Hey Nerds,
Happy almost Valentine’s Day!
You know what I really want? The vaccine.
I placed myself on the Tarrant County list back on January 16. In Texas, we’re to group 1-B, which includes:
-People 65 years of age or older
-People 16 years of age and older with at least one chronic medical condition that puts them at increased risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19, such as but not limited to:
- Cancer
- Chronic kidney disease
- COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies
- Solid organ transplantation
- Obesity and severe obesity (body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher)
- Pregnancy
- Sickle cell disease
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus
What’s interesting is the “not limited to” means that there are many other conditions that qualify, such hypertension, dementia, and ASTHMA. I’m not quite sure why they chose not to mention asthma on the Texas Department of State Health Services website or any news story that communicated the qualifying conditions. Maybe they thought too many people would put their name on the list? I definitely didn’t until a friend who is in the medical profession asked if I was on the list. I had no idea it qualified me until she sent over the actual site to register and there they list asthma as a qualifying condition.
As of today, I’m pushing almost a month on the list waiting. The confirmation email stated that it was taking them 3-4 weeks to schedule appointments, so I’m holding out hope that I’ll hear from someone soon.
Recently I had a truly bad experience at a Firestone Complete Auto Care location. It took three hours to change my oil and that entire time I was left in their waiting area while they did nothing about a customer who came in maskless. In fact, their manager proceeded to remove his mask to chat with the man. This emboldened another customer sitting in the waiting area to just go ahead and take his mask off while seated. Add in the two different techs who drove my car sans masks and it was an all around infuriating experience. (I definitely contacted Firestone corporate and they reached out via Instagram. They have a corporate mandate that all employees must wear masks, including the techs working in the bays. Plus good ol’ Tarrant County wants you to wear ’em too.)
Since then, I’ve monitored my temperature and symptoms daily. My lungs recently started feeling tight and achy and one day my temperature was 99.1. So of course, I was concerned I might have “caught the ‘vid.” After spending nearly a year stuck at home, taking precautions, not visiting family, I was about to set the world on fire if that Firestone gave me Covid. Thankfully, we’re at the 14 day mark. My temp never rose above 99.1 and I haven’t experienced any of the other symptoms (fatigue, muscle aches, loss of taste or smell, etc.). Praise be!
Fun Fact: Tarrant County has now encourages all residents to register for the vaccine.
The thought is even if you’re not eligible now, they’ll have the ability to get the vaccine distribute more efficiently once they can distribute to more groups. Plus it also helps them plan how many doses they will need. If you live in Tarrant County, and haven’t gotten on the list, you can do so here. They also recently added the function to check on the status of your registration, so you’re not sitting around wondering like me. We went ahead and registered my super healthy Nerd Partner 4 Life. He won’t qualify for awhile, but better to have him on the list now!
If you are on the fence about getting the vaccine, I urge you to do your own research from reputable sources. Take a look at the CDC and their Vaccine Information and Safety page. Remember that serious reactions are VERY rare. For example, the CDC has reported 21 cases of anaphylaxis after administration of a reported 1,893,360 first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. That’s 0.001% of those reported doses. And minor reactions are actually a GOOD thing. While your arm may be sore at the injection site from the shot, the pain is also a sign that your immune system is making antibodies in response to the viruses in the vaccine. It means the vaccine is working!
So if you qualify, register to get your vaccine! If your city/county/state/local hospital/fire department/pharmacy will let you register, jump on that list. The more people we get vaccinated, the sooner we can get to a new normal that looks a whole lot more like our old normal.
Though #realtalk, I kind of love wearing a mask.
Just me? Cool.
Cheers,
Head Nerd