It felt foolish to me, but we joined two other couples, close friends in their 70s, for dinner in a restaurant last night. It had been a long time since we'd done that and we all had really missed eating out together.
I have mostly gotten over my recent case of Covid and do not want to get it again, but the chance to get together with our friends was hard to pass up. I figured being up to date on vaccinations (had the bivalent booster in September) plus my recent Covid infection should give me some protection. My symptoms with my Covid infection weren't bad, but I still get tired out easily and have coughing spells. I think I should have taken Paxlovid, which along with being up-to-date on vaccinations can help lower the risk of developing Long Covid.
From the USA Today article
@Sundog posted (last paragraph BBM):
Why it's better not to get infected
Every COVID-19 infection increases your risk for serious disease and for
long COVID, which brings sometimes debilitating symptoms that can linger for a year or more.
Older adults are more vulnerable, Al-Aly said, "but it doesn't mean younger people are totally shielded." Long COVID, too, can strike people at any age from childhood through to the 101-year-old recently treated at his hospital, he said.
Vaccination reduces the risk of long COVID by 15% to 30%, according to a study he recently published.* Another study he is working on shows Paxlovid reduces the risk by 26%.
* Link to study: Long COVID after breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection - Nature Medicine