Just got word (via facebook notice LOL) that my grandparents got their first COVID shot today. 
I think about all the shit they’ve lived through (rationing for WW2, many wars, having to leave farms behind, re-learning what they were taught over and over again) and it astounds me.
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My parents got on their county’s wait list for appointments yesterday (they are 72).
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I think we don’t know about this yet either. It sure would be nice if the FDA made it easy to swap out the mRNA sequence in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines without having to go through the full clinical trials again. But since we’ve never had a vaccine system like that where we can just change the sequence so easily, I can see why they would be hesitant. One of those things where theoretically it should be fine, but we don’t have the evidence or precedent that it is.
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I worry about this a lot too - how on earth do we manage this vaccine chaos every single year? If that turns out to be necessary?
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we get better at things when they are predictable and we’ve done them before
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someone who understands risk management and airborne particles explain to me:
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when is something not really “outside” anymore? I’m particularly thinking of dining that has essentially made outdoor tents with walls - how much air exposures + surface area really keeps it below “inside”
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Also…garages. i.e. my parents are going to a notary in a garage rather than into a bank. How much risk management really is that?
Hey, our last massive global infectious airborne pandemic was caused by H1N1, and the flu vaccine is far less effective than what we have on offer right now and needs to be changed for a different strain each year, and we’re still very good at getting it out to people.
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It seems like the biggest factors for the outdoors are UV and air flow, from what I’ve read. So anything that increases those is “more outdoors”, any reduction and it’s “less outdoors”. Like so much else, it’s not a simple binary. Sitting inside, but next to a wide open door is going to be safer than being closed inside a stuffy broom closet with someone, even though both are “inside”.
I know it’s annoying not to have a simple answer, but like everything else it’s degree of risk 
And hard to evaluate precisely. (What if there’s an air inversion but I’m outside? What if the air flow bring particles past you, even when there’s good air flow? Are masks being worn, is anyone symptomatic, is it winter, Etc).
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Ha, we have a shitload of completely enclosed tents here. I believe the rule in Chicago is that 2 sides need to be open for airflow, but people are failing to do that because, well, it is Ass Cold and people might not dine out if it’s too windy.
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Oh good point, legal definition or functional definition?
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And, yeah, I have to believe that over time we will get better about this. And distribution will ramp up, and supply chains will be able to handle the manufacturing, etc.
I’ve seen a lot of things that just say “it depends”.
This is a visualization of some example cases comparing impact with/without masks, ventilation, and shortened exposure time. If you really want to geek out there’s the backing spreadsheet with full methodology info (and big caveats).
I’ve heard that having at least 1 window open, and even more ideally 1 full side of the room (as in a garage, barn, etc) does make a big difference.
I’m not going anywhere near those “outdoor” enclosed tents that some restaurants are doing, but then again I only did outdoor dining once in all of 2020.
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Same. I did indoor dining once, too…in February.
I’m just kinda curious…but it sounds like my inclination of “it depends” was right. It seems like “do your best if you have to do anything” is really the key.
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Thanks for linking to that article, it helped illustrate, for me, the extent of how protective measures do and don’t prevent transmission.
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So, when smoking in restaurants was banned here, restaurants built “outdoor patios” that look to me to be almost entirely enclosed. If anyone on my area cared about such things, I suppose that those would qualify as Outdoor Dining.
But really, either you don’t give a shit and eat inside, or you get takeout and eat at home. I’m not seeing anyone on those “patios” at this point and I’m not seeing any fancy igloos, either.
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On vaccine efficacy:
Of those who received a vaccine in any of the major trials (johnson and johnson, moderna, etc)…none of them died. None were hospitalized for covid. Across ALL of the five major vaccines.
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science is p fuckin cool
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Image downloaded to share with patients
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Even if you figure conservatively for how many of those people were exposed to COVID they’re nice numbers
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OK… I probably know the answer to this already.
A Facebook friend posted that there is a new variant that will infect you after one SECOND of exposure. (If one or the other of you is unmasked.)
I can’t find anything on this, and she won’t provide a source, so, bullshit, right? Has anyone else seen this from a reputable source? If not I will mute her and move on with life. 
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I vote Bullshit. Even if it was true, we couldn’t prove it because of the ethics of study design. Which is why we can’t say what an infectious doses is on any of the ones either.
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