Things that frustrate us all

[Avro Arrow]

What sucks just as bad, is that NO site I've looked at (State Department, Center for Disease Control, etc.) says WHAT FUCKING KIND OF TEST I NEED! So who knows, I may be able to use one of those quick tests, but no one will tell me.

From this site: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/testing-international-air-travelers.html

Test and Documentation Requirements

What types of SARS-CoV-2 tests are acceptable under the Order?

You must be tested with a viral test to look for current infection – these include an antigen test or a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT).

Phrases indicating a test is an antigen test could include, but not are not limited to:

• Rapid antigen test
• Viral antigen test
• Also, could be noted as Antigen Chromatographic Digital Immunoassay, Antigen Chemiluminescence Immunoassay, or Antigen Lateral Flow Fluorescence

Can I get a rapid test?

Rapid tests are acceptable if they are a viral test that meet the requirements under the Order.

Does a self-test meet the conditions of the Order?

You can use a self-test (sometimes referred to as home test) that meets the following criteria:

• The test must be a SARS-CoV-2 viral test (nucleic acid amplification test [NAAT] or antigen test) with Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) OR the relevant national authority where the test is administered.
• The testing procedure must include a telehealth service affiliated with the manufacturer of the test that provides real-time supervision remotely through an audio and video connection. Some FDA-authorized self-tests that include a telehealth service may require a prescription.
• The telehealth provider must confirm your identity, observe the sample collection and testing procedures, confirm the test result, and issue a report that meets the requirements of CDC’s Order (see “What information must be included in the test result?” below).
• Airlines and other aircraft operators must be able to review and confirm your identity and the test result details. You must also be able to present the documentation of test results to U.S. officials at the port of entry and local/state health departments, if requested.

Some countries may restrict importation of tests that are not authorized or registered there. If you are considering bringing a U.S.-authorized test with you for use outside of the United States, contact authorities at your destination for information before you travel.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Well, I may be screwed after all.

Those tests you can get at drugstores or supermarkets are acceptable, but I'd have to do a fucking telehealth call while I'm testing myself! The hell with it.

Looks like I'll just have to wait till the US drops the testing requirement, like Canada apparently just did. If the tests at Shoppers take 48 hours to get results, I can't use them, since tests have to be done no more than a day before my flight home.

Still, though, I keep wondering about all those people who already ARE coming into the US from Canada. What the are THEY doing?

Edit: Things may be looking up. Pearson airport apparently has on-site testing! Linky Looks like antigen tests come back in 30-60 minutes. Hope is not lost...

Although...maybe it would just be easier and safer if I waited until the US drops the testing requirement. What if I test positive before I come home? What the hell would I do then? I don't know anyone in Canada, there's nobody I can stay with. Maybe it's just too risky...

 

[Oddish]

My choir just did its first public performance in over two years, and because we were singing (a super-spreading activity) we had to wear masks. And while it was nice to be able to sing at all, singing while wearing the masks they provided was really tough. There's this thing called oxygen you use when you sing...

 

[Worf factor9]

The 21 year drinking age is frickin' stupid anyway. They should have bumped it down to 18 years ago.

Back when I was a "pup" my state and locality allowed the sale of 3.2% of alcohol "piss water" beer to 18 year olds.

My county allowed the sale of beer at the time but not "hard" liquor.

Being a resourceful lad, that Boy Scout training helped

, I knew the places where one could acquire "The Real McCoy", 6% bier, pre turning 21.

Now everything is 21, but one can be guaranteed that the "black market"/boot leggers is out there, with no shortage of thirsty buyers.

What is 3.2 Beer? Everything You Need to Know!

 

[Worf factor9]

My choir just did its first public performance in over two years, and because we were singing (a super-spreading activity) we had to wear masks. And while it was nice to be able to sing at all, singing while wearing the masks they provided was really tough. There's this thing called oxygen you use when you sing...

Poor Poor Pitiful Me

 

[rhubarbodendron]

And while it was nice to be able to sing at all, singing while wearing the masks they provided was really tough.

