Covid vaccination status?

[JayhawkCO]

Minor update on side effects.  Since I got the vaccine a couple hours ago, I've gotten a feeling I can only describe as a mild high (like weed).  Not too noticeable, but just a very little bit out of it.  Maybe it's just the Colorado version. 

Chris

[bugo]

The BMI is complete bullshit. According to it, many elite athletes are "obese", despite having very little body fat. You can't measure something with 3 or more variables with just 2 pieces of data. It's like trying to measure the volume of a box using only the height and width, omitting the depth of the object. The BMI is designed to make Americans feel bad about themselves. It is total nonsense.

It works for most of the population though. I'd bet at least 3/4 of those considered obese due to BMI are genuinely obese.

I have plenty of fat on me despite all my exercising. My most recent doc didn't seem to believe me until she ordered a blood draw and the results spoke for themselves. That's typical in this country though. My wife is a runner, and multiple times docs have been concerned about her resting heart rate being too low. It's not low, its just peak physical fitness, because they're used to seeing sedentary people all day.

Like anything, its a guideline. I've never gotten too bent out of shape over it despite being lumped into its category. I know what I am and that's good enough for me.

Not in my experience. A few years ago, I weighed about 260 pounds, and while I was definitely not "obese" by any rational yardstick. I'm down to 230 now, and I'm no longer in the "obese" category, but I don't look that much smaller than I did then. As I said, it was designed to cause self esteem issues among everybody who weighs more than the "acceptable" amount.

[kphoger]

For the last two days, local medical providers have been alerting residents that our Walgreens has extra doses that have to be given by the end of the day or else they'll be discarded.

That's how one of my friends got her first shot.  She just went to the mass vaccination site and asked if they had leftovers they were going to toss.  They did, so they signed her up and got her a shot. 

My mother-in-law wasn't even looking for one.  She was at the grocery store and someone asked her if she wanted a shot.

[Jim]

In New York, I've known people to drive all over the state to get earlier appointments.  Early on at least, the state clinics at Potsdam and Plattsburgh often had much sooner appointments than Albany.  My brother first had one at the Javits Center in NYC, which would not have been convenient at all, but then got one just a day or two out in Utica.  But New York's distribution has been very complicated.  Anyone eligible can go to a state clinic anywhere.  Counties have been directed to use their allocations for specific groups each week.  Then there are some state and/or FEMA clinics that seem to be targeted to specific zip codes to try to get it into communities where there's either a high infection rate or low acceptance rate for the vaccine.  The Yankee Stadium site was restricted to Bronx residents, but I don't know if it still is.

[1995hoo]

Finally gave up waiting for appointments to open up close to home and drove 2 hours to get my first dose today.

Do they let you do that?  Isn't it county-by-county?

I've heard twice in the past two weeks that if I were to drive out to one of the counties along I-81 it would be easy to get a vaccine if I just show proof of Virginia residency. I haven't bothered because I have my doubts about whether I'd have the time to drive back out there for the second dose when the time comes. Next month is likely to be busy work-wise. Taking time out to drive to a vaccination site in Fairfax County is minor. Driving 100 miles each way is a different issue.

[D-Dey65]

Are you sure it's not Viagra?

Nope. No girlfriend, therefore no need for Viagra or any other "male performance enhancing pills."

[kphoger]

Has anyone's home state/county/city amended its face mask and/or physical distancing order to exempt people who have been fully vaccinated?

Sedgwick County's most recent order was issued two days ago, when 196 citizens were already fully vaccinated and nearly 3000 had already received their first shot but not their second.  My mother (retired lifetime nurse, current school teacher) is scheduled to get her second shot soon, and she is adamant that nobody is going to tell her to wear her face mask once she's fully vaccinated.  And that got me thinking, there is bound to be an increasing number of resentful people being ordered by law to do something they consider to be completely pointless.  And then that got me to wondering if there were any jurisdictions that have actually amended their orders along those lines.  Are there?

[bandit957]

Has anyone's home state/county/city amended its face mask and/or physical distancing order to exempt people who have been fully vaccinated?

Sedgwick County's most recent order was issued two days ago, when 196 citizens were already fully vaccinated and nearly 3000 had already received their first shot but not their second.  My mother (retired lifetime nurse, current school teacher) is scheduled to get her second shot soon, and she is adamant that nobody is going to tell her to wear her face mask once she's fully vaccinated.  And that got me thinking, there is bound to be an increasing number of resentful people being ordered by law to do something they consider to be completely pointless.  And then that got me to wondering if there were any jurisdictions that have actually amended their orders along those lines.  Are there?

