My neighbor's only risk factor was that he was in his 70s. He was still working and would play 18 holes of golf every week, sometimes with my SO. He'd muse often that no way was the government or social pressure going to make him vaccinate. Look how many people got it even with the shots.
And then he went into the hospital. Pneumonia, ventilators and as of yesterday morning, he died. Just like that.
His wife is a bit older and has always been frail with genetic conditions. She's now in a walker around her house and utilizes a wheelchair beyond that. No kids. He was her only caregiver, and now he's gone. Just like that.
The original and ultimate point of the vaccines is cutting down on hospitalizations and deaths, not whether one will get it or not. A vaccinated and boostered person cuts their risk of death by 50 times that of an unvaccinated person.
We have shifted from a stance of pressuring people to get vaxed to now not really worrying about what our new mask-free existence, relaxed social distancing, etc. has on the health of the unvaxed. With a country approaching 98 percent 12+ vaccination, highly likely you'd catch it from a vaxed person. Most times nothing really bad will happen but it's still 50 times more likely that it will. And then your own life is gone. Just like that.
And BTW it is not unheard of for people in their 70's to just drop dead. Even when they live active lifestyles.
Our other chickens are a Easter Egger (other one killed), a Buff Orphington (sister killed too), a RIR, a Marans (her sister was killed too) and a mutt with feathered feet (not a marans). It's nice frankly seeing the nephew kinda hint that he'd like his kid to interact with our chickens sometime with the kid vigorously nodding.
Last week, my 9 y.o. Easter Egger laid a green egg after almost 2 years of not laying. I was shocked. That's probably her one and only egg this year. We thought she was dying when she refused to leave the coop for almost 2 days.
His immediate neighbors including myself are all in the shock phase of grieving, really. We've all lost people but usually there was some heart procedure, or a cancer fight, or in some cases a dementia diagnosis. We're probably attuned to "the long goodbye" being more typical, which is why a guy with none of this comes as a collective shock.
SO met the family. They seem nice and their 7-yo is apparently already knows about our chickens. The child's parents seem sociable and frankly respectable. I really hope it works out for them.
It could very well be that the neighbor died from COVID. Or he could have died from pneumonia; my mother died from that last month.
Hope everyone stays well.
Quoting from an article, last month: "Attorney Thomas Renz testified under oath before Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, during a roundtable discussion on January 24. Mr. Renz, who is representing military whistleblowers, and citing DMSS data, said heart attacks increased 269% in the military in 2021 alone. Pulmonary embolisms (blood clots) increased 467%, neurological issues increased 1,000%, female infertility increased 471%, etc."
Quoting from the testimonial: "... 71% of new COVID cases are in the fully vaxxed, and 60% of hospitalizations are in the fully vaxxed..."
To read the article and watch the testimony, here's the link. Scroll down toward the end after the story about the unexpected death of a young sheriff.
https://thecovidblog.com/2022/02/16/aubrey-phillips-36-year-old-alameda-county-ca-sheriffs-deputy-dies-unexpectedly-on-duty-after-severe-medical-emergency/
We are all going to have to make our own choices.
No government in the world can force this issue on a populace unwilling; so we will continue to lose a lot of people.
We are overpopulated, so there is that.
I currently have completely relaxed into knowing at 80 I will now be masked in public places, transit, and etc. for the rest of my life; I will vacc and make my own decisions about where I go, and let others worry for themselves.
All the information is there, now. I think that trying to force people to get protected works against getting them protected, forces them into their own corners.
Leave it to each individual and his or her MD is my way from now on.
As a retired RN I know nurses still working (and even one hospital administrator who is a friend); they are all exhausted if rich (lots of overtime). They are losing the ones without any vaccination. They are trying hard for each patient they have, but no longer have patience and/or time for explanations with families. It is sad to see.
Nurses are "bred" for this; much like soldiers, they are at their best in the fight with their buddies by their sides, but closing in on so many years, so many losses, some are now I believe we will begin to see some shortages in medical personnel worse than we are currently seeing.
Hoping for no new variant for a while.
A nephew across the highway and his family are moving in with her so she can stay in the house. I mean, there is a house there so that probably is some of the motive, but for now it is a solution.
Our neighbor mentioned to SO that he thought he might have a mild chest cold across his white picket fence. A few nights later, my other neighbor was kept awake by incessant coughing and hacking from next door. The next day, he went to that neighbor's house and asked for a ride to the hospital.
No one was allowed to visit after that. The hospital only has that rule around Covid.
I can't say how much caregiver stress had to do with his demise, but I didn't observe the masked desperation or isolation I've seen in so many caregivers. This was a social guy who'd ride his bike, ran a doggy daycare in retirement, and organizes neighborhood golf outings.
SO and I are boostered, but in fact did test positive around the same time frame as our neighbor did. We had no symptoms and wouldn't have known had we not tested ahead of a family gathering his immunocompromised mom wanted.
Had this neighbor and us been socializing in one of our houses or at a restaurant, I would be consumed with asking myself what if it were me who gave it to him? Ninety-eight of every 100 adults here are vaccinated--so most likely a vaccinated person gave it to him.
This is why it's hard to hang out with unvaccinated friends.
A bar or casino full of randos is one thing. There's less of a sense of responsibility. But when you know your personal friend is unvaccinated, then you want to take steps to protect them, such as masking, which makes them less likely to be your friend.
That said, I started getting flu shots about 10 years ago, when I started taking care of my mother. I couldn't afford to get sick, and even more, I didn't want to risk giving it to her. I've never had the flu, and I've never had covid either. I'm willing to put up with some inconveniences and restrictions to keep myself and others safe.
