I’m genuinely concerned that I’ll have no real way to tell when it’s safe for me to start doing things again, because the CDC basically told everyone to get fucked and die, I’m surrounded by people taking the, “eh, if I get covid, I get covid” approach, and I can’t fucking tell what’s a reasonable safety precaution anymore.
I’m exhausted all the time, and I’m still scared of getting sick, but the world is moving on without me, and I’m just so disoriented, y'all.
Everyone I live with IS immunocompromised, and this comment comes off very “it’s fine, the only people who are still dying are disabled people,” which really just serves to cement my original point about the world moving on without me.
Just want to add that that person is so incredibly wrong! The current science (or in layman’s terms check here) says that about 50% of everyone who gets covid, vaxxed or not, immunocompromised or not, will end up with long lasting symptoms, ones that last beyond the four weeks of infection. Now this statistic includes symptoms that resolve on their own eventually as well as ones that are permanent. But one in every two people will have long lasting covid symptoms. Sure being vaxxed decreases your chances of catching covid in the first place and it decreases the chances of it being severe, but it won’t stop the long term symptoms. Even if you get a “mild” or asymptomatic infection, you still have a 50/50 shot of having long term symptoms. And this is just the most current science, for all we know the number could be higher! We don’t yet know the full extent to which covid fucks up the human body.
Oh and PLUS, omicron has an R0 value of somewhere between 8 and 15, making it the second most infectious disease in the whole world (second only to measles). The R0 number is a measure of how infectious a disease is. For comparison the R0 of the flu is generally 1.5.
And yet EVERYONE I talk to is completely ignoring this and calling omicron more mild than previous strains, that it’s comparable to the flu (never mind that the science says it’s about twice as likely that you’ll have long lasting symptoms from covid than the flu). It makes me feel like I’m losing my mind. But we’re not losing our minds. Especially if you’re disabled/chronically ill, getting covid could be devastating even with a “mild” infection. My brain doesn’t know how to process all of this. The wide spread scale at which people are saying “fuck you” to disabled lives makes me want to vomit.
But uh OP I hope this justifies your actions/thoughts. You’re not alone in this either!
I am triple vaxxed and caught Omicron while masked and outdoors, but working with the unmasked public.
Yes, technically I’m fine. But I spent a week basically unable to sleep or really rest because I had what I can only describe as restless legs syndrome. It hurt to lay down or sit down. I frequently had to move to keep from being in pain. While I’m grateful that this symptom eventually went away, it’s the kind of symptom - weird & neurological - that has become a permanent condition for others.
My breathing also remains permanently impacted. I am, was, in great shape - cardio and strength building exercises on the regular. I now frequently get winded walking up stairs. Exercise in general is much harder and I am fighting to maintain my current state, let alone get back into the kind of fit I used to be.
And there’s NO WAY OF KNOWING how long I will be impacted or if my symptoms will ever increase or resurface. We just don’t know.
I’m the best case scenario: a person in excellent health and triple vaxxed and I still suffered and continue to experience symptoms. There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about your own health, and plenty more to care about and be concerned for the health of others.
The immunocompromised are not disposable.
OP, I’m sorry we as a society failed so hard and you have to live with this fear and exhaustion.