I don't know of any places like this. People on other websites say the reason no city or state has done this is that they think people will just lie about being vaccinated so they don't have to follow the order. But no city or state ever admits that's the reason.

[Rothman]

Be careful when running to get "surplus" vaccinations.  In CT, if you do so, the State insists you must set up your second dose wherever you get the first dose.  If other states have requirements like these, it can make things more complicated than if you just set up an appointment.

[GaryV]

The CDC said that while the vaccination protects you from getting sick from the virus, you could potentially still be a carrier.  So if you are not wearing a mask, you could be spreading it and people who have not yet been vaccinated may get sick. It's something they don't know yet, but are learning about. Groups of fully vaccinated people can meet together without masks or social distancing.  That means 2 weeks after your second dose of Pfizer or Moderna, or 2 weeks after the J&J single dose.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html

My expectation is that when a significant portion of the population has been vaccinated, restrictions will get lifted.

[Rothman]

Has anyone's home state/county/city amended its face mask and/or physical distancing order to exempt people who have been fully vaccinated?

Sedgwick County's most recent order was issued two days ago, when 196 citizens were already fully vaccinated and nearly 3000 had already received their first shot but not their second.  My mother (retired lifetime nurse, current school teacher) is scheduled to get her second shot soon, and she is adamant that nobody is going to tell her to wear her face mask once she's fully vaccinated.  And that got me thinking, there is bound to be an increasing number of resentful people being ordered by law to do something they consider to be completely pointless.  And then that got me to wondering if there were any jurisdictions that have actually amended their orders along those lines.  Are there?

I don't know of any places like this. People on other websites say the reason no city or state has done this is that they think people will just lie about being vaccinated so they don't have to follow the order. But no city or state ever admits that's the reason.

I think this is openly being admitted -- the vaccinated have to wear masks not only in the off-chance that you could still be a carrier, but mostly because you can't tell if an unmasked person has been vaccinated or not (well...papiere bitte, I suppose...).

[jeffandnicole]

Has anyone's home state/county/city amended its face mask and/or physical distancing order to exempt people who have been fully vaccinated?

Sedgwick County's most recent order was issued two days ago, when 196 citizens were already fully vaccinated and nearly 3000 had already received their first shot but not their second.  My mother (retired lifetime nurse, current school teacher) is scheduled to get her second shot soon, and she is adamant that nobody is going to tell her to wear her face mask once she's fully vaccinated.  And that got me thinking, there is bound to be an increasing number of resentful people being ordered by law to do something they consider to be completely pointless.  And then that got me to wondering if there were any jurisdictions that have actually amended their orders along those lines.  Are there?

I don't know of any places like this. People on other websites say the reason no city or state has done this is that they think people will just lie about being vaccinated so they don't have to follow the order. But no city or state ever admits that's the reason.

I think this is openly being admitted -- the vaccinated have to wear masks not only in the off-chance that you could still be a carrier, but mostly because you can't tell if an unmasked person has been vaccinated or not (well...papiere bitte, I suppose...).

Stores can, and mostly do, require masks as well.

If they require shirts and shoes, then yes, they can require masks also.

[kphoger]

Be careful when running to get "surplus" vaccinations.  In CT, if you do so, the State insists you must set up your second dose wherever you get the first dose.  If other states have requirements like these, it can make things more complicated than if you just set up an appointment.

When my wife set up her second appointment, the system told her to do it at the same location she got her first one from.  Problem:  it was a temporary location that's no longer open.

Stores can, and mostly do, require masks as well.

If they require shirts and shoes, then yes, they can require masks also.

Obviously.  And that's the first thought my wife and I have whenever we hear her say that.  But my point is that an increasing number of people are going to feel the same way, and I'm not so sure businesses will want to fight that fight anymore if they don't have as strong a leg to stand on.

[oscar]

The CDC said that while the vaccination protects you from getting sick from the virus, you could potentially still be a carrier.

Also, the vaccines don't provide airtight protection against contracting COVID-19. They just substantially improve your odds. But I plan to keep wearing a mask anyway, at least indoors when near other people, until we have herd immunity firmly established.

