How has the Pandemic affected you as a cancer patient/survivor
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My kids' festive decor
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Also to add, yes this is an once in a century pandemic, but these people were elected to "lead", not to throw their hands up in air coz the task is too difficult. Just the appearance of "trying" is better than doing nothing.
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Dancemom, that's perfect!
Thanks for all the nice comments! I feel like a 👸.
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Chowdog, I am sure the WH would appreciate your insights in how to achieve #3 when there is so much resistance within and by states in implementing mitigation factors. Again, we are on a learning curve with how to deal with a pandemic and it requires cooperation and enforcement for mitigation at all levels especially within states and their governments, not just by the CDC and the WH. Do you have specific recommendations? I'm curious.
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about #3...MASKS,
although, my retired microbiologist mother shocked me yesterday when she told me she pulled her mask down to read at the library!!! FIRST WTF were you doing inside a library?! Why did you then decide it was a good idea to stay there and read instead of taking materials home?! WHY WHY would you pull the mask off your nose? "I couldn't breath".
THIS is the woman who came home from work day after day when I was a kid sighing sadly to my dad that she just couldn't understand why all these young prime of life men were dying of pneumonia. It was aids, but that wasn't known yet. She is the biggest pro-vax person on the planet. She bleached all kitchen counters after meat prep. She WORE A MASK HER WHOLE CAREER!!!!
If she is sick of all this, I dont know what do do or say.
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Betrayal,
I am just one of the nobodies living with Stage 4 and trying my best not get killed by Covid before I die from cancer. Healthy people are tired, so are immunocompromised people living in isolation for 2 years. I am one of the lucky ones who can work from home, but there are plenty of stage 4 people who can't work from home and can't afford not to work. I don't appreciate the tone of being treated as a troll when I am just venting and asking for a better government response.
Re #3 for example with masks: a big problem is "messaging":
1) we are 2 years into the pandemic, most of the public still don't understand covid is airborne and it lingers in the air for awhile, especially in poorly ventilated settings. WH & CDC could have done a better job educating the public. they often dismiss that as if lay people can't understand it. I think plenty of lay people will understand the concept with better messaging.
2) better masks: N95 or KN95, here is an interview with CDC director on PBS that she implied N95 is uncomfortable. this is bad messaging.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/dr-walensky-on-t...
"Judy Woodruff: And another — and a question about masking. We know the administration is recommending wearing masks in — wherever there's a congregate setting and people who you don't know whether they're vaccinated. But we also know that the N95 mask is considered safer. Is the administration — should the administration — are you looking at whether you should be recommending that people N95s regularly, rather than just a typical surgical mask, which is what so many Americans are doing?
Dr. Rochelle Walensky: Yes, we want to make sure that people have access to really well-fitting masks.Our guidance very much articulates that you need to have a mask that is well-fitting, snugly fit, that if — it is two layers of cotton, at least, and that you often have a wire bridge around your nose to keep that snug fit. If people want extra layers of protection, the KN95 or N95s do offer that. But what I also want to really emphasize is that you need to be able to keep them on for — when you're in those settings. Those KN95 and N95s are often not as comfortable. So, if you're going to take it off, the really important thing to do is make sure you're masking the entire time."
3) pinning mask as some kind of punishment instead of one of the tools. specifically, the May CDC guideline that allowed vaccinated to unmask while relying on the honor system. More importantly, the lack of caveat that masks will come back if spread is out of control. Edit to add, states often align their guidelines with cdc. Once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s tough to put it back.
all in all, plenty of public health or MDs have voiced concerns about uncontrolled spread. no need for WH to hear musing from randos like me.
Again, as someone living with stage 4 cancer, I am not fighting this hard to just get Covid. If I can suck it up 2 years isolation (with exception of 5 outdoor dining in 2021) while dealing with cancer, I don't understand why healthy people can't put up with masks to help the society to combat the pandemic.
