually no old-age homes. Much of the population is isolated and there's not a whole lot of travel between regions. Plus, people listened when told to wear masks.

We expect a heads-up if you learn of an emerging threat, R122!

I had four jabs and I still got it, for the first time. Absolutely awful. On day three, it's now slowly improving. The pandemic is not over and I doubt it will ever be. We will just have to accept it's endemic.

[quote]We will just have to accept it's endemic.

Or we could do something about it.

I’m about three weeks out of Covid but still have a cough and congestion. It had the strangest onset…bad muscle aches in my legs. Never had a huge fever but I would get the chills like crazy. I also feel like I’m still sleeping a lot more than usual.

The strain going around now is a weird one. It’s not over.

[quote]We will just have to accept it's endemic.

1862 people died this week from it.....tell those 2000 or so families about how great things are now......

[quote] We will just have to accept it's endemic.

An endemic of what?!

[quote]Covid deaths on the continent of Africa was amongst

Oh, dear!

I hate how the pandemic disrupted financial districts in places like New York and San Francisco. I used to love seeing young men, dressed in their suits and ties and Oxford shoes, going to and from the office during commute hours. A lot of them were beautiful, hot enough to be male models, but they were bankers and investors instead. I’d glance at their well-manicured hands and see a gold band on their fingers, and I’d be jealous that somewhere at home is a wife waiting for her gorgeous husband to come home at make passionate love to her. Ugh, I want us to return to a nation of sexy men wearing suits again.

I still wear a mask on trains and buses, elevators, and theaters and venues.

Doctors wear masks and eye goggles and gloves during surgery so that stray blood and body part bits don't fly into their mouths, noses and eyes. Also, when you cut into a human body, it stinks like hell. When doctors operate on patients with dangerous bacterial or viral infections, it's a completely different set up with completely different PPE.

[quote] I still wear a mask on trains and buses, elevators, and theaters and venues.

But not planes?

[quote] Also, when you cut into a human body, it stinks like hell.

Ah….no, R134.

Your entire post reeks of inauthenticity.

I am surprised some of you have even ventured out of your basement.

[quote]Doctors wear masks and eye goggles and gloves during surgery so that...body part bits don't fly into their mouths, noses and eyes.

Are they performing surgery or throwing the patient into a woodchopper? WTF?

r134 thinks surgeons open bodies with a Skilsaw.

It seems like you are still posting from your own basement. Bile and filth.

R135 I haven't been on a plane since COVID hit, but it will include airplane travel.

[quote]Why did Covid ravage Italy and China but Africa escaped comparatively unscathe?

There are some pretty obvious answers to this. Italy and China both have lots of elderly smokers (who therefore have compromised respiratory systems) and Africa does not.

This is true. I recall my last vacation in Italy and was shocked at the high number of smokers of all ages.

R132, I live in LA where many masculine men are trying to become actors; they're hot but that actor-y thing can really stink things up.

It takes away some of their hotness; I was in NY about a decade ago for work for two days and I saw all these masculine MEN like the ones you described. They're not seeking the spotlight and that's what gives them added hotness.

R127 Similar for me. Everything hurt - my joints were swollen, and even my teeth hurt. I guess I'm lucky I'm already better again.

R145 It was so strange! I’m glad up to hear you’re better.

[quote]my joints were swollen,

Hey, brother, that ain't a big thing, ya dig?

COVID isn't over and our lives have been irreparably changed, and not for the better.

[quote]COVID isn't over

No, I came down with it at the end of January, and I'm still not completely back to normal (nasal congestion, some foods taste weird, tired all the time). Long covid? Who can say.

And I was a mask wearer. Still am.

[quote] I know the world has always faced shit times, but everything felt better from 2015 to 2019.

Oh, really? For me, things felt really bad from November 8, 2016 until January 20, 2021.

I live a renters life in a beautiful oceanside place in New England and even on my jog this AM I was "this world is fucked" post Covid..

I am particularly feeling it this year.