Statistics show that a caregiver has a 40% chance of dying before the person they are caring for. Maybe, the stress of it all tore his immune system down.
MJ, I am sure that everyone will willing take a preventive vaccine, if one is ever created.
Your reputable sources are putting a spin on the facts of what is actually going on.
Deaths for India or Africa are poorly documented because testing isn't done with any real frequency, so no one really knows how much the virus has affected the populations. They've reported about half a million deaths, but in reality it's thought that they've had closer to three million. The same goes for their reported numbers of cases -- they're far, far below reality. (All that information is easily found from reputable sources.)
Yes, in the end it's a personal choice. What's unfortunate it the "ain't no one going to tell me what to do" attitude that so many use to defend a choice that can ultimately end in your own death. It makes absolutely no sense. If it only hurt the person with that attitude, I'd have no problem with that Darwinian decision, but so many children are being deprived of parents and grandparents long before their time should be up. I don't believe in the "when it's your time, it's your time" if someone is smart enough not to walk in traffic but not smart enough to take a preventative vaccine.
Sure vaccinated and boostered people die. It's just at in his age range, about 50 times less of them die than the unvaccinated.
Putting it another way: When Omicron came through, the odds of one getting it was between a three of a kind and a flush. The odds of dying if vaccinated were like the difference between a royal flush and four of a kind if unvaccinated.
He and his spouse were each other's whole world. Now she doesn't have him. She would have had a 50x greater chance of being around still had he just gotten the shots.
Just because choices are choices doesn't make them necessarily the same in terms of wisdom or logic.
Yeah the normal has not come back here yet, I still have to flash my vaccine card, and wear a mask in some places. YAY for normal.
Did you know that China isn't using the very genetic agents on their own people that our government is sticking into millions of it's citizens? The knew in December if 2020 that it wasn't effective and the long term results are unknown. So they won't subject their citizens to possible long term issues over an unknown.
Yet, here you are again trying to force your beliefs on people with differing opinions.
I am a believer that it doesn't matter what you do, when your number is up, bye bye!
I believe that people have the right to spin the wheel if they so chose with their life.
I believe that our elected officials have forgotten that they work for the people and that our nation is officially a third world country, thanks to their BS posturing.
I see a world that has millions of unjabbed and it isn't killing nations off. So, if the jab saves so many lives, why isn't Africa decimated? Why isnt India decimated? Just to name a few.
The point is, this guy did everything you said. He was big into vitamins and exercise. Chose to spin the wheel. Lost.
Give it a break already.
You are entitled to your opinion, just like everyone else, regardless of how much you think they aren't.
People die every day and the misinformation on covid deaths is staggering. Over 880k annual deaths from heart disease in the US alone, I don't see you encouraging people to exercise, eat right or anything else, just follow and get jabbed and jabbed and jabbed with a genetic agent that NOBODY knows what the ultimate outcome for that will be.
Many people can't get the jab because of allergies, should they be shamed for not being sheeple and dying because they took a shot so you are right?
Everyone knows what you think about the jab, repeating it doesn't do any good.
He may have had some health issues but we weren't privy to his medical history. However, it has come out that he was unvaccinated. I suppose it was his choice, but apparently he made that choice based on the advice of his wife, a NURSE with almost 40 years' experience.
Three kids, several grandkids left behind. He was only 61.
I don't know how that woman sleeps at night.
Everyone be well. Sorry for your loss, for everyone's loss. 💙
Though some people are lucky or just built differently, I have no underline health issues, eat right, swim everyday and when I got covid I felt like I was going to die. I never felt worse. Roommate smokes, overweight, has a bevy of health issues also got covid same time. Man was fine barely had a cough, he was taking care of me during that time. This was prior to the vaccines.
Freedom of choice is, or was, what the U.S.A. has been built on.
Time is guaranteed to no one.
Then there's my husband: 64, unvaccinated and has not even been sick since 2019. He went on a missions trip to Turkey this past December and had to have PCR tests before traveling there and back, but in Turkey spent a lot of time without a mask and among many unvaccinated people. It's not that he was sick at some point in the past few years and didn't get tested - he has not been sick, period. I got original covid in March 2021, got the Pfizer vaccine in July, then (probably) got Omicron in early December (but didn't bother to get tested because there was no point). My eldest son (age 31, also unvaccinated and a smoker) has been mildly sick but never tested. His own elementary-aged son has had covid.
I think some people have some sort of natural immunity and I think some people have the opposite: an unknown biological Achilles heel when it comes to covid. We are all on a spectrum. Just like some people have a reaction to the vaccine enough that it kills them, but this is exceedingly rare. Nonetheless it has happened.
In May 2020 my MIL in LTC got original covid and was at death's door. Went on hospice and then had a rapid and full recovery. Her only underlying health condition was being 85. She was overweight, at 185 and 5'6". Nine other people on her floor died during that outbreak.
This morning I was power walking with my friend in the Mall of America (a gigantic mall). She has 2 twin grandsons who were born at 23 weeks and are now 15 months old but have compromised lungs and too young for the vaccine. My friend still has to follow rigid protection protocols if she wants to babysit her grandsons. It is very hard on her and her husband (because they still mostly socially isolate and don't dine out) and she has no idea when she can drive in a car with another person or stop wearing 2 masks while mall walking 6 feet away from me. Even if everyone else was following her protocol, she would still be doing it, too, because she wouldn't want to risk the lives of her grandsons, or not ever see them in person. So the wisest philosophy is to let everyone live as they choose and if you're someone at risk then you have to do what you must to protect yourself.
No one should be telling anyone else how to manage their health. Your neighbor had every right to reject the vaccine. Freedom isn't free because there are consequences to the choices we make. Everyone needs to calculate their own risks and live accordingly.