Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #112

[Gemmie]

Here's something scary:

My neighbor is a 50 year old woman who works out all the time, loves hiking, and is very healthy. She's an electrician, and because of that she's in and out of a lot of homes as well as having 3 high school kids herself. And that's likely how she got Covid five times.

She started noticing problems with walking back in October, and then other weird symptoms started popping up.

She just posted last night that she's been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She has no family history of it and no other health issues/familial history of health issues. We live in a big city with major teaching/research hospital, and her medical team is pretty sure her MS is a direct result of getting Covid five times. She starts her infusion treatment in a few weeks.

That is so, so sad and very scary. It's also not surprising and that's a sad fact.

May I ask if she's been vaccinated, and if so, how often? None, just the 1st two of the original series, every single one, etc. I'm guessing she didn't wear a mask when working. And I put money on it that 3 HS age kids aren't going to mask up at school or around their friends, so they could very likely be bringing it home to momma cuz 5 times is a lot. And interestingly (to me)... I know a few others where 5X seems to be the magic number. Well, until we make it through this year, and then they'll likely be on 6X, then next year 7X, etc. It just really makes you wonder.

 

[musicaljoke]

Here's something scary:

My neighbor is a 50 year old woman who works out all the time, loves hiking, and is very healthy. She's an electrician, and because of that she's in and out of a lot of homes as well as having 3 high school kids herself. And that's likely how she got Covid five times.

She started noticing problems with walking back in October, and then other weird symptoms started popping up.

She just posted last night that she's been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She has no family history of it and no other health issues/familial history of health issues. We live in a big city with major teaching/research hospital, and her medical team is pretty sure her MS is a direct result of getting Covid five times. She starts her infusion treatment in a few weeks.

Research out of Sweden suggests there may be a link.

Covid-19 may raise risk of developing multiple sclerosis

Covid-19 may be a risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS). This has been shown by new research at örebro University and örebro University Hospital, Sweden.

www.news-medical.net

 

[gremlin444]

That is so, so sad and very scary. It's also not surprising and that's a sad fact.

May I ask if she's been vaccinated, and if so, how often? None, just the 1st two of the original series, every single one, etc. I'm guessing she didn't wear a mask when working. And I put money on it that 3 HS age kids aren't going to mask up at school or around their friends, so they could very likely be bringing it home to momma cuz 5 times is a lot. And interestingly (to me)... I know a few others where 5X seems to be the magic number. Well, until we make it through this year, and then they'll likely be on 6X, then next year 7X, etc. It just really makes you wonder.

I know she got the first two, beyond that I do not know.

I'm pretty sure that once people stopped insisting that people working on their houses wear masks, she stopped.

I know her kids stopped masking probably late 2021 if not earlier.

 

[Gemmie]

I know she got the first two, beyond that I do not know.

I'm pretty sure that once people stopped insisting that people working on their houses wear masks, she stopped.

I know her kids stopped masking probably late 2021 if not earlier.

That's unfortunate for her, and others.

 

[weepingangel]

Another unfortunate pediatric measles death in TX . School aged, unvaxxed,no underlying conditions

A second child has died in the Texas measles outbreak

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to attend the child's funeral, which is scheduled for Sunday.

www.nbcnews.com

I was kind of surprised to see the medical drama The Pitt (on HBO and Hulu I think) address this subject in the most recent episode.

 

[gremlin444]

That's unfortunate for her, and others.

Although I live in a town that was pretty progressive on wearing masks early on, switchign businesses to online and curbside delivery, and all kinds of means of protecting each other and supporting local businesses, it seemed like once all the adults had their 2 shots the mask wearing and acceptance of it dropped sharply. I heard many accounts of people who had a service person (electrician, plumber, etc) come to their house and the homeowner complained to their boss that the service person wearing a mask made them feel uneasy...so a lot of businesses in the service industry started pressuring their workers to "consider the customer's feelings."

 

[Gemmie]

Although I live in a town that was pretty progressive on wearing masks early on, switchign businesses to online and curbside delivery, and all kinds of means of protecting each other and supporting local businesses, it seemed like once all the adults had their 2 shots the mask wearing and acceptance of it dropped sharply.