I also do not appreciate the lack emphasis from the government on how to protect immunocompromised people. I have mentioned over & over again in this thread. we are the afterthoughts of politicians. the lack of compassion shows from the top to the bottom, i.e. from the politicians, to random people you meet on daily basis.
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Dancemom - Maybe your mom should try different masks to find one more comfortable. My younger daughter thinks people who have trouble breathing with a mask are mouth breathers. Maybe?
Pi-Xi - Not a subscriber. Did the article mention doing a throat swab?
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serenity, my mom is just being annoying. my parents are just in their 80s and planned to travel the world in retirement (mostly visiting relatives) and I think feels that she will take calculated risks and enjoy her time. She says the library was mostly empty, it was more her willingness to go there that angered me.
Yeah, chowdog. Stage 4 and haven't left my area in almost 2 years. I'm so over hearing about everyone's fun trips and problems with masks and not trusting science.
I don't care anymore. I cant see my parents or family, im afraid to attend the things I love about my city. I gave up so much even before my diagnosis thinking that we'd all be doing our part, and yet the selfish people won again...the perfect example is the vaccine incentives- so if I hadn't gotten the vax when it was recommended, I could have been given $100 and entered in various lotteries?
I'm sick of losing out by doing the right thing.
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I can't help but blame the QC government. We have the vaccines and tests from the federal government, but QC has dropped the ball in getting them to the people (5-11 need dose 1, parents need boosters). They refuse to improve the air in schools. They do not provide N95 masks to teachers and HCWs. The public health director said during a press conference that the surgical masks were better. How's that for a message?
From the federal government, I would like more tests and high quality masks provided like vaccines. Some people can't afford to pay for them. Cheaper than more hospitalizations and business closures.
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Dancemom - Guess you can’t convince her to change, but a mask is so minor. Hope the library is well ventilated.
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Serenity, the govt throwing supplies at people didn't do anything We have had free vaccines and free testing here as soon as each became available. Anyone from anywhere could come here and get both anytime. There are free masks (surgical, but just pinch the top wrote and actually cover your nose and it works) at subway booths and in every store and restaurant and museum, school... there are free isolation hotels. There are free groceries and or delivered meals for those in isolation (DD worked as a contact tracer)...
People wouldn't take them! They think it's a hoax, a bribe, I don't know.
Unfortunately, for a large segment of the population the only thing that worked was the threat of losing your job. And they are fighting that! 30% EMTs out "sick" now. DD's friend's sister needed ambulance in Staten Island. First available came from manhattan! And then brought her back to a manhattan hospital as no beds near her!
As soon as I have recovered from this surgery, I will do as I please, wearing my mask to protect myself only. I had covid 11.5 months ago. I was double masking but the preschool parents stopped putting them on their kids. Guess what, I was exposed at school on Jan 11. Someone forgot to quarentine after their Christmas vacation last year. Whole school had to close. Many families lost childcare, some of us (my family) got sick for weeks. Do I really expect any different this year?
People are selfish and I am too stupid to learn that
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Tests are hard to access here, but apparently in some countries the government will mail people tests on request. Here the pharmacies run out soon after restock.
High quality masks should be available for all essential workers who want them. Many people wear masks here, but they’re mostly cloth or surgical.
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Tests are impossible to get now here too. I was talking about the last TWENTY ONE months when it could have slowed this runaway train.
Even medical workers never regularly wore n95s. As my NP sister with a scar on the bridge of her nose said, if you are wearing in correctly, it hurts. Universal properly worn decent masks work.
When there isn't a surge, supplies are available if people actually looked. Its just lazy compliance. If all those people actually covered their noses, stayed home, didn't travel to other cities, didn't go to a friend's house for dinner, didn't refuse to believe this is a real disease, didn't refuse to get vaxxed....no excuses. People did this.
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I think it depends where you live. Here they wanted the virus to spread.
This is from just 2 weeks ago.
https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/quebecs-slow-covid-19-booster-roll-out-puzzles-some-experts
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Thats crazy.
