it's pretty hilarious how death rates are up 30% and everyone's sick and wondering "what that weird stomach bug is"

It can't be perceived as covid because that might make line go down.

I'm not joking there. That's why.

Just seasonal. Ignore the excess deaths

"What could it beeee! Also why are you still masking?"

Was supposed to video chat with my friend the other day.

he hits me up and goes "sorry man I can't talk today. I'm sick and can't get out of bed."

With a cold? A cold has so knocked you on your ass that you haven't been able to get out of bed for days? Of course he won't actually test so to him he just has a cold.

FYI this seasons Flu and COVID boosters are now available. get vaxxed!

My sense of smell has been weaker for a few years now.

I don't think it's covid in my case though... Probably the vinyl and shit I breathed in during my foray into manufacturing. I probably have 10x the microplastics in my body than most people...

It did fuck up my sister's sniffer though.

Source so I can dunk on libs?

I’ve been diligently masking and handwashing and I feel a tingle in my throat like there’s an illness coming on :/. I’ve seen exactly two masked people in the entirety of the last year.

Never understood that. Since covid hit I have tested obsessively every time I get a stomach ache, a cough, clogged sinuses, anything that's even one covid symptom. Never had it (all tests returned negative) and am an N95 enjoyer, and I'm still worried as fuck.

Ok, seriously, what should be the approach on a societal level? The whole point of masks and isolation was to prevent spreading not in general for the sake of preventing it, but as a way to "flatten the curve" as a way to make people get vaccinated hopefully before catching it for the first time, and to prevent the overload and collapse of the sanitary system.

I'm asking from ignorance because I'm not an epidemiologist, whether it makes sense for individuals to wear masks to slow the spread during normal periods of healthcare not collapsing, and in a scenario where already the overwhelming majority of the population has been exposed to the virus and to vaccines; or whether it's best to let people get immunity through normal exposure to the virus as we've been doing with basically every other seasonal virus in existence (with vaccinations available for at-risk individuals)

Basically going to have a double to triple flu season every year now for the foreseeable future ...

I was just in a stuffy auditorium with 1000 other students for an hour (I did not know in advance that I was going to be there), so I'm pretty sure I'll get sick.

I need to start bringing a mask in my book bag, even if nobody else on campus wears one. I managed to make it all these years without the rona (until now?)

REAL. I'm still testing negative on the covid tests I am still going through from the last time I got some free ones (and thus I am pretty sure they don't detect the new strain) but I am convinced this is what I have because my entire body is sore, my throat is still raw from vomiting every other hour Tuesday night after bed, and I keep coughing.

Could be west nile

The Gulf War COVID-19 Pandemic Did Not Take Place