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You've got your anecdotes, and I've got mine. My 3 young kids all caught omicron last week. Each were lethargic for a day, had a minor sore throat, and were bac

You've got your anecdotes, and I've got mine. My 3 young kids all caught omicron last week. Each were lethargic for a day, had a minor sore throat, and were back to normal in a day or two. The flu last month was way scarier with high fevers. There's a lot of reason to be optimistic about omicron.

kimmeld 5y ago
- tanseydavid 5y ago
  >> That’s why we are still in this pandemic. Too many selfish assholes. Are you really saying that 'suggesting optimism' is equivalent to being a "selfish asshole"? I do not understand your application of logic here. Are you also saying that a particular course-of-action would have resulted in an "end to the pandemic" by this point in time?
  - micromacrofoot 5y ago
    The parent comment kind of came off as "why are you worrying and not more optimistic, my kids are fine" which seems like a dismissive way to respond to someone's worries about their own kids.
    - mostertoaster 5y ago
      The problem is the person worried about their kids also wants everyone else to worry about their kids. Problem is I have my own kids to worry about, and I worry plenty, just not about covid.
      - micromacrofoot 5y ago
        When someone shares their feelings it doesn't mean they want you to feel like they do. The original comment was expressing frustration with a situation that feels like everyone's moving on without them. As a person in the same situation I didn't get the sense it was trying to scare me at all, and find myself similarly frustrated.
        mostertoaster 5y ago
        Fair enough. I guess I’ve just seen too many people to then use those feelings to encourage people getting fired from the jobs because they are only putting themselves at risk and not getting vaccinated. I’d encourage you to move on though. I can’t see the good in worrying about it. To each their own I guess.
        micromacrofoot 5y ago
        Thanks for being reasonable and I appreciate the encouragement. I honestly don't see the good in worrying about much of anything, yet I worry all the same. Just another of life's frustrations.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- asabjorn 5y ago
  Singapore as well as Gibraltar are nearly 100% vaccinated, but are still seeing huge covid outbreaks. The best option is early treatment by stocking up on one out of several early treatments that exist and locating a hospital that will give monoclonal antibodies in case your kid gets Delta. Learn more about early treatment options and the science around them here [1] [1] https://open.spotify.com/episode/0aZte37vtFTkYT7b0b04Qz?si=-5auU02YTxeopyrHcuHJfA https://open.spotify.com/episode/0aZte37vtFTkYT7b0b04Qz?si=-...
  - nradov 5y ago
    The Delta variant is nearly extinct. Omicron has taken over. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#nowcasting https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#nowcasting
    - asabjorn 5y ago
      If you have omicron it is mild, so I indicated early treatment options for other variants as they are still around and have effective early treatments. I would personally still get early treatment regardless of variant.
hiptobecubic 5y ago
Do we _need_ anecdotes though? We have a lot of data.
PragmaticPulp 5y ago
We all know that most people get COVID and then get over it, but using a few neutral anecdotes to deny the other issues is like trying to invalidate global warming because the weather isn’t hot where you live. It’s not about comparing all of our anecdotes.
- munificent 5y ago
  As they say, the plural of anecdote is data. Many many many people are getting omicron and having relatively mild infections. It is not the same variant. That doesn't mean it's 100% safe, obviously, but it certainly appears to be safeer.
  - PragmaticPulp 5y ago
    > As they say, the plural of anecdote is data. Nobody says that if they know what they’re talking about. The phrase is actually “The plural of anecdote is not evidence”. You can Google it if you don’t believe me. You can’t collect a couple of anecdote and pretend it’s data.
    - exposingtruth 5y ago
    - bumby 5y ago
      >The phrase is actually “The plural of anecdote is not evidence”. I always thought the phrase was "The plural of anecdote is not data" but it looks like that is a misquote: Nelson W. Polsby PS, Vol. 17, No. 4. (Autumn, 1984), pp. 778-781. Pg. 779: Raymond Wolfinger’s brilliant aphorism “the plural of anecdote is data” never inspired a better or more skilled researcher. I e-mailed Wolfinger last year and got the following response from him: “I said ‘The plural of anecdote is data’ some time in the 1969-70 academic year while teaching a graduate seminar at Stanford. The occasion was a student’s dismissal of a simple factual statement–by another student or me–as a mere anecdote. The quotation was my rejoinder. Since then I have missed few opportunities to quote myself. The only appearance in print that I can remember is Nelson Polsby’s accurate quotation and attribution in an article in PS: Political Science and Politics in 1993; I believe it was in the first issue of the year.”
lastofthemojito 5y ago
What sort of test were you able to get to determine that your kids' cases were of the omicron variant?
- mizzack 5y ago
  Guessing based entirely on symptoms, onset time across the household, and community prevalence.
  - abakker 5y ago
    Guessing sounds like really good public health policy.
  - nradov 5y ago
    You can make a fairly accurate guess based on estimated infection date. CDC data shows that the Omicron variant has caused the majority of cases for the past 2 weeks. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#nowcasting https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#nowcasting
- gshubert17 5y ago
  Don't know about the OP, but in my state currently, close to 100% of the cases are omicron based on the samples they've sequenced. If I get covid next week, odds are it'll be the omicron variant.
