winterwx21

Yeah personally gyms never appealed to me. Rather than spending the money for a gym I'd much rather do my workouts at home, whether it's running around the block outside or using the exercise bike that I have in my house.

I can't imagine having to wear a mask that's dripping with sweat. That sounds terrible. I'm glad that I run outside around the block where I don't have to wear a mask, rather than going to the gym. Really has to be rough for people that go to the gym.

It's crazy that some people wear the masks below their nose. Obviously that gives ZERO protection if you come in contact with the virus, since you breathe in through your nose. I use the more expensive and protective KN95 masks, but since they are not supposed to be washed and are expensive I just rotate several of them instead of constantly having to buy new ones. By the time you get back to one that you have not worn for 5 days, any virus that you might have come in contact with will be dead and no threat. Having 5 or 6 masks and rotating them is a good option if you can't wash them.

Not at all. Just pointing out that it's a good thing that none of them are serious enough to be in the hospital. Obviously the virus effects different athletes in different ways. Some are asymptomatic or get very mild symptoms, while some are sick as a dog and stuck in bed for several days. When I had the virus last spring it had very little effect on me, but that was a year ago and I don't know if I'm still immune. I'm not eligible for vaccine yet, but when I am in May I might get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Lousy that the team is going through that, but none of them have been serious enough that they've had to go to the hospital. Hopefully by the time we get to late spring we'll be done with teams having to deal with these terrible interuptions.

I'm undecided too. I was leaning more towards not getting the vaccine, but now I'm more like 50-50. I was concerned about the possibility of a bad allergic reaction, since I have a history of bad allergic reactions. However it's encouraging that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine so far is getting much less allergic reactions. I'm going to talk to my allergist about this. The J & J vaccine also is only 1 dose and tends to have less side effects. It seems like a good vaccine for younger healthy people that are at lower Covid risk. Something to consider.

It's not going to be just Florida though. Lots of other states are drawing up legislation to ban vaccine passports. I just read about Pennsylvania senators working on it right now. It could be a crazy situation where some states have them and some don't. I completely agree with you that it would be terrible for bakeries to be allowed to refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding, but I also am against vaccine passports. I don't think people that are not vaccinated should be discriminated against. Anyone that wants to be protected by a vaccine will have that option, so they won't have to worry about the smaller number of people that are not vaccinated. The vaccines are working very well against the variants, and the vaccine companies are saying they can quickly come up with boosters if it appears that there is a variant that's becoming a problem. So I don't think anyone should be forced to get a vaccine to be able to live a normal life. There are people that can't get vaccines for medical reasons. There are also people that take great care of their health through diet and exercise, getting their heart/lungs and immune systems so strong that they're at extremely low risk of getting severe Covid. Those people should not be forced to get a vaccine that they don't need, in my opinion. As long as the amount of virus circulating is fairly low and the health care system is in good shape, there shouldn't be concern about the smaller percentage (maybe it will be something like 25%) of people that choose to not get vaccinated.

Florida just banned vaccine passports. Imagine having many states with vaccine passports and many states without them, which is looking like a real possibility. Imagine how divided the country will be. This country is already divided enough as it is.

The problem is all the other Covid threads on this site got taken down because people were fighting. This is the last thread standing. If it goes too, there will be no place to discuss Covid on this site. So hopefully people can keep it civil, no matter how much they disagree. When Stebo bashes people the way he does, he's risking this thread. Hopefully he can calm down.

It certainly could be either. Maybe the vaccine caused it and maybe it didn't. But when a healthy 39 year old gets extremely sick hours after the vaccine and goes into liver failure, there's at least some chance that the vaccine caused it. And there are enough of these stories that it's very likely that the vaccine causes some deaths. We've seen a medical examiner comment that it's pretty much impossible to prove even if the vaccine does cause it, so that's why we don't see official vaccine deaths. Obviously the amount is extremely low though, and low enough that the vaccine benefits outweight the risks by a tremendous amount.

Obviously it's extremely difficult to prove. But when a completely healthy young person gets extremely sick right after a vaccine and dies, there's obviously at least some chance that the vaccine caused it. When a healthy 39 year old's liver goes into failure right after a vaccine, it's hard to believe that it wasn't the vaccine that caused it. The odds of a healthy 39 year old going into liver failure are incredibly low. We know though that these cases would be extremely rare, and these vaccines are extremely safe overall. Overall the benefits of the vaccines tremendously outweight the risks.

That's the sad thing. So many health experts have stressed how important it is to reduce weight and get into better shape, to reduce severe Covid risk. Yet so many people did the complete opposite and put on lots of weight during lockdown, because they misunderstood what a stay at home order meant. It didn't mean sit on the couch all day and overeat. There was no rule against going outside and getting some exercise. A small percentage of people used the extra stay at home time to get into better shape through exercise, but sadly the majority did the opposite. Not even realizing that they were putting themselves at higher risk of dying from Covid by getting into worse shape. An ironic twist, as some health experts have put it.

And that's certainly fine. These vaccines offer great protection. For people that are not vaccinated, being in great shape is very important to reduce risk.