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That’s why I blame the QC government.
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govt is made up of people. I still blame ALL those stupid deniers and lazy people
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Well, yes. Here those idiots are in charge and listening to other idiots. Idiocy runs deep here.
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I think you misinterpreted the "N-95's are uncomfortable" message. N-95's of hospital grade are much thicker than regular surgical masks and thereby make breathing more difficult for the majority of people. I think this is the message she was trying to deliver not the one you took from it. They also must fit so snugly that they leave marks on your nose and cheeks. In the hospital setting you have to pass a "fit test" to be able to use them. This involves wearing the mask while your head is encased in a sealed plastic box into which a citrus aroma is added. If you can smell it, the mask doesn't fit nor work. They are uncomfortable for even short periods of time so the HCW's wearing them for 12 hours per day are working harder to breathe each and every minute of that time. SO if they can do it, I think the public can suck it up and do it as well even if it is a regular surgical mask.
Due to cost the N-95's were reserved for use for patients with diseases spread via the respiratory tract such as TB which is why they were also in short supply when the pandemic occurred. Imagine having to reuse a mask that was intended for short-term use (1 shift and not continuous but only when with the patient) for more than a week? Once they become moist they serve as a wick to whatever is on the exterior surface, so not as protective as one would think.
Can't comment on those people are buying from Amazon, etc because not sure they meet hospital standards for protection. If people complain about wearing a regular surgical mask, then they will not be able to tolerate an N-95. If states align their mask policies with the CDC, what happened to those states such as FL, TX and a few others who not only refuse to align but thumb their noses at any attempt to control Covid? The Federal government can only recommend but not mandate a state's compliance and if they did I am afraid that we would have another civil war on our horizon since we cannot even get the Senate to act like rational human beings.
I do not think you are a nobody, recognize your concerns regarding your BC immunocompromised status (others meet this criteria as well due to other medical issues), and I think we all identify with the prolonged confinement as a result of the pandemic. Have you contacted your politicians since they seem to be a focus of your complaints? I have reached out to my Senators, one who addresses our concerns and his counterpart who has had his head up his ass for his two terms and doesn't give a rats ass about his constituents. A regular do nothing who votes the party line and if not for our governor and his stance we would be in a sorrier state.
This is a place to vent, which helps, but none of us has the power to change our current government issues except to vote out those who are obstructionists, do-nothings, or who do not listen to their constituents. No president has absolute power and if they did we would be living in an autocracy, not a democracy. It was tried and fortunately failed.
This pandemic has been politicized to the nth degree and "nothing will change if we continue to do the same thing, in the same way and expect a different outcome". We are the change makers, if we choose to act.
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We have too many devices in this house! All of them just received this emergency alert. Yeah, we know.
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I have a medical grade n95 respirator which i was fit tested for and I wear it to all my medical appts. They're snug and leave marks on my face but even with a lung met & lung fibrosis I can breathe fine while wearing it.
NPR did an article on why to choose an N95 and included links to resources for shopping and ensuring a good fit
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Betrayal,
I think you misunderstood what I want the Biden administration to do. There are a lot of things the administration can improve on. Since may, the u.s. has pursued the vaccine only strategy, while discounting all other tools. Vaccine is great, but we are not going to booster our way out of this pandemic. Mask is one of the simplest and cheapest tools. Instead, given how politicized masks are, CDC and WH covid response team have painted mask as some of kind of punishment. The other big problem CDC has is lack of data collection. I understand we have underfunded the public health programs for decades, and it will take time to improve, but at minimum we should put more emphasis on data collection. Other things the administration can do: better and more consistent messaging: "the pandemic of unvaccinated" is highly divisive. (even though I despite antivax), better outreach, put people's interest (HCW, essential workers) ahead of corporations, etc, better at combating misinformation. He has the power to hire the right people to do this, instead, the head of WH covid response is a business person rather than a public health expert. I want the Joe Biden who pitched unity & empathy back.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Zients
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(21)00351-5/fulltext
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/20/cdc-covid-omicron-delta-tracking-525621
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/persuade-unvaccinated-protect-unvaccinated/620091/
I am glad I live in California. Gavin Newsom is not perfect, and my mayor has made plenty of mistakes, but I would much prefer CA over FL. the problem, CA is not an island. A surge in certain parts of country eventually spills over to the rest. Even Hawaii can't escape surges. Ideally, a more consistent & centralized strategy is much better than what we have now. FFS, we had 50 vaccine rollout and appointment systems.
