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20856219 tn?1541792336

If you've been fully vaccinated, what activities are you resuming now?

If you've been fully vaccinated, are you resuming all your normal activities, assuming they're open and you aren't on lockdown?

Are you going to the gym, to the movies, eating inside at restaurants, going to sporting events, etc.? Are you masking for any of these things?

What are you still not doing, if anything?

Am I the only still worried after being fully vaccinated?

9 Responses
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134578 tn?1693250592
Here are some differences in my life since being vaccinated. I think it's a moving target and the status quo will change again and again over time, since it already has. We learn more, our comfort level changes. I've been:

- Walking around outside without a mask near other people, without being suspicious that I am accidentally breathing in when they just breathed out.

- Wearing a cloth mask and not just an N95.

- Grocery shopping with mask still on, partly to signal to other people visually that I'm not spreading anything. (Can't go around saying "I've been vaccinated! I've been vaccinated!" to strangers to reassure them, the mask does that.)

- Seeing my extended family inside the house and not 6 feet away, mostly without masks.

- Hugging my mom!
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Avatar universal
We are not sure of effect of vaccine on new variants therefore safety is best option
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Avatar universal
Doing all my usual things no problem!
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3 Comments
Before I say, a caveat:  I wasn't doing great before covid, so covid didn't have as much of an effect on me as it did on most others.  I never masked while outdoors unless I was in a crowded area, as over a year ago it was announced it didn't spread well outdoors unless someone was in close proximity to others who were unmasked for an extended period of time.  So I never did understand all those people outdoors running or exercising or going somewhere who were nowhere near anyone else and were wearing masks -- that was never indicated, so again, for me, this part of it has been no change.  Indoors, I'm still going to wear a mask for at least the near future, and keep in mind, there are warnings that when cold weather returns so could covid.  I do believe contrary to what was stated that the vaccines are working pretty well against the variants.  They may not be working quite as well at completely preventing disease, but they are preventing people from dying or ending up in the ICU.  If we don't get the whole world vaccinated, of course, this could change, and may be already in India, where lots of people are getting infected a second time because of a variant there.  I also still have to look at which vaccine did you get?  We're not supposed to mention this, it's been taboo because it was so important that people get vaccinated, but four of the vaccines out there in the world don't work nearly as well as the others -- AstraZeneca, J&J, Sinovax, and India's vaccine don't appear to be nearly as effective as the others, so that raises an issue of how well protected we all are.  Some of us are clearly better protected than others because we got a more effective vaccine, but in practice, it appears to be that even if someone is more likely to still be able to become infected they are still quite a bit less likely to pass it on to others.  So the vaccines are working exceptionally well but am I ready to eat inside a restaurant?  No.  I'm still worried by the large number of those who have so far resisted vaccination and the impossibility of knowing who is who unless we adopt a card system that proves we are vaccinated.  None of the vaccines are 100% effective, and since only the wealthiest countries have much vaccine, and even in those countries due to demagogic politics in so many countries but especially in the US a lot of people aren't so far choosing to either wear a mask or get vaccinated, I'm still erring on the side of caution if I'm erring.  The CDC has announced you pretty much don't need to wear a mask anymore or avoid anything unless the place you're going has a rule if you're vaccinated, but I believe they have said that to encourage everyone to get vaccinated.  While the number of vaccinated people who have gotten infected is quite low, it is still over a thousand people, and again, not all vaccines are equally effective.  The point of a vaccine isn't just to protect the vaccinated person, it's to achieve herd immunity by vaccine so the virus goes away or mostly goes away because it can no longer find enough hosts to thrive.  We're nowhere near that point yet, so to me, I'm still going to wear the old mask indoors in a group setting, but outdoors, again, I never have worn one unless it was a crowded place.  Peace.
I agree.  Remember, the vaccines don't prevent you from getting Covid.  They just make it less severe and keep you out of the hospital -- this is according to the manufacturers of the vaccine (Moderna, etc.).  So what is your objective.  I am over 75 and still don't want to have to stay home for 2 weeks with a mild case.  So I still wear a mask at the supermarket and keep away from bars.
In fact, the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines do protect you from getting covid.  Quite well, in fact.  But not 100%.  The other vaccines are less effective, but still do protect from getting covid.  There was some question about that early on, but the research from Pfizer and Moderna has been that they are quite effective at preventing one from getting covid.  But I'll repeat, not 100%, and we don't know about all the variants, protection does go down on some of them and more are coming if we don't all get vaccinated and quickly all over the world.  
207091 tn?1337709493
I live in a state with one of the highest case counts, and my county has consistently been in the top 25 for the country. Even being fully vaccinated, I can't imagine eating inside a restaurant, going to the movies (which I don't think are open), or doing anything indoors without a mask.

