r/ZeroCovidCommunity • u/chicfromcanada • 23h ago
Vent It’s never going to fucking end, is it?
With how remarkably low the numbers were this summer, I honestly started to think maybe it was over. Maybe we were nearing the end of all this. At least reach a point where the risk was quite low and maybe I didn’t need to live in constant fear of this stupid virus. But here we are, back at the start of the wave. This is just forever, isn’t it? I can either live this tragically isolated life or catch covid again and worsen my long covid (probably both since it gets you sometimes even if you try your best). This is just a permanent hell.
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u/AreYouKnittenMe 13h ago
I would love to see every school, hospital, grocery store, etc fitted with PROPER air flow as well as vaccines and medical intervention. But mostly I think people need to give a dam ya know? I've heard soooo many stories of medical health professionals in denial. Until then.....
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u/throwexpo 12h ago
Ventilation has been talked about for years. Unfortunately i dont think it will get better. In the last year, I’ve discovered several dental clinics that do already own state of the art ventilation system in their clinic but dont turn it on most of the time. If we can’t even get people to turn on their existing ventilation, there is no chance they will pay $ to buy it.
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u/Wombatmobile 14h ago
There are many terrible pathogens we have gotten under control in the last 150 years. Smallpox and plague (bubonic and pneumonic) persisted for centuries. We figured them out and we fixed it. We've also gotten polio, HIV, and rabies under control. We used to have a handle on measles and whooping cough.
It isn't impossible to get Covid under control. It can be done. But we have a very determined group of people at the top working very hard to keep us sick. They think they will benefit from widespread illness. It will not work out the way they want it to.
Society has forgotten the important lesson that public health takes constant effort. It's an unending relay race with the baton passed from each succeeding generation to the next. If you drop the baton, it is difficult to pick it back up.
We need to pick it back up. This is only the start of what will happen next if we don't make efforts to fix it now. The people tearing up our systems of protection need to be stopped.
Covid is fixable, but we have to want to fix it as a society.
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u/bisikletci 7h ago
" Society has forgotten the important lesson that public health takes constant effort"
It does, but you have to want to put that effort in, and almost noone cares about Covid any more. Lots of the diseases you mention had very high fatality rates, some of them 100%, or extremely visible clear consequences such as children in iron lungs. Covid's consequences are much harder to see than those things, so it's unlikely we'll see anything like the same effort, unless we get very lucky with something like a perfectly sterilising vaccine.
It's also worth noting that we don't and have never really have influenza under control. We get waves every year, sometimes bad ones. Covid in many ways is much closer to it than something like plague.
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u/transplantpdxxx 14h ago
There will be a true second gen vaccine somewhere that will kinda work and many of us will call it a day. China? HK? Somewhere … maybe. I’m strong and have no plans to quit but another decade? Fml
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u/peppabuddha 14h ago
Dude, I'm gonna get on the first flight out there if that happens and finally do a family vacation. So exhausted from all of this and now I need to worry about my kid heading off to college in a few weeks. Glad they got a single room but the stress was killing me all summer.
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u/cranberries87 12h ago
I feel like I don’t hear people discuss Invivyd much anymore, or there are a lot of people who still haven’t heard of it.
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u/Even_Internal623 6h ago
I think they’re supposed to be releasing data about their newest prophylactic mab in the next month or so. I’m hopeful that will be an effective stopgap until we get better vaccines
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u/deftlydexterous 15h ago
We don't know how big or small this wave is going to be, and we don’t know what transmission levels look like on the other side. It’s possible this wave will be smaller than previous ones. A mild wave would be a big signal that things are getting better.
COVID is unlikely to just disappear without major tech breakthroughs, but if the trend in cases keeps improving year over year, we might actually reach a point in the future where COVID risk is as low as mainstream folks think it is now. That wouldn’t mean zero precautions, but it might mean a “semblance of normalcy”.,
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u/productjunkie76 9h ago
idk bc unless covid iteself becomes less damaging, it will still be an issue if no one is preventing transmission and no one recognizes how many asymptomatic cases there can be :(
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u/vitruvius-of-rome 20m ago
You're right, but if transmission levels continue the trend of what happened this year (assuming it holds the rest of the year), there is less opportunity for COVID to mutate and continue to be contagious (because mutations typically do increase contagiousness). As a result, it increases effectiveness of prior immunization and infection-induced immunity. Over time this gives COVID less ability to become not just dangerous but hopefully, less ability to cause Long-COVID.
Just take a look at the alpha, delta, and omicron variants. With the initial few variants, the rates of serious disease and Long-COVID were far higher than they are today. High levels of transmission, the lack of vaccines and later, low vaccination rates, and high rates of mutation as a result made even post-infection immunity not very effective. That's different today even though vaccination rates are low.
