I think/surmise the new variant that has been infecting more people has better means of invading our cells following arrival, but doubt that they fly farther or faster.

We've also been told that the six feet are pretty well minimum and that further distance is preferable.

ole joyful

An infected person blows out virus particles and you breathe them in - this takes an instant, not 15 minutes.

Is there any research on this? I haven't found any yet.

This is all too new to have answers you want. No no one I know has become ill due to their Christmas gatherings. Ya need to calm yourself. Carry on with what has been working for you. It's going to be awhile yet.

I know of several people who tested positive this weekend. I am assuming it was Christmas as they all did not adhere to the stay with your own household.

After exposure to an infected person, it can take between 2 and 14 days for symptoms to show up. So it's still early for people to test positive from exposure to an infected person from a Christmas gathering. Between Christmas and now has only been 8 days.

From the CDC:

Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html#:~:text=People%20with%20COVID%2D19,exposure%20to%20the%20virus.

We've had a spike in cases over the last 3 days and 75 deaths in the state. 3rd one for my county, although, I think there were more that were never counted. I'm glad I'll be getting my second vaccination this Thursday. Now I just worry about my kids, and everyone who hasn't gotten theirs yet.

People are wearing masks in stores here, but continue to to host gatherings at home, hang out in bars (which have been cited for not adhering to any guidelines), , fill the theme parks to the covid set capacity-Universal reached that is less than a half hour after opening). Cases here are 15K daily lately. I'm not 'living in fear' but using common sense.

I do worry about catching it because I have seen long term effects of an illness. I'm sure there are a million stories out there but this is a personal one I remind myself of when I want to stay strong and keep other people safe as well as myself.

My mother had rheumatic fever as a child and it damaged her heart. She spent half of her life on strong heart and blood thinning medications.

Due to rheumatic fever she had two heart attacks and three strokes.

She also got a blood clot in her leg which was directly caused from the heart damage because her blood wasn't pumping properly. Instead of losing her leg she was lucky to have surgery. Sometimes she said she was unlucky to have surgery as she had a lifetime of leg and foot pain due to nerve damage from the surgery and blood clot. She could never put her foot down flat and had to wear 2 in heels always.

The third stroke was what killed her. The blood thinners and heart medications couldn't keep her alive and healthy. She was 74 when she passed but it was not an easy life.

I'm afraid now and in the next few years years we will find out covid-19 ruins/rules people's lives if they catch it. A symptomatically or not.

I think the biggest problem with these illnesses which may have long-term effect is that they don't just have long-term effect later they have ongoing effect of problems for several years causing further damage. So essentially there will be many more deaths laid at covid-19's feet. My mother essentially died of rheumatic fever just years later. Sounds melodramatic but it is essentially what happens. At the very least you are ruled by your disease.

After exposure to an infected person, it can take between 2 and 14 days for symptoms to show up. So it's still early for people to test positive from exposure to an infected person from a Christmas gathering. Between Christmas and now has only been 8 days.

This appears to be a statement that positive test results do not occur until symptoms have developed. So from this it follows that asymptomatic cases do not test positive?

No, asymptomatic people do test positive. But if you don't have symptoms and don't know you've been exposed to a person who has tested positive, why would you get tested? Generally people get tested if they have symptoms. I don't have symptoms, but very well could be asymptomatic and be positive and just don't know it. I That's just an example. I don't go out in public, I order my groceries on-line, etc. But if I were asymptomatic, and going out in public, I could be spreading it.

Certainly the holidays have impacted our state...our positivity rate was hanging out at a too-high 6% rate and has since jumped to 9% post xmas.

And lets recall the FEAR and ridiculousness of washing down purchases before bringing them into your home, people wearing gloves while shopping insanity. My county has has a steady decline of active cases since just before Thanksgiving. There is more in play here people and all this fear mongering is not helping. Wear your mask. Avoid CROWDS. Avoid lengthy visits. Keep your bubble small. These are the things we KNOW--holding up in your homes; fear of cars driving by THAT JUST CRAZY TOWN!! Bottom line if/when/where you catch this will always be UNKNOWN. Listen again to the beginning--it's not a matter of IF it is WHEN. Fauci wanted to spread out the infections for the sake of the hospitals! You can't count on avoiding this--it doesn't work that way!!

“fear of cars driving by THAT JUST CRAZY TOWN!!”

Bwahahahaha that‘s what you got from that sentence? A fear of cars driving past? LOL that was worth waking up for.

Embo’s Comment on cars related to the fact that people are going places, possibly not staying home as much as they could/should.

FOAS, People in their 80s and 90s survive the virus, many younger ones do not. We do not understand this virus so thinking you are safe because of your age might not be wise.