My (nearly 1 billion dollar) company feels fucked (and has always been economy proof )

Just waiting for all axes to fall and thank god that I was able to save some cash (enough for a year or two, not forever)

OP sounds like he/she is from another planet.

Hope you feel better soon, r149.

[quote] everything felt better from 2015 to 2019

Did you realize it, at the time, though? From 2015 to 2019, did you feel like: This is a really good time to be alive.

If you feel it, only in retrospect, then I don't think it's that meaningful. I'm not trying to be mean, I've done the same. (Reminisced about the good old days, when in reality, I didn't appreciate it at the time.)

Your best odds with COVID are to first live a healthy lifestyle: Eat nutritious foods, avoid smoking and too much alcohol, adopt good sleeping habit, get appropriate supplements - especially Vitamins D, C and Zinc, get some regular exercise even if it is just walking. And get COVID vaccine and boosters to significantly minimize your symptoms if you do get infected with COVID.

[quote] This is a must-read from Irish journalist, Tess Finch-Lees, dissecting the recent declaration from Professor Luke O'Neill that the ongoing pandemic is somehow magically over - a declaration made, seemingly, on the basis of a bad reading of @EricTopol

By presidential fiat. Three separate times in fact going back to July 4, 2021

Covid is now just something we have to live with, but it doesn't control our lives anymore. For most people, life is in fact very much back to the way it was before Covid. Restrictions are gone for the most part, as are mask requirements etc. But if you want to want to continue to hide under the bed and wear your security blanket, more power to you.

All these corporations making record profits from slashing hours, staffing, and benefits, and now jacking up prices, are never going back to pre-pandemic practices. Having stores open past 8 is a thing of the past. You’re never going to see full car lots again - it’ll be pre-order with high dealer markups from now on. Now with high interest rates, I know my spending habits have changed drastically. It’ll be interesting to see if this somewhat flips our consumerist society over the long haul.

If we don’t consume do we die?

Just you, R158.

[quote]But if you want to want to continue to hide under the bed and wear your security blanket,

I love how idiots like this always pull out this insipid trope. Taking precautions to prevent getting sick is hardly "hiding under the bed."

[quote] i also know I’m not alone in saying I look back on summer 2020 with nostalgia. I weirdly miss it.

Me too. I am a teacher, and I really enjoyed teaching online in the spring of 2020.

Way more deaths from vehicle crashes per week than from COVID, so don't get in a vehicle, or perhaps get on with life and STFU about COVID.

Somebody explain to R162 that vehicle crashes aren't contagious. You'll probably have to draw pictures.

of course it's contagious. But people are no longer dying from it at the rates they were thanks to vaccines.

[quote]Somebody explain to [R162] that vehicle crashes aren't contagious.

They aren't? So all these people crashing into each other had it planned and weren't just driving somewhere, minding their own business and get creamed?

Somebody lend R165 a dictionary so he can look up what "contagious" means.

Of course the pandemic is over. Covid is no longer spreading uncontrollably through the population - that's what a pandemic is. Saying the pandemic is over doesn't mean Covid has gone away or no longer poses a risk - it just means it's not spreading uncontrollably, the way it would be if we had no vaccines.

Saturday marked three years since the World Health Organization first called the outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The United Nations’ health organization says it’s not yet ready to say the emergency has ended.

With the pandemic still killing 900 to 1,000 people a day worldwide, the stealthy coronavirus behind COVID-19 hasn’t lost its punch. It spreads easily from person to person, riding respiratory droplets in the air, killing some victims but leaving most to bounce back without much harm.

In the United States, daily hospitalizations and deaths, while lower than at the worst peaks, have not yet dropped to the low levels reached during summer 2021 before the Delta variant arrived.

[bold]Study Finds ‘Single Largest Driver’ of Coronavirus Misinformation: Trump[/bold]

Cornell University researchers analyzing 38 million English-language articles about the pandemic found that President Trump was the largest driver of the “infodemic.”

. . .