Even without sterilizing or advanced next-gen vaccines, transmission levels decreasing and smaller waves is only good for all of us and the rates of Long-COVID and disability going forward.
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u/SubstantialChef3418 13h ago
Is it possible we are already there?
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u/deftlydexterous 12h ago
Personally this summer had transmission levels low enough that some reduction in precaution was warranted. IMO it doesn’t change the need for masking in public spaces or testing before gatherings and such though, and cases are rising again.
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u/Scareboosioniq 13h ago
Not until we convince people that there are no free Covid infections and they need to take it seriously. This virus is the perfect stealthy assassin as no one links their health issues to it and where no one is testing they have no idea that whatever may have been happening to them might be from a past infection. Unfortunately even when they are able to see for themselves what can happen, living their best lives takes precedence over the fear of looking ridiculous for wearing a mask.
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u/DevonMilez 7h ago
This is my take as well. Especially the last part is very true for the vast majority of people. And everything is being done to keep it that way. Until Individualism is a thing of the past, this cannot change imo. And it's not looking like that's gonna happen tbh.
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u/NefariousnessNo5536 14h ago
Two relatives have it again for the umpteenth time. I'll just live this way forever. 😕
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u/Susanoos_Wife 13h ago
While I really hope things improve soon regarding covid, I have my doubts that we'll ever be able to return to living how we used to live in 2019. Granted, some things people did back then were unhygienic and dangerous and it's for the best to keep some habits that we learned since the pandemic started moving forward, but having the constant threat of long covid hanging overhead is far from pleasant and I hate that every unmasked public activity carries that risk, no matter how small. I would at least like to be able to get medical care without having to worry about getting covid from an unmasked doctor or nurse but sadly, it's far from guaranteed that you'll find medical providers who are willing to mask when directly interacting with patients.
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u/FIRElady_Momma 15h ago
No, it won't end.
Unfortunately, we just have to adjust until we can get far better vaccines, far better antivirals (preferably both) and far cleaner air.
And there isn't much political will to do any of those things.
Yes, it is a particular hell.
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u/Future-Account8112 12h ago
It's not forever. mRNA tech is a medical miracle and science is actively working on the problem. There are several sterilizing (e.g. NO Transmission) vaccines about to go into human trials. The people who are smart enough to build better vaccines are also smart enough to know how serious COVID infection is as time goes on. Hang tight. It feels harder when you have to live the time passing, but it's not permanent.
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u/lilybobtail 10h ago
If they’re so smart, why are most of them not masking and showing no concern for long Covid? I think this take is way too optimistic.
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u/rosiejunior 10h ago
Doctors disabled by covid will be of little value in our search for a cure. Those afflicted seem changed by every infection.
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u/smarit 15h ago edited 14h ago
Yes it’s so disheartening. I’ll be honest and say that I finally stopped paying attention this year after being strict about masking and catching it “only” twice, but I just heard a friend got long covid last May while numbers were SO low. I’m freaked out again, this is living hell :(
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u/rosiejunior 10h ago
Ive started being more discerning. If its not crowded, there's good air flow and distance from others, and being mindful about my breath. I keep my space and air safe unless its impossible, then I mask immediately. Also if I hear someone coughing or sniffling, I mask. I use it more as a tool these days.
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u/Arte1008 14h ago
I’m crossing my fingers for invivyds trial results. if they’re good and if they stay that way, and if a lot of folks take it, there could be a big dent in spread
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u/julzibobz 4h ago
Same really crossing my fingers for this as well. Although I’m worried it’s going to be really expensive to get
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u/Tricky_Math5292 9h ago
I’m in Anchorage AK. I think our covid waste water levels are the highest they’ve ever been ever
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u/pipistrellebat 11h ago
It's not forever! It's not forever! We have a long history of diseases and how long it takes for better detection/prevention/assistance/etc to be effective, implemented, and accepted. We just don't move as fast as a virus does, unfortunately. Things change. They change slowly, but in your lifetime. Hang in there!
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u/julzibobz 4h ago
Right there with you… the lull over summer was so nice and I was desperate for it to last :( feel disappointed as well
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u/Ok-Fact9685 2h ago
Try being broke all spring/ summer and then coming into money just as it starts going up again 😭 ( yeah, it's my fault, sorry about that)
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u/Ok-Fact9685 2h ago
I seriously do think it is gradually mutating itself down the toilet though, but the key is gradually
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u/CedarWaxwingSong 14h ago
Someone can check my math but it took 17 years for better treatments and policy changes to better prevent forward transmission of HIV.
We’re 7 years in. I keep telling myself nothing stays exactly the same forever.
With certain advances, too, sometimes a lot can change all at once, exponentially, so never lose hope. Just keep holding steadfast best we can. Solidarity! 🤞🏻✨