Luckily, my grandmother is in a retirement home which has had great infection control measures so far. We are hopeful that the vaccine reaches them before the virus does. They are vaccinating healthcare workers, PSW’s and nursing home residents before retirement home residents and other elderly.

But one thing that DOES worry me is the high numbers of PSW’s that are refusing the shot. Some care homes are getting more than half of their staff refusing the shot, even two-thirds of their staff refusing. They are the main caretakers in nursing homes, so if they are not getting the shot, they are putting the people in their care at risk. Elderly people tend to have immune systems that don’t work as well so even if they get the shot, they still rely on the herd immunity strategy to keep them safe.

I realize PSW’s don’t have the education that a nurse or doctor does, but if they work in the healthcare field, they should have a basic understanding of this, and take their duty to protect the people in their care seriously.

In the beginning it wasn't ridiculous to wipe down groceries. This was/is a new virus and the routes of transmission were anything but clear. You wouldn't eat a berry from an unknown plant without learning a lot more about it. That's not FEAR that's called being SMART and cautious.

Not just the elderly.

Returning to original topic 6', 15 minutes (and masking) are of course about exposure reduction and not elimination - it doesn't automatically follow that a body "should be okay", as in fully protected. With it having been pointed out awhile after the 6' announcement that outdoors with a breeze blowing from an infected person to another could require a 20' separation for safety to be implied. And it certainly seems that indoor settings with something present that moves air around within them would produce similar circumstances.

The within same household thing is the same as 6' and 15 minutes. In that it's an arbitrary representation come up with to give specific parameters for people to understand and follow, in order to reduce the amount of transmission taking place. A thing that is potentially compromised any and every time a member of that household has any in person interaction with anybody outside of that household. So that eventually there was talk about it probably being a good idea for people living with others to mask even while at home.

But I won’t worry about them catching it and passing it on, as I’m only in my 50’s so I‘m less likely to die from it, and my parents are in their 90’s and have had a good run.

Plenty of young healthy people have either died from Covid or have had long term complications. And you never know who you or your kids might pass it on to.

My mother is 90, and has "had a good run," and wants to continue doing so!

Tell that to the 30 something PA legislator who died of Covid this week.

Unless seriously debilitated or otherwise hammered down by something that makes them think there is no point old people aren't necessarily anymore ready to throw in the towel than the less aged. And in my experience tend to wonder instead where all those years went. Including yours truly, who has the same basic point of view as they did decades ago.

Consistent with this I know a 97-98 year old who had been saying they still had too many things to get done to die (of old age) yet. Until the throat cancer that appeared like, maybe a year ago recurred recently - despite initial treatment regime seeming to have been effective. With this time it apparently being decided by involved medical advice source to give up.

Same thing when one of my grandmothers got cancer and died at 98 - it appeared it was thought she was too old for anything to be done about it. This was also - like the throat cancer victim - a person who was active and physically trim most of their life.

I don't know any deniers. Everyone I know knows this virus is real and can have serious outcomes for some. I only know some people who choose to stay inside in hopes that the virus will be contained before they die of old age (or perhaps they are young enough to believe they have more years to catch up than they actually might) and some who chose to continue living in the present. I don't know anyone who isn't taking reasonable precautions either. Most of what I see here and other sites online is simply virtue signaling.

Most people are the doing the best they can living their lives as they believe best for them and not worrying about what others are doing or not doing. I see happy people out and about everyday, not people obsessed with fear of dying. Concerned about the virus yes. But they are not freaking out over it. Nice we have some vaccines. Maybe it works, maybe not. We'll see. Hopefully none of the new vaccines won't have any serious effects crop up in the future> What if it doesn't work? What if the virus mutates more rapidly then even the flu, more like cold viruses? Then what? Everybody lockdown for eternity? The reality is that the virus is here and it will probably mutate but it will also probably not go away entirely either. How many years of their lives are people willing to give up in self imposed prisons is up to them. I am guessing we are going to end up with a whole lot of agoraphobics who will never regain normal lives. I said this way back months ago and I will say it again. Virus gonna virus. Some will somehow (maybe) avoid it, some will get ill and recover and some will die. It's what viruses have done since the beginning of time.

I am scared of infecting another person unknowingly. It's one thing to take risks if it only affects you but this virus is slick. Just because you don't have symptoms, doesn't mean you aren't spreading it all over town.

I don't see anything inherently stupid about Virus gonna virus, because it's true that viruses are going to continue to do what they do. And that means replicate in every host body that they can infect.

Sorry terriks, I apparently grabbed the wrong quote...and it's my bad for not checking back further in the chain of quotes because I think I responded to a quote that was quoted by someone else in the process. It's just that those words stood out so much to me that I reacted without due diligence.

