Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Public House › personal experiences with covid
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zn.
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August 6, 2021 at 8:48 pm #131341
TSRFParticipantAnti-Vax Brother
I am 57. He is 68. He’s got a wife, 6 kids, and boat-load of grand-kids.
I have tried shame, but it didn’t work.
Please help with a plan.
Thanks,
MattAugust 7, 2021 at 8:13 am #131347znModeratorI am 57. He is 68. He’s got a wife, 6 kids, and boat-load of grand-kids.
I have tried shame, but it didn’t work.
Please help with a plan.
Thanks,
MattWell depends on the reasons. I don’t mean whether he should get vaxxed depends on the reasons. I mean your approach to opening his eyes depends on his reasons.
I will say this–a lot of people don’t realize. Every single vaccine that has ever worked does so not just by protecting individuals one at a time, but by reaching a vaxx threshold where a high percentage of the population is vaxxed. If you reach that threshold percentage (which with covid is said to be 70% or more though now some say it’s 85%) the virus stops circulating. Don’t reach that threshold and it keeps circulating. If only 50% got vaxxed against polio than many people would still be getting polio.
So vaxxing is not just for yourself, it’s for others and for the entire community.
Again that has been true of every single vaccine that has ever worked. And I am regularly stunned by how many people do not know this.
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August 7, 2021 at 10:31 am #131349
Billy_TParticipantI agree. The rationale for opposition is crucial. I think the two main reasons — though not the only ones, of course — are religious and Trumpish. Unfortunately, they often work in tandem. Trump turned this entire thing into a culture war, and for that, he deserves the lion’s share of blame for (the likely vastly undercounted) 619,000 deaths so far.
There is another huge aspect, which should also factor into any heart to heart discussion with family. Because America is so huge, rich, and powerful, so interconnected and interdependent, globally, what happens here impacts and infects the rest of the world. Under global capitalism, there is no way to isolate a pandemic, short of shutting down borders to trade too, and that has never happened and likely won’t. The spread isn’t just via the usual day to day things we assume. According to Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the author of The Black Swan, we need to rethink virtually everything due to our unprecedented levels of connectivity.
To try to make a long story shorter. This is so much bigger than our own selves, our families, our nation. It’s worldwide. It needs a kind of (macro) Star Trek perspective, plus the (micro) family heart to heart. One possible chip to play in the latter, which I’ve seen with my own extended family: Those who have had the shots, wear the masks, in high risk categories, make it clear that no further family interaction is possible until those who haven’t change their minds. I’d imagine that there are as many ways of expressing this as there are families, so I can’t be any help in the wording. But I think it’s necessary for every American in said categories to make such decisions, firmly, when they arise.
Best of luck, TSRF.
August 7, 2021 at 8:33 pm #131356TSRFParticipantThanks, guys.
I was a bit on edge yesterday. I d been sent home from work on Thursday because I was identified as a close contact with somebody who tested positive for COVID. In went and got a test on my way home, but didn’t get the negative result until this morning. I guess the vaccine really does work! I was in close contact, less than 3 feet apart without masks for hours two weeks ago. Our company policy was that vaccinated employees didn’t need masks indoors, but unvaccinated employees were supposed to continue to wear them. None of them did. Now, we’re back to everybody has to be masked. I think I am going to stay with the mask even when (if ever) the restriction is lifted.
As for my brother, I think he drank the Trump / Fox News cool aid. He considers himself very Roman Catholic, and sent a crazy assed post by some Jesuit / shit head that basically said the vaccine is a trojan horse made by Bill Gates and the Stone Masons that will cull 50% of the population. He sent this on a group text to all the siblings and implored us all to not get vaccinated. I had to call him out and say that I had to side with science, especially since I have asthma, and if I contracted full scale COVID, it would probably kill me.
The three approaches I am considering:
If you and your wife don’t get the vaccine, and if either of you get sick and die from COVID, you will be robbing your grandchildren of having you as grandparents in their lives.
Dad was a man of faith, but he was a man of science too. He made sure we all had our vaccinations while growing up. He would be appalled to know one of his children wouldn’t get vaccinated against a known killer virus.
Do and say nothing more. He knows where I stand, and I called him out on the sibling chat. Hope he does what is right, but recognize that I am not my brother’s keeper.
