I appreciate that if you have a high risk from COVID that you would try to be smart about managing the risk. Clearly the virus of today is not the same as the original virus. Furthermore, we all know people who have recently had COVID, vaccinated or not, at risk or not, that basically was like having a cold.
What I find interesting about people that have done all of these things to protect themselves for all this time, don't seem to look around at the situation of today, and adjust how they are managing the risk of getting COVID.
So it actually is good that this person wrote about finally getting COVID and everything is fine. Perhaps others will update their thinking.
I don't mean to be mean or harsh. But with 10 vax shots, I don't think Sjögren's syndrome will be his top worry. I hope I'm wrong. I wonder if he was this way during flu season (in the past?)
"...Just imagine how this person would react if somebody said the same thing but use the word ivermectin. It's the lowest form of evidence: anecdotes...."
Oh god..
Just imagine how this person would react if somebody did some research into Ivermectin instead of "pretending" cough cough..its all (by implication)just "anecdotes"
I recall in 2020; while working at SF-DPH, Health Director Grant Colfax did the following:
1: During the most restrictive phase of Covid shut-down, (Shelter in place) allowed tens of thousands to gather in the densest part of City for George Floyd protests.
2: On July 01; emailed entire department to inform that Covid doesn’t take holidays, so we all should stay safely at home for July 4th.
I was so disgusted with the double-standard that I mailed a letter to Sacramento advising that Covid risk announcements should mimic the structure that Homeland Security uses to announce terrorism risk level, (Level 1, 2, 3, etc.)
Sometimes when I pray, I ask God to add an 8th level in Hell for public health. (sarcasm).
An anecdote may be the "lowest form of evidence" but it is more authentic. The randomized controlled trials sponsored by drug companies are not very credible.
Quote: “What we found was that in almost all cases there was a bias – a rather heavy bias – in favour [of a drug] when the study was industry funded,”
Finally, note that people make their most important decisions in life, such as choosing a dentist, a college, a job, a house, and even a life partner, based on anecdotal evidence. However, when choosing between ibuprofen and acetaminophen for treating a headache, the anecdotal evidence somehow becomes useless.
Oh I get it completely. I was relieved that I got it as I too am immunocompromised. Thankfully I got it sooner than later, and I was able to just move on with no further masking or vaccines. It was the relief felt when Roy Neary (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) stripped off his mask and took that first deep breath. And it’s been that way ever since. Natural immunity is fine; we will all get Covid again and again as yet another corona virus failed to completely eradicate humans as predicted…we will eradicate ourselves alright, but not from Covid.
Here is what I don’t understand about the original virus. Obviously, this is anecdotal but I live in a state that closed down last and opened up first (Georgia). I took no precautions as far as masking or staying away from people. I went to grocery stores, bars, restaurants as normally as I could. I even traveled to Key West with my wife in late 2020. I didn’t get COVID (nor did my immediate family living with me) until the Omicron variant late in 2021. I had a very mild case for the most part. Again, anecdotal, but how did my family and I survive the first wave when I took none of the prescribed precautions, including vaccination? BTW, refusing vaccination was very tough as my brother in law is an MD and was pressuring my in laws and wife to get vaccinated. I thought I was going to get divorced over it but she sees the light now, thankfully.
My mom is in her 90's, living in a retirement community in Arizona. Her management tried to restrict residents ability to interact with others, but she had a car. She had lunch with friends (probably on the outdoor patio) and she never restricted her interactions with family, including a wedding in Oct 2020. Her best quote was, "I could die of a heart attack or stroke at any time. I will not die without seeing my kids and grandkids." She is still healthy and thriving. I suspect that a lot of the elders who isolated themselves for years are no longer living... (She got one covid vax and one booster. I know of no subsequent covid boosters.)
Same with us in Arizona. Traveled extensively throughout the US in 2020 & ‘21, never got covid until after we were (reluctantly) vaccinated (just the original 2 shots in ‘21), in ‘22. It was a head cold.
I wasn't able to read the complete essay by the professor who took all the precautions, but the excerpts remind me of a friend. He is a lymphoma survivor who, somewhere along the way, became convinced that he needs to wear high-quality masks indoors. His chemo has long ended, but he continues the practice, imagining himself to be immunocompromised, and makes his (uncomplaining) wife do it too. No eye protection, of course, and neither of them uses masks outdoors. I just wonder what would need to happen for them to give it up. They both eat good quality food, are active, spend plenty of time outdoors, and I'm guessing they both get plenty of sleep (the cancer survivor is no longer working, so that stress is over with, at least), so I don't imagine that either of them would be particularly susceptible to any sort of respiratory infection.
