TOPIC:

A couple of weeks ago, Pat and I went out to dinner with 2 other couples we've known for 50 years. we are all pretty careful socializing with people and tend not to socialize with people we are not "friends" with. 3 days after getting together we get a call from one of the couples to inform us that she got Covid and if it got any worse, she might have to go to the hospital. Hubby was scheduled for surgery to remove some basil cell melanoma from his ear 3 days after we got the call. Sure enough he tested positive for Covid 2 days before surgery so surgery got cancelled. Pat and I are still Covid free thank God.

Our Daughter-in-law's father has been scheduled for a quadruple bypass heart surgery and it's been rescheduled 4 times now in the last 3 months because the ICU is full of Covid patients so there's no room for him to recover.

The next modified Covid vaccine is due to be available in a couple of weeks and Pat and I are holding out for that. Also, RSV has been going through our locale and the vaccine for that will be imminent . and then the annual flu shot. Maybe they can put all 3 in an IV bag and just give us one shot??

Be careful out there. 

I think the Vid is forever. 
Working outage and so far no issues but I'm *very* careful and thankfully get to work in isolated environment.

Always clean hands after every 'touch'. 

Not a germaphobe but not stupid either, especially when Cash is on the line and 'no work no pay'... 

i think attitudes about Covid are changing and that's not helping. Most people that I know believe that Covid will not kill you and most likely, if you do get Covid, you won't end up in the hospital, so yes, it's like a bad cold and you just have to get through it.
My daughter's husband went to a golf tournament and 3 days later had a "really bad cold" He decided to test for Covid 5 days later and tested positive. They had planned to have his entire family over for Thanksgiving so they called everyone to cancel the gathering and everyone said that if they still wanted to hold Thanksgiving, they would still come. Now to me that's the epitome of stupid. They are all over 40 and except for 1 retiree, they are all working people. Darwinism at its best and may the strong survive. Shameful .

I was actually just looking up  some info on how to upgrade my regulator rectifier when this thread caught my eye. I would never disagree with anything technical that you would say Kawboy, Total respect there,  but I felt compelled to throw my 2 penny's worth in on the thread/subject anyway.
I would never suggest to anyone not to get a vaccine, as it's their choice...well some of the time. I won't go there.
As time has gone on I have noticed the people around me who have been boosted a few times seem to catch covid and a few other things, more than those who hadn't been vaccinated. That's just been my observation and of course is not a scientific study..
But after a lot of further research I've read much info from some very eminent scientists and virologists from around the world to confirm and explain why this could be.
Way too complicated to go in to here but I guess like anything in life, research carefully especially before making any health decisions.
Indeed, stay safe folks...
  

I appreciate your thoughts Fineline. My whole purpose posting this topic was to raise the awareness that Covid is on the rise again and messing up the health system with people in the hospital because they got Covid and we are back to postponing medical surgeries because the system can't handle the Covid plus the surgeries. My daughter in law's father has had his quadruple bypass heart surgery postponed 4 times now because they don't have a bed in ICU for him to recover in. It's not right that a person who needs surgery to be able to continue living, be shoved to the back burner because somebody got a disease that could have been avoided be it with vaccines or just face masks and hand sanitizer. If anything, the Covid patient should be sent somewhere else and the scheduled surgery should have been kept. If you get Covid it's not right to go wandering around in public spreading it like it's just a common cold and every man for himself. My wife has been dealing with atrial fibrilation for 2-1/2 years and needs a procedure done called an Ablation and we've been on the list for that long because Covid has taken over the medical system. I'm just at my wits end with the attitudes of people and hope that my warning herre helps those of us in our upper years try to stay in front of this latest Covid outbreak and not end up in the hospital.
Respectfully,
KB

You've put a very interesting conversation on the table, one which many people refuse to even have. Open debate on a delicate subject like this is so rare it seems.
I agree, contrary from what we were initially told, covid is extremely unlikely to kill you unless you have some other serious health condition already. Then even a common cold could do it, or slipping on the bath mat, though thankfully fear of bath mats is still very low at the moment and very hard to vaccinate against.
Washing ones hands and practising basic hygiene / common sense, I believe is all that was ever needed .
The media has been very divisive with the "covid patients taking up beds and delaying treatments/operation etc" angle, social pressure to ensure maximum vaccination? possibly. (The government must truly care about our health, which warms the heart...)
Yet at the same time installing so much fear, that even the slightest sniffle, which before would have been ignored, sends people rushing off to hospital in terror.
Agreed, covid patients should be somewhere else...at home.
The problem with not treating covid patients who should or shouldn't be in hospital because it could be considered self inflicted, opens a dangerous precedence. Many people do catch covid despite their best efforts, it's difficult especially when you have to work in the public domaine. I for one got the sniffles and tested positive but I self isolated and certainly didn't go to hospital.
But it worries me that if a health issue could be refused treatment if they smoke of have smoked, are overweight, haven't exercised enough, driven carelessly or have drunk too much etc which all qualify for being self inflicted. For sure the hospitals would probably be damn near empty but I'm not sure that's a world where I would want to live.
I too have family members who are waiting for serious health treatments and have heard the same thing you have. I really do sympathise with the situation.
There looks to be much more at play here that just covid patients taking up beds. Ongoing health cuts, many health professionals who have been sacked for refusing the injection etc., have all added to the problem. It seems to me that the delays have been created more on a political level but of course the man on the street gets the blame.
I still remember the ques of terrified people outside the hospitals stretching back for miles to get their covid test done. I wonder how many completely healthy people came out of that with the virus. intentional? or just plain old stupidity? I don't know.
My one regret in all that was not buying some shares in pfizer.
What I love about this site and am always amazed at is how you guys use your intellect and incredible technical expertise to question, critique and even improve on what the might of Kawasaki industries and their team of highly trained engineers and experts deemed, finished, the way to go, perfect, can't be improved upon...yet you guys do just that. I think that type of critical thinking should be applied to every aspect of our lives.
We live in crazy times for sure. but keep on keeping on!
Stay safe stay free!