Can we talk COVID and how it affected you financially, emotionally, physically, etc?

[ua_guy]

So far I've escaped Covid this year. Had another friend come down with it, he's a nurse. It's been very mild for him. His employer is covering his time off so far, which is great.

My husband and I got our flu shots the other day, nothing to report there. It's probably the least affected I've been from any vaccine since the start of Covid. Since I'm starting a new job soon, I had to provide proof of a litany of vaccines again, including this flu shot and my Covid series. I have scanned images of all my records and logins for various registries so I can produce documentation easily. It's been over 10 years since my last TDaP booster so I'll bet I get jabbed at my onboarding appointment.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I got this text confirming my flu shot yesterday from DPH. I never got the flu virus with or without the flu shot so I don't know why I bother.

[james.hendrickson]

I got this text confirming my flu shot yesterday from DPH. I never got the flu virus with or without the flu shot so I don't know why I bother.

Maybe because getting a preventative flu shot is a good idea?

[Like2Plan]

DH and I had the Flu vaccine, RSV and updated COVID vaccine back in Sept.

About a week after returning home from a trip (and 3 weeks after getting the latest COVID booster) I came down with COVID. It went a lot easier on me than it did on DH last year.
But, dang- I wish we didn’t have to keep looking forward to potentially getting it again every year.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I think I heard today on CNBC another round for free tests starts today (I was too busy to focus my attention to the news), but here we go again our government wasting our hard earned money. It'll probably be expired tests again albeit the CDC or FDA extended the expiration date yet again. The government should have at least distributed the free tests before expiration but big government is always so slow.

[disneysteve]

I think I heard today on CNBC another round for free tests starts today

Yep. I already ordered our batch. I'd much rather see them get distributed than go to waste. I hope everyone orders them and uses them when they don't feel well. I don't know if they'll arrive in time for Christmas and New Years celebrations but hopefully so. Those huge family and work gatherings are super spreader events.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Use by 3-21-24, finally got a good test. All the other free tests were expired.

[disneysteve]

Use by 3-21-24, finally got a good test. All the other free tests were expired.

Were they actually expired when you checked online or were they just past the date on the box? Many have had their expiration dates updated, as we've discussed previously.

[QuarterMillionMan]

The box expiration date. I didn't check online. I ended up giving away most of my freebies to my Mexican amigos in Tijuana. They were grateful for it.

[disneysteve]

The box expiration date. I didn't check online.

Then you don't know their actual expiration date. It's misleading to say you received expired tests.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Use by 3-21-24, finally got a good test. All the other free tests were expired.

Tested myself today due to a slight sore throat but negative. Wanted to point out that this box of iHealth tests contains 5 tests when I thought it only contains 4 tests. See where it says "Contents 5x tests." Sure enough when I opened the box 5 tests were inside.

[takekuma]

Been there, done that. Props for making the call to cut down. Health first, right? Cooking at home is a solid move, keep that up. As for masks, N95s are the new cool kids on the block. I've got a stash of the blue ones too, but might have to upgrade.

[QuarterMillionMan]

$190.99 for Pfizer 2023-2024 vax I'm guessing covered by my health insurance (I didn't pay out of pocket), interesting tidbit.

[disneysteve]

We got an email at work today re-instituting the mask policy. Apparently, the current strain of COVID (JN-1) is the most infectious strain yet. Also flu and RSV cases are rapidly rising. A lot of employees have been getting sick with one of the things going around.

Personally, I never stopped masking in patient rooms though I had stopped wearing one around my coworkers. Back to full masking for now at work and out in public.

[Like2Plan]

We got an email at work today re-instituting the mask policy. Apparently, the current strain of COVID (JN-1) is the most infectious strain yet. Also flu and RSV cases are rapidly rising. A lot of employees have been getting sick with one of the things going around.

Personally, I never stopped masking in patient rooms though I had stopped wearing one around my coworkers. Back to full masking for now at work and out in public.

That makes sense. I've seen a lot of folks wearing masks again. I didn't know if it was because there was some sort of PSA recommending masks again or if the folks who were wearing them were recovering from some sort of respiratory illness.

When I had COVID back in October it didn't seem like the recommendations had changed even with taking Paxlovid (and even with testing negative within the 5 day quarantine time): 5 days quarantine and then another 5 days with a mask on if going out in public.