That cloud has a huge silver lining, though: singing with the mask on improves your breathing technique and strengthens your lungs and the diaphragm. There are singers who pay lots of money to tutors to get this training - you get it for free.
Also, it's a very good method to practize a clear pronounciation. That's something I miss in many choires (and even in some famous soloists). At my school we had a famous girls choir and we were drilled to pronounce precisely so that the audience could understand every syllable of the text. That stuck somehow and 45 years later I still sing that way

 

[Oddish]

SIZE=6] Poor Poor Pitiful Me[/SIZE]

I thought that was the point of this topic. Yes, we discuss the wider issues of life, such as gun violence and inconsiderate shoppers. But we also mention our own personal frustrations.

 

[Worf factor9]

But we also mention our own personal frustrations.

In the whole wide-world of of petty grievances, in the "face" of far larger problems you are welcome to your own, such as the impediment of facemasks.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Poor Poor Pitiful Me

I prefer Terri Clark's version.

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[Worf factor9]

I prefer Terri Clark's version.

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What about the dude that wrote it? R.I.P. Warren.

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[Avro Arrow]

I thought that was the point of this topic. Yes, we discuss the wider issues of life, such as gun violence and inconsiderate shoppers. But we also mention our own personal frustrations.

Indeed. The majority of the thread is probably personal frustrations. There was nothing wrong with your post.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I was good about masking and distancing up until a few months after getting fully vaccinated. During that summer when it seemed like we were right on the verge of conquering it, then when the next big wave happened and didn't hit the liberal parts of the country that were still taking precautions and getting vaccinated any less strongly than the conservative parts it got a little harder to feel like we were actually accomplishing anything with the precautions but maybe kicking the can down the road until the next variant.

I'll mask and such when I'm around other people who are masking and in places where I'm going to be around high risk people. But for myself, and other people who have chosen to take the risk of exposing themselves, I'd rather risk getting sick for a few days than let the virus dictate my life for the next decade.

 

[Oddish]

This. Sooner or later, we either have to either return to normal, or admit to ourselves that we never will.

 

[Non Sync]

@Avro Arrow, I'm planning on (finally!) returning to Canada for a vacation next year. I'll probably still have to get tested for covid before I come home. Are tests still hard to come by up there? I had heard that they were almost impossible to find. Is that still the case?

Actually it would be a lot easier if your airports offered covid testing, then I could just get one right there before going through border preclearance! Hey, a man can dream.

How would you like to get tested at the airport and test positive?

 

[Aragorn]

I guess I should be thankful no one I know on Facebook is posting white Christian nationalist anti-science, anti-medicine, pro-theocracy memes 50 times per week, but I did have to roll my eyes that my MAGA friend likes to post stuff from the Epoch Times and Prager U while saying you can't trust the media at the same time.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I'll mask and such when I'm around other people who are masking and in places where I'm going to be around high risk people.

Serious question, though: how do you know if strangers around you are high risk or not?

But for myself, and other people who have chosen to take the risk of exposing themselves, I'd rather risk getting sick for a few days than let the virus dictate my life for the next decade.

I think I probably mentioned in an earlier post somewhere that I hate being sick, so if I can take precautions to prevent getting sick for a few days, then I certainly will. But bigger picture, it's not really even the "few days" that worries me, it's the possibility of getting long COVID or some other complication, and possibly having issues anywhere from a few months to the rest of my life. Now they're saying that if you do get infected, being vaccinated barely reduces your risk of long COVID at all. So wearing a mask to reduce my risk of potential lifelong complications? Easy decision for me.

Nobody has said we can't wear masks, and the regulations requiring masking have been removed in most cases, so both groups should be able to choose to wear them or not as they see fit, based on their own personal risk assessment. So as long as people still wear them in the places they are legally required to, and neither camp harasses the other about their choices, then hopefully everyone can co-exist and things will work out the best for everyone.

Just don't be offended if I give you a wide berth if you're maskless and coughing. Although, to be fair, I would have done so pre-pandemic, too.

Sooner or later, we either have to either return to normal, or admit to ourselves that we never will.

Funny you should phrase it like that. I tend to think that any large event that upends our society like this will have lasting consequences, and I do think that in some ways, we will never return to the way it was before, both societally, and for some people, personally. I don't really have a problem "admitting" it to myself, either.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

I thought that was the point of this topic. Yes, we discuss the wider issues of life, such as gun violence and inconsiderate shoppers. But we also mention our own personal frustrations.

That was indeed the initial purpose of this thread when I started it. It's basically a venting thread.

