Covid Thread | Pandemic started Five Years Ago

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I neglected earlier to mention perhaps the most heroic stand against the pandemic and the Trump death cult - my father. He turned 91 in February of 2020. Before Covid, he was pretty social. He played in multiple bridge clubs and regularly attended church and VFW meetings. He even had a "girlfriend". When Covid hit, his previous life was upended. But, as with all other aspects of his life, he responsibly soldiered on. He isolated, distanced, got his shots, and avoided Trumpsters. He took up online bridge and attended church virtually. He even took up a hobby alien to him in his pre-pandemic life - reading books. He was also lucky to have the support of my science-believing sister, niece and nephew. He's another example of a smart, resourceful person who didn't get Covid and didn't gleefully kill others with it. He did finally die on December 7, 2022. His cause of death? A sudden heart attack at 93 just like his 94 year old mother 25 years earlier.

Not all of my family were spared from Covid. My oldest son got it from one of his Trump-lovin' housemates. My oldest daughter got it from her boyfriend who had to work around Trump cultists. My two youngest kids got it at school when our idiotic governor decided it was a good idea to open schools in the middle of a global pandemic. Governor Trump Diaper-Licker killed thousands in this state with his "keep the economy open and kill as many citizens as possible" strategy. I'm sure Dr. Lynch would have approved.
 
Covid, oh the memories. I was a pharmacist until 2025 (licensed). I gave probably 1000’s of vaccine injections. I mean a whole lot. When everyone was at home, I was still going to work with a mask you couldn’t breathe through. Filling Rx’s for BP, cholesterol, BC’s, anxiety and depression. Don’t forget all those pain meds. Benzodiazepines went way up, I can tell you that. Haha. I even had covid twice. It was great.
 
Covid, oh the memories. I was a pharmacist until 2025 (licensed). I gave probably 1000’s of vaccine injections. I mean a whole lot. When everyone was at home, I was still going to work with a mask you couldn’t breathe through. Filling Rx’s for BP, cholesterol, BC’s, anxiety and depression. Don’t forget all those pain meds. Benzodiazepines went way up, I can tell you that. Haha. I even had covid twice. It was great.
Yeah.

This is the right-wing douche who gets banned with great frequency.
 
Five Years Ago Today...




Believe it or not, my family moved to NYC during Covid-- making the trek in late July of 2020. We spent a lot of time in lockdown and avoided people with great care. I was going back and forth between North Carolina and NYC at the time (as I still do) and was subject to self-enforced two-week quarantines (I did very carefully exit our building and walk the dogs ini Riverside Park three times a day). When we had our furniture moved up it was quite a process with a lot of hoops jumped but we did it. Those were the proverbial "interesting times" to be living no doubt. My own existence back and forth between the Upper West Side and Ox Creek (near the Parkway) was frankly, freaky. One of the weirdest parts of life in those times was driving the Interstate, 26, 81, and 78 -- it was often me and the big trucks...food from windows if at all. It stayed weird...and deadly. Thankfully I did not catch Covid until after I was vaccinated. The way it treated me even then makes me quite sure that it would have very likely killed me if I had gotten it earlier.
 
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Five Years Ago Today. 7/18/20 “Were You Better Off?”
I can imagine Trump installing such cheap and crappy showerheads that the water flow is poor. He’s confessing to buying shitty things for his “resorts.”

Only once in decades have I been in a shower with crappy water pressure - this May in Pennsylvania……probably a fifteen year-old Hampton Inn in suburban Wilkes-Barre.

I doubt Trump has loaded a dishwasher. EVER. My two year-old dishwasher cleans everything.

The only modern appliance I hate is the dryer. It’s too smart for its own good. It often turns itself off before the stuff in it is dry. I want the Kenmore my parents had in the late, late ‘60’s - set the temp (low, medium, high) and the time. It worked.
 
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It was crazy how life changed so quickly. Ironically COVID brought my family closer, even though we lived in different cities. We made a point to Facetime several times a week to combat the isolation. My wife's job went remote, so she was also home more. Of course, I couldn't work remotely and I was a nervous wreck until the vaccine came out. I was working two jobs at the time, full-time for a municipal fire department and part-time for a large hospital. Both involved extensive contact with COVID patients. I remember working several cardiac arrests of COVID+ patients pre-vaccine and praying that my N95 and stupid gown would keep me safe. Turns out they did. It was nerve-wracking but at the same time I felt like I was doing something important and stepping up to my generation's fight, the same way people did when society faced l threats in generations past. When the vaccines finally became available, the sense of relief was hard to describe.

