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People are still taking Covid tests? It has become indistinguishable from a common cold at this point. Save your money and buy some chicken soup.

sunshowers 2y ago
I still regularly test before going to gatherings and events.
- wannacboatmovie 2y ago
  How is having the knowledge of presence (or absence) of Covid-19 measurably different than having influenza, rhinovirus, or any of another dozen respiratory viruses? Are you testing for all of them? This is my opinion, but that sounds totally unnecessary and so singularly focused to render itself ineffective (I understand the altruistic part). There are people in my office that continue to wear N95 respirators, alone, in their cubicle on a daily basis. I feel sorry for their personal burden because at this point it's clear they are never going to stop. At some point you have to let go for life to have the ability to return to normal. This theater made sense when Covid was mostly lethal, which set it apart from other common illnesses. This is no longer the case.
  - refulgentis 2y ago
    No offense, trying to help: this is a whole lot of mind reading wrapped in condescension. You have absolutely no idea what their health status is, and COVID is still COVID. With wide vaccine availability and the likelihood of 0 exposure decreased, the rest of us can giggle about malformed psyches, but there's plenty of people who still need to avoid it like the plague. I empathize with you, my instinctual reaction when I see someone masking outdoors is to roll my eyes. Then I walk through "well gee maybe they have it and don't wanna spread it, or, or, or..."
  - adw 2y ago
    You don’t know their personal circumstances. Maybe they’re in the same situation as you (I’m assuming “generally in good health”), but they are just more anxious than you and you believe that’s unnecessary. On the other hand, some people - yes, in your workplace - are likely immunocompromised or caring for someone who is; disease risk is not evenly distributed and COVID did make this set of risks meaningfully and continuously worse. You can’t tell the difference just by looking at someone.
    - wannacboatmovie 2y ago
      The problem I've had with this argument is immunocompromised individuals existed before COVID but masking and obsessive testing was nearly nonexistent outside the elderly and infirm. Now that things have largely reverted back to normal, why have behaviors not followed? You make valid points but COVID broke people's brains and caused widespread hypochondria. People in this category are likely making poorer long term health choices (e.g. N95 masks should not be worn for more than a few hours as it's hard on your heart).
      - sunshowers 2y ago
        > The problem I've had with this argument is immunocompromised individuals existed before COVID but masking and obsessive testing was nearly nonexistent outside the elderly and infirm. Now that things have largely reverted back to normal, why have behaviors not followed? My general hope from society is that we learn new things and improve over time. COVID completely changed the public and expert understanding of airborne illnesses. While cloth masks don't work, N95-grade masks absolutely do.
      - adw 2y ago
        "Obsessive" is pretty loaded language! Also: normal has shifted, as it always does, so you should expect permanent changes in behavior. It used to be normal to smoke indoors; one of the few good outcomes of Covid is that people are a lot more serious about building ventilation than they used to be, thankfully. Anyway, the new normal _still_ includes Covid, and Covid is still a significant risk to the naive (un-or-insufficiently vaccinated or people who haven't had it yet). It's comparably risky to a bad flu, which is a pretty real thing. Do you have a citation for the N95 risk? I'm sure a bunch of painters and woodworkers would be interested in that.