My apologies. I have removed the post for its sloppiness.

I look at the people who think the virus is something simple and wonder if they might understand if it was explained as if a person stepped or was pushed in front of a moving vehicle. They might walk away. They might be dead. Depending on the speed of the vehicle they might be left with lifelong injuries. The first is unlikely. The second might happen but the third is the most probable.

measures to to protect you from all that sheer existence of the human race throws at us

No one has suggested this. At all. However, there are a number of very real measures one can take to dramatically lessen the chances of being infected by Covid.

lily316 That 30 something legislator you were saying died this week of covid is false. His name is Mike Reese age 42 and he died of a brain aneurysm. Who was the second one?

Mike Reese was Covid positive. There is a relationship between covid and blood clots. There was also a Virginia State Senator who died of covid this week.

Luke Letlow (41) was a newly elected congressman from Louisiana. He died of COVID last week. No pre-existing condition.

There are all kinds of things that we do to minimize our risk of getting sick or dying; wearing seat belts and helmets, cooking chicken to the proper temperature, not driving drunk to name a few. Those aren't fear based, just sensible.

lily316 "Our cases are dramatically up and two of our PA legislators have died of covid in their 30's /40s with small children."

Mike Reese tested positive back in the beginning of December with only mild symptoms and recovered. He just finished running 5 miles the day before. Look at all the articles on him he died of a brain aneurysm.

Since when is a Virginia politician an PA legislator? His name was Ben Chafin and he wasn't 30/40s. He was 60 years old and his children were grown. He died of covid complications.

I think you should do some fact checking.

I never said the Virginia politician was a Pennsylvania legislator. I just said that a Virginia State Senator also died. It was an aside.

Annegriet it was lily316 that said it. I never said it was you.

His name was Ben Chafin and he wasn't 30/40s. He was 60 years old

Oh okay then - that definitely establishes that no less-than-elderly Americans are dying of COVID.

maddielee

"Luke Letlow (41) was a newly elected congressman from Louisiana. He died of COVID last week. No pre-existing condition."

Just to clarify - he had 2 surgeries to treat a blood clot that he developed after being diagnosed with Covid. He had a heart attack after the surgery.

Embothrium sorry, but wrong info is still wrong info. But yes mostly (not all) the elderly are dying from covid. The older you are the higher your death rate.

There are several reasonable precautions that we need to be taking in this situation.

If I were young or middle aged, I'd want to avoid it, not merely due to fear of death, but that it might leave me with so seriously compromised health that my capability to function reasonably would be impossible, including being able to earn a living.

I'm fortunate that, having lived alone for nearly 50 years, and have pensions that keep coming, requiring only that I continue life, I have not suffered the severe pressures that have afflicted many in recent months.

And, having respect and affection for my fellow humans, as well as myself, I feel that I should observe the safety measures, as the consequences for my not doing so could be very drastic, for both them and me.

Growing up in a farming community, we helped one another when there was need and Dad said that we helped our neighbours, and he wanted to leave his farm better than he found it.

My major life guide has told/tells me to love my neighbour as myself and I feel that we should all try to leave our communities, local areas, nations and, as much as we are able, the world as a whole, better than we found it. Who knows for how many more years I may be able to do that?

Or any of us, for that matter - who knows when any of us may be run over by a truck? But it does help to use the best common sense that we can .muster, plus keep on improving that common sense, please.

ole joyfuelled

If I were young or middle aged, I'd want to avoid it, not merely due to fear of death, but that it might leave me with so seriously compromised health that my capability to function reasonably would be impossible, including being able to earn a living.

You are talking about the age group for which “Here, hold my beer.” has spawned millions of clips on the internet. Not to mention the “challenges” like eating tide pods, planking in dangerous places, scaling high towers so you can film yourself hanging by one hand, or even just snorting a rubbber through your nose.

Getting covid is not a deterrent, nor the most dangerous thing they encounter.

My 88-year-old BIL, who is wheelchair bound and a nursing home resident, tested positive for Covid-19 a few weeks ago. The only symptom he had was being more tired than usual. My active, 52-year-old niece with few, if any,pre-existing helth problems, is in the hospital with Covid-19 and is very sick ( not critical) with breathing problems and has been given supplemental oxygen.

I wish someone knew why some people get so sick, and even die, while others sail right through it with only light symptoms. As far as I can tell, nobody knows why it affects different people in different ways. It doesn't seem to always matter what age someone is, or what health problems they already have, even though the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions are more likely to die.

"Getting covid is not a deterrent, nor the most dangerous thing they encounter."

Far from it. Most of the younger folks I have talked to really have no concerns about Covid at all, other than not wanting to transmit it to their older family members.