Yeah. A healthy 39 year old gets extremely sick right after the vaccine, and continues to go downhill and dies. You can't tell me that wasn't the vaccine that killed her. I know vaccine deaths are extremely rare, but it does happen.

I agree. I've said over and over again here that athletes are at much lower risk than the general population because they get their hearts and lungs so strong due to the exercise. That's why I feel good about my situation, as I have gotten myself into athlete level shape with all the running that I do. And it's why I encourage everyone to get into great shape with exercise. It is proven to greatly reduce Covid risk.

That's a very rare case. There are tons of in great shape athletes all across sports that have gotten Covid and had mild or no symptoms. Who knows why he reacted to it so badly, but it's extremely rare for that to happen to an athlete.

Yeah it's impossible to tell how many of those people died from the vaccine and how many were just going to die anyway.

Definitely good to know that the risk of heart problems for athletes is very low. 0.6% is a very low number, and when it does happen they tend to be mild cases that are easily treatable.

No one is at zero risk of course, but there are people that are at higher risk and people that are at low risk. The statistics overwhelmingly show that the majority of people that get sick enough to be hospitalized have overweight/obesity/underlying health conditions. If you're completely healthy the risk is very low. Not zero, but very low.

The person you love won't die because they will be vaccinated. Anyone that's more vulnerable to severe illness has the option to be protected by vaccination, and they should use that option to protect themselves. These vaccines are extremely effective even against variants. A new study just came out that showed that the Pfizer vaccine is 91% effective even against the South African variant. So the logic that the smaller percentage of lower risk people that choose to not get vaccinated will be putting higher risk people at risk makes no sense, because the higher risk people will be protected by vaccination. If a higher risk person chooses to not get vaccinated, that's on them for taking a big chance.

Right now it appears that the vaccines work well against the variants. I'm not even eligible for the vaccine right now anyway (here in NJ it will be May 1st). If I was eligible and wanted it right now, I wouldn't make an appointment because I wouldn't want to take an appointment away from someone that needs it more. I still know some higher risk people that are very upset because they haven't been able to get vaccinated yet. I'm going to wait a few months and see what happens. I believe that the virus situation will be very good by the time we get to summer. However if the virus situation isn't as good as expected and the variants are causing problems, I will consider getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine since that one is having a lower rate of severe allergic reactions.

This is a great post. What Stebo doesn't seem to understand is that with this virus some people at are higher risk of getting severely ill and some are at very low risk. The statistics/studies are overwhelming in showing that the overwhelming majority of people that get sick enough to have to go to the hospital are elderly or have overweight/obesity/underlying health conditions. People that have none of those things are at very low risk of getting severely ill. Not zero risk, but low enough that you can live without having to worry about it too much and low enough that not getting vaccinated can be considered a reasonable decision. All of the vulnerable groups have the option of getting vaccinated, and most of those people will do that and will be protected by these excellent vaccines. With that being the case, people that choose to not get vaccinated don't have to worry about spreading it to the more vulnerable people because they will be protected. Case in point, I don't have to worry because both of my parents are fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine. I'm at very low risk but I would be worried if they were not vaccinated, and I would get the vaccine if for some reason they decided not to get the vaccine since I do see them a lot. But they are vaccinated so I don't have to worry. I had Covid last spring and my symptoms were so mild. It's very possible that the vaccine would actually make me feel more sick for a day or two than Covid did, and I also have to worry about the slim possibility of having a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine since I have a history of bad allergic reactions. So since I'm at very low Covid risk and don't have to worry about my parents, not getting vaccinated should be considered a reasonable decision. It's obvious that enough people will be getting vaccinated, combined with some people having immunity due to already having had the virus, that herd immunity will be reached a few months from now. Cases and hospitalizations will be so low this summer that people shouldn't care about the 30% of people that have chosen to not get vaccinated. If a small percentage of the more vulnerable people choose to not get vaccinated, well that's on them for making a risky decision. I definitely encourage higher risk people to get vaccinated. For the smaller percentage of people in this country that are at low risk, it's great if they want to get vaccinated anyway. If they don't want to, it's not a big deal because enough people will be vaccinated that we won't have a pandemic anymore. It would be different if this was some extremely deadly virus with very high death and hospitalization rates for all groups. If that was the case, then of course everyone should get vaccinated. But that's not the case.

It sounds as if people that don't get vaccinated will have the option to show proof of a negative test within 72 hours, to get into things like sporting events and concerts. It would be terrible discrimination if they didn't allow non vaccinated people to go to events, so thankfully it looks as if they will be able to go with proof of a negative test. I do agree that it's ridiculous though. Anyone that feels vulnerable or worried will have the option to be protected by being vaccinated, so I don't see what the big deal is if people are allowed to go to events without having to prove anything. Hopefully when we get to herd immunity, things will calm down and we'll be able to live a normal life without all this nonsense.

Yeah not a big warmup after the late week cold shot, but it doesn't look too chilly either. To me it looks like average temps the week of the 5th. A lot of days with highs around 60. Nice Spring weather, but cooler at the coast of course due to the onshore flow.

82 degrees here!