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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Today my husband and I got first doses of the Pfizer vaccine at the FEMA site in Oakland, California. Yay for prioritizing teachers; we are so relived that going back to in-person school doesn't mean we have to worry that we will also risk dying from COVID. Yay for all the FEMA & National Guard employees who are running this operation. Our visit couldn't have been easier. When we pulled into the coliseum parking lot, the attendant checked through the window that we had appointment QR codes and photo IDs. At the next station, we showed our licenses and they confirmed our registration. After we drove through the cone maze, another attendant directed us to pull up to a shot station in the tent. There were two or three tents with several lanes and all the stations in a line vaccinating at once. I hopped in the back seat and we put our windows down. The team quickly went over the questions we'd already responded to online and two of the women gave us both our shots at the same time. The woman who vaccinated me was warm and friendly; after a year of no contact with most of the world, I had to resist the impulse to get out and hug her. The shot was super quick and didn't even hurt. They handed back our identification and gave us our CDC cards, put a "15 minute" card with the time under the front wiper, and we pulled forward to wait 15 minutes before being released. Couldn't have been easier or more efficient, and I'm hoping more of these federal doses can be made available. Our county has experienced interruptions with supply and distribution that haven't impacted this FEMA site. Hoping efforts continue to ramp up so everyone can get vaccinated ASAP!
March 5, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Today is the one year anniversary of my first Pfizer vaccine… and I am finishing day 5 of my covid quarantine. I have lived the last 2 years in fear of getting sick or spreading this virus. I am in healthcare and I am mentally exhausted. Over the past 2 weeks I have had multiple exposures at my work and in my personal life. Last Monday my boyfriend got sick. He tried to isolate but we live in a 700 sqft apartment. By Wednesday night I had an intense headache that I knew was probably Omicron. I called out of work Thursday and scheduled a PCR covid test. It has since been 5 days and still no test results. I am supposed to return to work tomorrow so I spent hours today searching for a home rapid test. Results: positive. In the time it took me to find a test I have fully completed my quarantine period (per updated CDC guidance). My symptoms were as follows: Day 0- intensive headache, sore throat, cough, SOV, SpO2 93-98%, max fever 99.8 F Day 1- Sore throat, cough, short of breath, body aches, chills, fatigue, max fever 101.8 F, SpO2 89-95% Day 2- Sore throat, cough, stuffy nose, sneezing, max fever 99.5 Day 3- Sneezing,stuffy/runny nose, slight cough Day 4- sneezing, congestion, cough Day 5- residual cough I am grateful to be vaccinated x3. I am a young, active, healthy person with no comorbidities and this was a severe illness for me. Covid guidelines aside, I would have called out sick from work. Things I am worried about: I am returning to work too early because I still have slight symptoms, lack of sick leave, long covid, reinfection with future variants.
January 12, 2022