  - saulrh 2y ago
    COVID is still an order of magnitude more immediately deadly than the usual influenza strain. Furthermore, influenza basically either kills you or it doesn't; COVID continues to have a horrible habit of leaving young and perfectly healthy people permanently disabled.
  - sunshowers 2y ago
    Covid is significantly worse than other widespread respiratory viruses, in that it clearly leaves a significant chunk of people disabled for months at a time if not permanently. (I personally had terrible fatigue for around 3 months afterwards. I've had a lot of respiratory illnesses, but this was the only time I had symptoms lasting months.)
  - anonbanker 2y ago
    I'm sure I'm going to get greyed for this reply, as well as for being a stickler for terms such as "vaccine" keeping their traditional meanings, but I may have an answer for you. If you, like me, avoided the mRNA gene therapy injections, but still attend barbecues and other get-togethers, it's a good way of confirming that you were the recipient of spike proteins from one of the injected. Sunday before last (8 days ago), I was gifted Covid-19 a third time since Easter 2020 (took a test to be sure) from a bowl of spicy Fuego Takis at a barbecue, likely from licking my fingers clean of all the powder rather than washing them with soap and water. The reason it was worth confirming that it was Covid was because of the irregular heartbeat I had during the first two days of the illness, and I wanted to make sure it wasn't something unrelated. Post-testing, I knew that 50mg daily zinc and vitamin C & D megadoses was all I needed for the rest of the week.
    - refulgentis 2y ago
      You weren't! Even with the stuff you knew was fantastical. Congrats :) You've proved Cancel Culture is fake.
  - ifyoubuildit 2y ago
    > This theater made sense when Covid was mostly lethal ... So you're saying it never made sense? What does mostly lethal mean?
kube-system 2y ago
It's helpful to know, even when people are not particularly at risk for severe illness. Even mild illness isn't fun to spread around.
- goalieca 2y ago
  So you’re saying stay home when you have a cold and especially when you have a fever?
  - kube-system 2y ago
    I make decisions around how I interact with other people based upon that information, yes. I also might decide not to avoid someone based on that information too, if for example, we are sick with the same thing. For a recent family holiday, I decided to postpone because one group had covid and the other had flu, and we decided that having both viruses at the same event would not be fun. But if we both had the same thing, we wouldn't have avoided each other.
  - ceejayoz 2y ago
    In my case, as someone on immune suppressants, it’s good to know if I should go on Paxlovid or not.
nothercastle 2y ago
I’d like to know if I’m going to be sick for 5 more days so yes
- wannacboatmovie 2y ago
  How does that very specific test distinguish it from the one-day flu or the 12-hour cold? The test makes no prediction of length of illness.
  - nothercastle 2y ago
    If it’s covid is going to be a while till I get better and I need to plan accordingly
wrs 2y ago
Uh, no, I had it a few months ago and it was a lot worse than a cold. Not to mention potential long-Covid symptoms. More importantly, my 85-year-old father-in-law finally got it despite precautions, and he had quite a hard time. I really don’t want to be the one who brings him a second infection.

