Covid retrospective


NeuroTypical
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My final big pharma schill swag arrived today:  A thank you gift from Moderna for participating in their phase II vaccine study.  It's a crystal earth paperweight with a bandaid roughly over where I live, with a note thanking me for helping them advance research of a vaccine that saved millions and furthered mRNA science (their words).

No description available.

It was a paid study, and I think they paid me almost $3k across a bit more than two years. I took 3 shots (same stuff the world eventually took), gave around a dozen blood draws, and did periodic check-ins on an app where I reported symptoms.  

 

Unfortunately, the vaccine didn't live up to early expectations, and folks still caught covid.  Last I heard from the sources that seem the most reliable, the vaccine might tend to give partial immunity, or might lessen the severity or duration of the symptoms.  But holy crap, politics and money and wishful thinking and ignorance and nefarious agendas scream so loudly, it's hard to hear the whispers of science and truth.  At the end of the day, TPTB finally said "endemic", and it's not on the front page of our lives any more.

I have a loved one (triple vaxxed before covid got caught) who is struggling with the joys of long covid.  On oxygen, brain fog, loss of energy.  The docs have no clue what to do, or how long it'll last.  For every anecdote saying one thing, there's four anecdotes saying something else.  

 

So, how'd y'all do over the last 3 years?  Life getting back to normal?  Did you successfully resist the lack of normal in the first place?  Things forever different?

 

Retrospectives are important.

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I actually woke up crying in the middle of the night during 2020 because I was having to parent my parents who weren't handling the lockdown very well, this on top of my increased duties at work and in the community. 

My dad and I both got sick with something in the wake of the 2021 blizzard here in Texas. I fought it off within a week, but dad was down for the better part of a month. This sent my mom into hysterics to the point that when the local Comic-Con came around she made it clear that if I didn't get a vaccine then she and dad wouldn't be going with me; I can't drive long distances on my own due to some health issues, and one of my all-time favorite individuals was a guest, so I had no choice. Turns out that the vaccine I got - the Moderna vaccine - was under investigation in Scandinavia at that point for possible cardiovascular side effects, and my health has *not* been the same since I got the first two shots. Yes, my blood pressure has been spiking a bit more often, and I actually redlined the same day I got my second shot as I was also doing manual labor for my dad that day; by the time it was over I could barely walk. 

Adding insult to injury is that mom also demanded that we all wear fabric masks for Comic-Con even though she knows that I have trouble breathing in masks due to how damaged my sinuses are. Sure enough, the minute we got back to the truck and I took my mask off my nose just *exploded* in blood because the strain of breathing through my nose for several hours through a mask destroyed everything. It wasn't until mom saw that blood that she realized she'd goofed. 

For all intents and purposes I now feel that the Moderna vaccine is nothing more than poison and that had I known better (it wasn't until after all of this that US sources reported on how the Moderna vaccine was under investigation in Scandinavia) I would have pushed back harder. 

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One of the things that has puzzled me about covid is God's response to the pleas of His prophets and apostles and two world-wide fasts for relief from covid. I'm guessing that there are many who feel that that relief hasn't been as quick or as great or as widespread as was hoped for. 

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I'm still unvaxxed and unafraid.

 

I had covid at least twice, probably several more times.   Around exposure number six or seven at work we all quit tracking how often.  I would guess I easily clear a hundred exposures that I know of while working.  Only reason I didn't go to work when I tested positive was the mandatory quarantines that outlasted my symptoms by days.  Worst symptom?  A weird headache for a day or so and one of the times for about 7-10 days I got winded easily.  That completely went away after about 2-3 weeks back at the gym. 

 

I think there was a lot of shady business going on with the whole thing.

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Guest Godless

My son, his mom, and myself have all avoided Covid as far as we're aware. My parents, sister and nephew (all under one roof) got it a few months ago, and my brother thinks he may have had it at one point, but isn't entirely sure. He tested negative, but had identical symptoms to his roommate and girlfriend, both of whom tested positive. A beer industry acquaintance of mine in San Antonio died of Covid, and my ex-wife's aunt lost her boyfriend to it. My parents lost one of their friends from church to Covid. 