I am glad this person finally wised up but am shocked and worried s/he has had 10 shots, and the masking and Paxlovid tx are pretty depressing also. And — we are back to masking now in my large healthcare system! As a practicing internal medicine physician, the hysteria and dishonesty of nearly all of public health and academic medicine has led me to a renewed interest in patient and personal anecdotes—I have several I share with patients. For example: of 500+ middle-aged and elderly, mostly chronically ill patients in my panel I only lost one to acute, severe Covid—in Dec 2020, and this person was by far not the most frail patient in my panel; an 85 yo developed a very nasty case of pericarditis after 4 Covid shots; another has had pretty severe and distressing alopecia after multiple shots that is finally remitting; etc. Patients value telling their stories and being heard so I focus on that, and offering my opinion when it feels right.
Great story of a true believer, but problem is, she doesn't have COVID. COVID is a hobgoblin, a bogeyman who hasn't been proven to infect anyone. Claim all you want, "I have COVID", "I had COVID". Doesn't mean jdiddlesquate. I have moon virus and am sick as a dog. Got it from too much moonlight exposure. Can we please just put this hoax to bed?
Which of course brings us forever back to testing. There's a faith in testing which is shocking when one pauses to consider what those tests are. I'd love to see VP do a deep dive and analysis of The Test (which is of course not only one thing). Some much of the PH nightmare could be avoided if people at large understand the real and true limits of such things as PCR. No one speaks of the Dartmouth med whooping cough outbreak-that-wasn't, wherein the faulty PCR declared an epidemic by false positive which other testing for the pathogen was able - ultimately, after much disruption - to disprove. Not so easy when the pathogen of interest isn't a bacteria, but shouldn't that make us more skeptical than not of the declarations made regarding the presence of The Virus??
I'm glad this man finally realized that was no way to live.
However, I'm unaware of evidence that vaccines are effective in immunocompromised patients, as such patients are excluded from major vaccine trials. Please share it if I'm mistaken.
Thank you for your honesty and fact based opinion. I am a retired nurse with Scleroderma and live in Honduras. Covid was not a huge impact on us down here, but i did find myself altering behavior, until i just gave up and my life improved! I think the mask mainly made people feel a little more in control. I can't even begin to say what other "measures" were taken by the local governments......in hindsight, if I hadn't seen it , I wouldn't believe it. Let's get back to the use of evidence in medicine for sure!!
I appreciate that if you have a high risk from COVID that you would try to be smart about managing the risk. Clearly the virus of today is not the same as the original virus. Furthermore, we all know people who have recently had COVID, vaccinated or not, at risk or not, that basically was like having a cold.
What I find interesting about people that have done all of these things to protect themselves for all this time, don't seem to look around at the situation of today, and adjust how they are managing the risk of getting COVID.
So it actually is good that this person wrote about finally getting COVID and everything is fine. Perhaps others will update their thinking.
I don't mean to be mean or harsh. But with 10 vax shots, I don't think Sjögren's syndrome will be his top worry. I hope I'm wrong. I wonder if he was this way during flu season (in the past?)
"...Just imagine how this person would react if somebody said the same thing but use the word ivermectin. It's the lowest form of evidence: anecdotes...."
Oh god..
Just imagine how this person would react if somebody did some research into Ivermectin instead of "pretending" cough cough..its all (by implication)just "anecdotes"
https://metatron.substack.com/p/a-letter-to-andrew-hill-dr-tess-lawrie
https://c19ivm.org/
I recall in 2020; while working at SF-DPH, Health Director Grant Colfax did the following:
1: During the most restrictive phase of Covid shut-down, (Shelter in place) allowed tens of thousands to gather in the densest part of City for George Floyd protests.
2: On July 01; emailed entire department to inform that Covid doesn’t take holidays, so we all should stay safely at home for July 4th.
I was so disgusted with the double-standard that I mailed a letter to Sacramento advising that Covid risk announcements should mimic the structure that Homeland Security uses to announce terrorism risk level, (Level 1, 2, 3, etc.)
Sometimes when I pray, I ask God to add an 8th level in Hell for public health. (sarcasm).
An anecdote may be the "lowest form of evidence" but it is more authentic. The randomized controlled trials sponsored by drug companies are not very credible.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3781-research-funded-by-drug-companies-is-biased/
Quote: “What we found was that in almost all cases there was a bias – a rather heavy bias – in favour [of a drug] when the study was industry funded,”
Finally, note that people make their most important decisions in life, such as choosing a dentist, a college, a job, a house, and even a life partner, based on anecdotal evidence. However, when choosing between ibuprofen and acetaminophen for treating a headache, the anecdotal evidence somehow becomes useless.
Sadly, no vaccine existed to prevent the COVID-related pandemic of mass hysteria.
Oh I get it completely. I was relieved that I got it as I too am immunocompromised. Thankfully I got it sooner than later, and I was able to just move on with no further masking or vaccines. It was the relief felt when Roy Neary (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) stripped off his mask and took that first deep breath. And it’s been that way ever since. Natural immunity is fine; we will all get Covid again and again as yet another corona virus failed to completely eradicate humans as predicted…we will eradicate ourselves alright, but not from Covid.
