How has the Pandemic affected you as a cancer patient/survivor

I realize that the odds of covid being eliminated and having vaccination rates worldwide high enough to stop it are both unlikely. I do hope that a variant comes along (maybe omicron) that dominates delta but is no more dangerous that the flu, so we can actually live with it.

But, I’m curious, if it becomes no more dangerous than the flu, what’s happens next? Will mandates be dropped, will restrictions be lifted or will all the precautions we’ve gotten used to remain, just in case? What’s the future you all envision?

I want to address the "feel sick, stay home" comment. While this is the best practice, many companies, with hospitals included, penalize employees who call out sick. They earn sick days but when they try to use them can face undue pressure about using them especially if they use more than 3 in a row which then requires a physician note. Have you ever tried to get an appointment with your PCP for an acute illness? Most are booked months out and health insurance doesn't always cover a visit to a walk-in clinic. The nurses on the floor where I took my students for clinical experience were always griping about how they had time but were penalized for using it. The real kicker was that it had an expiration date so if they did not use their "sick" time they lost it by year's end. Vacation time was rolled over but not sick time and sick time was not accrued at the same rate so they never had much to begin with. Have surgery and need more time? You had to sign up for FMLA and hope it was granted.

As a college professor, I had sick time, which if used was deducted from accrued time. So yes, I was paid for the time but I was then told I would have to make up the time missed which was the real challenge. We were not permitted to extend class time unless 100% of the students agreed, getting a room to hold the make-up class was a challenge and if we posted online there was no way to monitor if the students actually used it. I can honestly say that I would not work if ill but can't say the same applied to my colleagues. I figured I needed to set an example for my students and as a healthcare worker. Sick students was another issue but most were good about finding someone to take notes for them if need be.

So again an example of the ideal. Take time off if you are sick but hard to do if your employer is going to penalize you or if you are not paid for "sick time".

Betrayal - The rest of your post describes the existing culture that needs to change. Unlikely, but a good goal. People should be able to take sick time without punishment. They should have sick leave. I think this issue is one of the reasons some people are unvaccinated.

Serenity, regarding seniors and chin masks, for whatever reason, I have noticed the seniors in my area have largely checked out. I know some of my friends parents (I am a younger gen x) have been dining indoor, going to shows, you know, basically have returned to the almost pre covid, as soon as they got vaccinated initially. They also haven't been keeping up with covid news. I don't know how many seniors locally have gotten their boosters, but as of now 45%of seniors had their boosters in the whole country. The initial booster guideline was so confusing that a lot of seniors didn't know they were eligible. Now thatthe booster is open to all adults, the appointments are hard to get.

Edit to add, I am not trying to blame the seniors here. I just wish they know how to protect themselves.

No, it never seemed you were for global vaccine equity.

See? It doesn’t mean that.

I agree Alice. All the finger pointing at gen xers or y'ers z'ers or whatever the groups are (can't do the math) feel kind of like "THEM" or "OTHER". A little too much ME ME ME. It's a culture that the anti vaxxers live by. Fuck everyone else.

ShetlandPony, I don't know where you live, but I haven't seen that with JUST older people in my area (fairly large city with many suburbs). We're going to one unmasked gathering next weekend with my husband's siblings and their spouses - and we've all been pretty fanatical about our shots and boosters, so it feels safe. And all of us wear masks anywhere public, when we have to go someplace. The non-maskers I see, like in grocery stores, are ALL ages. The ones I've seen posting pictures at concerts and sporting events are MOSTLY younger.

yes wrenn.

1. I personally don't know of anyone who has been to an unmasked indoor event, other than small family gatherings. Most indoor spaces here require masks, and ALL require proof of vaccination. Around here, people get tested before seeing family if they don't live with them. It's the travellers who may mean well and "try" but don't really understand that the rules are real and they got us through some dark times, that do us all in.

Are free masks widely available? If not, don't be surprised when people who can't afford them don't wear them.

This is a very long article (and perhaps unfortunately behind the NYT's paywall), but it sums up the reasons for vaccine hesitancy among the poor--not just in the U.S. but in "developing nations." It's due to a decades-long erosion of the concept of the common good (replaced by "self-reliance," "self-help" resulting in the "everyone for themself" mentality); mistrust of governments and institutions that have underserved them; and the perception that even though COVID is a real threat, they have other and more harmful things (e.g., crime, poverty, inadequate housing, hunger, religious & political persecution) facing them daily, which they prioritize over the possibility of dying of COVID (as well as measles or even polio).

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/03/opinion/vaccine...

The most accurate predictor of vaccination in the U.S. is education, which in turn is a signifier of social class. The higher the socioeconomic status, the higher the rate of vaccination--to such an extent that there comes a point when the vaccination gap between Democrats & Republicans disappears.

Here in Chicago, masks are handed out free of charge by businesses and medical offices to those who aren't wearing them. Inability to afford masks isn't a factor, but rather not knowing how & where to find them--as well as not wanting to be told what to do.

Never said it was insurmountable--just pointed out why it is so pervasive, even globally. Every nation--not just the wealthy ones--needs to enact policies to foster the collective good. But to do that, those governments themselves also need to defy the selfishness of increasingly nationalist, xenophobic and otherwise right-wing electorates. Good luck with that.

And I reiterate that refusing to give booster shots is NOT one of those desirable policies. The fact that Omicron likely originated in Europe demonstrates that unvaccinated (including willfully so) people, even in wealthy nations, are breeding grounds for variants. Again, if we were to somehow, miraculously, provide enough not just doses but proper storage units, syringes, and personnel to vaccinate 95% of the world, that leaves a "reservoir" (the term used in that article) of 350,000,000 unvaccinated people in whom the virus replicates and mutates. Insisting--as the W.H.O. does--that wealthy nations fall on our swords and sacrifice our seniors and immunocompromised people by discontinuing booster shots--sounds noble, but counterproductive, as it would still spread COVID within and beyond our borders.

On the whole, I admire Canada's universal health care system and wish we had it--but I am appalled by the draconian age restrictions for vaccinations (whether first, second or booster) you cited, which leave so many of its citizens unprotected.

No I think you're really doctrinaire and judgmental.

"I am appalled by the draconian age restrictions for vaccinations (whether first, second or booster) you cited, which leave so many of its citizens unprotected."

Let's not forget that the reason for Canada's draconian age restrictions for the 1st and 2nd doses was because we didn't have enough vaccine supply... because the U.S. mandated that all vaccines produced in the U.S. had to stay in the U.S.. (Read my posts from mid-September in this thread for the facts that explain this.)

For boosters, Canada is actually in pretty good shape, since in accordance with accepted vaccine science, we spaced out our doses by as much as 3 months. This was to get more first doses into more people, given our limited supply. That turned out to be a wise decision since subsequent studies have shown that a longer interval between doses provides better results. In any case, because of that, most Canadians are just at or coming up to 6 months since their second dose - and generally boosters are not considered necessary until 6 months. Vaccine eligibility is therefore being phased in in accordance with this timeline, with most people becoming eligible at or around 6 months. For example, here in Ontario, with the exception of some health-compromised individuals, no one can get a booster until 168 days (just under 6 months) after their second dose, even if they fall into a group that is eligible for a booster. DH and I are both in groups that have been eligible for boosters for some time, but we each just hit 168 days 5 days ago. He gets his booster tomorrow and I get mine on Tuesday.

I've had my booster (draconian Canadian here). Once again a judgment against the Canadian health care system without doing any research.

I guess if you spend generations hearing that you are number one it is hard to let that go no matter how off the mark or how it comes across.