That is the conclusion of researchers at Cornell University who analyzed 38 million articles about the pandemic in English-language media around the world. Mentions of Mr. Trump made up nearly 38 percent of the overall “misinformation conversation,” making the president the largest driver of the “infodemic” — falsehoods involving the pandemic.

. . .

But by far the most prevalent topic of misinformation was “miracle cures,” including Mr. Trump’s promotion of anti-malarial drugs and disinfectants as potential treatments for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. That accounted for more misinformation than the other 10 topics combined, the researchers reported.

more at link

"Many commentators have claimed that a recently updated Cochrane Review shows that 'masks don't work,' which is an inaccurate and misleading interpretation," Soares-Weiser wrote. "It would be accurate to say that the review examined whether interventions to promote mask wearing help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses, and that the results were inconclusive."

Experts told ABC News the findings from the meta-analysis from the Cochrane Library have not been accurately represented and that evidence shows masks do help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

What an idiot r163.

Whenever I see someone wearing a mask, I feel like saying something, but of course I don't. But I can't help but kinda look down or feel sorry for the poor, paranoid sap that still feels a need to wear a mask.

Say something to me and I will remind you that YOUR PUSSY STINKS AND MY MASK STAYS ON UNTIL YOU START WASHING YOUR ASS.

Just as a general preposition shouldn't the burden of proof be on those demanding the entire society conform to their demand ( masks ) .

Check out the Cochrane review meta study on mask's effectiveness...they do less than nothing, even N95's. May increase your odds of illness as provides warm humid space for replication. Virus-mask=mosquitoes and chain link fences. The shots don't work. Sorry don't shoot the messenger.

[quote] Whenever I see someone wearing a mask, I feel like saying something, but of course I don't. But I can't help but kinda look down or feel sorry for the poor, paranoid sap that still feels a need to wear a mask.

Whenever I see a poster writing that they think someone wearing a mask is a “poor paranoid sap”, I can’t help but think what an ignorant, selfish, idiot poster they are. The fact that R172 wants to say “something” to mask wearers demonstrates what a pathetic narcissist they are: R172 has No Clue what the backstory is for mask wearers. And it is none of R172 ‘s Damn Business.

R172 is clueless as to the diversity involved with humanity: that fellow humans may be immune compromised, or working with those who are very susceptible to illness, or simply people who do not wish to risk their health to the vagaries of Covid: a virus resulting in inflammatory and destructive multi-organ vasculitis.

Of course masks must help, the flu was almost nonexistent, I have never seen that before, that wasn't just lockdown.

Even before covid I'd see masks worn by cancer patients or other immuno-compromised people. I guess the "poor, paranoid saps" troll is just a clueless narcissist.

R85, it's because the massively stupid anti-maskers know, deep down (you know, where their peanut-sized brains are), that those of us who got vaxxed and wore masks were 100% right. They knew it early, too, but by that time they couldn't change their views or actions (they are incapable of change) so all they have left is to be angry at us. It's the anger of a children who made a huge mistake when they could have avoided it if they'd just listened to the smarter, wiser adult in their lives. I'm surprised they didn't all threaten to hold their breath until they turned blue. Well, I guess, in a way a lot of them died holding their breath, only it was involuntary at that point.

R175 is flat out lying and he knows it. He is an ignorant child. Hold your breath, R175. Go ahead. That'll teach us.

recently, a review from the Cochrane Library set off a firestorm after headlines declared research published by the respected organization's study found masks don't work and don't stop community transmission of respiratory viruses like COVID-19.

Over a two-month period, some commentators and politicians took to op-ed pieces and social media to say the study proved masks weren't needed the whole time and that mandates had been ineffective.

However, the editor-in-chief of the Cochrane Library, Dr. Karla Soares-Weiser, issued a statement on March 10 to say the analysis had been misinterpreted and that the review didn't find that masks do not work.

Rather it looked at how effective masking programs, like mandates, were at slowing the spread of respiratory viruses and, from there, found the results to be inconclusive.

