Vaccinated? Great! Now Keep Your COVID SHIELD Up to Protect Others
St Patricks Day 2020 was the last time I was in a bar, restaurant or fast food place — 14 long months ago. I’ve had my first vaccine jab but I won’t be going inside to eat or have a pint until the second jab and infection rates are extremely low.
Two reasons why:
Need to Know 1: No vaccine is 100 percent effective.
Need to Know 2: Fully vaccinated people can infect others.
Let me break down what these facts mean:
Being vaccinated only means your body can now prevent the virus from causing serious disease in you. It doesn’t prevent the virus from getting inside you to hang out and make more copies of itself. Yes, viruses are freeloading jerks.
So even though you are fully vaccinated and have zero symptoms, you can still have loads* of coronavirus happily buzzing around inside and floating out of your mouth and nose every time you breathe.
*Loads? Well, maybe not. There’s research showing vaccinated people have substantially less virus buzzing around. That’s great but not really good enough to put down our Covid Shields just yet.
Five COVID SHIELD Tips to Protect You and Your Family
1. Two masks better than one
2. Safe socializing and bubble/pod life
3. Keeping your distance - 6 feet may not be enough
4. Mask up outside around others
5. Let local case rates determine your activities.
(These are detailed in a previous NtK issue.)
Here’s the harsh reality at this stage of the pandemic: Because vaccines aren’t great at preventing the spread of the virus, we have to keep our Covid Shields up until most people are vaccinated. We don’t yet know if “most” means 60 percent or 75 percent or 95 percent. It all depends on what it takes to get infection rates close to zero.
Need to Know 3: We have to keep our Covid Shields up until most people are vaccinated
About 60 percent of Israel is currently fully vaccinated and infections have plummeted despite much of the country re-opening. They gone from more than 1000 new cases a day to less than a 100 per day. That’s encouraging but the pandemic is far from over Israelis health officials say. They plan on vaccinating children next and are on guard for new variants that the vaccines aren’t as affective on. Israel has temporarily barred its citizens from travelling to India and six other countries, citing high COVID-19 infection rates.
The UK is aiming to have 75 percent of the population be fully vaccinated in order to nearly eliminate transmission of the virus. They hope to accomplish this by September.
Consider that a benchmark your country should be aiming for. This is based on the evidence we currently have, and no doubt there will be surprises still to come. Let’s just hope none are too nasty.
Need to Know 4: Covid is still an entirely new disease. We do not know everything about it and may take years to fully understand what it’s doing to us and how to learn to live with it.
Need to Know 5: Some governments do not put public health first. As the editor-in-chief of the respected science journal Nature recently said about the pandemic:
“When governments failed to listen to the science you can plainly see the results.”
Meanwhile….
Need to Know 6: Even if you are vaccinated act as though you haven't been. Keep your Covid Shield up.
Does “Don’t get Covid!” still need to be said?
The Covid variants are putting healthy people of all ages into hospital. Some never leave. Even those with minor symptoms can suffer serious, long term health impacts. Millions already have Long Covid with symptoms lasting months which may well become years. Experts say long after the pandemic is over, people will still be suffering simply because they got infected.
It’s all pretty random as to who gets hit hard and who doesn’t.
Need to Know 7: No one is safe, until we all are safe. Keep your Covid Shield up.
Like you fxxxx fed up with having to deal with this damn virus. But this is where we are.
Need to Know 8: Either we accept and adapt to our reality or else it grinds us up.
Do share this where ever you can.
Until next time, please stay strong and stay safe.
Stephen
P/S/ My Feb 3 NtK issue has lots more on Covid variants and how to protect yourself.
PPS/ Speaking of accepting our reality, from last week’s issue:
Need-to-Know 3: On our current path we’re taking colossal risks
Be sure to read: Glaciers and Why we need to learn to be naturalists