COVID-19 Check-In Thread Part III

[Labster]

My dad was driving my car, and some guy hit him on the side and made a tiny dent in the door panel.  We filed a claim with the insurance, who said the car was "totaled" because this is what they always do for old cars.  So the DMV registration we just paid had to be redone.  This was six months ago, and no one wanted to go in to the DMV and risk The Virus.

Currently the task list looks like:
* Pay car registration
* Get mechanic to certify car to pay car registration
* Replace front axles and headlights for some damn reason to get the car certified
* Decide not to pay $500 for a half day's labor, buy parts and repair the car ourselves
* Move the car into the driveway so we can repair it
* Move pile of sand out of the driveway so the car can get in the driveway
* Prepare brick walkway so I can move the pile of sand
* Arrange bricks and landscaping fabric to measure out walkway, so I can prepare to put the sand down
* Shave yak in order to weave landscaping fabric

So yes, staying busy even without a job.  Both parents have had one dose of vaccine, and I think they're about ready for dose #2.

Everything is slowly getting back to normal... the restaurants are filling up, people are starting to travel, and cases are down in California.  In other states, not so much on the decrease.  But in California we have a recall election coming up, and that's what really matters, so full speed ahead on reopening!

In other news, I'm planning to hunker for another two months.  So like, if vaccines are 90% effective, that means enough people have to take them so that they are unlikely to pass from person to person.  People don't understand math, or that vaccines are far less likely to harm them than contracting the virus, which means avoiding people for a little while longer.

[LynnInDenver]

In other news, I'm planning to hunker for another two months.  So like, if vaccines are 90% effective, that means enough people have to take them so that they are unlikely to pass from person to person.  People don't understand math, or that vaccines are far less likely to harm them than contracting the virus, which means avoiding people for a little while longer.

Very much the case. We're getting vaccinated here, but we're also very specifically only considering it enabling us to have our also-vaccinated friends over to the house, not going out to restaurants or anything.

Again, October at the earliest for the larger stuff for us. We aren't planning on doing restaurants until November, at which point we should know one way or another whether we're finally ending this thing, or we have that small contingent refusing vaccines being big enough that we can't end it.

[robkelk]

Still here. Still alive. Still working.

Apparently, I live in a high-risk area, so the age limit in my neighbourhood is 50 or older instead of 60 or older, as of 8am today. I had my first-shot appointment made within a quarter-hour of being allowed to make it. (I had to wait in line.) Going for my first jab on Sunday.

[Bob Schroeck]

Great news, Rob. I know how much stress not having gotten it yet has been giving you.

[Cobalt Greywalker]

Still going into work, still non-knowingly-infected (eek?), still trying to not get into a rut (probably failing)...

[LynnInDenver]

Still alive. Still trying hard to avoid a reduction in SAN. At least gotten my first jab, two weeks to the second jab, four weeks to finally seeing family and friends who are also vaccinated.

[Star Ranger4]

Amazingly I have an actual PHYSICAL appearance with my PCP

[robkelk]

Still here. Still alive. Still working.

Apparently, I live in a high-risk area, so the age limit in my neighbourhood is 50 or older instead of 60 or older, as of 8am today. I had my first-shot appointment made within a quarter-hour of being allowed to make it. (I had to wait in line.) Going for my first jab on Sunday.

They gave me a jab of Moderna.

Now to wait four months for my second jab.

EDIT: I alredy know what I'm doing next:



Source

[Inquisitive Raven]

In the meantime, got my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine today. Got home and did not promptly go splat. I'll take that as a good sign although it might just be my caffeine level.

[Mamorien]

I have an echocardiogram scheduled Wednesday morning; that's my last remaining good excuse for not having got or even set up my jab yet. (My last remaining excuse will be the therapy session the following afternoon, but it's not that good an excuse.) In general, I'm still alive, well, and of normal size.

[Dragonflight]

Still waiting here. We're apparently not considered as high-risk, or we just don't fall into the same age range by like, a few years. So I wait until the shots are available here. My parents have had their first, which is good news. I'm still dealing with paranoid roommates, unfortunately. The one with the ongoing cancer treatment has had bloodwork just last week which proved that the cells in the immune system which are trained by the vaccines to resist the disease are still completely missing from him. A side effect of his chemo treatments, which he can't realistically ever stop. So he's at critical risk at all times.

Which raises a major moral and ethical question. If he can catch it even if my other roommate and I are immune, but can still become carriers, Can we *ever* leave the house again? Sure, preventing us is an illegal move on his part, but on the other hand, he might remain permanently "at-risk." And of course, he's highly paranoid, and convinced if any of us step outside, we're basically intentionally signing his death warrant.

<sigh> What I wouldn't give to be able to afford to move out right now...

