Seems like the medical researchers can not determine if herd immunity is in our future or not:
I can no longer delay making travel plans for July/August. The last thing I want to do is take a flight just to infect my mother on the east coast on her 100th birthday…or my next grandchild in Kansas (due date early July). The only way these trips will work for me is if a boatload of antibody tests are completed nationwide and herd immunity is pretty well confirmed nationwide. I’m approaching this with the assumption that T1D is a serious risk factor for hospitalization even for those with excellent BG control and overall good health, despite the lack of specificity in any of the studies I’ve read so far.
Just wondering how everybody else is approaching the late summer…are you (a) waiting to find out if herd immunity is truly something we can count on? or (b) deciding that a well controlled BG and overall good health will protect you if infected once the nation opens up for summer travel?
This may not be directly related to your post… A friend shared with me that one of the large universities (maybe Boston U?) is considering online courses until January 2021.
We are not waiting to find out about herd immunity. We don’t believe that well-controlled BG and overall good health is enough to protect us, either. We are wanting to make an international trip (that was originally cancelled when countries began closing their borders) but right now it’s almost impossible to find a do-able route. So we are forced to wait. Our plan for flying is to use masks, gloves, and sanitizing wipes/gel. Be careful and smart.
Our plans for July/August are on hold waiting to see what will be. In my mind’s eye I just broke into song …
The Texas Triangle, the Ark in Kentucky, and New Orleans were a few of the high points of our road trip, but nothing compares to your mom’s 100th birthday or the birth of a grandchild, @John58!
In my heart I know the answer and so does my husband; we’re just holding on to hope for as long as we can.
So, here in Canada we’re being told vaccine availability will be one to two years out, and we’re not going back to normal until a vaccine is available.
Taking on personal risk is one thing. The problem with this pandemic is that it goes beyond individual risk. There’s also the risk of unknowingly picking up the virus and passing it on to someone more vulnerable.
It does really suck. My parents are expecting their first grandchild in the summer and were planning on flying down for the birth. Unless there’s some miraculous shift in the course of the pandemic, that’s not happening.
I’m pessimistic about that timeframe. Even if the virus does produce a strong individual immunity, for herd immunity we need about 2/3 of the people to have gotten the virus. Around here, it looks like the virus is still relatively rare. Pretty much nobody I know or even friend-of-a-friend has had it. So unless it turns out that most of us have already had an asymptomatic case, I don’t see herd immunity any time soon.
A friend of mine probably had it in March but was deemed “not sick enough” to warrant a test since tests were so limited. Gotta wonder how many others have had a similar experience…
I would absolutely not expect to do any air travel in July/August. Many events/conferences in that timeframe are already being canceled. Many universities are in the process of deciding about. fall semester, and I suspect announcements about going remote for many will likely come out soon (yes, it was Boston U already announcing that as a likelihood, but pretty much all of the rest are in discussions about it too, as well as discussing possible furloughs/layoffs). I don’t think truly normal travel will likely resume in 2020 and definitely can’t imagine it will be advisable whatsoever for high risk individuals.
I agree people with diabetes should likely be considered high risk, especially with all the new data about cardiovascular conditions being the larger concern than respiratory ones given a likely primary mechanism of damage in COVID-19 being clotting problems. Explains why diabetics are at higher risk for problems, since we are at high risk for vascular problems broadly. Given that, my partner and I are planning to take it slowly as things re-open, especially given that epidemiologists all seem to expect that things re-opening will be followed eventually by another spike in infections and things closing back up again, and repeats of that cycle, until vaccines are developed. Anyone who is particularly vulnerable to bad effects of the virus should not be rushing out in the initial waves of any re-opening steps.
That said, travel booked now may be entirely refundable. You can check on policies, but I think some travel companies desperate for business are doing that when they normally wouldn’t. I just would expect to likely have to refund the tickets if you do buy them.
It all sucks. My brother will not be able to even be in the hospital for the birth of his own child next month, and my sister-in-law will have to have her first baby without any visitors. My parents won’t be able to visit their first grandchild for a long time, and their other grandparents (who live in Paris) probably won’t for even longer. But having living grandparents the baby eventually meets seems way more important than traveling too soon.
So far it seems unanimous that T1D puts us in a risky position if infected. Main reason I threw that out there is every paper I’ve seen mentions “diabetes” but does not distinguish betw T1 or T2, relative BG control, other health issues, etc. My bigger concern still is being infected on a plane and carrying the virus to my mother or new grandson.
Maybe I’ll drive? If the state parks are open for camping across the midwest and Rockies I can probably make it in 6 days, plus a 1-2 day stop in Kansas. Probably would turn into a 3 1/2- 4 week round trip, tough to pack enough groceries for that. Using random bathrooms on a cross country drive does not sound like a good quarantine strategy…Maybe I won’t drive.
honestly, I am making no plans into the summer. Everything is changing so fast. A lot of friends lost money on camps they signed up for that got canceled – I’m assuming anything else can change in the same way at this point.
It does really suck. My parents are expecting their first grandchild in the summer and were planning on flying down for the birth. Unless there’s some miraculous shift in the course of the pandemic, that’s not happening.
Yep! My dad has Alzheimer’s and is declining. We were planning to visit them during Spring Break. Of course that did not happen and now we cannot drive down to visit them because even if we manage to stay isolated completely for 14 days, they cannot because they have regular caregivers come in to assist my mom with his care. And Even if both of us could be isolated for two weeks, our gas tank is not big enough for us to make the entire drive from here to there without stopping anywhere for gas.
I’m scared I might not see him before he dies. Hoping against hope that’s not the case…
Most of what I’ve read seems to say that T1D are not necessarily more likely to get COVID-19, but that DKA danger is high if we do get sick. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/928629
So with that, and epidemiologists tending to agree on a second wave in the fall/winter - I plan to be home and not travelling until there’s an immunization. Hoping my sister postpones her October wedding!
