winterwx21

I certainly would take something if I had to. But I'm hopeful that the natural protection of diet/exercise will keep me healthy for a long time.

A strong cardiovascular system helps tremendously against Covid. Studies have shown that. Covid brings inflammation to the heart/arteries, so if they are very strong they are much more likely to be able to stand Covid. Any doctor will tell you that. And you can't say that no person has died from the vaccine. There have been people that have died from the blood clots. That's why the Britain health regulator has told people under 30 that they should get a different vaccine. People have died. And there have been many deaths after vaccines in this country. Someone posted the story of the 39 year old healthy Utah woman that got extremely sick right after the vaccine and died of liver failure. It's impossible to PROVE that the vaccine did it, as a medical examiner explained. But it's very possible that the vaccine caused it. I'm sorry but I'm not ok with any vaccine death risk at all. I already had Covid and it had very little impact on me. I will keep doing what I'm doing to give myself natural protection.

No question about that. There are plenty of baseball players that are not in great shape. But, I think the majority are in great shape and I heard that quite a few were refusing the vaccine. I know several in great shape players that are on the NY Mets (my team) that were saying that they might not get the vaccine, and obviously some followed through since the team didn't get to 85%. So I just decided to use that to make a point. I think when you're an athlete and in great shape, severe Covid risk is so low that not getting the vaccine isn't a big deal. But for people that are not in great shape, getting the vaccine is critical. I'm sure I would be desperate for the vaccine if I had any condition that put me at higher risk. But since I'm at extremely low risk and already had the virus, I have no fear of it at all and would rather rely on natural protection. Probably my biggest fear in life is having a reaction to a medication or anything unnatural that I put into my body. I can't even remember the last time I took any kind of medication, even something like tylenol or an antibiotic. I think it has been more than 10 years. So you can understand why I would be worried about a vaccine too. I'm a health nut that likes to rely on the natural protection of diet/exercise to stay healthy. So far that approach has worked well for me, so I don't want to make changes.

I'm not afraid of contracting the disease because I already had it and it had almost no impact on me. All I had was a scratchy throat, a slight headache and a little congestion. So I'm not a dumbass ... I already know how my body reacted to the virus. Both my cardiologist and primary care doctor told me my chance of getting severely ill from Covid is almost zero because my heart/lungs and immune system are much stronger than average people. My resting heart rate is 36, which is very rare, and my cardiologist told me that my heart and lungs are stronger than most 18 year old athletes even though I'm in my 40s. Different runners have different fitness levels. Not all runners are extremely fit. Some have lower to moderate moderate fitness levels. Don't act as if you know what everyone's risk level is. So yes, I am more worried about the vaccine than I am of Covid. And I'd rather die from being struck by lightning than a blood clot from a vaccine. When you take a vaccine you're doing something that's supposed to protect you, so imagine dying from it instead. To me that's the worst type of tragedy there is, except for being murdered. So I am not ok with even the tiniest chance of something happening from the vaccine. I do all this work (exercise) to keep myself in top shape, so I'd much rather rely on the natural protection. If I wasn't at extremely low Covid risk, I'm sure I would feel differently and get the vaccine. These vaccines are a great thing. I just think the very small percentage of people that are at super low Covid risk due to being athletes can not get the vaccine and it can be considered a reasonable decision. A lot of baseball teams right now are having a hard time getting to 85% vaccination which would take away restrictions. That's because there are plenty of athletes like me that don't want the vaccine. The decision should be respected.

Wise for young people to look at the infection level in their area and their own risk level, and make an informed decision. Not every young person is at low risk. Many are at higher risk due to obesity and other factors. An extremely healthy athlete might not want to take any risk at all with this type of vaccine, while it's worth the tiny blood clot risk for someone that's obese since they're at much higher Covid risk.

The Astrazeneca vaccine is the same type of vaccine as the Johnson vaccine, and there have been a couple hundred cases and a number of deaths over there. Britain's health regulator has recommended that people under the age of 30 get a different Covid vaccine, and now we're seeing a pause of the Johnson vaccine in the US. Obviously there have been enough cases that this type of vaccine is a concern for healthy young people that are already at very low Covid risk.

That's true, but as you said you can understand the thinking. The chance of a very healthy young person dying from Covid is comparable to the risk of dying in a car accident. The risk is so incredibly low that it's not something you worry about. To me dying from a vaccine that you don't even need is the worst kind of tragedy. Even 1 death like that is completely unacceptable to me. I would rather keep myself in top shape through exercise and diet and rely on my own good health to protect me from severe Covid than take a vaccine that has even the tiniest blood clot risk. Of course that's just my opinion and it's fine if others feel differently. Again the good news is the other 2 vaccines don't seem to bring that risk. There is more of a risk of severe allergic reactions with those vaccines, but you can have them watch you for 30 minutes and they can inject you to save you if you have the rare allergic reaction.

Even though it's extremely rare, you can understand why extremely healthy young people might not want to take the J & J vaccine now. If you statistically have an extremely low risk of dying from Covid (like is the case for the very healthy young), it's understandable that some healthy young people would not want to take any chance at all with a blood clot risk with a vaccine since they're already at very low Covid risk. Any blood clot risk at all for completely healthy people is unacceptable. Of course the good news is people can take the other 2 vaccines, but this is definitely a blow to vaccination efforts. A lot of young people found the J & J vaccine more appealing due to only 1 shot and less flu-like side effects. This could hurt the effort of trying to get to herd immunity.

Another new study that shows how important health is to Covid risk. We've already known that people that have risk factors (like obesity and type 2 diabetes) are at greater risk of developing severe Covid and being hospitalized if they catch the virus, but this study shows that they are also at greater risk of just catching the virus to begin with. They looked at a large group of people and compared the health of people that tested positive and tested negative. People that tested positive were more likely to have obesity and type 2 diabetes, while people that tested negative were more likely to be normal body weight and have high levels of HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol). So this is very important information. Getting yourself very healthy through diet and exercise not only reduces risk of severe Covid but also reduces risk of catching the virus. The cholesterol part of it is interesting. One thing we know is exercise greatly increases levels of the good HDL cholesterol. This study is just another example of how exercise is protective against Covid. Of course getting vaccinated is the best protection, but for people that are not vaccinated it's very important to get into better shape if you want to reduce Covid risk. Anyway here is the article... https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-04-factors-linked-covid-infection.html

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.