Coronavirus and Skiing

[MarzNC]

I don't understand this statement. Can you explain?

mm

The southeast had a wave of detected cases from July-Sept 2021, especially in counties with low vax rates. There were undoubtedly plenty of undetected cases as well. If you look at the sharp decrease hospitalizations in the last month or two in NC, TN, WV, it's pretty clear there are areas where "herd immunity" has been reached. Meaning the chance of exposure when out and about is much less than last winter.

The daytime highs don't get much below 30 in the southeast during ski season. That makes it much easier for people to not spend much time indoors for any length of time beyond what's necessary for a restroom.

I've watched the trends in the NC mountain counties pretty closely. Unlike VT and CO, the county level trends were heading down in the first half of Nov, not up. I've also been in and around Asheville in the last couple months. So I know how both tourists and locals are acting when it comes to masking and/or distancing indoors. Made for an interesting comparison to what I experienced in PA and central NY in October when I drove north for the Plattekill Work Day. Note that I mostly only go indoors in supermarkets or gas station shops. However, I also eat in relatively empty restaurants.

Does that help?

 

[MarzNC]

Doubt anyone here really cares, except perhaps @jamesdeluxe, but here's what's happening in France for skiing.

November 22, 2021

French Ski Areas Must Require Masks, No Vax Mandate (Yet)

SAM Magazine—Porte-de-Savoie, France, Nov. 22, 2021—The French government issued a new national protocol requiring masks in lifts lines and on chairlifts a

www.saminfo.com

"
The French government issued a new national protocol requiring masks in lifts lines and on chairlifts at the country’s 250 ski areas this winter. The protocol does not require guests to provide immunization records for access, but the French Ski Areas Association (Domaines Skiables De France) has said that provision is subject to change if national infection rates climb.

It will be compulsory for guests ages 11 and up to wear a surgical mask or a category 1 fabric mask (AFNOR SPEC S76-001 certification) on chairs and in lift lines. Only neck gaiters that are filtering and certified will be allowed as an alternative to masks.

Masks are also recommended for children age 6-11. Guests loading surface lifts one at a time will be exempt from mandatory masking. Although physical distancing is required in all lift lines, and protective measures must be applied throughout the ski area.
. . ."

 

[Harvey]

Note that some of the people who are unvaccinated and think they had COVID-19 didn't bother to get tested.

I didn't get tested. When you are knocked out, in bed unable to move for 10 days with covid-like symptoms, right during the all time peak of cases, getting tested isn't on your list. I hadn't missed a day of work for sickness for decades before that. I'd be absolutely stunned if I didn't have it. To be fair my oxygen never dropped, so maybe I had something exactly like it, but not it.

I wouldn't say I didn't bother. I did what was best for me, and honestly how many would I have exposed if I went for a test? Someone would have to drive me, and admit me and test me.

I came back out of quarantine at the recommended time, and went skiing.

 

[MarzNC]

I didn't get tested. When you are knocked out, in bed unable to move for 10 days with covid like symptoms, right during the all time peak of cases, getting tested isn't on your list. I hadn't missed a day of work for sickness for decades before that. I'd be absolutely stunned if I didn't have it. To be fair my oxygen never dropped, so maybe I had something exactly like it, but not it.

I wouldn't say I didn't bother. I did what was best for me, and honestly how many would I have exposed if I went for a test? Someone would have to drive me, and admit me and test me.

I came back out of quarantine at the recommended time, and went skiing.

There was certainly little need for you to bother to get tested when you were sick. Access to testing in 2020 was messy for quite a while in most of the country.

The people I'm thinking about are those who were pretty sure they were exposed after Delta arrived in 2021 because they knew someone who tested positive or had serious symptoms, but they themselves didn't have symptoms or very minor symptoms. In some cases they may not even have noticed. Could also apply to children. Delta changed the situation for people who were vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

I've heard of situations of people who "think" they had COVID-19 before September 2021 and that's the reason they see no reason to get vaccinated. These days it's possible confirm by paying for a T-cell test but I don't expect many people who are unwilling to get vaccinated before the 2021-22 ski season.

Natural immunity is known to be effective to prevent someone from another COVID-19 infection. What's unknown is how long that will last and what protection someone who didn't notice symptoms will have in 2022. Note that it doesn't really matter which variant of COVID-19 someone had, especially if they had symptoms.

 

[MarzNC]

For what it's worth, when I go skiing in Taos in Feb I'll be part of a fairly big group. While most of the people on my list got vaccinated as soon as they were eligible, there are a couple people who will not be vaccinated. They are people I've done ski trips with before. I know them well enough to not consider them any more of a risk than the people I skied with last season when only my ski buddy who is a family physician was vaccinated before the end of the season.

 

[snoloco]

I had covid last April. It felt like a cold for the most part, but I got tested just to make sure. Then I found out one of my coworkers tested positive. The weird thing was we both got it literally days after our first vaccine doses, and though the initial symptoms were just side effects. I was only sick for a couple days. It's hard to describe the feeling of checking your test result and finding it was positive. It must be a similar feeling to being found guilty in a trial. Then you get a call from the county health department, and are ordered to serve a period of isolation of 10 days. That's a fancy euphemism for what it really is: imprisonment, wait no, it's worse than that, it's solitary confinement. That was way worse than actually getting sick. I don't think public health experts understand how much of a deterrent that is to getting tested in the first place if you only have mild symptoms.

 

[Ripitz]

I had covid last April. It felt like a cold for the most part, but I got tested just to make sure. Then I found out one of my coworkers tested positive. The weird thing was we both got it literally days after our first vaccine doses, and though the initial symptoms were just side effects. I was only sick for a couple days. It's hard to describe the feeling of checking your test result and finding it was positive. It must be a similar feeling to being found guilty in a trial. Then you get a call from the county health department, and are ordered to serve a period of isolation of 10 days. That's a fancy euphemism for what it really is: imprisonment, wait no, it's worse than that, it's solitary confinement. That was way worse than actually getting sick. I don't think public health experts understand how much of a deterrent that is to getting tested in the first place if you only have mild symptoms.

I’m in “confinement” right now. It’s not so bad. There are much worse things in life to endure. If it keeps others safe I’m happy to do it.

 

[Johnny V.]

Going out night trail riding now

I did that with a bunch of buddies for a few years. Haven't been in a while though.

 

[Andy_ROC]

I’m in “confinement” right now. It’s not so bad. There are much worse things in life to endure. If it keeps others safe I’m happy to do it.

At least you get unlimited Netflix, YouTube etc and most importantly the banter on NY ski blog!

 

[raisingarizona]

A lot of young adults today could use a healthy dose of real life suffering.