afavour 5y ago
I kind of regret even mentioning the effects of COVID in my original comment as I figured there would be a reply like yours and you're not wrong! But it wasn't the main point I was trying to make. My main point is that everyone just seems to have moved on from under 5s. We've adopted a stance of "vaxxed and done" for adults and older children and paid no attention to the vax trials for under 5s taking forever. It's barely even mentioned. So we have parents across the country relying on the generosity of their employer in handling shutdowns, illnesses and so on. I'm lucky, my employer has been flexible and understanding. But I know that's not the case for a lot of people.
- micromacrofoot 5y ago
  I'm in the same place with my kids and I feel similarly. I feel you on the replies here too. I get it, there are greater risks, but that doesn't mean this isn't stressful along with everything else going on. Anyway, I hope this is the tail end of these worries and hope your family has a healthy 2022.
  - ALittleLight 5y ago
    I don't think "Vaxxed and done" people are saying your kids getting sick shouldn't feel stressful but rather covid poses a risk to children that is similar to or less than numerous other diseases and ailments we already faced. Just as schools weren't closed (or whatever precaution you'd like to put in here) for the flu or pneumonia there is no reason to close them for covid.
    - bmeski 5y ago
      Fear is the mind killer.
      - micromacrofoot 5y ago
        unfortunately we’re not bene gesserit
    - heavyset_go 5y ago
nohankyou 5y ago
45 years old and I've had Omicron since Christmas, still sick, still tired. I miss the flu.
- fileeditview 5y ago
  The flu can also make you miserable for weeks. Not sure why you'd miss it.
  - nohankyou 5y ago
    While it 'can', it never has for me.
- BTCOG 5y ago
  I had the delta variant a few months back and it was so mild, I first thought it was just allergies. 2nd day, got a little bit of a tingly nose, stuffy, couldn't quite smell, but could still taste fine. 3rd day, same symptoms, 4th day, I was almost better completely. Fast forward about 1.5 months after I had that Delta coronavirus variant, and I got bronchitis from my young daughter. My ears became stuffed up for weeks, I had a bad cough for nearly 20 days before it was out of my system. The Delta variant was nothing to me. Here's more of that "anecdata."
  - panarky 5y ago
    > I got bronchitis from my young daughter Bronchitis is not a communicable disease. Bronchitis is inflammation of the lining of the bronchial tubes which is typically caused by either smoking or viruses. If you don't smoke, then what you got from your young daughter was almost certainly a virus. Could have been influenza, or the common cold, or covid again.
    - BTCOG 5y ago
      Yes, sorry. The virus that caused my daughter, wife, and I to develop bronchitis in the same way after our daughter was diagnosed at her pediatrician to have gotten some virus that caused the bronchitis.
aaroninsf 5y ago
I sincerely hope they dodge long COVID and related consequences like increased risk of childhood diabetes. I also hope the collective we makes progress on understanding the nature of long COVID and can find a strategy for mitigating its consequences. Anecdotal accounts of the bewildering and depressing range of affects it is having on some people (last estimate I saw, 30% of cases, but that's pre-omicron AFAIK) make me very much wish to avoid omicron, and keep my kids free of it if possible (very unlikely given our collective decision in the US that it is now "endemic.")
- kevinmchugh 5y ago
  One issue with long covid investigation is that it's often poorly defined. A person with anxiety three months after a covid case might be said to have long covid. It's worth figuring out what portion of the population has anxiety, covid infection or not.
belorn 5y ago
I would be much more concerned about omicron. The flu is very unlikely to have any long term effects as long one keep an eye on the fever. We don't know about the long term effects of omicron. What we do know about covid is for example fatigue and long term lung damage, both which can have very debilitating effects on health, wealth and social well being. Lung damage in particular can be hard to detect without doing an actually study after the infection.
- kevinmchugh 5y ago
  We know omicron spends less time in the lungs, which is excellent news
- testplzignore 5y ago
  Off the top of my head, influenza can cause permanent damage to the lungs, kidneys, heart, and brain (sorry, I'm lazy and not providing citations). I'm not saying this to downplay the effects of Covid/Omicron, but rather to make the point that long-term damage from "mild" infections is not new. What matters is how many people are affected. Omicron will undoubtedly ruin the lives of some people who recover from the initial infection.
  - belorn 5y ago
    You are not wrong that influence can cause those, as any disease that causes a fever can cause multi organ failure and death. The likelihood of the common cold killing a person is however fairly low if the person is young and in otherwise good health. The criteria I would use is if the medical community is recommending testing for damage after illness. I an pretty use the recommendation is not to test the lungs, kidneys, heart, and brain after an influenza infection for people with no other symptoms. I could be wrong, so feel free to correct me here. I do know however that dive doctors recommend divers to test for lung damage after a confirmed covid infection, even with no symptoms after infection. There is no such recommendation for influenza, so I would hazard a guess that the risk for otherwise healthy divers after an influenza infection is less than of covid. I have yet see a recommendation for omicron, but for now I would be cautious until the data is in.
- 5y ago
swayvil 5y ago
Ignore the evidence of your senses. Reality comes from experts and consensus.
sys_64738 5y ago