I'm between the first and second doses of a vaccine with a claimed efficacy rate of 95% (hope to get the second dose by the end of this month, then two more weeks before its protection kicks in). But I'll still want some protection against the remaining 5%. My mask would help. So would other people wearing their masks.

[kphoger]

I'll still want some protection against the remaining 5%. My mask would help. So would other people wearing their masks.

Which is, again, of course true.  But that's not necessarily big enough impetus for the local government to keep the requirements on the books.  I mean, masks will help whatever sliver of risk is still present until the day you die, but that won't necessarily keep jurisdictions from lifting or amending their orders.  Granted, I'm no longer following the news the way I did a year ago, but I'm surprised I haven't heard of fully vaccinated people being exempted from official COVID orders, because–even if there is still some residual risk of transmission–I would expect some county somewhere to decide it's not a big enough one.  Especially considering how all-over-the-board counties were on the matter nine months ago.

[NWI_Irish96]

I'm surprised I haven't heard of fully vaccinated people being exempted from official COVID orders

Exempting vaccinated people from enforced restrictions involves checking people for proof of vaccination, and so far nobody has been willing to go there.

The closest we've gotten is guidance that groups of vaccinated people can gather on private property without masks.

[kphoger]

I'm surprised I haven't heard of fully vaccinated people being exempted from official COVID orders

Exempting vaccinated people from enforced restrictions involves checking people for proof of vaccination, and so far nobody has been willing to go there.

The closest we've gotten is guidance that groups of vaccinated people can gather on private property without masks.

I've seen guidance from the CDC regarding fully vaccinated people, but nothing from my local government.  You're saying that your local government has offered additional guidance?

[J N Winkler]

I think that as vaccination progresses, there will be an increasingly disorderly rush to dump mask mandates without creating carve-outs for the vaccinated.  In Sedgwick County, where Kphoger and I both live, the county commission just repealed the mask mandate for schools (meaning it is up to school boards to decide whether students are required to wear masks), and a motion to set April 9 as the sunset date for the mask mandate as a whole failed by just one vote.

We have been told that it will be safe to drop the mask mandate only when we reach herd immunity, which is conservatively estimated at 80% of the population vaccinated.  Part of the motivation for dropping the mask mandate in schools was that when 100% of the teachers in the Renwick school district were offered vaccine (as essential workers), only 60% accepted.  The reasoning was that if this is representative of vaccine hesitancy for the population as a whole, we're never going to achieve herd immunity, so why continue to bother with masks?

(Renwick is not a real place--the name is a portmanteau of Reno and Sedgwick, since the district has extent in both counties.  It is also rural, which tends to imply a more conservative outlook.)

[webny99]

I think that as vaccination progresses, there will be an increasingly disorderly rush to dump mask mandates without creating carve-outs for the vaccinated.

Well put, and I agree. It's just too complicated for a grocery store or other public facing business to figure out who has been vaccinated and who hasn't. Even now, most people that are considered high risk have had a chance to be vaccinated, so it seems likely that this will happen -  but not in a particularly organized way - in the next few months.

[kphoger]

I also think that, in the meantime, the teeth of the existing orders will start falling out.

[bandit957]

Around here, masks in convenience stores are already rare indeed.

[kphoger]

Yeah, from an enforcement perspective, I don't see how carve-outs could work practically.  But what you'll end up with is a strange situation in which all the employees of a given business have been fully vaccinated yet cannot legally have a meeting in the conference room because of physical distancing requirements.

[jakeroot]

I've read that Israel is using an app-based approach to identify those who have been vaccinated, allowing them mask-less into normally off-limits places like gyms and cinemas.

It's chiefly made possible by their centralized health care system. This system has been handling vaccinations, so they have been able to keep track of who has been vaccinated and who has not through a single system.

In the US, such a system is unlikely to ever materialize, so the best we can do is wait until we have herd immunity or same-day vaccination openings (which may signal a reduced interest in vaccinations and the end of mass vaccinations).

[kphoger]

I've read that Israel is using an app-based approach to identify those who have been vaccinated, allowing them mask-less into normally off-limits places like gyms and cinemas.

So what about people like me, who don't have a smartphone?

[JayhawkCO]

I've read that Israel is using an app-based approach to identify those who have been vaccinated, allowing them mask-less into normally off-limits places like gyms and cinemas.

So what about people like me, who don't have a smartphone?

They encourage them to join this century. 

In reality, I'm sure you can access the app on a computer and print something out.

Chris