However, I have some risk for complications, and have essentially been home for a year. What has changed is that I feel safer out in the world. I saw my mom and sister for Mother's Day. :)
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1 Comments
I think the feeling of generally being safer when I do go out, is the biggest change for me. Like you, I'm not eating in a restaurant inside (though I have twice eaten at one outside recently) and when I'm inside I'm masked, but there is just a sense of having been released from a constraint.
649848 tn?1534633700
We’ve continued to do a lot of the things we always did, but with extra precaution - lots of it!!

Although I’m totally in favor of “freedom”, it concerns me that CDC let it go on the “honor system” because we know a lot of people were against masking to begin with, so of course, it’s ridiculous to think that any of them are suddenly going to be concerned about anyone else’s welfare and decide to wear a mask because they haven’t been vaccinated.  

As Paxiled said - we have no way of knowing who’s vaccinated and no one is allowed to ask,  so for right now, I assume that no one is vaccinated and still wear my mask whenever I go into a store or other inside place

That said, I never have worn a mask outside unless I’ve been in close proximity to other people.  
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29 Comments
Second the above.  The CDC had its reasons I'm sure, but it's just way too soon to let down our guards.  It enabled states that have been pro-covid (no other way to put it, really) to go all in at a time when vaccinations are not anywhere near herd immunity.  And masking was already being ignored because of this thing historians will be puzzling over forever, which is how on Earth did a pandemic become a political issue in so many countries, including the US?  Just makes no sense.
“How on earth did a pandemic become a political issue in so may countries, including the US?”  My question, exactly, but we can’t discuss that here.  Lol
genuine question - but if the vaccine works, why are you worried about everyone else and whether they masked up or cared this entire time? that was the whole point of the vaccine i thought?
I certainly care that millions of people have died from this virus, worldwide, and many others are left with lingering - perhaps lifelong - health issues.  Some of this could have been prevented if people masked up and cared.

As for the vaccine, it is up to 95% effective. NOT 100% effective.  I am fully vaccinated, but mask up in enclosed spaces on the 5% chance that I have COVID.  Masks prevent the wearer from transmitting it to other people, and I don't want to risk passing it to someone who is vulnerable.  The mask offers minimal protection to the person wearing it, so the unmasked (and unvaccinated) are the ones presenting a transmission danger to others.

In a civilized society, people SHOULD care about whether other members of society get sick and die.
anxiouswhispers:  It's been widely reported that the vaccines won't necessarily "prevent" one from getting COVID - they prevent one from getting it "as badly" as they otherwise might.   If unvaccinated people are going around without masks, they can pass the virus to others.  