What about "long COVID"? There are some studies suggesting sudden spikes in kids becoming diabetic after having COVID. These long term health impacts will take years to be known and fully understood. Getting COVID is to be avoided at all costs, IMO.
- artursapek 5y ago
  There's no avoiding it.
  - beamatronic 5y ago
    That's an unproductive, defeatist attitude. With proper discipline, it is straightforward to avoid it.
    - artursapek 5y ago
      This virus will probably be around and mutating forever, like the flu. It's impractical to try to avoid catching the flu virus for the rest of your life, just as with COVID. Sure it's possible, but that's no way to live.
      - beamatronic 5y ago
        I'm willing to wear a mask indoors, whenever I am around people outside my household, forever. I'm also willing to get booster vaccines every 6 months forever. I'm pretty ok with giving up indoor dining in restaurants as well.
        artursapek 5y ago
        Have fun with that. I'm sure Pfizer has your best interests at heart.
        sys_64738 5y ago
        I agree with all these points. Wearing masks is now normalized so the likelihood of getting flu is also greatly reduced. Also, the disgusting handshaking habit is gone as well. Many wins.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
Why would you think your three kids are somehow definitive or representative? These kinds of comments baffle me. It's almost as if people can't imagine that other people might have very different experiences, and that those experiences are equally valid. Pandemics are statistical events. Individual stories are irrelevant because the true picture is always a collective summary of cause and effect. No one can generalise from personal experience - except possibly those working on the front lines, who have to deal personally with the consequences of poor decisions. The reality is that when you have a rapidly mutating pathogen, the pandemic is done when it stops mutating and becomes mild enough for health services to return to something resembling normality. This may or may not happen after Omicron. It might, but it just as easily might not. Personal opinion is absolutely not a factor in this.
- raxxorrax 5y ago
  Sadly I believe it might now be the end or that is what some of the most trustworthy voices carefully let on. I don't think we can stay in crisis mode for too long... we will be suffocated by our fears and neurosis at some point.
- cudgy 5y ago
  Given the lack of rigor of many studies bantered about, the commercial incentives of the pharmaceutical industry, filtering and censorship of information from inconvenient sources, questionable methods of tallying Covid deaths, and politicization of Covid policy, why are you so surprised that people would over-value their anecdotal experiences? Perhaps they are being perfectly rational?
ctyc 5y ago
I had the exact same thing happen with my three kids (ages 11, 8, and 2). My wife and I had it a little worse, flu like symptoms for 3 days followed by cough and stuffiness. I would say that we are fortunate to have gotten omicron which has mild symptoms, and this also seems like a situation where you can run, but you can’t hide from this particular variant.
e40 5y ago
I know about 10 people that have had Omicron or have it now. Very few had a mild response. Most have been hit like it was a bad flu.
tablespoon 5y ago
> There's a lot of reason to be optimistic about omicron. There's reason to be optimistic about Omicron, but one of the things that irks me is people getting ahead of themselves with that optimism (e.g. get taking preliminary reports that it could be milder as "it is milder so we don't have do anything anymore.").
wutbrodo 5y ago
I've generally people to have been badly calibrated about the level of risk their children faced throughout Covid. But there's some indication that Omicron's reduced severity runs the other direction for children: the focus on the upper respiratory system vs the lungs apparently makes it less dangerous for us and more dangerous for them. I haven't looked into it in enough detail to be making any categorical recommendation to parents, but it's worth pointing out that this is one case where omicron is not cause for optimism.
ipython 5y ago
Ok great and all but the bigger problem is now the kids are home for a week - mild symptoms or not. You can’t send your COVID positive kids to daycare no matter how great they feel. The real tragedy here is the toll this takes on parents who otherwise could work full time. Even if they never contract COVID, you still have to worry and plan around the unknowable - can I take that meeting two weeks from now? I may have to be home quarantining with my kids. And since by definition you don’t know when or if that will happen, you have no way to quell that anxiety. It just exists as constant background noise you never had before. It’s debilitating.
- Zanneth 5y ago
  How is this reaction different from other respiratory illnesses? You wouldn't send your kids to a daycare with the flu either, right?
  - ipython 5y ago
    Said better than I can: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/opinion/parents-school-omicron.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/opinion/parents-school-om...
fivea 5y ago
> There's a lot of reason to be optimistic about omicron. You're making it sound like contracting covid is a one-and-done thing. Yet, it isn't. Far from it. People already caught it multiple times, from multiple strains, some with deadly consequences. Furthermore, thus non-chalant approach to covid actually contributes to it's spread and consequently increases chances that an unmanageable strain pops up. I mean, since the initial epidemic at Wuhan, we already saw the inception of at least two new strains which were deadlier and more contagious.
tekknik 5y ago
This is the same experience I’ve had people describe to me for the other variants. COVID is mostly dangerous to those with other issues. If you’re healthy and have a strong immune system then you likely won’t have severe symptoms