"Many commentators have claimed that a recently updated Cochrane Review shows that 'masks don't work,' which is an inaccurate and misleading interpretation," Soares-Weiser wrote. "It would be accurate to say that the review examined whether interventions to promote mask wearing help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses, and that the results were inconclusive."

Experts told ABC News the findings from the meta-analysis from the Cochrane Library have not been accurately represented and that evidence shows masks do help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The Cochrane review, published in late January, looked at several studies that had examined physical interventions to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses.

Many of the studies analyzed looked at masking interventions, meaning how effective masks are if people are given masks and information about masking, and encouraged to wear them.

After reading R181, I'm sure the idiot at R175 will be along any minute now to apologize for trying to sell his bullshit lies to people smarter than he is...but I won't hold my breath.

It’s just a FUCKING mask. Why do people have such an obsession with it? Why try to troll people with disinformation into not wearing them? Mask wearing doesn’t affect non wearers in the slightest. Let it go. Go obsess over something else, ffs.

🙄 Where are the people who laughed and said The Corona wouldn't change anyone's life ?

R179 is right. These are adults stuck emotionally in childhood. "You're not the BOSS of me" while petulant sticking their tongue out and stamping their feet.

No surprise I already had these anti-mask trolls blocked.

KN95 masks are about 90% or more effective against COVID and other viruses. N95 masks are about 95% or more effective against COVID and other viruses. Also, note that masks are more effective in keeping those with virus from effecting others than they are from keeping the virus that is in the air from infecting a person wearing a mask. The differential on that varies but it is an acknowledged fact.

If masks are so useless why do medical and lab workers wear them?

[quote] in keeping those with virus from effecting others

Oh, dear!

For the most part, mask lovers have issues. For some, it may be a legitimate medical issue, but I'm sure for most, it's just a mental issue.

My issue as a mask wearer, r189—not a mask [italic]lover[/italic] is that I am just recovering from a case of Covid. Two friends of mine just got their second case. It hasn't gone away.

In the past 3 years, I have only worn a mask when required. Which means since the mask mandates went away a year ago, I have never worn one, including on planes, airport etc. Yet, I have never had Covid! Kinda blows your rationale for wearing masks out of the water R190!

R191, you'd make a horrible scientist.

Gay guy in the 80s: I had sex without a condom three times and I didn't get HIV, kinda blows the rationale for wearing condoms out of the water!

Straight guy: I had sex with my girlfriend five times and she didn't get pregnant, kinda blows the rationale for wearing a condom out of the water!

Idiot.

r190 so you still caught covid despite wearing a mask?

Yeah, sometimes I forget, r193. I live in a high-rise and I don't always remember every time I get on the elevator. Who knows?

COVID-19 deaths hit 3-year low as U.S. cases and hospitalizations fall

[quote] This week marked the fewest weekly COVID deaths in the U.S. since March 25, 2020. As of Wednesday, the country has recorded 1,121,512 deaths from COVID since the start of the pandemic. The number of people who died last week fell by 18.8%, but the virus is still claiming the lives of about 244 people every day. The CDC estimates that the XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant makes up approximately 90.2% of circulating lineages, while other virus strains have very slow or no growth in proportion. The offspring XBB.1.5.1 strain, which the agency started tracking as a variant of concern last week, was sequenced in just 2.2% of cases.

[quote]As of Wednesday, about 69.3% of people in the U.S. had completed the primary vaccination series, but only 16.2% had received an updated bivalent booster dose. The percentage of laboratory COVID-19 tests that were positive decreased compared to the previous week, with a seven-day average of 7.2% positivity. However, fewer people are taking tests that are publicly reported as more get by with home test kits: The official test count for the week ending March 9 was just 178,921, down 20.8% from 225,960 a week earlier.

[quote] A more accurate snapshot may be provided by wastewater surveillance, which captures community coronavirus levels regardless of testing. The latest U.S. figures show about 51% of sites reporting less SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in their sewage, while 38% are reporting more. Overall, about 53% of sites across the country are reporting moderate to high SARS-CoV-2 levels, and 20% say they’re seeing some of their highest levels Dec. 1, 2021.