Also agree with CurfewX - we "should" care about other members of our society and whether they get sick and die.
The evidence is strong that vaccines do in fact prevent transmission.  But Curfew is right, none of the vaccines are 100% effective, and only two of them are 95% effective.  Some of them don't have adequate data, such as Sputnik and the Chinese vaccines, but Sputnik appears to be 90% effective and the Chinese vax around 60%.  But J&J, AstraZeneca are only 72% or so effective, and we don't know which vaccine a person got.  We also don't know whether they work for all variants, because as long as the virus stays around new variants are going to arise that haven't been tested against the vaccines.  The point of getting vaccinated is to achieve herd immunity, which is when somewhere around 85% percent of the Earth's human population is vaccinated and keeps getting any necessary boosters, as we don't know how long immunity lasts.  There are people walking around out there who have gotten covid after being fully vaccinated, and a few of them have died, so that's why masking is still essential.  And tell everyone you know to get the darned vaccine so we can see if we can squash this thing.  
Paxiled touched on another very important point - variants.  Viruses mutate when they are transmitted from vector to vector (in this case, human to human).  The speed at which, and the degree to which, they mutate varies from virus to virus, but COVID has shown the propensity to produce variants rather quickly.  If a sufficient portion of the population does not vaccinate, and the virus continues to be transmitted, we could eventually see a variant against which the vaccine is much less effective, or entirely ineffective.  

We would then be back at square one and lockdowns, closures, and mask mandates would start all over again.  I don't think anyone wants to see that.
for the record, i never said we shouldn't care. i was asking people who are posting on here and other places about having been vaccinated fully but still scared.
Anxiouswhispers - not “scared” - just have a healthy respect for the virus and variants, along with something of a distrust of people, which makes me prefer to mask up when in certain places.
that makes sense. i don't think i will stop wearing a mask for the next few years. not just because of covid and the alleged variants, but because i feel like you can't trust anyone when you go out - even before covid. i remember a week or so before the country shut down, my husband and i went to target to grab a few things and we kept hearing this one woman coughing up a storm. it was a NASTY cough, too. i kept asking my husband WHY people go out when they are that sick and the store they're at offers free delivery (in our town). i think covid has scared a lot of people into thinking you have the virus if you hear a cough now from someone....i am the same way, and because of that, i will keep my mask on.
I haven't seen a lot of statistics, but I suspect that we mask up during flu season, each year, we could probably cut those cases down as well.  Think how many people die from the flu each year and how many lives could be saved simply by wearing a mask.

I totally agree with you about the people out shopping when they have cough, fever, etc.  It's very inconsiderate of others to be out in public when one is already ill.   A lot of stores in my area offer free delivery, as well.  Although I don't know whether that will continue after the pandemic, there's always online ordering for those times we shouldn't out in public due to cough/fever, etc.
I think this is an interesting discussion.  Before covid I will here confess that I never stayed home because I was sick if I wasn't so sick I couldn't go out.  I held it as a badge of honor that I never missed work due to being sick, although in my defense I spent much of my work life in small businesses that unfortunately can't really function if the manager doesn't show up and order what's needed to stock the shelves.  But also in my defense, we do have to contrast most illnesses we get nowadays with covid.  The flu is only lethal to the very young who don't yet have a fully developed immune system (interestingly, a contrast to covid) and the very old who are very ill already.  It doesn't really kill many in the vast middle, and doesn't leave behind any long-term effects.  Colds are even weaker in effect.  And that's what most of us would have and still be able to go to work, because other easily contagious illnesses are much too disabling to be able to do much.  But it does bring up the question about our priorities.  There has been a lot of discussion about extended unemployment benefits causing a worker shortage at the lowest ends of the pay scale, but that's probably right wing propaganda as it appears the main problem is that school and child care haven't come back yet, people have discovered other jobs that pay more, and others have decided they really like being full-time parents and can survive on one income and so aren't rushing back.  Which is to say, maybe my sense of honor of making sure I made it to work no matter what wasn't the best way to run an airline, and maybe even if the business had to close for the day making less money still makes us richer in the long run.  As for that cough, not every cough is a sign of illness.  A lot of people have allergies.  A lot of people have clogged throats.  We shouldn't rush to judgment.  But what was said above about colds and flu is true, they discovered this in East Asia long before covid.  A lot of people started masking there when SARS hit, and then to avoid the pollution.  And it did help them to avoid colds and flu.  Peace, all.  
PAXILED, I’m aware that not every cough is a sign of illness and I don’t rush to judgement as you say. It’s human nature to hear someone coughing up phlegm (even pre covid) for long periods of time while out and wonder why they’re out and about if sick.
I avoid anyone coughing, did so pre covid and during covid.  If I know them and they have allergies or smoker's cough, okay.  But if I don't, I avoid.  That's not judgemental.  I just don't really like to be hacked on. :>)  Although I don't fear getting colds. We NEED immunity to those things so a minor cold doesn't worry me as is the case most of the time when we get one.   Or flu since I get a flu vaccine.  Plus we have tamiflu as an excellent therapeutic.  They are working on therapeutics for covid too. Things are changing in a positive way as they can get a leg up on covid with medicinal responses to it (boosters, therapeutics).  I think the emotional impact covid (all of the lock down and isolation, fear) has had on so many people is something to consider as well.  It's been damaging to many people.  My state is pretty much back to normal for now with no restrictions, no mandates for which I'm glad.  I hope, sincerely, that it stays this way.
Oh, I totally agree about staying away from people who are coughing.  Even if I know them and know they have COPD or allergies, I prefer not to be hacked on and will move away.  I’ll mask up if I’m near someone I don’t know that’s hacking and coughing, sniffling, etc.   Like you, SM, I’m not being judgmental.  

