Current RNA vaccines protect against worrying coronavirus variants

Re:Current RNA vaccines protect against worrying coronavirus... by sterlind on Tuesday May 11, 2021 @02:11AM (#27114772)

my coworker's parents caught it. they were in their 50s. the mom became severely ill and was hospitalized for weeks. the dad died. my coworker himself got it and was mostly fine.

it's really hard to intuit how wildly variable this disease is when you only have a couple personal data points and distrust/feel detached from the statistics being reported, but it's real.

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Re:Current RNA vaccines protect against worrying coronavirus... by stordoff on Tuesday May 11, 2021 @09:27AM (#27117818)

Going only off personal experience can really skew your perceptions. If I'd've been living away from home at the time, and thus avoided catching it, it would've completely changed the colour of our experiences:

* Mother, 50s - metallic taste for two weeks, loss of appetite, some fatigue * Father, 50s - sore throat for a week * Sister, ~20 / Grandmother, ~80 - both had similar symptoms of fatigue, body aches, sore throat, feeling hot/cold, some change to taste * Grandfather, ~85, multiple pre-existing conditions (COPD, heart failure, prediabetes, history of TIAs) - only reason we knew he had it was due to a positive test

Going off those alone, it seems unpleasant but not too dire. Then you add me in:

* Me, 30 - same symptoms as sister/grandmother for about a week, then ten days in the ICU after my O2 sats dropped to 78 overnight (and remained in the 80s on oxygen). Narrowly avoided ventilation as I responded to CPAP.

Suddenly it seems a lot more serious.

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