I am grateful for many things: I am an introvert. DH and I never had a lifestyle of eating out, much less attending concerts and the like. I was used to ZOOM meetings well before the pandemic. Extroverted DD lives halfway across the country, WFH, and lives alone so we hear from her daily.

That being said, DH got his booster last month at the advice of two of his many doctors. But he’s never had his antibodies tested, so I still worry since he’s the guy who had four consecutive bouts of shingles despite being vaccinated. (He finally had to be hospitalized to get well.) DD has almost no T cells so is depending on her antibodies to stay well, so two of her doctors told her to get a booster so she got hers the same day I got mine.

Our area has a fairly high vaccination rate, high mask wear, and low transmission. We go to the supermarket and exercise outside but not much else. I fear for my husband’s health more than he does but I don’t think he takes overly risky chances.

Sad to say, but I don’t think we’ll be seeing his nieces and nephews for years since I’m pretty sure they aren’t vaccinated. We didn’t even see his elderly mom before she went overseas because refused to vaccinate and a lot of parties took place where she was staying.

We've been in lockdown for 6 weeks. As Sal mentioned earlier, the biggest city Auckland where I live is in lockdown. It was really strict for about 5 weeks but then about a week ago we were allowed to go out and get takeaways as long as there is no contact with others. It is ok for me, I am an introvert, we are small family in a relatively big house so can get some space but I do feel for others who are vulnerable, who have had to be in a small house with little children or who have lost jobs etc. We are hoping to come out of the lockdown this week but its school holidays. I teach in the part of the city where the outbreak seems to be worse and with transient communities there and overcrowding, I wonder if they will get it under control. I am getting my second jab tomorrow so that I can be fully vaccinated when school does go back as I know I will be walking into a risky area and teenagers are useless with masks and keeping things sanitised. I do feel for those who are in vulnerable situations with compromised immunity as it is really scary. My mother who is 86 has had one jab and I haven't seen her for over 6 weeks. Luckily she lives in a tiny village out of the main city with my brother. I hope we can get this under control so there is some way we can lead lives that are less restrictive and those with compromised health issues can feel safe going out in the community.

I am so sorry that so many of you have such scary and unnerving health issues AND have to worry about Covid. Worrying about Covid is more than enough.
DH and I have found this very hard.
Sending healing energy.

Still isolating. I take care of elderly & have been guarding them like a too old soldier against an invisible army. It would probably take me out too. We’ve been in a national & sometimes global epicenter w/ no mitigation since this thing started.
Exhausting.

Peri, I am so sorry to hear of your situation and also those of others having the devastating news of illness. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Australia was covid free up until June when Delta hit our two largest states which are in lockdown. I don't live there, but it is pretty safe to say that we will not be free of covid for long as there is so much pressure to just open things up. The local Premier (who runs my state) has done a great job of keeping our state safe and is incredibly popular for standing firm on keeping our borders shut. We are hoping to get to a 90 - 95% vaccination rate before opening up to hopefully keep everyone safe.

I am so impressed with countries that are aiming for 90-95% vaccination rates.

I was not surprised to see that the county in Texas where we had the ranch is at 45%. I was, however, shocked that the county where my sister lives (in another southern state) is at 39%! I'm glad she is one of those, and that she is being very careful. She did however say that most people seem to be masking up, at least.

No, not really. We’re all still masked up and we did reopen our second shop - but traffic is beyond low. And, well, my aunt just passed away. She went into the hospital for covid this summer and didn’t recover well. She died on Saturday, went into ER with arrhythmia… she was the oldest of all my aunts and uncles, but these are people who still went biking and skiing before the pandemic. So…

Rachylou, I'm so sorry to hear about your aunt. I know that must hurt, especially when people talk about the pandemic being over and you've had this loss and know personally how bad things can be. It's not over and it still is a big deal to those who are more vulnerable.

Rachylou, I'm very sorry about your aunt.

I appreciate the sympathy, Peri, Sloper. She was fully vaccinated to boot. Viral load matters…

For those with health issues, my heart goes out to you. Those who willfully refuse to vaccinate, putting others at risk, are dead to me. My mother is extremely elderly (97 years old) and I haven’t seen her in several months. Her age is in itself a preexisting condition. I have relatives who have refused the vaccine and want to visit her. It seems to me they don’t care if she lives or dies.

JAileen, good for you for standing strong. I hope you can stop those people from visiting her. I hope there can be a safe way for you to see her, but I'm also applauding you for understanding that there's a chance you could be a risk to her as well, even vaccinated.

I do for sure blame the unvaccinated for prolonging all this. But, I'm also having a lot of trouble with people who think they can do anything around anyone just because they are vaccinated. I know people who eat out, go to football games, go to concerts, have dinner parties in their house and then just don't understand why I can't be around them. I'm getting tired of explaining it and then having people act like I'm overreacting. Yes, I could be around them. I could maybe get sick and would probably still be okay since I'm "only" 62 and healthy and vaccinated myself. But I'd expose my husband who would not be okay. The whole thing is making me feel defensive and that's not good.

Now, I do have a lot of people in my life who do get it. It's just that sometimes I get stunned by the amount who don't, and how much empathy is lacking in the world these days.

Just to share a tidbit of happy news for me.

I'm part of a study by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to investigate how/if patients are responding to covid vaccines.

I didn't get any antibody response from my first two Pfizer shots, but just got the report that I do have an antibody response to my third! Of course no one knows what level of antibodies is "strong" vs "weak" - but at least I have some!!

Staying at home and masking up are still the order of the day, but I do feel a bit of hope!

That’s amazing Sloper! Great news.

When I visited my mother (living in an apartment) last week, we went to see her 95yo husband (not my dad - but a wonderful man) who is in long term care. Even though we were double vaxed, and had our temperature taken (normal) Mom and I still had to undergo a Covid rapid test (results in 15 min) before we could visit! The test was not pleasant, but I’m okay with the additional screening, since the place where he has been staying has kept all the elders safe and had NO Covid deaths!

Canada had a bit of a test with the Thanksgiving holiday earlier this month. Numbers continued to trend downward in Ontario, so this week capacity everywhere in Ontario has been allowed to return to pre-Covid numbers, but only folks with a vaccine passport confirming double vaccination allowed. Mask wearing is still required - though if the number of positive cases continues to trend downwards, the mask mandate may be over by March 2022. The double vaxed rate is 84% of eligible folks, or 74% of all people (included in this statistic are those under 12yo who are as yet not eligible for vaccination.)

I think winter will be tough, but hopefully more people will ‘get with the program’ and things will be better in the spring.