We do need immunity to some of these things that go around and one way to produce immunity is to be exposed to it.  “Back in the day”, parents used to try to get kids exposed to all the “childhood diseases” in order to build immunity.  

I read a really good book about immunity/microbes, etc.  That book and other articles I’ve read say that one reason so many people get sick as often as they do is because we keep things so sanitary/germ free that our body doesn’t recognize  so many microbes so when we do come in contact with them, our body goes “whacko”.  That’s why it’s good to let kids play in dirt, etc - it helps them build immunity.  

I think there will be medications to help fight some of these things, but it will take time to develop them.  In the meantime, we all have to do what we have to do.
BARB, mind if i ask what book? and yes - not being judgemental at all, but i also do not want to be around people hacking up their lungs when out in public. i have a feeling most do not.
It’s not judgmental to not want to be coughed or sneezed on or even being around someone who has a major case of the sniffles…

The name of the book I was referring to is “The Missing Microbes” written by Dr James Blaser.  I’ve had the book for quite a few years and have read it more than once.  It’s quit interesting.  
I think there's a lot of false medical theories being floated around out there mixed in with some ideas that are presented differently than they actually act in the real world.  It is a fact that if you are too careful in life you won't be exposed.  Allergies are thought to be this way, it's not being outside all the time around pollen.  But childhood diseases and basically all diseases used to kill tons and tons of people.  It was rare not all that many years ago for half of your kids to die without reaching adulthood.  It is interesting that Louis Pasteur, credited with developing the germ theory of disease, said near his death that he was wrong, humans would never win the war against germs by trying to kill them all off.  He veered to believing the key was developing a very strong immune system which involves a lot of changes in lifestyle that most of us don't want to do.  But that's where he ended up, and where most practitioners of natural medicine are at.  Who knows?
Of course, there are always "theories" being floated around.

I'm aware that childhood illnesses used to kill a lot of people; that doesn't change the fact that a lot of parents (my own included) believed that it was better for kids to get those diseases when they were younger because "supposedly" younger children didn't get hit at hard with them.  Of course, we now know this to be incorrect, as we know a lot of "old ideas" are incorrect.  I even had older people tell me to make sure my own kids were exposed to the childhood diseases when they were young.   As it was, they only got chicken pox because they had the MMR shots.

When it comes to research, there are so many different theories and ideas that it's hard to know exactly what to believe.  As for the book I posted about - I have no idea whether this doctor is absolutely correct in his research, but it's an interesting book and makes one aware that keeping everything "too" sanitized might not be the best thing to do either.  I know a lot of children who have not been allowed to get outside and play in the dirt, sandbox, etc and ironically, it seems like those are the ones who tend to get sick the most.
Don't misunderstand me, I fully agree with that theory, as I said about allergies.  Again, it's been posited that allergies are a result of people living indoors.  I think being too sanitized is wrong on many levels, one being that overparenting and overprotecting stops children from developing the confidence that comes from dealing with stuff.  So I do agree, let the kids get dirty, let them go barefoot, but also know that not that long ago going barefoot led to worms because of outhouses.  I guess it's a balance, all in all.  I recently read a biography of Thomas Jefferson, and the amount of personal tragedy he lived through is unbelievable.  He lost his wife, most of his kids, many of his grandkids, friends, I mean, just constant and yet he managed to live a long life and accomplish a ton.  I would have folded into a puddle.  Peace.  
No misunderstanding.  It's all good.