kimmeld 5y ago

tanseydavid 5y ago
>> That’s why we are still in this pandemic. Too many selfish assholes. Are you really saying that 'suggesting optimism' is equivalent to being a "selfish asshole"? I do not understand your application of logic here. Are you also saying that a particular course-of-action would have resulted in an "end to the pandemic" by this point in time?
- micromacrofoot 5y ago
  The parent comment kind of came off as "why are you worrying and not more optimistic, my kids are fine" which seems like a dismissive way to respond to someone's worries about their own kids.
  - mostertoaster 5y ago
    The problem is the person worried about their kids also wants everyone else to worry about their kids. Problem is I have my own kids to worry about, and I worry plenty, just not about covid.
    - micromacrofoot 5y ago
      When someone shares their feelings it doesn't mean they want you to feel like they do. The original comment was expressing frustration with a situation that feels like everyone's moving on without them. As a person in the same situation I didn't get the sense it was trying to scare me at all, and find myself similarly frustrated.
      - mostertoaster 5y ago
        Fair enough. I guess I’ve just seen too many people to then use those feelings to encourage people getting fired from the jobs because they are only putting themselves at risk and not getting vaccinated. I’d encourage you to move on though. I can’t see the good in worrying about it. To each their own I guess.
        micromacrofoot 5y ago
        Thanks for being reasonable and I appreciate the encouragement. I honestly don't see the good in worrying about much of anything, yet I worry all the same. Just another of life's frustrations.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
asabjorn 5y ago
Singapore as well as Gibraltar are nearly 100% vaccinated, but are still seeing huge covid outbreaks. The best option is early treatment by stocking up on one out of several early treatments that exist and locating a hospital that will give monoclonal antibodies in case your kid gets Delta. Learn more about early treatment options and the science around them here [1] [1] https://open.spotify.com/episode/0aZte37vtFTkYT7b0b04Qz?si=-5auU02YTxeopyrHcuHJfA https://open.spotify.com/episode/0aZte37vtFTkYT7b0b04Qz?si=-...
- nradov 5y ago
  The Delta variant is nearly extinct. Omicron has taken over. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#nowcasting https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#nowcasting
  - asabjorn 5y ago
    If you have omicron it is mild, so I indicated early treatment options for other variants as they are still around and have effective early treatments. I would personally still get early treatment regardless of variant.

hiptobecubic 5y ago

Do we _need_ anecdotes though? We have a lot of data.