I struggled to be able to work for a while because I worked in food service, and also because it was easier for me to supervise my son's distance learning than it was for his mom, whose job kept us afloat during the pandemic. My mental health hit several breaking points, partly due to the stress of the pandemic, but there were a variety of other factors as well that existed before COVID and were perhaps exaserbated by it. I won't go into too much further detail, but the past year or so in particular has been rough. I'm grateful for the medical professionals who have worked to reduce the mortality of the virus so we can try to get back to normal. I look forward to going to punk shows and sporting events again.

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I'm similar to @mirkwood's first statement.

I'm concerned for those who have been affected by the vaccine and their families; however, I'm also grateful for those who have benefited from it. I had Covid, lasted two days, third day the symptoms went away except for a dry cough (which lasted about two weeks). Strep throat was more serious to me than Covid. Two items though with Covid for myself that were accurate: 1) How quickly I got tired (which first made me think to get checked), and 2) a lower back pain that went away the same time Covid symptoms were gone.

The repercussions that are still in affect from the unnecessary lock downs are unfortunate. I'm struggling to understand how some families are even getting by in light of knowing what I make, and that we are getting by. The denial of inflation and watching gas prices sore, eggs sore, and other items sore in price is truly unfortunate. I can't imagine how financial would be right now if I was making what I was at the beginning of Covid vs. now, so knowing families in that situation I keep thinking how are they making it by each month. Sometime I wonder if somehow money seems to multiply when I made less because it doesn't seem like our situation has changed much as to what we can afford. We are actually stopping purchases that we previously did.

I'm hoping the economists I read in the beginning aren't accurate regarding the stop of supplies, and how it will affect some countries by which some economists said we would see in the millions those starving. Having fasted for 48 and knowing the pain I was in, I would rather die of Covid or some other disease than starvation. I hope, this prediction is as false as Atheist's claim there is no God. 😉

Overall, I think we begin to see ourselves more clearly. How we handle stress. How we handle compassion. The "laugh" from both sides when someone died of Covid who wasn't vaxxed, or someone who did reminded of the Lord's prophecy of the last days that the heart (love) of men/women will wax cold. I find myself to be less hopeful, and at times even more hopeful. I find myself more patient in some areas in my life and more angry at others.

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My life is no different. Covid had no effect on me at all. I have never been bothered by it or worried about it. Yet, I still have people in my neighborhood afraid to leave their homes. Covid, news about it, and the behavior of others regarding it, has become their fear-porn addiction.

Was it a serious illness...yes. Was it overblown...yes. Did the "vaccine" help reduce heavy hospital numbers...yes. Did researchers, doctors, and government officials lie about it's overall efficacy...yes.

Tactics that were used to pressure persons into behaving a certain way will most certainly be used again by the adversary against Christians in the near future.

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22 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

So, how'd y'all do over the last 3 years?  Life getting back to normal?  Did you successfully resist the lack of normal in the first place?  Things forever different?

The whole family got COVID.  It was the second worse flu I've ever had.  And that's not just Maxwell Smart speaking.  I had one flu that was worse when I was on my mission.  I still have scarring in my lungs because of my mission flu.

As a result, we have all "tested positive" multiple times because of forced testing for various functions.  But none of us got any further symptoms.  It may be arguable that they were simply milder strains or false positives.  But the fact remains that we've all have multiple positive tests with zero symptoms.

My three missionaries were required to get the shot even though they had COVID already.  That made no sense at all.  I don't know if it will be required for my fourth, who is now putting together his paperwork.

  • My daughter now has chest pains that she never had before.  She didn't have them between the flu and her mission.  But she stared getting them shortly after the shot.  We took her to a doctor to see what was up.  But it is so intermittent that there is no way to get a diagnosis.  We discerned no commonalities to each episode.  The only thing we can figure is the shot.
  • My "Gargoyle" son had swelling/soreness around the location of the shot and a 101 fever for two days (my family tends to have low body temperatures -- around 96.8).  Apart from that, nothing we can readily attribute to the shot.
  • My other son has had his Tourrette's acting up a lot more since the shot.  But that could be from a lack of asparagus.  Asparagus has been known to help with mild Tourette's.  As a teenager, it got so bad that he could barely finish sentences without a dozen ticks.  Long story later, he ate a TON of asparagus.  And he was "healed."  i.e. he didn't need to eat asparagus anymore.  His ticks were only noticeable when he was under extreme stress.  But now, it seems his ticks are returning.  And asparagus is more expensive (comparatively) in Japan than in the US.  He doesn't have the budget to eat the quantities it took to get his ticks to go away.  We'll see when he gets home in August.