"So I do agree, let the kids get dirty, let them go barefoot, but also know that not that long ago going barefoot led to worms because of outhouses."   Funny (odd) you should say that.  I grew up on a farm in South Dakota and we used an outhouse until I was in the 8th grade.  During the summer, the only time I wore shoes (unless forced) was when we went somewhere.   We raised cattle and hogs, and my sisters and I used go out and slop in the cattle yard barefoot.  It sounds totally gross now, but we used to love having the mud (and manure) squish between our bare toes after a good rain.  When we got through "playing" in the poop, we'd wash off in the cattle tank.  Nobody ever worried about whether we'd get worms or not - not that it wasn't possible; people just didn't "worry" about every little thing.   I feel more likely to get worms from going barefoot today than I did back then.

Anyway, I guess we've gotten off the COVID track...  COVID has ruled the world for the better part of 15 months now,  at this point in the process,  I think we all just need to use common sense and do what we think is right for us.
BARB, i completely agree. we have to get back to living while also maintaining common sense. and thanks for the book recommendation!
Anxiouswhispers - yes I think some people have become paranoid when it comes to COVID.  As I said previously, I have a very healthy respect for it, but because I’m fully vaccinated, I feel that I can go back to being pretty much normal again, in most situations.

You’re welcome for the book recommendation.  As I said above, IDK if the author is “on track”, but so much of the book makes sense.   If you decide to get/read it, please let me know what you think - either here or via private message.
Not to stay off the covid track, but I for one could use some relief from it, and I liked reading about your barefoot life.  I grew up in Southern California and didn't really wear shoes regularly until moving to northern California in my twenties where people were more likely to throw broken glass on the ground.  We did everything barefoot, even played basketball barefoot.  I used to show up on dates without a shirt and barefoot.  Ah, that barefoot life!  Peace, all.  
LOL - I think we can all use a break from COVID.   My barefoot life on the farm was really quite mundane.  I learned to walk on just about any surface without shoes , of course, not things like nails, glass, etc, but things like rocks, field stubble and normal things found on a farm.  My feet were something like leather.  :-)   I grew up thinking I was the only one in the world that hated shoes and here you're telling me you didn't wear them either.   I didn't play basketball, but I did play baseball, volleyball, etc - all barefooted, if I could get away with it.  I did go on a couple of dates with no shoes (drive in movies (remember those?), etc), but I can honestly say - never without a shirt.  haha

To be perfectly honest - I still go barefoot a lot - aside from the fact that I don't like shoes, it does help my neuropathy, especially walking on stones (not sharp ones), which is something like a painful massage - sure it makes sense.
Seriously, I think discovering running shoes was the worst thing that happened to me.  I now have plantar fasciitis and all sorts of problems.  Can't go barefoot anymore.  If I had stayed running barefoot and walking barefoot -- got 3 college degrees without wearing shoes to school most of the time -- I'd have been better off.  Oh well, I guess we better get back on the Covid track, I get enough posts taken down as it is.  
3 college degrees without wearing shoes??   Going to school was the main time I was forced to wear shoes.