PragmaticPulp 5y ago

We all know that most people get COVID and then get over it, but using a few neutral anecdotes to deny the other issues is like trying to invalidate global warming because the weather isn’t hot where you live. It’s not about comparing all of our anecdotes.

munificent 5y ago
As they say, the plural of anecdote is data. Many many many people are getting omicron and having relatively mild infections. It is not the same variant. That doesn't mean it's 100% safe, obviously, but it certainly appears to be safeer.
- PragmaticPulp 5y ago
  > As they say, the plural of anecdote is data. Nobody says that if they know what they’re talking about. The phrase is actually “The plural of anecdote is not evidence”. You can Google it if you don’t believe me. You can’t collect a couple of anecdote and pretend it’s data.
  - exposingtruth 5y ago
  - bumby 5y ago
    >The phrase is actually “The plural of anecdote is not evidence”. I always thought the phrase was "The plural of anecdote is not data" but it looks like that is a misquote: Nelson W. Polsby PS, Vol. 17, No. 4. (Autumn, 1984), pp. 778-781. Pg. 779: Raymond Wolfinger’s brilliant aphorism “the plural of anecdote is data” never inspired a better or more skilled researcher. I e-mailed Wolfinger last year and got the following response from him: “I said ‘The plural of anecdote is data’ some time in the 1969-70 academic year while teaching a graduate seminar at Stanford. The occasion was a student’s dismissal of a simple factual statement–by another student or me–as a mere anecdote. The quotation was my rejoinder. Since then I have missed few opportunities to quote myself. The only appearance in print that I can remember is Nelson Polsby’s accurate quotation and attribution in an article in PS: Political Science and Politics in 1993; I believe it was in the first issue of the year.”

lastofthemojito 5y ago

What sort of test were you able to get to determine that your kids' cases were of the omicron variant?

mizzack 5y ago
Guessing based entirely on symptoms, onset time across the household, and community prevalence.
- abakker 5y ago
  Guessing sounds like really good public health policy.
- nradov 5y ago
  You can make a fairly accurate guess based on estimated infection date. CDC data shows that the Omicron variant has caused the majority of cases for the past 2 weeks. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#nowcasting https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#nowcasting
gshubert17 5y ago
Don't know about the OP, but in my state currently, close to 100% of the cases are omicron based on the samples they've sequenced. If I get covid next week, odds are it'll be the omicron variant.

afavour 5y ago

I kind of regret even mentioning the effects of COVID in my original comment as I figured there would be a reply like yours and you're not wrong! But it wasn't the main point I was trying to make. My main point is that everyone just seems to have moved on from under 5s. We've adopted a stance of "vaxxed and done" for adults and older children and paid no attention to the vax trials for under 5s taking forever. It's barely even mentioned. So we have parents across the country relying on the generosity of their employer in handling shutdowns, illnesses and so on. I'm lucky, my employer has been flexible and understanding. But I know that's not the case for a lot of people.

micromacrofoot 5y ago
I'm in the same place with my kids and I feel similarly. I feel you on the replies here too. I get it, there are greater risks, but that doesn't mean this isn't stressful along with everything else going on. Anyway, I hope this is the tail end of these worries and hope your family has a healthy 2022.
- ALittleLight 5y ago
  I don't think "Vaxxed and done" people are saying your kids getting sick shouldn't feel stressful but rather covid poses a risk to children that is similar to or less than numerous other diseases and ailments we already faced. Just as schools weren't closed (or whatever precaution you'd like to put in here) for the flu or pneumonia there is no reason to close them for covid.
  - bmeski 5y ago
    Fear is the mind killer.
    - micromacrofoot 5y ago
      unfortunately we’re not bene gesserit
  - heavyset_go 5y ago

nohankyou 5y ago

45 years old and I've had Omicron since Christmas, still sick, still tired. I miss the flu.