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Agree with you 100%, Chowdog. 👍👍👍 I want the rational, progressive government we voted for. I do think Biden is giving far too much credence to his former Republican colleagues from the Senate, as if the are acting in good faith, when it's obvious they are not.
That being said, I also agree with Alice that Biden is fighting an uphill battle against Republican intransigence, both at the federal and state level. They'd rather see him fail than save lives or end this Pandemic.
I'm also thankful to live in a blue state, with rational governance and (mostly) decent fellow residents. Here in LA maskholes are far outnumbered by sensible people who follow the rules.
Be safe everyone. The happiest of New Years to all.
Trish
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happy new year everyone, but don’t celebrate like nashville
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Trishyla, thank you. Yes, I totally agree Biden underestimated how antagonistic the republican party has become.
With regarding why I have so much misgiving towards the government's response: I happened to see this article. This is written by an Australian woman, but so much resonates how I feel about 2021 and the government's response, notably this quote
"Despite government promises, Australia moved out of lockdown before vaccine rates for many at-risk communities reached the levels set for the broader community, in what I think is a careless and avoidable decision. The way the Perrottet government has managed the transition from lockdown has been nothing short of bizarre. Ending mask mandates, capacity limits and QR registrations just as a new strain of Covid was hitting, vaccine immunity was waning, and boosters were yet to be rolled out was always going to be the disaster we are currently facing. At the same time, I'm so disappointed by the rhetoric of our state and federal leaders of "personal responsibility". Wearing a mask is more than an individual protection. It is an act of solidarity and community care. It acknowledges that you have no idea who might be vulnerable around you and that you value the health of others. To not wear a mask is not an act of freedom; it is callous. Focusing on "personal responsibility" during a pandemic is an elitist and ableist luxury. It also doesn't work. Beyond personal protection, vaccination availability and acceptance is about community protection. Vaccinations only work when they are available to everyone, creating herd immunity across the community. Furthermore, without financial support, most of us, including people with underlying conditions, need to leave our homes to work and live, even as it becomes increasingly difficult to get any Covid test, let alone one without out-of-pocket costs. Again, our politicians have let us down. More than 18 months after my previous article, I was asked as a woman with disability about how I am feeling about Covid and the end of lockdowns. But my lockdown has not ended; it will continue until there is a coherent plan from our leaders that doesn't leave people with disability behind. I feel undervalued and forgotten. I feel that my life is seen as less important that those without disability. Ironically, we may well be creating a new generation of people with disability and illness – a new generation with underlying health conditions – through the impacts of long Covid. I hope we treat these people better in the future than we are treating people with disability today."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/31/for-those-of-us-with-disabilities-lockdown-wont-end-as-long-as-covid-strategies-leave-us-behind
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SerenitySTAT,
In a nutshell in the article Dr. Peter Jüni says that the RAT's negative results are probably only about 50% accurate.
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Pi-Xi - Thank you! I’ve read these tests are designed to be public health tools instead of diagnostic. We need more of them available.
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Perhaps we need new tests for this variant. If you are missing half the positives and giving people a false sense of security with a negative result, it seems like a recipe for an even worse disaster.
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Yes, a better tool would help, but getting them approved and manufactured for omicron won’t happen in time. Adding the throat swab and better instruction on collecting samples would reduce false negatives faster.
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