What sucked then and still sucks now was seeing firsthand the death and sadness caused by the virus and then seeing idiots on social media, some of whom you know, talking about how the virus is/was "fake", how no one was really dying, how it was all made up, etc. Lost a few friendships over it. Good riddance.
 
It was crazy how life changed so quickly. Ironically COVID brought my family closer, even though we lived in different cities. We made a point to Facetime several times a week to combat the isolation. My wife's job went remote, so she was also home more. Of course, I couldn't work remotely and I was a nervous wreck until the vaccine came out. I was working two jobs at the time, full-time for a municipal fire department and part-time for a large hospital. Both involved extensive contact with COVID patients. I remember working several cardiac arrests of COVID+ patients pre-vaccine and praying that my N95 and stupid gown would keep me safe. Turns out they did. It was nerve-wracking but at the same time I felt like I was doing something important and stepping up to my generation's fight, the same way people did when society faced l threats in generations past. When the vaccines finally became available, the sense of relief was hard to describe.

What sucked then and still sucks now was seeing firsthand the death and sadness caused by the virus and then seeing idiots on social media, some of whom you know, talking about how the virus is/was "fake", how no one was really dying, how it was all made up, etc. Lost a few friendships over it. Good riddance.
Hey, I just want to say, I know we don't agree about everything on here but I have the utmost respect for those of you who were on the front lines in those months. I was fortunate enough to be able to stay away from it, at least physically. Those of you who were actively working to save lives will always be heroes. I really hope we don't forget the sacrifices so many people made in those days, including those EMTs and healthcare workers who contracted Covid themselves while doing their jobs and either died or are still feeling the impacts of it to this day.
 
It was crazy how life changed so quickly. Ironically COVID brought my family closer, even though we lived in different cities. We made a point to Facetime several times a week to combat the isolation. My wife's job went remote, so she was also home more. Of course, I couldn't work remotely and I was a nervous wreck until the vaccine came out. I was working two jobs at the time, full-time for a municipal fire department and part-time for a large hospital. Both involved extensive contact with COVID patients. I remember working several cardiac arrests of COVID+ patients pre-vaccine and praying that my N95 and stupid gown would keep me safe. Turns out they did. It was nerve-wracking but at the same time I felt like I was doing something important and stepping up to my generation's fight, the same way people did when society faced l threats in generations past. When the vaccines finally became available, the sense of relief was hard to describe.

What sucked then and still sucks now was seeing firsthand the death and sadness caused by the virus and then seeing idiots on social media, some of whom you know, talking about how the virus is/was "fake", how no one was really dying, how it was all made up, etc. Lost a few friendships over it. Good riddance.

Echo your feelings about the vaccine. I was involved in the Moderna trial from the pharmacy side and it was cool to see how many doctors volunteered to be a participant. Then I was one of the first to get the vaccine after it was approved since we were doing many other trials that required me to hang out in the ICU frequently. Can only describe the mood in the room as similar to a bar on Franklin after UNC wins a close game. It was very disappointing to see how quickly it became politicized.

It may be cliche to say, but I think everyone who worked in healthcare during that time carries a bit of trauma for them. I’m a pharmacist, so several steps removed from direct patient care. But I have vivid memories of working late during the delta wave to get several patients a day started on study medications and coming in early the next morning to see half had passed away over night. Repeatedly. Such a helpless feeling.
 
The only modern appliance I hate is the dryer. It’s too smart for its own good. It often turns itself off before the stuff in it is dry. I want the Kenmore my parents had in the late, late ‘60’s - set the temp (low, medium, high) and the time. It worked.

This is an entirely different conversation... but why does my refrigerator need to be giant smart phone? It's completely unnecessary.
 
This is an entirely different conversation... but why does my refrigerator need to be giant smart phone? It's completely unnecessary.

Recently got a new dishwasher which was highly recommended/reviewed that has the capability to connect to wi-fi. I’m not even sure what it’s supposed to do on wi-fi, because I was immediately annoyed by even reading that and didn’t look into it further.

We’re now in the process of re-doing the kitchen and I’m lobbying hard for an old school, freezer on top fridge. None of that French door BS.
 
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