fileeditview 5y ago
The flu can also make you miserable for weeks. Not sure why you'd miss it.
- nohankyou 5y ago
  While it 'can', it never has for me.
BTCOG 5y ago
I had the delta variant a few months back and it was so mild, I first thought it was just allergies. 2nd day, got a little bit of a tingly nose, stuffy, couldn't quite smell, but could still taste fine. 3rd day, same symptoms, 4th day, I was almost better completely. Fast forward about 1.5 months after I had that Delta coronavirus variant, and I got bronchitis from my young daughter. My ears became stuffed up for weeks, I had a bad cough for nearly 20 days before it was out of my system. The Delta variant was nothing to me. Here's more of that "anecdata."
- panarky 5y ago
  > I got bronchitis from my young daughter Bronchitis is not a communicable disease. Bronchitis is inflammation of the lining of the bronchial tubes which is typically caused by either smoking or viruses. If you don't smoke, then what you got from your young daughter was almost certainly a virus. Could have been influenza, or the common cold, or covid again.
  - BTCOG 5y ago
    Yes, sorry. The virus that caused my daughter, wife, and I to develop bronchitis in the same way after our daughter was diagnosed at her pediatrician to have gotten some virus that caused the bronchitis.

aaroninsf 5y ago

I sincerely hope they dodge long COVID and related consequences like increased risk of childhood diabetes. I also hope the collective we makes progress on understanding the nature of long COVID and can find a strategy for mitigating its consequences. Anecdotal accounts of the bewildering and depressing range of affects it is having on some people (last estimate I saw, 30% of cases, but that's pre-omicron AFAIK) make me very much wish to avoid omicron, and keep my kids free of it if possible (very unlikely given our collective decision in the US that it is now "endemic.")

kevinmchugh 5y ago
One issue with long covid investigation is that it's often poorly defined. A person with anxiety three months after a covid case might be said to have long covid. It's worth figuring out what portion of the population has anxiety, covid infection or not.

belorn 5y ago

I would be much more concerned about omicron. The flu is very unlikely to have any long term effects as long one keep an eye on the fever. We don't know about the long term effects of omicron. What we do know about covid is for example fatigue and long term lung damage, both which can have very debilitating effects on health, wealth and social well being. Lung damage in particular can be hard to detect without doing an actually study after the infection.

kevinmchugh 5y ago
We know omicron spends less time in the lungs, which is excellent news
testplzignore 5y ago
Off the top of my head, influenza can cause permanent damage to the lungs, kidneys, heart, and brain (sorry, I'm lazy and not providing citations). I'm not saying this to downplay the effects of Covid/Omicron, but rather to make the point that long-term damage from "mild" infections is not new. What matters is how many people are affected. Omicron will undoubtedly ruin the lives of some people who recover from the initial infection.
- belorn 5y ago
  You are not wrong that influence can cause those, as any disease that causes a fever can cause multi organ failure and death. The likelihood of the common cold killing a person is however fairly low if the person is young and in otherwise good health. The criteria I would use is if the medical community is recommending testing for damage after illness. I an pretty use the recommendation is not to test the lungs, kidneys, heart, and brain after an influenza infection for people with no other symptoms. I could be wrong, so feel free to correct me here. I do know however that dive doctors recommend divers to test for lung damage after a confirmed covid infection, even with no symptoms after infection. There is no such recommendation for influenza, so I would hazard a guess that the risk for otherwise healthy divers after an influenza infection is less than of covid. I have yet see a recommendation for omicron, but for now I would be cautious until the data is in.
5y ago

swayvil 5y ago

Ignore the evidence of your senses. Reality comes from experts and consensus.

sys_64738 5y ago

What about "long COVID"? There are some studies suggesting sudden spikes in kids becoming diabetic after having COVID. These long term health impacts will take years to be known and fully understood. Getting COVID is to be avoided at all costs, IMO.