EFFECT on our lives. 

  • COVID didn't really change much other than the medical stuff above.  But the SHUTDOWN did have an effect. 
  • The food shortages are still part of the aftermath.
  • Inflation is a direct result of the massive spending bill from that era.  The continuation of spending on that level will have a continued inflationary effect.
  • Work from home.  This has actually allowed me to make more money than I could have made otherwise.
  • A LOT less gasoline for the car.
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I still have worries about Covid-19 as well as other diseases that float around the classrooms and lecture halls.  I seem to be doing well right now, which is fortunate.  The virus seems to have affected my generation more than some younger ones and so I know several that died from the disease, especially at it's height. 

None of those who took it seriously, got vaccinated and masked up died that I know of from my personal acquaintances.  There were those who were unvaccinated (even some who got Covid once, the second time got them) that passed away unfortunately. 

On 1/19/2023 at 11:47 AM, Carborendum said:
  • Inflation is a direct result of the massive spending bill from that era.  The continuation of spending on that level will have a continued inflationary effect.

The BIGGEST problem probably was the PPP and the forgiveness of it.  The amount of money given to people has probably been spent far long ago already, but that PPP...places got millions of dollars (and seeing how some of it was spent, it's on stuff that would directly affect inflation...people buying houses, cars, and other things with that PPP...AND THEN THEY FORGAVE most of it!!!). 

I find it ironic how many of those PPP welfare businessmen then turn around and complain about College Loan forgiveness.  Hypocritical in the highest order there. 

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Oh wow. Since 2020, folks have been arguing about how we gather and interpret COVID death numbers.  Folks on the conservative/right have long claimed we overcounted and over reported deaths from COVID.   The accusation: When someone has COVID, but dies of something else, like a car crash or cancer, the death certificate might list COVID as one of the causes of death.  
 

The freedom loving conservatives cared, because if you overstate COVID deaths, you can make the problem seem worse than it actually is. And then you feel justified in supporting more restrictive government control and public health policy, than is actually warranted.

The center left pushed back, saying our resistance to lockdowns and distancing and mark mandated and vaccine mandates, was based on delusions and conspiracy theories, and the right’s ideas would kill children and old people.

Well, it looks like the center left is now coming to grips that the right has a valid point.  Here’s Lena Wen in the Washington Post, highly respected great holy bastion of liberal thought, finally saying the same thing the right has been saying for 3 years:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/13/covid-pandemic-deaths-hospitalizations-overcounting/

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2 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

Well, it looks like the center left is now coming to grips that the right has a valid point.  Here’s Lena Wen in the Washington Post, highly respected great holy bastion of liberal thought, finally saying the same thing the right has been saying for 3 years:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/13/covid-pandemic-deaths-hospitalizations-overcounting/

Well, I'm glad she finally made this statement in public.  But I am skeptical whether it will change the course of the Biden Administration's edicts. And, of course the right is saying that this is too little too late.

And, in case anyone missed it, the left is ready to cancel her for saying this.  We'll see if she issues a retraction or some form of apology in the near future.

Edited by Carborendum
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15 hours ago, JohnsonJones said:

find it ironic how many of those PPP welfare businessmen then turn around and complain about College Loan forgiveness.  Hypocritical in the highest order there. 

Oh, amen. Welfare is immoral when people I disagree with get it, but when my buddies get it it’s crucial for the survival of the country. 

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It's to the point now that whenever someone dies mysteriously or otherwise has a severe medical issue people are blaming the Covid vaccines until such time as something else comes forward. 