Edit: Oh, wow, Doug Ford (the provincial Premier) is really going full-tilt with medical politics now. He's designated some postal regions as being so severely hit that anyone over the age of 18 can get a shot there. Sounds good in principle, right? Except that the postal regions he's targeted are among the lowesst affected regions in the province. The reason?

Well, it appears that all but one of them are the cornerstones of his political opponents' power bases. The last one is the richest single neighborhood in Toronto.

This one act of naked political pandering with critical medical supplies ought to get this man lynched. But this is Ontario. I doubt anyone will do anything about it.

[robkelk]

Still waiting here. We're apparently not considered as high-risk, or we just don't fall into the same age range by like, a few years. So I wait until the shots are available here. My parents have had their first, which is good news. I'm still dealing with paranoid roommates, unfortunately. The one with the ongoing cancer treatment has had bloodwork just last week which proved that the cells in the immune system which are trained by the vaccines to resist the disease are still completely missing from him. A side effect of his chemo treatments, which he can't realistically ever stop. So he's at critical risk at all times.

And, given our province's rules for who can get a vaccination once they're in a covered age bracket, means he'll never qualify for a vaccine.

Which raises a major moral and ethical question. If he can catch it even if my other roommate and I are immune, but can still become carriers, Can we *ever* leave the house again? Sure, preventing us is an illegal move on his part, but on the other hand, he might remain permanently "at-risk." And of course, he's highly paranoid, and convinced if any of us step outside, we're basically intentionally signing his death warrant.

Hmm. Tricky.

Can you ever leave the house again?

Can you ever have company, even after herd immunity is reached?

Can you ever make contact with anybody?

All of these are the same question at root.

<sigh> What I wouldn't give to be able to afford to move out right now...

I hope you're setting aside some of the cash that is coming in. Eventually a place will open up somewhere.

[LynnInDenver]

Still waiting here. We're apparently not considered as high-risk, or we just don't fall into the same age range by like, a few years. So I wait until the shots are available here. My parents have had their first, which is good news. I'm still dealing with paranoid roommates, unfortunately. The one with the ongoing cancer treatment has had bloodwork just last week which proved that the cells in the immune system which are trained by the vaccines to resist the disease are still completely missing from him. A side effect of his chemo treatments, which he can't realistically ever stop. So he's at critical risk at all times.

Which raises a major moral and ethical question. If he can catch it even if my other roommate and I are immune, but can still become carriers, Can we *ever* leave the house again? Sure, preventing us is an illegal move on his part, but on the other hand, he might remain permanently "at-risk." And of course, he's highly paranoid, and convinced if any of us step outside, we're basically intentionally signing his death warrant.

That's a big serious question mark we have in my household right now... we know at least one person going through cancer treatment (breast cancer, she was freaking out if the person she was staying with didn't wash hands for at least 20 seconds), and was a big reason my birthday get together was cancelled just before Colorado went into lockdown. What happens if the immune can become invisible spreaders? Does that mean the "can't be vaccinated" have to sequester themselves for the rest of their lives? Does that mean that what constitutes "normal business" has to be completely revised for years to reduce overall exposure? Does that mean we have to do what New Zealand did and lock down very hard nationally for 6-8 weeks to get it out of circulation entirely?

It becomes a serious ethical conundrum, regardless. Will I have to give up conventions, because the risk to others has become too great because we didn't kill this thing like New Zealand did? Will we be limited to having gatherings at our house, no longer playing games at the local game store? Will going to a restaurant have to become a special occasion thing and not anything close to a habit? It doesn't seem fair to do the things when I'm likely to be able to make that choice, and someone else can't because the cards they were dealt says that COVID-19 will always be a serious threat to them.

[Dragonflight]

I always pinch pennies, so I've got what I need should a place open up. I'm just worried it won't happen. Have you seen the housing market lately? Rural boonie-locations are starting to see bidding wars several hundred thousand over the asking price, as people relocate out of the cities. The toxic housing bubble in Vancouver and Toronto is starting to spread nationwide.

On top of that, the banks are considering making the mortgage stress-test harder to pass, thus meaning fewer people will have the resources needed to buy a house, effectively relegating them to renting for the rest of their lives. The cost of a (small) house in Toronto just crossed the $1.1M mark, and shows no signs of slowing down.

All of this means that people looking to build new housing will build condos instead of apartments. Because that's where the money is. Which also explains why the market for available apartments is red-hot and not likely to cool down anytime soon. So, let's assume the horrible for a moment, and one of my roommates passes away. Unable to pay rent, we have to move our belongings into storage and then... what?  Without the means to afford a place to live, I may wind up on the streets, using my ODSP to pay the rental on a storage locker for my stuff. That looks like a very plausible outcome at this point, which I'm trying to get away from. No luck so far, however.

[Labster]

I am now eligible for a vaccine, if I can find anywhere that has it.  Kaiser has it, but of course you have to have Kaiser Insurance to get it (I feel like we fought a war against this, am I right?).  There's a place in walking distance to that claims to have it, but whenever I submit all my personal information the website decides to not work.  I can drive 50 to 100 miles, to get it, I guess?