As for the corona-induced changes: Over here, we still have infection and hospitalisation rates that make your hair rise. Nevertheless, all security measures have been cancelled last week. Only in hospitals and public transport masks are required. And the instant these rules were implemented, people threw away their masks and started acting as if nothing ever had happened. Result: rising infection rates. - Let's face it: your average Trekkie or Trekker is a bit smarter than most and knows that an invisible risk doesn't mean no risk at all. But the average non-Trekkie appears to resemble the proverbial ostrich: "if I can't see it, the danger doesn't exist". Utterly frustrating

And while masks in public aren't required anymore: I still wear it as do about 5% in my town, mostly elderly people. Actually, I rather enjoyed it in winter: nicely warm and I didn't catch a single cold in the last 2.5 years. People who claim they can't breathe with a mask must wear it in some wrong way, I think. I was born prematurely and my lungs never finished their development, so that I have about half the lung capacity that'd be normal. Yet I work in the mask for up to 14 hours a day. No prob at all, not even during a 45 min stress ECG. Can't for the life of me understand the whiners.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Serious question, though: how do you know if strangers around you are high risk or not?



I think I probably mentioned in an earlier post somewhere that I hate being sick, so if I can take precautions to prevent getting sick for a few days, then I certainly will. But bigger picture, it's not really even the "few days" that worries me, it's the possibility of getting long COVID or some other complication, and possibly having issues anywhere from a few months to the rest of my life. Now they're saying that if you do get infected, being vaccinated barely reduces your risk of long COVID at all. So wearing a mask to reduce my risk of potential lifelong complications? Easy decision for me.

Nobody has said we can't wear masks, and the regulations requiring masking have been removed in most cases, so both groups should be able to choose to wear them or not as they see fit, based on their own personal risk assessment. So as long as people still wear them in the places they are legally required to, and neither camp harasses the other about their choices, then hopefully everyone can co-exist and things will work out the best for everyone.

Just don't be offended if I give you a wide berth if you're maskless and coughing. Although, to be fair, I would have done so pre-pandemic, too.

.

If I'm coughing, I certainly won't be maskless and probably not out of the house. Or if my Oura ring tells me I had an elevated temperature overnight.

I don't know if the strangers are high risk, but if they consider themselves high risk they're probably masking. For me it's all about respecting other people's individual risk tolerance which they show you by their behavior.

 

[Oddish]

But the average non-Trekkie appears to resemble the proverbial ostrich: "if I can't see it, the danger doesn't exist". Utterly frustrating

Funny how that comparison still exists, when ostriches don't even do the "head in the sand" thing. They rely on natural camouflage, racehorse speed, and kicks powerful enough to kill a lion.

People who claim they can't breathe with a mask must wear it in some wrong way, I think. I was born prematurely and my lungs never finished their development, so that I have about half the lung capacity that'd be normal. Yet I work in the mask for up to 14 hours a day. No prob at all, not even during a 45 min stress ECG. Can't for the life of me understand the whiners.

I can talk and even sing fine in a regular mask. The one I was talking about was just more restrictive than most.

 

[Timewalker]

That was indeed the initial purpose of this thread when I started it. It's basically a venting thread.

As for the corona-induced changes: Over here, we still have infection and hospitalisation rates that make your hair rise. Nevertheless, all security measures have been cancelled last week. Only in hospitals and public transport masks are required. And the instant these rules were implemented, people threw away their masks and started acting as if nothing ever had happened. Result: rising infection rates. - Let's face it: your average Trekkie or Trekker is a bit smarter than most and knows that an invisible risk doesn't mean no risk at all. But the average non-Trekkie appears to resemble the proverbial ostrich: "if I can't see it, the danger doesn't exist". Utterly frustrating

And while masks in public aren't required anymore: I still wear it as do about 5% in my town, mostly elderly people. Actually, I rather enjoyed it in winter: nicely warm and I didn't catch a single cold in the last 2.5 years. People who claim they can't breathe with a mask must wear it in some wrong way, I think. I was born prematurely and my lungs never finished their development, so that I have about half the lung capacity that'd be normal. Yet I work in the mask for up to 14 hours a day. No prob at all, not even during a 45 min stress ECG. Can't for the life of me understand the whiners.

As one of the people who finds masks incredibly uncomfortable, thank you for your condescension.