This is an interesting idea. I think it would be better to reduce it to say $100K and spread it out over 50 weeks to try to get people who are hesitant to take the vaccine. https://twitter.com/GovMikeDeWine/status/1392597174014332929
I agree with you, but that's still an awesome idea. I'm sure it would save massively on healthcare costs too. I'd make it tax free as well.
so my CT scan just came back clear, which basically means now that everything is okay in my body or at least trending that direction after like a half dozen complete blood workups (again, having an awesome doctor is amazing). This means that shit went wrong, we don't know where other than my liver, but at least I won't die. Last week when I saw the doctor I was told it would be roughly a year for a complete recovery, which I'm okay with because I personally know a lot of people who have it a lot worse -- including a co-worker who's entire family is in India -- so I consider myself very lucky. I should get to a slowing down point in a week or so at work, which is then a good window for me to get the fauci ouchy. It'll suck worse because I already have the antibodies, but there's a chance that it could also alleviate my long covid. I'm not banking on that chance, but it at least it won't make it worse and will load me up for a while.
Glad to hear you're trending in the right direction. I have long covid and it kept me out of work for almost four months. When I got my second covid shot it brought back all my worst symptoms for 3 or 4 days so be prepared for that. I've been slowly getting better but I honestly haven't noticed and recovery speedup since getting vaccinated.
I’ve been very fortunate to where work has allowed me to go as I see fit — if I’m able to work one day, great, if I’m not feeling up to it and need to recover, take time — but I’d rather be working than not and they know I’ll push myself. We had one lady need 5 months of on and off. I’m at about 3.5 months, and from the sounds of it, it’ll still be a while until I’m back to where I feel like I should be. Gonna try going back to the gym soon and pushing myself a bit more strategically to see how that does. what worries me the most are those who didn’t have symptoms originally or didn’t know they had it, who could experience something later and not be prepared. At least I know what it was like and I’m mentally prepared. There’s a lot of people out there who think they’re in the clear, and they aren’t necessarily. I think the mental health impact of people dealing with this long term and unexpectedly is going to be massive.
I've honestly been struggling mentally with it myself. It's hard to stay positive when I have no idea how I'll feel on any given day. I'm also very worried about contracting a variant of covid and getting even more fucked up. I'm well enough that I've been working for about two months straight and lucky enough to have found a job where my physical limitations aren't an issue, so at least there is that.
the way I explain it is like how the human mind has trouble grasping really large numbers — say someone is a millionaire, or a billionaire — we think in terms of what they can buy, but it’s hard to grasp how much money that truly is. for people recovering from this, it’s hard to grasp how truly long that recovery is. They hear a large number like a year, or “maybe never” and think that they’ll continue feeling like shit that entire time, or that they’ll never reach a point where it becomes just background noise. That they won’t be able to deal with it. I truly understand how people kill themselves over this. Fortunately, I have the perspective of my brain surgery recovery being about a year, and even 13 years later im still not mentally or physically what I was before. So I can grasp that mentally, I understand it, and understand that while it sucks, it isn’t the end of the world. A lot of people, for better or worse, don’t have that experience though. And it’s really, truly gonna suck mentally trying to wrap your head around it.
I'd be lying if I said that offing myself never entered my mind. If I hadn't found the great job I'm in now I know my mental state would be so much worse. Life was shitty before covid though.
whats sad is the truly crazy side effects. Some people get horrible tinnitus from covid. I’m grateful I didn’t. Can you imagine living with it for an indeterminate length of time? A local restaurant chain owner ate a bullet over it. Steroids only do so much. like I said, I’ve been through it with the brain surgery recovery so I completely understand. Depression, ptsd, everything and the kitchen sink. If you or anyone ever needs anything or just someone to talk to, please reach out. It sucks, I get it. What’s helpful for me is, sometimes I do push myself a bit too much and go on a run or workout a bit extra to enjoy that, even knowing I’ll pay for it later, just to have that good moment. Your body has a way of smoothing over the bad stuff in time and remembering the good stuff, so it’s helpful to create those high points in your recovery.
And here in Ontario, they've extended the FULL lockdown to June 2nd. Meaning you can't leave your house except to grocery shop, and when you DO grocery shop don't think you can buy things like pens or t-shirts. Those aren't necessities! Which I would maybe tolerate, except not one single Canadian politician is acknowledging that being vaccinated fixes this. The rhetoric is, "well, being vaccinated doesn't mean you can't spread it, so you still have to maintain distance and wear masks and do NOT fraternize or get your hair cut or any nonsense like that." I find it deeply alarming that the federal government isn't espousing that vaccinated people can return to normal. The tinfoil-hat-wearer in me thinks that they're going to be SUPER reluctant to relinquish the vice-grip control they have. But then again, my puppy ate my $500 Bose headphones yesterday and I can't even buy new ones unless I overpay online, so I'm salty.
Since they don't benefit from the control I don't think that they are interested in keeping it. And we need to get to way more then 51% having had their first dose before telling people that it is okay to start giving the anti-maskers cover. And I'm really not comfortable giving people incentives to ask people if they can provide proof of vaccination for everyday activities.
that was my first thought. I had someone ask me “hypothetically” how easy it was to forge a vaccine card and I said “about as easy as a birth certificate.” That shut them up. My thinking is there’s some overlap in the mentalitiy