Back to COVID…  :-)
Sounds like college in California in the 1970s. There was a guy who made a point to go to school in (was it Berkeley?) with no clothes at all. I think they finally made him wear a bandana on his privates. Hope he proved a lot. lol

I can remember walking around barefoot in the city when I was in high school. Maybe the streets were cleaner then.
Ah, Berkeley.  Got 2 degrees from there.  Which might explain why, Barb, I didn't have to wear shoes!  Best place I ever lived.  I've been stuck on the East Coast for decades now thanks to my agoraphobia, but yeah, I was a California boy.  Never saw anyone stark naked at school, though, but going naked in California was pretty common at the beach and when camping.  And yes, I did go to college in the 70s.  The Sixties lasted a lot longer there than elsewhere.  So before MedHelp takes this down, how do I survive Covid and not going out to eat?  Eating takeout while listening to the Grateful Dead, of course.  Peace, all.
Avatar universal
Fully vaccinated (thank you Moderna). As for normal activities or the ones you list.... gym (not fully open yet), movies (hardly went pre-covid, so no), restaurants (see movies answer), sporting events (see movies answer). Masking - I always start off with a mask (I don't like wearing one) then if I see/understand that I can take it off and others are fine with it I do.  I wear it for the benefit/comfort of others mostly.  My location is still not fully "back to normal".  I am not worried for me, but for those in my immediate circle, I would hate to pass it on to someone who is truly vulnerable.
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Avatar universal
Read the part near the bottom titled. "Hospitalized or fatal COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases reported to CDC as of May 24, 2021"

As of May 24, 2021, more than 130 million people in the United States had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. During the same time, CDC received reports from 47 U.S. states and territories of vaccine breakthrough cases in patients who were hospitalized or died.
Hospitalized or fatal vaccine breakthrough cases reported to CDC 2,454
The number of COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infections reported to CDC likely are an undercount of all SARS-CoV-2 infections among fully vaccinated persons.               https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html      
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To read further, only 439 of these cases were fatalities, and of these, 71 of these deaths were not related to covid.  Of the hospitalizations, 540 of them were not related to covid.  77% of these cases were in people over age 65.  This is something we all knew would happen, of course, because none of the vaccines is 100% effective.  The two best ones are above 90% effective, Moderna and BioNTech.  But the J&J is only around 72% effective in the US at preventing covid, so 30% of those getting that vaccine would be expected to be susceptible to getting covid.  Most of the breakthrough infections are asymptomatic or mild, including, as noted above, in many of the hospitalizations and deaths -- they had asymptomatic covid but did have it but were sick from something else that got them into the hospital.  That being noted, this is one reason I believe the opening up and dropping of the guidance to mask up is premature, as there is still quite a bit of covid circulating in the US, a lot more circulating in the world which will get here, variants still developing the vaccines might not be so good at dealing with, and what is an elongated vaccination program due to too many unwilling to get one, too many unwilling to mask, and too many in the rest of the world having these  problems along with no vaccines to give out.  This isn't over yet, if it ever will be, but I guess the thinking is, we can't stay locked up forever and this may be as good as it is ever going to get.  Peace.
973741 tn?1342342773
So, for me, I've had covid as well as am fully vaccinated. It's a relief.   I followed all guidelines throughout this entire pandemic.  Our state has very low numbers and has dropped all mask mandates.  At first it felt weird to go to the grocery or into a restaurant without a mask.  But now it feels pretty good.  I'm still careful, I don't crowd into areas with lots of people, wash my hands, etc.  I keep a mask in my purse, car, pocket at all times.  But am less inclined to wear it.  If numbers go up in my state or there is some kind of new fear that they are giving directive on, I'll do as they say to do.  But I am no longer afraid of covid. Even with new strains. New strains are something they are monitoring. If there is substantial threat to vaccinated folks, I believe they will let us know, change directions again and hopefully provide a booster.  Everybody has to do what they are comfortable with.  
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Avatar universal
None whatsoever, not at all sure what effect of vaccine is on new Variants
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I'm with you.  My wife, on the other hand, is out and about, and maybe I would be too if I weren't having a lot of difficulties right now.  Or maybe not.  A lot of vaccinated people are getting covid because not enough people are getting vaccinated.  As long as so many don't get the vax, mutations will continue to get worse and worse and harder and harder to avoid, so to me, covid is pretty much where it was before the vaccine and will be until we get everyone vaccinated.  
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