I'm kind of wanting it soon because a friend asked me on a driving vacation next month.  So I'd at least like to have some level of immunity before crossing state lines.

The answer to most of the above questions is "no one knows".  No one knows how many people will be vaccinated, no one knows how fast the virus will mutate.  No one knows if the mutations will be helpful or harmful -- most virii become less deadly over time but there are exceptions.  No one knows how long the vaccine will stay effective.  Driving is a pretty dangerous activity too -- you can drive defensively but someone can still kill you pretty easily.  Most people aren't willing to ban alcohol to save more lives on the road, so there's a certain tolerance for risk of injury and death -- there always is.

[LynnInDenver]

Still managing to avoid further reduction in my SAN score.

Shot #2 will be in my arm in a week. We're planning small gatherings with also-vaccinated people no earlier than two weeks after that. The earliest restaurant outing we're even bothering to plan is going to be in November (our wedding anniversary), and the earliest convention we're still looking at is October (Mile Hi Con). In both cases, we should know well ahead of time whether they're even feasible.

[DeputyJones]

My check in, late as usual. ^_^;

Got my second Moderna shot this morning. Everything else, same old same old.

[robkelk]

Still here, Still alive. Still alone... and going to stay that way for a while.

Ontario government has finally realized the half-measures they have in place that they call a lockdown aren't working. Starting Monday, and going for six weeks. nobody's allowed to gather outside, nobody's allowed to go anywhere except for groceries or work, and police will be able to fine people who are breaking the lockdown. And there will be checkpoints at the borders.

They're still refusing to legislate paid sick leave, so I doubt the curve will flatten any time soon.

[Dragonflight]

Still here, Still alive. Still alone... and going to stay that way for a while.

Ontario government has finally realized the half-measures they have in place that they call a lockdown aren't working. Starting Monday, and going for six weeks. nobody's allowed to gather outside, nobody's allowed to go anywhere except for groceries or work, and police will be able to fine people who are breaking the lockdown. And there will be checkpoints at the borders.

They're still refusing to legislate paid sick leave, so I doubt the curve will flatten any time soon.

This still isn't Soviet Russia. They can't arbitrarily arrest us on the streets... but it's not far from. Officers now have the right to detain anyone whether on foot or in cars, determine if their reason for being out of their houses is satisfactory or not, and then fine them (currently) $750 on the spot and send them back home if the officer on the scene decides arbitrarily that the reason stated isn't good enough.

[Dartz]

The fins is a little bit higher here, and they've been doing people for it. For the last week you can go 20k from your house. Previously it was 5km. Still can't meet anyone. Everything fun is close, and most of the amenities are now getting flooded. Previously, you couldn't go there unless you were wealthy enough to live beside them...


Anyway, a white van full of tools is an excellent passport.

[classicdrogn]

Huh, I guess I got caught up in Disgaea 5 again like I hadn't been for a while and lost track of tthe days. Well, it's not that surprising since I had to go back to dual-booting MSDoze, as Lutris/WINE randomly decided to stop working with it for no apparent reason. I probably will go back to it and vanish for a few more days once I've finished collecting the various fic and fansub updates tonight; MSDoze is not allowed to connect to the internet to keep it from picking up any bad habits or dockside STDs, so my primary motivating factor in tearing away from it is to stay current on my other media addictions

As for the actual topic of the thread... no developments here, aside from a lack of success at scheduling a first dose for me. I'm not super unhappy about that since the general state of self-isolation lockdown was basically just social acceptance for how I prefer to live, but for the sake of not being That Guy in general and potential risk to the very few people I do actually have some concern for in specific (even if I'm the least exposed member of the lot) it's still a thing I want to have happen sooner than later.

[Cobalt Greywalker]

I'm still OK, still working.

[Inquisitive Raven]

Still here, finally getting my new computer set up. I'm in the process of transferring my data from the old system to the new one.

[Labster]

Still here, still not working.  I seem to have hit some sort of crazy burnout minimum where I can't get any work done that involves computers.  So my mental health is questionable.  On the physical health front, I got Pfizer shot #1 on Tuesday afternoon, and my arm was nice and sore until Wednesday afternoon.  I had to drive up to Goleta to get the vaccine, which was only 35 miles.  And it's a beautiful drive: Ventura highway in the sunshine.  A nice drive-thru line for vaccines, didn't even need to leave the car, and they automatically scheduled shot #2.

California has one of the highest vaccination rates and lowest hospitalization rates in the country.  And it's not just that other places are getting worse, our rates are getting much lower.  We've got counties moving into the orange and yellow tiers, which means... um -- I guess we'll get our black belt eventually?

[LynnInDenver]

Still managing here. Two days to my second shot, and two weeks after that I can see people in my own home. And two years after that I can consider traveling out of state.