I’m leaning toward Option 3…
August 8, 2021 at 1:08 pm #131378znModeratorThe three approaches I am considering:
If you and your wife don’t get the vaccine, and if either of you get sick and die from COVID, you will be robbing your grandchildren of having you as grandparents in their lives.
Dad was a man of faith, but he was a man of science too. He made sure we all had our vaccinations while growing up. He would be appalled to know one of his children wouldn’t get vaccinated against a known killer virus.
Do and say nothing more. He knows where I stand, and I called him out on the sibling chat. Hope he does what is right, but recognize that I am not my brother’s keeper.
I’m leaning toward Option 3…
It;s a tough call. But again of course it’s not just his personal health. The virus does not stop circulating until the right percentage of people get vaxxed. Vaxxing is for public health and the good of the community.
But it’s your world. Don’t mind me. I just feel obligated to share that view of it.
August 8, 2021 at 1:24 pm #131380znModeratorToday’s the day to help the LSU community. Get your vaccine: https://t.co/uYetQZYj6x pic.twitter.com/HatXTqIF5o
— LSU (@LSU) August 5, 2021
August 9, 2021 at 3:32 am #131392TSRFParticipantI get it.
Even with him an his wife not being vaccinated, I believe my extended family is over 90% vaccinated (yes, all of his 6 kids and their spouses are vaccinated).
Maybe I have anger management issues (OK; I know I do):
-Got sent home from work because I was in close contact with a non vaccinated positive.
-I know my brother is not vaccinated.
-Picked a fight with my brother on the sibling chat.
-Posted here to whine about it.
He drank the Jim Jones punch. I just need to accept that and move on. When you leave the Titanic in a row boat, there are only so many seats…
“And the wrong words make you listen in this criminal world.”
DB Fantastic VoyageAugust 9, 2021 at 11:43 am #131394znModeratorHe drank the Jim Jones punch. I just need to accept that and move on. When you leave the Titanic in a row boat, there are only so many seats…
I think you’re being a bit self-depreceatory. It’s a national health crisis and you care about your brother and family. That’s not “anger.” You did the right thing–tried to open his eyes.
August 10, 2021 at 6:12 pm #131443
joemadParticipantTSRF….. Which type of Roman Catholic is your brother?
August 10, 2021 at 8:36 pm #131445TSRFParticipantHey, Joe.
I’m not sure anymore…
I affiliate with the “none’s”.
12 years of Catholic school (French Canadian nuns from 1 to 8 and the Jesuits for 9 through 12) kind of beat religion out of me.
He is my oldest brother, first son for my dad. Maybe my dad fucked him up. Maybe his wife, who seems very religious is warping him.August 11, 2021 at 8:30 am #131460
ZooeyParticipantDon’t whine about it. Just remember, Jesus didn’t cry on the cross.
(That’s an old wvram story from more than 20 years ago)
August 11, 2021 at 8:23 pm #131476znModeratorHey, Joe.
I’m not sure anymore…
I affiliate with the “none’s”.
12 years of Catholic school (French Canadian nuns from 1 to 8 and the Jesuits for 9 through 12) kind of beat religion out of me.
He is my oldest brother, first son for my dad. Maybe my dad fucked him up. Maybe his wife, who seems very religious is warping him.I went to a Jesuit high school too.
August 13, 2021 at 10:03 pm #131513TSRFParticipantHey ZN. Was it only boys?
Fairfield Prep was male only. Notre Dame Fairfield was co-ed. I really wanted to go to the public HS, Andrew Ward, but the two catholic schools were my only parentally allowed options.
Both my brothers went to Prep. Three of my four sisters went to ND.
I felt I had to choose Prep, and did, but I kind of treated it like jail for all 4 years (and I did break out quite a few times!).
I guess I am the person I am because of those experiences, but at the time I wished I was anywhere but there.
August 14, 2021 at 11:32 am #131515znModeratorHey ZN. Was it only boys?
Fairfield Prep was male only. Notre Dame Fairfield was co-ed. I really wanted to go to the public HS, Andrew Ward, but the two catholic schools were my only parentally allowed options.
Both my brothers went to Prep. Three of my four sisters went to ND.