sunshowers 2y ago

I still regularly test before going to gatherings and events.

wannacboatmovie 2y ago
How is having the knowledge of presence (or absence) of Covid-19 measurably different than having influenza, rhinovirus, or any of another dozen respiratory viruses? Are you testing for all of them? This is my opinion, but that sounds totally unnecessary and so singularly focused to render itself ineffective (I understand the altruistic part). There are people in my office that continue to wear N95 respirators, alone, in their cubicle on a daily basis. I feel sorry for their personal burden because at this point it's clear they are never going to stop. At some point you have to let go for life to have the ability to return to normal. This theater made sense when Covid was mostly lethal, which set it apart from other common illnesses. This is no longer the case.
- refulgentis 2y ago
  No offense, trying to help: this is a whole lot of mind reading wrapped in condescension. You have absolutely no idea what their health status is, and COVID is still COVID. With wide vaccine availability and the likelihood of 0 exposure decreased, the rest of us can giggle about malformed psyches, but there's plenty of people who still need to avoid it like the plague. I empathize with you, my instinctual reaction when I see someone masking outdoors is to roll my eyes. Then I walk through "well gee maybe they have it and don't wanna spread it, or, or, or..."
- adw 2y ago
  You don’t know their personal circumstances. Maybe they’re in the same situation as you (I’m assuming “generally in good health”), but they are just more anxious than you and you believe that’s unnecessary. On the other hand, some people - yes, in your workplace - are likely immunocompromised or caring for someone who is; disease risk is not evenly distributed and COVID did make this set of risks meaningfully and continuously worse. You can’t tell the difference just by looking at someone.
  - wannacboatmovie 2y ago
    The problem I've had with this argument is immunocompromised individuals existed before COVID but masking and obsessive testing was nearly nonexistent outside the elderly and infirm. Now that things have largely reverted back to normal, why have behaviors not followed? You make valid points but COVID broke people's brains and caused widespread hypochondria. People in this category are likely making poorer long term health choices (e.g. N95 masks should not be worn for more than a few hours as it's hard on your heart).
    - sunshowers 2y ago
      > The problem I've had with this argument is immunocompromised individuals existed before COVID but masking and obsessive testing was nearly nonexistent outside the elderly and infirm. Now that things have largely reverted back to normal, why have behaviors not followed? My general hope from society is that we learn new things and improve over time. COVID completely changed the public and expert understanding of airborne illnesses. While cloth masks don't work, N95-grade masks absolutely do.
    - adw 2y ago
      "Obsessive" is pretty loaded language! Also: normal has shifted, as it always does, so you should expect permanent changes in behavior. It used to be normal to smoke indoors; one of the few good outcomes of Covid is that people are a lot more serious about building ventilation than they used to be, thankfully. Anyway, the new normal _still_ includes Covid, and Covid is still a significant risk to the naive (un-or-insufficiently vaccinated or people who haven't had it yet). It's comparably risky to a bad flu, which is a pretty real thing. Do you have a citation for the N95 risk? I'm sure a bunch of painters and woodworkers would be interested in that.
- saulrh 2y ago
  COVID is still an order of magnitude more immediately deadly than the usual influenza strain. Furthermore, influenza basically either kills you or it doesn't; COVID continues to have a horrible habit of leaving young and perfectly healthy people permanently disabled.
- sunshowers 2y ago
  Covid is significantly worse than other widespread respiratory viruses, in that it clearly leaves a significant chunk of people disabled for months at a time if not permanently. (I personally had terrible fatigue for around 3 months afterwards. I've had a lot of respiratory illnesses, but this was the only time I had symptoms lasting months.)
- anonbanker 2y ago
  I'm sure I'm going to get greyed for this reply, as well as for being a stickler for terms such as "vaccine" keeping their traditional meanings, but I may have an answer for you. If you, like me, avoided the mRNA gene therapy injections, but still attend barbecues and other get-togethers, it's a good way of confirming that you were the recipient of spike proteins from one of the injected. Sunday before last (8 days ago), I was gifted Covid-19 a third time since Easter 2020 (took a test to be sure) from a bowl of spicy Fuego Takis at a barbecue, likely from licking my fingers clean of all the powder rather than washing them with soap and water. The reason it was worth confirming that it was Covid was because of the irregular heartbeat I had during the first two days of the illness, and I wanted to make sure it wasn't something unrelated. Post-testing, I knew that 50mg daily zinc and vitamin C & D megadoses was all I needed for the rest of the week.
  - refulgentis 2y ago
    You weren't! Even with the stuff you knew was fantastical. Congrats :) You've proved Cancel Culture is fake.
- ifyoubuildit 2y ago
  > This theater made sense when Covid was mostly lethal ... So you're saying it never made sense? What does mostly lethal mean?

kube-system 2y ago

It's helpful to know, even when people are not particularly at risk for severe illness. Even mild illness isn't fun to spread around.

goalieca 2y ago
So you’re saying stay home when you have a cold and especially when you have a fever?
- kube-system 2y ago
  I make decisions around how I interact with other people based upon that information, yes. I also might decide not to avoid someone based on that information too, if for example, we are sick with the same thing. For a recent family holiday, I decided to postpone because one group had covid and the other had flu, and we decided that having both viruses at the same event would not be fun. But if we both had the same thing, we wouldn't have avoided each other.
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  In my case, as someone on immune suppressants, it’s good to know if I should go on Paxlovid or not.

nothercastle 2y ago

I’d like to know if I’m going to be sick for 5 more days so yes

wannacboatmovie 2y ago
How does that very specific test distinguish it from the one-day flu or the 12-hour cold? The test makes no prediction of length of illness.
- nothercastle 2y ago
  If it’s covid is going to be a while till I get better and I need to plan accordingly

wrs 2y ago

Uh, no, I had it a few months ago and it was a lot worse than a cold. Not to mention potential long-Covid symptoms. More importantly, my 85-year-old father-in-law finally got it despite precautions, and he had quite a hard time. I really don’t want to be the one who brings him a second infection.