Living With COVID...

[anna_wing]

I live in a country and region where dengue fever is endemic. We all "live with" dengue. Nonetheless, my facilities manager is extremely careful about vector control, making sure that there is no standing water in the grounds or in the building. In the afternoon and the evening, we use mosquito repellent when we have to be outdoors. We kill mosquitoes when we see them. We live with dengue, and therefore we don't pretend it doesn't exist, and we do our best not to catch it. If a good dengue vaccine appears (there's hope for an mRNA vaccine, that might actually get all the serotypes), we will all get it.

"Living with COVID"? It should be the same for any sensible person.

Comments

[shirebound]

we don't pretend it doesn't exist, and we do our best not to catch it. If a good dengue vaccine appears (there's hope for an mRNA vaccine, that might actually get all the serotypes), we will all get it.

That is absolutely sensible for every contagious disease. It would be fantastic if a dengue vaccine became available!

[anna_wing]

Yes, it would be globally significant.

[flemmings]

That's what I thought living with COVID meant: being aware of its existence and taking proper precautions like masks, vaccines, and distancing where indicated. Was surprised to discover other people's definition meant 'we're all going to get it but it's nothing to worry about, take off those masks.'

[anna_wing]

Indeed. People need to use their common sense. It shouldn't be necessary to wear a mask in an outdoor, non-crowred, well-ventilated setting. If any of those parameters change, behaviour should change too.'

One thing that's really good is the observed drop in other respiratory infections pretty much everywhere that people have been regularly wearing masks. My own experience is that I haven't caught a real cold in two years, let alone flu. https://theconversation.com/should-public-health-measures-like-masking-continue-beyond-the-pandemic-data-on-viral-infections-shows-their-benefits-177238/

[flemmings]

I'm not one for flu or even colds, but every spring I developed sinus infections and a spasmodic cough that took my voice and breath away. The cough makes tentative reappearances but nothing like before. For sure I'm keeping my mask on when the pollen starts dropping.

[asakiyume]

Agree entirely.

[bunn]

Define 'sensible person' though. My mother has Covid at the moment. She's widowed and lives alone, she's slightly deaf and prone to depression. She tends to move closer to people when she's talking to them without being aware of it, and although she has been very careful to wear masks, she insists on continuing to use the home-made single-layer cotton masks from early in the pandemic, because it would be a pity to waste them (she was a kid during WWII, nothing may be wasted...)

In many ways she's sensible (she's had all the vaccines), in some ways though, the things she really needs - chatty regular social contact, the odd hug, the pensioner's weekly meal at the village hall, a cup of tea with a friend - are genuinely difficult masked and distanced when a bit deaf and a bit wobbly and not as focussed as she was. And particularly when depressed.

I've given up trying to lecture her: she knows what she should be doing, she just ...forgets. As humans do.

[anna_wing]

I hope she recovers well and quickly!

Yes, during the various Asian lockdowns. it was quite clear that the elderly suffered badly from lack of their normal social contact.

Can she sew? It's not difficult to add another layer to a cloth mask, and even leave one side unstitched to form a pocket for an additional filter. Many of us did that in the early days, when disposables were being prioritised for the health care sector.