Merry Christmas and a rapid recovery! 

Happy new year, too!

I know it seems like an eternity, but the pandemic has only been going on for two years.  Consider the polio epidemics which (officially) started in the U.S. in 1916.  The Salk vaccine was first administered to children in 1954.  In other words polio was active for almost 40 years!  We are miles ahead of this RE covid because of how advanced medical science is now.  Boosters for covid may become a regular thing like flu shots; I have no problem with that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_polio

That would be my guess.  I'm a weird dude, but I actually kind of enjoy getting those shots - they always seem to be so darned happy to be doing it.   

Yeah, it took some years before an effective polio vaccine was produced, but in this day and age we have far better technology to combat disease and epidemics, and hopefully the scientists working on the covid vaccines are able to develop one that's effective on all strains.... now and even future ones that as yet have not evolved.

I don't have a problem with annual booster shots, either, but that was my point of not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.  Hopefully one will appear, but I think we will be living with covid much as we do with the flu and the common cold.

My belief is that getting COVID is now a matter of when, not if, now that this much more highly contagious (but fortunately less lethal) variant is exploding across the globe.  Vaccinated folks will generally tolerate the illness much better; that's the nature of all vaccines for these respiratory viruses.  I've seen a jump just this week in patients in my practice testing positive, all but one vaxed, none of whom are particularly sick; nearly everyone with a runny nose for more than a day wants a test.  A few of my patients who have repeatedly tested negative are among the most symptomatic.  There are beaucoup non-COVID viruses out there, too.  I fully expect to get COVID despite my 3-vax status.  We'll see over the next 6 months or so whether I'm right or not.

The difference between hospitalizations between vaxed/not vaxed is not particularly surprising and I would expect that difference in rates to narrow somewhat over time as the disease marches on.

There has always been and will always be a subset of people who make poor life decisions which affect their utilization of healthcare services and I'm OK with paying for that discrepancy through insurance or taxes.

To Victechnical's point, there are fundamental differences between the polio/smallpox type viruses and respiratory viruses that made it possible (once the technology evolved) to virtually eradicate the former.  The relatively rapid mutation rate of all coronaviruses makes eradication virtually impossible.  All we can do is mitigate against disease frequency, severity and duration, as is the case with influenza.  Barring a miraculous breakthrough that we can't begin to imagine, they will always be with us and will always pose a threat to the more immunologically vulnerable.

Is it possible that every 100 years there will be a global pandemic? With Covid-19 it was terrible. Perhaps, for now, only vaccination is what everyone should do. I have injected Pfizer and still regularly wear a mask when going out. My family plans to have a long journey to Florida, once the epidemic here is better controlled.

As if I needed something to drive the point home, I have two patients, a couple, who had 8 members of their family visit from out of state for the Christmas holiday, in a town with historically very low numbers of COVID cases.  All of them, including 2 children, were vaxed - 9 thrice, 1 twice.  Mom/grandma came down with a little sore throat Christmas morning. Now all 10 are COVID positive, within 4 days of the first signs of illness in any of them.  Fortunately, they are all only mildly ill with cold-like symptoms.

Talk about going on 'just a 3 hour cruise...'

More to follow if things take a darker turn.

Recently a nurses aid told me that Covid would go away if they stopped talking about it on the news so much. What genius! Now all we have to do is convince the news agencies to stop talking about hunger, war, racism, poverty, cancer, etc etc etc.

If only it were that easy  Sadly, however, the world is more complicated than that.

Well hello folks!  Here's hoping everyone was able to have a HEALTHY Christmas, and hopefully a healthy and happy New Year!!!

Been a few years since I've even lurked around these waters, but I figured I might check in and say "hi".

I'm still alive, and have (as of 10 days ago) relocated from the very center of Canada (Winterpeg) to the extreme west coast (Vancouver Island).  I work remotely (mostly because I can) and am at this point semi-retired (which really means I work when I need space from the wifey.......just don't tell her     I said that!)

I would like to say that Canada is fairing somewhat well during these trying times, but that would be lying.  Our (yes 'socialist') healthcare system shows it's cracks and threatens to buckle even in non-Pandemic times, so these days it's pretty depressing to find oneself in need of our healthcare.  I have experienced the loss of 2 extended family members in the last 1.5years, directly due to Covid-19 (and no, neither had underlying health or immune system issues) and I can say our system (Canada's healthcare) DOES NOT WORK!  (at least not in the middle of a pandemic).  It remains my daily hope and prayer to not need our healthcare system in any way ON any day lest it fail also my immediate family.

Having said all of that, I am double-vaxxed (been so since the day it was available to me) and will get the booster once my age group is allowed.  I wear a mask always and most importantly conduct myself when out and about as if I hold the lives of those around me in my own hands (meaning: I take YOUR health just as seriously as my own).

BE WELL, FELLOW STARDOCKIANS!  Until next year!!

-- monk out

To reflect the changes, and to cheer you up...your new avatar:

Post that over on Spencer's thread, Doc.  I suspect you intended to.

Thanks cool. Deputy Dog Thanks for the laugh DrJBHL.   Got my Moderna booster today as well.

Actually not, my friend. This is where Spencer posted on having contracted Covid-19, so I figured to cheer him up with a chuckle here, and not having an online image storage site, I couldn't post it on the news thread...its banner differs from those in the regular forum. Anyway, hope it gave y'all a chuckle. Btw, I designed his present avatar  , so it sort of completes a cycle. I'll miss him...but Jafo promised to Mirandize the miscreants in his absence.

Know what they say about assume...  

Covid here, just got tested positive.  It sucks, but I have been sicker several times in my life.

Prayers please.

You know you'll get tons of prayers from me Jim!

Hoping you have a mild case, and recover quickly, Jim.

Praying it is mild, Jim.

Jo and I are sending prayers your way buddy!   

Good luck, the odds do seem to be in your favor right now.  I hope it quickly becomes done-and-gone.

They say a mild case, but feels like the worst flu I ever had.

You are a tough bastard, you will come out the other side in fantastic shape. A little motivation for you. But seriously speaking i do hope it is mild and you can recover soon.               Medicate my friend.

Had a covid scare this week. Turned out to just be a really nasty cold though. Forgot what those were like.