I'm now having to explain to my mom that yes, even people who normally support vaccines are now essentially regarding the Covid vaccines to be nothing more than poison because even mainstream outlets like the Associated Press are admitting that there seems to be a link between the vaccines and cardiovascular incidents. 

All she can say is that she herself didn't have any reactions so she doesn't understand.

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2 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

to the point now that whenever someone dies mysteriously or otherwise has a severe medical issue people are blaming the Covid vaccines until such time as something else comes forward. 

Yes, and those people are almost always wrong. They want to blame the covid vaccine because it fits their narrative and it’s their way of feeing validated. Sort of like how people in 2020 would blame Covid for the death of an 88 year old who smoked four packs day. 
 

Same play, different actors. 

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11 minutes ago, LDSGator said:

Yes, and those people are almost always wrong. They want to blame the covid vaccine because it fits their narrative and it’s their way of feeing validated. Sort of like how people in 2020 would blame Covid for the death of an 88 year old who smoked four packs day. 
 

Same play, different actors. 

From what I'm seeing, Canada's vaccine mandates are a big part of why there's a growing push to oust Trudeau as prime minister. It's to the point now that he can't go out in public without a full police escort because he's that afraid of his own people. 

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Just now, LDSGator said:

Or it’s because he’s the prime minister of a large country and security is generally very tight around them. 

What I'm hearing from the people I know in Canada is that it's very unusual for their Prime Ministers to have such a large and tight escort around them in public. Basically, previous Prime Ministers often went out with half that escort or fewer. 

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With over 13 billion shots given to almost 70% of all the humans on earth, and no real noticible jump in "mysterious deaths" it's pretty difficult to blame mysterious deaths on the vaccine.  Claiming otherwise is basically a statement that someone doesn't understand math or statistics or science.  

As far as serious medical conditions, there'll have to be some long-term studies before we can prove or disprove much about the impact the vaccine had on us, good or bad.  Preliminary statistics gathering say it was partially effective, saved lives, and reduced severity of the disease for most.  "Long covid" is a giant question mark.  Did getting the shot help?  Did some of the emergency-use anivirals like Paxlovid help or hurt?

But yeah, as far as Trudeau goes, 2023 is much different than a few years ago for him.  Lots and lots of reasons why people are angry with the Canadian govt for lots and lots of different reasons.

 

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24 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

But yeah, as far as Trudeau goes, 2023 is much different than a few years ago for him.  Lots and lots of reasons why people are angry with the Canadian govt for lots and lots of different reasons.

 

True, but let’s not talk about a “red wave” yet up there.
 

In 2021 his party gained five seats.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Canadian_federal_election 

Edited by LDSGator
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1 hour ago, NeuroTypical said:

With over 13 billion shots given to almost 70% of all the humans on earth, and no real noticible jump in "mysterious deaths"

Maybe it is because no one is counting them? 

I've read that heart attacks among young people had been rising since the Obama administration (not that there is a causal link to Obama, but that is a point in time).  But those were usually linked to the fact that young people are becoming less healthy people for whatever reasons.  And I agree with that assessment. It's pretty obvious.

However, this past several months, I keep hearing of otherwise healthy people (which include high profile people like professional athletes who are in top physical condition) just dropping dead of heart issues -- often a heart attack or stroke.  But is anyone even looking into this?  Not really.  In fact, it seems very strange that after the initial reports, no more information can be found on any news site about that person's death.  But the common thread is that they're didn't seem to be any reason why someone in such and such condition would have had a heart attack.

While the theory has been floated many times that the COVID shot increases the risk especially in otherwise healthy individuals, it continues to be blown off as a conspiracy theory.  How about if someone actually looks into it before blowing it off?

If they prove it had nothing to do with the shot, then great, That means my kids aren't going to die because of it.  But was is the cause?  I don't know. Do you?  And that's the point. No one is even investigating.  The explanations I've read so far fall short of explaining the cause.

EDIT: This video gives some indication that it was something else. But it sure didn't seem very thorough.  A couple of the data points were clear - no COVID complication at all -- good.  The others weren't. Yet they treated them as if they were. Then they admit that a couple others were not clear.  This doesn't seem all that convincing.

Edited by Carborendum
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