artursapek 5y ago
There's no avoiding it.
- beamatronic 5y ago
  That's an unproductive, defeatist attitude. With proper discipline, it is straightforward to avoid it.
  - artursapek 5y ago
    This virus will probably be around and mutating forever, like the flu. It's impractical to try to avoid catching the flu virus for the rest of your life, just as with COVID. Sure it's possible, but that's no way to live.
    - beamatronic 5y ago
      I'm willing to wear a mask indoors, whenever I am around people outside my household, forever. I'm also willing to get booster vaccines every 6 months forever. I'm pretty ok with giving up indoor dining in restaurants as well.
      - artursapek 5y ago
        Have fun with that. I'm sure Pfizer has your best interests at heart.
      - sys_64738 5y ago
        I agree with all these points. Wearing masks is now normalized so the likelihood of getting flu is also greatly reduced. Also, the disgusting handshaking habit is gone as well. Many wins.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

TheOtherHobbes 5y ago

Why would you think your three kids are somehow definitive or representative? These kinds of comments baffle me. It's almost as if people can't imagine that other people might have very different experiences, and that those experiences are equally valid. Pandemics are statistical events. Individual stories are irrelevant because the true picture is always a collective summary of cause and effect. No one can generalise from personal experience - except possibly those working on the front lines, who have to deal personally with the consequences of poor decisions. The reality is that when you have a rapidly mutating pathogen, the pandemic is done when it stops mutating and becomes mild enough for health services to return to something resembling normality. This may or may not happen after Omicron. It might, but it just as easily might not. Personal opinion is absolutely not a factor in this.

raxxorrax 5y ago
Sadly I believe it might now be the end or that is what some of the most trustworthy voices carefully let on. I don't think we can stay in crisis mode for too long... we will be suffocated by our fears and neurosis at some point.
cudgy 5y ago
Given the lack of rigor of many studies bantered about, the commercial incentives of the pharmaceutical industry, filtering and censorship of information from inconvenient sources, questionable methods of tallying Covid deaths, and politicization of Covid policy, why are you so surprised that people would over-value their anecdotal experiences? Perhaps they are being perfectly rational?

ctyc 5y ago

I had the exact same thing happen with my three kids (ages 11, 8, and 2). My wife and I had it a little worse, flu like symptoms for 3 days followed by cough and stuffiness. I would say that we are fortunate to have gotten omicron which has mild symptoms, and this also seems like a situation where you can run, but you can’t hide from this particular variant.

e40 5y ago

I know about 10 people that have had Omicron or have it now. Very few had a mild response. Most have been hit like it was a bad flu.

tablespoon 5y ago

> There's a lot of reason to be optimistic about omicron. There's reason to be optimistic about Omicron, but one of the things that irks me is people getting ahead of themselves with that optimism (e.g. get taking preliminary reports that it could be milder as "it is milder so we don't have do anything anymore.").

wutbrodo 5y ago

I've generally people to have been badly calibrated about the level of risk their children faced throughout Covid. But there's some indication that Omicron's reduced severity runs the other direction for children: the focus on the upper respiratory system vs the lungs apparently makes it less dangerous for us and more dangerous for them. I haven't looked into it in enough detail to be making any categorical recommendation to parents, but it's worth pointing out that this is one case where omicron is not cause for optimism.

ipython 5y ago

Ok great and all but the bigger problem is now the kids are home for a week - mild symptoms or not. You can’t send your COVID positive kids to daycare no matter how great they feel. The real tragedy here is the toll this takes on parents who otherwise could work full time. Even if they never contract COVID, you still have to worry and plan around the unknowable - can I take that meeting two weeks from now? I may have to be home quarantining with my kids. And since by definition you don’t know when or if that will happen, you have no way to quell that anxiety. It just exists as constant background noise you never had before. It’s debilitating.

Zanneth 5y ago
How is this reaction different from other respiratory illnesses? You wouldn't send your kids to a daycare with the flu either, right?
- ipython 5y ago
  Said better than I can: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/opinion/parents-school-omicron.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/opinion/parents-school-om...

fivea 5y ago

> There's a lot of reason to be optimistic about omicron. You're making it sound like contracting covid is a one-and-done thing. Yet, it isn't. Far from it. People already caught it multiple times, from multiple strains, some with deadly consequences. Furthermore, thus non-chalant approach to covid actually contributes to it's spread and consequently increases chances that an unmanageable strain pops up. I mean, since the initial epidemic at Wuhan, we already saw the inception of at least two new strains which were deadlier and more contagious.

tekknik 5y ago

This is the same experience I’ve had people describe to me for the other variants. COVID is mostly dangerous to those with other issues. If you’re healthy and have a strong immune system then you likely won’t have severe symptoms