What people apparently weren't/aren't paying attention to is the FACT that Covid was and is mutating and spawning off new variants. That initial 2 shot vaccine series was ONLY good for what was going around back half a decade ago!!! It wasn't like a measles vaccine which lasts a lifetime. It's more like the flu vaccine that you need every year "for what's currently going around".

smh. What is wrong with people?

I heard many accounts of people who had a service person (electrician, plumber, etc) come to their house and the homeowner complained to their boss that the service person wearing a mask made them feel uneasy...so a lot of businesses in the service industry started pressuring their workers to "consider the customer's feelings."

Idiots!!! JMO!

 

[Gemmie]

Covid wasn't mentioned in the article, but it is a disease, and global immunization was unscathed in RFK's slashings. I'm not sure if this includes Covid vaccines or not. I hope they continue to roll out on schedule (In the fall).

six current CDC/Global Health Center employees gave details to NPR. They asked for anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.

The Global Health Center has three divisions. Two of the divisions were unscathed: global immunization, which supports vaccine distributions for polio and other diseases, and global health protection, which is responsible for disease surveillance, gathering information and drawing on their network of labs.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/04/04/g-s1-57788/centers-for-disease-control-global-health-hiv-maternal-health?

 

[Gemmie]

RFK Jr. Says He Doesn’t Know if COVID-19 Vaccines Work​

RFK Jr. Says He Doesn't Know if COVID-19 Vaccines Work

RFK Jr. has expressed fringe beliefs about the COVID-19 pandemic, which worries health experts.

time.com

 

[Gemmie]

I hope like hell he doesn't do what he tried to get the FDA to do before he was in a position of power.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to lead the nation’s health agencies, formally asked the Food and Drug Administration to revoke the authorization of all Covid vaccines during a deadly phase of the pandemic when thousands of Americans were still dying every week.

Mr. Kennedy filed a petition with the F.D.A. in May 2021 demanding that officials rescind authorization for the shots and refrain from approving any Covid vaccine in the future.

Kennedy Sought to Stop Covid Vaccinations 6 Months After Rollout

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. petitioned the F.D.A. to revoke authorization of the shots at a time when they were in high demand and considered life-saving.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Lilibet]

I guess we all need to make sure we’re up to date with our covid vaccines before RFKJ makes them unavailable.

 

[Gemmie]

I guess we all need to make sure we’re up to date with our covid vaccines before RFKJ makes them unavailable.

Yeah, good luck if you run into a pharmacy that won't give you one 1 day short of 6 months.

I'm guessing that we likely all have the 2nd of the last updated batch (2024-2025 formula). The next updated one for what's currently(ish) going around will be in the fall. Likely September. So most of us are probably on a September/March schedule.

I can't believe what we're dealing with. It's mindboggling.

 

[killarney rose]

I’m not worried about it. I got the first few. Even traveled out of state to get my first one because I had a connection and wasn’t old enough in my home state. My Dr no longer encourages them, doesn’t even have them at his clinic. We gave up masks in 2021. We are never sick. My friend on the other hand still masks up, avoids going out in public, gets all the current COVID vaccines, and is sick regularly. She’s had covid twice and is always catching colds.she is otherwise healthy and does not have a compromised immune system.I can’t live like her. It’s life back to normal for us. That said I’d never knowingly go around someone with Covid and if I had it would still quarantine till over it. I am current on all my other vaccines.

 

[gremlin444]

I’m not worried about it. I got the first few. Even traveled out of state to get my first one because I had a connection and wasn’t old enough in my home state. My Dr no longer encourages them, doesn’t even have them at his clinic. We gave up masks in 2021. We are never sick. My friend on the other hand still masks up, avoids going out in public, gets all the current COVID vaccines, and is sick regularly. She’s had covid twice and is always catching colds.she is otherwise healthy and does not have a compromised immune system.I can’t live like her. It’s life back to normal for us. That said I’d never knowingly go around someone with Covid and if I had it would still quarantine till over it. I am current on all my other vaccines.

Unfortunately, by the time you know you have Covid you've already been contagious for several days.

Just to explain my situation:

I have long Covid. I have a whole cascade of health issues from it, and I can't afford to get it again and make my current issues worse. So, that's why I mask every time I'm in public. That's why I keep getting the shots. Because I don't know if the person standing next to me in the grocery store line who looks healthy is actually going to test positive for Covid tomorrow. And I can't afford to risk it.