Here is what I don’t understand about the original virus. Obviously, this is anecdotal but I live in a state that closed down last and opened up first (Georgia). I took no precautions as far as masking or staying away from people. I went to grocery stores, bars, restaurants as normally as I could. I even traveled to Key West with my wife in late 2020. I didn’t get COVID (nor did my immediate family living with me) until the Omicron variant late in 2021. I had a very mild case for the most part. Again, anecdotal, but how did my family and I survive the first wave when I took none of the prescribed precautions, including vaccination? BTW, refusing vaccination was very tough as my brother in law is an MD and was pressuring my in laws and wife to get vaccinated. I thought I was going to get divorced over it but she sees the light now, thankfully.
My mom is in her 90's, living in a retirement community in Arizona. Her management tried to restrict residents ability to interact with others, but she had a car. She had lunch with friends (probably on the outdoor patio) and she never restricted her interactions with family, including a wedding in Oct 2020. Her best quote was, "I could die of a heart attack or stroke at any time. I will not die without seeing my kids and grandkids." She is still healthy and thriving. I suspect that a lot of the elders who isolated themselves for years are no longer living... (She got one covid vax and one booster. I know of no subsequent covid boosters.)
Same with us in Arizona. Traveled extensively throughout the US in 2020 & ‘21, never got covid until after we were (reluctantly) vaccinated (just the original 2 shots in ‘21), in ‘22. It was a head cold.
"I'll continue to remain vigilant against reinfection..."
... so close.
smdh.gif
I wasn't able to read the complete essay by the professor who took all the precautions, but the excerpts remind me of a friend. He is a lymphoma survivor who, somewhere along the way, became convinced that he needs to wear high-quality masks indoors. His chemo has long ended, but he continues the practice, imagining himself to be immunocompromised, and makes his (uncomplaining) wife do it too. No eye protection, of course, and neither of them uses masks outdoors. I just wonder what would need to happen for them to give it up. They both eat good quality food, are active, spend plenty of time outdoors, and I'm guessing they both get plenty of sleep (the cancer survivor is no longer working, so that stress is over with, at least), so I don't imagine that either of them would be particularly susceptible to any sort of respiratory infection.
Habits die hard.
I am glad this person finally wised up but am shocked and worried s/he has had 10 shots, and the masking and Paxlovid tx are pretty depressing also. And — we are back to masking now in my large healthcare system! As a practicing internal medicine physician, the hysteria and dishonesty of nearly all of public health and academic medicine has led me to a renewed interest in patient and personal anecdotes—I have several I share with patients. For example: of 500+ middle-aged and elderly, mostly chronically ill patients in my panel I only lost one to acute, severe Covid—in Dec 2020, and this person was by far not the most frail patient in my panel; an 85 yo developed a very nasty case of pericarditis after 4 Covid shots; another has had pretty severe and distressing alopecia after multiple shots that is finally remitting; etc. Patients value telling their stories and being heard so I focus on that, and offering my opinion when it feels right.
Great story of a true believer, but problem is, she doesn't have COVID. COVID is a hobgoblin, a bogeyman who hasn't been proven to infect anyone. Claim all you want, "I have COVID", "I had COVID". Doesn't mean jdiddlesquate. I have moon virus and am sick as a dog. Got it from too much moonlight exposure. Can we please just put this hoax to bed?
The main requirement for Covid is announcing that you Tested Positive!
Which of course brings us forever back to testing. There's a faith in testing which is shocking when one pauses to consider what those tests are. I'd love to see VP do a deep dive and analysis of The Test (which is of course not only one thing). Some much of the PH nightmare could be avoided if people at large understand the real and true limits of such things as PCR. No one speaks of the Dartmouth med whooping cough outbreak-that-wasn't, wherein the faulty PCR declared an epidemic by false positive which other testing for the pathogen was able - ultimately, after much disruption - to disprove. Not so easy when the pathogen of interest isn't a bacteria, but shouldn't that make us more skeptical than not of the declarations made regarding the presence of The Virus??
I'm glad this man finally realized that was no way to live.
However, I'm unaware of evidence that vaccines are effective in immunocompromised patients, as such patients are excluded from major vaccine trials. Please share it if I'm mistaken.
Thank you for your honesty and fact based opinion. I am a retired nurse with Scleroderma and live in Honduras. Covid was not a huge impact on us down here, but i did find myself altering behavior, until i just gave up and my life improved! I think the mask mainly made people feel a little more in control. I can't even begin to say what other "measures" were taken by the local governments......in hindsight, if I hadn't seen it , I wouldn't believe it. Let's get back to the use of evidence in medicine for sure!!
The most interesting and saddest part of this is where she says that she will still take precautions. She has no off ramp.
People, even highly educated ones, are flawed.