I felt I had to choose Prep, and did, but I kind of treated it like jail for all 4 years (and I did break out quite a few times!).
I guess I am the person I am because of those experiences, but at the time I wished I was anywhere but there.
When I went there it was all male. It went co-ed later on. At times it was like jail. At times I really benefitted from it. This was during Vietnam (I was 15 in 1969) and there was an anti-war vibe to the whole school (radical Jesuits). And to top it off we were good in sports. Very good football team, good wrestling team.
August 8, 2022 at 2:37 am #140002znModeratorMy wife got covid though she’s okay. There was a scare in there. She didn’t know she had covid because the 15 minute home tests were negative. She knew she was sick but didn’t know that was driving it. Saturday at 3 AM symptoms including blood pressure issues led to hypovolemic shock. I walked in on that and thought it was a seizure. Got an ambulance. They found the covid in the hospital. There’s no longterm damage (she’s a nurse with 2 shots and 2 boosters and is therefore fairly well protected, considering). So there was a crisis (the shock incident) and then stability in the hospital after that. She’s home now, quarantining, and in very good spirits and in very good humor and seems healthy to me. To be on the safe side I will get tested but (fingers crossed) I think I’m clean (just luck of the draw).
August 10, 2022 at 10:17 am #140012ZooeyParticipantMy wife got covid though she’s okay. There was a scare in there.
Wow. Glad she’s okay.
August 10, 2022 at 11:46 am #140015znModeratorMy wife got covid though she’s okay. There was a scare in there.
Wow. Glad she’s okay.
I walked in on her in hypovolemic shock. Again, she knew she was sick but didn’t think it was covid because the home tests were saying negative (it took the hospital doing a lab test to find it). That was quite a moment, to walk in on that, and my timing could not have been better. She was downstairs watching tv and I was upstairs at the computer, when for no reason I decided just to check in. I was trying to revive her with one hand while on the phone with 911 with the other hand. But then after the shock or seizure passed it was just a matter of getting good hospital care, which she did for a couple of says. So she is fine.
August 10, 2022 at 1:19 pm #140020
OzonerangerParticipantHi, All. Long time.
Long story here involving me and my brother and sister. But first my personal experience. I’m vaxxed and boosted x2. Yeah, I trust science and vaccines are the greatest medical accomplishment in human history. Two weeks ago I flew to Portland. I even bought N95 masks and wore it on the aircraft. Five days into a nice beach vacation, I tested positive for Covid. We drove home instead of exposing people I don’t know to a potentially deadly virus. So 11 days of not so fun. I was miserable. It kicked my ass. I’m negative now but still have lingering effects. I’m damn glad I was vaxxed.
Now to my brother and sister. 64 and 65 respectively. Sis is QAnon and believes in Chemtrail conspiracy. Fire and brimstone born-again Baptist. Enough said. Completely anti-vax and encourages her kids to not vax their her grandchildren. They don’t listen to her, thankfully. My brother is another story. He’s not very political, but thinks he’s Superman; his immune system will fight off anything. Granted, he’s in excellent physical condition (Middle School PE teacher) and can still put an Elway Cross on your chest with a football. So we argued about vaccines with me countering his Superman stance with the -fact- that to ward off disease, the immune system needs to be trained and there’s just two ways to do that. 1. Get a disease and hope you live through it or 2. Get vaxxed. He did get the first two shots in order to keep his job but was resentful. He did take a flu shot a few years back “and got the flu.” No, his body reacted in a good way to the vaccine. Anyway, nothing I say can change his mind.
That’s the problem. In most cases of vaxx hesitancy, it’s political and the mind shuts like a steel trap. All the guys I golf with have gotten covid but about half are still hesitant about the booster and won’t take it. I point out it was the Trump Administration that pushed Warp Speed and they just give me a dumb look and say, “I don’t know what’s in it.” Yeah, and if you did dumb ass, you wouldn’t understand how it even works in the human body.
It’s exasperating.
August 10, 2022 at 1:23 pm #140021OzonerangerParticipantGlad she’s okay, ZN.
August 10, 2022 at 11:24 pm #140037znModeratorIt’s exasperating.
Yep.
Glad she’s okay, ZN.
She’s doing great, thanks. The seizure moment was scary but the med people got there fast and everything was fine after that.
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