Multiple rounds of Covid can case immune system disregulation, leading to catching other illnesses more easily without it rising to the level of being a full on immune disorder. I hope your friend is able to regain the former robustness of her immune system.

*hugs*

 

[Gemmie]

I have long Covid. I have a whole cascade of health issues from it, and I can't afford to get it again and make my current issues worse. So, that's why I mask every time I'm in public. That's why I keep getting the shots. Because I don't know if the person standing next to me in the grocery store line who looks healthy is actually going to test positive for Covid tomorrow.

BBMFF

Either that or they could be asymptomatic. A very high percentage of people that have covid are asymptomatic, so they just go around infecting others since they are oblivious to the fact that they actually have covid, and are walking around infecting others.

 

[killarney rose]

When we had Covid in 2020, my husband was asymptomatic. I had a very mild case. He only knew because they tested him due to my positive status, we both quarantined. We were very fortunate.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

I’m not worried about it. I got the first few. Even traveled out of state to get my first one because I had a connection and wasn’t old enough in my home state. My Dr no longer encourages them, doesn’t even have them at his clinic. We gave up masks in 2021. We are never sick. My friend on the other hand still masks up, avoids going out in public, gets all the current COVID vaccines, and is sick regularly. She’s had covid twice and is always catching colds.she is otherwise healthy and does not have a compromised immune system.I can’t live like her. It’s life back to normal for us. That said I’d never knowingly go around someone with Covid and if I had it would still quarantine till over it. I am current on all my other vaccines.

Your friend is clearly catching covid (as well as colds etc) from *somewhere* in spite of her precautions. Perhaps she has a family member who carries it into her home?

In any case it's not her precautions that cause her illnesses, obviously. Something else is going on.

I still mask in many situations, although dashing into a store for five minutes, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. I have the advantage of living in a very rural/remote and low population density area which perhaps gives me a lower risk overall although covid found us as well, just a few months later than the big cities.

My primary precaution is not being out among others much, and almost never being in crowds. I do this "because" of wanting to avoid covid, but as a self-proclaimed hermit I truly prefer spending most of my time either alone or with select few friends. I do understand how challenging it would be if my personality wanted to be highly social.

So more or less I do all the things you described your friend doing, and I haven't had a respiratory illness, of any sort, since early 2019. And before that I typically got one cold a year, so I definitely attribute going six years without one to my newly-adopted covid-cautious actions.

 

[killarney rose]

My friend lives alone and seldom ventures out due to her fears. She has no family near her, and few friends. Honestly, I believe that continuing to isolate and mask up etc, she isn’t allowing her immune system to do its work properly and has actually weakened it.making her more susceptible to to germs when she does venture out.

 

[Gemmie]

My friend lives alone and seldom ventures out due to her fears. She has no family near her, and few friends. Honestly, I believe that continuing to isolate and mask up etc, she isn’t allowing her immune system to do its work properly and has actually weakened it.making her more susceptible to to germs when she does venture out.

Your friend sounds like me. I too live alone and rarely venture out since Covid. Before Covid I was out and about in public places daily. Now when I do for a food run, I wear a well fitting N95 mask, my grocery store list is written in the order that things are in in the store, down to having the produce dept memorized so if something is next on my list, it's next in the store. That gets me in and out quickly. I have not had one single person inside my home since Covid. Not one.

Where I differ from your friend is I haven't gotten sick in the last 5 or 6 years. No Covid, no flu, no colds. I used myself as an example to say something very different is going on with your friend for her to sound like me, yet I don't get ill. I'm guessing it might be a situation where someone thinks/says they aren't doing anything risky, yet if I followed them around I could hand them a report, of all the things they've done wrong, at the end of my tailing. I'm confident in that because I personally know a fair amount of people who say they are being as careful as I am. And I just laugh inside thinking "Oh no you are not!! I've SEEN you do risky things".

Some people just don't see themselves as others do. JMO

 

[killarney rose]

As for what she does, I can only go by what she tells me as we live across the country from each other. I know that I couldn’t live that way. That’s not living, it’s existing. Now I’m a germ phobe. Always have been, even before COVID. I avoid crowds during the winter months. I keep hand sanitizer in the car and in my purse. Always wash my hands after touching the restaurant menu and before eating. Never touch my face when I’m out, As soon as I arrive home from an outing, I wash my hands. I like to think that I’m careful, but reasonable.