I don't want to go back. Society was a nightmare pre-COVID, but post-pandemic it's even worse. The pandemic brought out the absolute worst in humanity after that initial period of lockdown where the air quality was better, people slowed down and got the chance to realize the value in their lives.

Now we're back to the same old toxic shit, hating each other and trying to look perfect for some cunt on social media. Smells like shit.

Well r198, you are certainly welcome to remain in lockdown, nobody is stopping you. I'm sure anyone that comes in contact with you would actually like that

[quote]"Many commentators have claimed that a recently updated Cochrane Review shows that 'masks don't work,' which is an inaccurate and misleading interpretation," Soares-Weiser wrote. "It would be accurate to say that the review examined whether interventions to promote mask wearing help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses, and that the results were inconclusive."

The funny part about this is that the reason results were "inconclusive" is because dipshit anti-maskers, at the height of a pandemic, were refusing to follow public health mandates because MUH FREEDOM. They're here citing their own goddamned harmful stupidity as proof of their *own* arguments. That's how stupid these people are.

When I read posts like R191 I have to tell myself it's a troll. Because if it's not, it's someone who is ACTUALLY that stupid. Which is more depressing than trolls. :(

Why is r191 stupid? He/she hasn't caught Covid yet. There will be millions who never catch it and of those that do it has a survival rate of 95%, Of course, no one wants to be in that 5% who die, but you can also die from the flu and we don't wear masks anymore for the flu.

R202 Just to include a point you seem to be missing or ignoring. An individual with COVID is approximately 4 times more likely to die than an individual with the flu. That rate does vary based on the COVID and flu strains.

😷 I still wear a mask, and yes, I DO have an issue ... I don't want to get sick, and possibly die.

Does the mask really work? Do vaccines really work? Who am I to say, but I've never had Covid, and I can't remember the last time I had the flu, or even a simple cold.

So, R203, so you just want to point out that you are even more paranoid than R 202, ok.

[quote] So, [R203], so you just want to point out that you are even more paranoid than R 202, ok.

Not R203, but you, R206, claim everyone is “paranoid”, but in doing so reveal your astonishing ignorance.

[quote] “only 5% of people die”

This figure would be much smaller if stupid, cruel idiots looked out for their fellow man during a highly contagious pandemic.

Three counties in my state climbed back up to a high COVID-19 risk level this week after more than a month of zero counties crossing that threshold. The CDC recommends that people in those counties resume masking in public places.

You know r203, we need more people to die, what's the problem? We have too many in the world now, hopefully you will be next. Troll cunt

What county would that be r208? Do tell.

"Residents in Alpena in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, and Alger and Marquette in the Upper Peninsula, should consider masking indoors in public areas, regardless of vaccination status, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Another seven counties are at a medium risk level, including Alcona, Delta, Luce, Monroe, Montmorency, Presque Isle and Schoolcraft. The rest of the state remains at a low risk level."

Well then, you better continue wearing that little mask r208.

"This figure would be much smaller if stupid, cruel idiots looked out for their fellow man during a highly contagious pandemic."

DURING the pandemic, we did. We are no longer in a pandemic, r207. We now have a vaccine and people aren't dying at the previous rates. It's endemic now. You can mask up if you're worried but the rest of us will choose when and if we do it. We are as protected as we can be barring a cure. I'm sure in areas where transmissions are high that people might feel more comfortable still masking but it's really not necessary as we all are "protected" and if people are not, that's on them at this stage of the game.

R199 You sound like you wipe back to front.

I got all the vaccines, boosters, etc etc. I have been fine for three years and just tested positive for covid. I had a houseguest arrive here from New Orleans three days ago...she is 78 and has been coughing and sneezing like crazy...but she and my husband just tested negative. We'll see...

R45 Because no one shops in stores anymore but you. We all buy online and there's no point in keeping retail stores open late for a few odd shoppers.

I never understood all the fuss over the COVID hoax.