Are you still dining indoors during the latest Covid surge?

There is so much wrong with your comments but calling for antibodies for everybody when they are very difficult (nearly impossible) to make in that scale (for the US or worldwide) is striking ignorance (in addition, the antibodies which helped you to survive are most likely not any longer highly active against the current variants (and to produce variant specific antibodies at scale is a quite lengthy process)

Checking for vaccination status doesn’t reduce risk significantly right now as the current variants have evolved to evade immunity. Even having had an earlier variant of Omicron during the December surge doesn’t protect you.

Wearing a mask never hurts, but to my knowledge here are still zero confirmed cases of outdoor transmission with social distancing.

That’s not effective. There was a confirmed case in Korea where someone who was in a restaurant for five minutes was infected by someone 20 feet away. And that was in 2020 when the variants were less infectious.

I will gladly delete my comment to avoid running this thread into the ground. On it now.

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I’ve only dined indoors twice in the last 8 months (Nov. 2021 and May 2022) and both times I wore a surgical mask over my nose despite being vaccinated and boosted. Yes it was awkward! :joy:

Given the rising numbers, not gonna dine indoors for now. As for outdoor dining with others, I’m going to refrain unless forming a dining bubble of 4 or less.

Have worn a surgical mask outdoors when running for exercise since 2017 due to poor air quality from LA pollution and wildfires.

When I finally found a reasonable source last year, I added N95 to wear underneath :mask: indoors for shopping, doctor visits, etc.

Came across a January 2022 article on Reuters about Covid variant survival rates on skin: “ average virus survival times were 8.6 hours for the original version, 19.6 hours for Alpha, 19.1 hours for Beta, 11.0 hours Gamma, 16.8 hours for Delta and 21.1 hours for Omicron.” Source: Omicron survives longer on plastic, skin than prior variants; nose swabbing found best for rapid tests | Reuters

As a result, I started to wash my face and glasses (edit: *wash with soap and water) in addition to the hand washing, etc. upon returning home and gargle with water and hydrogen peroxide. Might add Povidone to my regimen.

I’ve been criticized by a few cavalier folks, but I ignore them and continue to be careful ‘cuz you never know.

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UGH. We never stopped wearing masks either because of work. Some folks like to poke… “Oh are we wearing masks again?” I quickly counter “Well we are still being tested at work, so unless you want to be the one who calls my boss and tell her I’m sick… I’m wearing a mask…” They STFU after that.

Essentially aside from still masking with KNs, we never really stepped up our going out. Our whole cooking schedule has changed, which is fine by us because we can bake in leftovers for lunch. Locale and Everytable (We have one nearby I can bike to) has been a saving grace for us.

–Dommy!

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Yes, sure…

There’s no harm in doing that, unless maybe you have sensitive skin (alcohol sanitizers give me a rash), but to date there have been zero confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 spreading via surfaces. Virus particles have to get into your respiratory system.

@robert
FYI- “It is known that infectious droplets and body fluids can easily contaminate the epithelium of the human conjunctiva and that the respiratory virus is capable of inducing respiratory infections through this entrance.”(Transmission of SARS CoV-2 virus through the ocular mucosa worth taking precautions - PMC)"

I’m just a layperson, not a medical or health professional of any sort, but I need to do whatever I can to minimize risk due to work and family responsibilities.

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“What we know about COVID is that it is airborne and there’s a chance that it could get into your eyeball. But the chance of that is, is really, really small,” said Sabrina Wong, professor at the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research and the University of British Columbia school of nursing.

“The risk of someone getting that close that they’re going to cough and have high concentrations of it near your eyeball is really low,” she said.

Tested positive yesterday and have throat of glass. Otherwise feels like a bad cold. I was completely wiped out yesterday after a short walk.

I still wear n95s indoors and limited indoor dining, to basically when I visited LA and the parent insisted. She was sick of takeout. Understand it, takeout just ain’t the same for a lot of dishes. One example was picking up pho on my bike, with half the broth ending up in the plastic bag.

I was indoors only twice last week - both times for physical therapy appointments. Can’t prove it but that had to be the infection spot. Oh well, after 2+ years of being super careful, the 'rona got me.

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Aww man sorry to hear that. Hope you get better soon. Eat healthy, drink water, get some rest, monitor your temp and pulse ox. It might suck for the next few days. Hang in there.

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I know or have heard of nine people from Seattle who returned from Las Vegas with covid.

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Airplanes are great places to catch it.

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I’m also assuming that many in Las Vegas itself are not masking and that it’s quite crowded there.

I think the new variants are so contagious that it’s more about luck now than anything else (although I, of course, still think people should be very careful). I was at a “small” outdoor BBQ yesterday that ended being a bit larger than small, and people were sitting VERY close together (incl one person who was literally breathing on me). I’ll be shocked if I didn’t catch it. :frowning:

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One of our house guests got Covid over the weekend but no one else including their spouse got it, crazy how exposure works. You would think just based on proximity and time spent with them one of us would have caught it too.

You all got tested? Seems like currently most cases are asymptomatic.

I live in Vegas and you assume correctly, although I’ve personally been very careful in that regard. Neither locals nor visitors seem to bother much with masking, irrespective of crowds. That said, I attended a conference here last week, so right now I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

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Nothing I’m reading is saying that.

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The airlines have been doing a great job of keeping that quiet.

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Pay wall.