Coronavirus spreads. But don't panic! (topical thread)

[mordant]

Well of course what you put into your body is your affair (in theory, though, in practice, not entirely, because of the nonzero chance you would infect others).

Based on what I'm reading, people are getting significant malaise for a couple of days, worse than a flu shot and similar to the Shingrix shots I've already been through, and there is at least one report of a person (a male nurse, in fact) coming down with Covid anyway a few days later -- but it was established that he'd already been exposed, pre-vaccine. I'd expect scattered incidents like that.

I get tested on a weekly basis. Just recently twice in a week, and I'm always negative.

I have the ability to get free tests here in NY I believe but I haven't pursued it because it's always a trailing indicator and useless unless you combine it with a quarantine period of at least 10 days. You can get tested today and be negative despite having been infected 2 days ago and just not shedding enough viruses yet to get a positive.

When I go for my outpatient surgery in early Feb., I'm required to get a Covid test at a specific location and then quarantine for 10 days. Because the doctor, anesthesiologist, and nurses working on me will not have quarantined, it doesn't escape me that this is for their benefit more than mine. I'm sure they're being tested frequently, but so what exactly. A positive test will catch a subset of the infected and limit their exposure to others, but it doesn't take their potential transmissibility off the table entirely, or even mostly.

Cornell University is testing students twice a week, every other test being the saliva antigen test I think, the other being the full test. But it's the same problem, they're going to class, and if Mom & Dad are local, going home to the family ... by the time a test catches anything it's kind of a moot point. One of my wife's friends has a daughter in Cornell and my wife is declining contact with her friend because of that. And I think she's right to do so.

Understand, I'm not disparaging or shaming you. Vaccination isn't mandatory and even if administered properly is not 100% protection anyway, and may offer reduced or for all we know, no protection against the up-and-coming new more transmissible strains. I'm just explaining my rationale, as you are yours.