@Ashedryden sure:

• be well rested and less stressed. Really! Immune systems perform better when the organism is well-rested, and worse when under stress conditions. Literally calm your system beforehand with meditation if you can?
• have your vitamins. Results for vitamins D and C vary from "no effect" to "protective" (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9864223/ for example), with clear evidence that low vitamin D can down-modulate immunity. Especially important for PoC in northern climes, folks who don't work outdoors, and similar. Maybe start supplementing vitamin D (through sun exposure or pills) a week+ ahead?
• nasal sprays and mouthwashes. There is evidence for both xylitol and iota-carrageenan giving protection against SARS-CoV-2. A nice review with links to actual research from this past summer: https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/how-to-prevent-long-covid-summer-2024-update/
• UV light disinfection, aka Germicidal Ultraviolet. This is harder to access as most installations are for industry, but if you have time and energy perhaps you can DIY it or find a supplier.
• explicitly say "And if you want to come but are feeling sick, let us know, and we'll drop off a get-better goodie basket and a little gift!" or similar, so folks who are ill have motivation to not come.

You've already said you will ventilate and filter. Add more filters? HEPA is great but Corsi-Rosenthal boxes with MERV-13 filters are also highly effective, relatively inexpensive, and if made with computer fans, very very quiet. They can be totally DIY - there's even a song about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XS-7vgThfQ !!! - , and various sellers have them available as kits or prefabbed, too.

Less likely to be useful:

• vaccinate 2-3 weeks prior to be at peak vax-induced immunity before waning
• PlusLife or RAT testing at the door
• free mask basket at the door. You sound perhaps willing to use an N95 but you indicated your guests wouldn't.

I hope some of those help! None of them will guarantee no infection, but when one must face such situations, the odds can be improved.

@jws @MatWright

"All humoral immunities (infection-acquired, vaccine-acquired and hybrid) waned by 3–6 months. Cellular immunity was more durable but showed signs of waning by 6 months." https://smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/3732

That is from 2024, reviewing "205 studies, of which 70 provided data on the duration of protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection" so it's better than any review I could perform, and its references better than anything I could dredge up.

Back for early Omicron, "relative protection against infection waned from 53.4% a month after vaccination to 16.5% three months after vaccination" https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30884-6

Then it gets more contentious with damage to the immune system. There are several documented common(!) dysregulations. But if they don't manifest clinically (yet) then is it a problem (yet)?

Immunology inherently mostly takes time. But now some problems involving the immune system are more common, and "mounting evidence suggests a higher incidence of adverse consequences, such as disruption of the immune system" https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47176-w

[edit - just juggled links]

@ai6yr @daihard yes exactly - #SwissCheeseModel defenses - stack as many modifiers as possible to every roll of the die, roll as few dice as possible

those of us who have modeled the problem rationally and using data almost all come to the same point as you, or else go full ostrich

preaching to the choir here, I know. I just wish we could help the rest of the world to understand (and de-politicize in many places).

@zephyrleifrenner getting to zero covid would require protection that's currently politically unachievable

this is not about zero covid

this is about risk reduction

seat belts don't stop car deaths, but they stop some, right?

and you're glad that your kids are never offered rides in cars without seat belts, right? Like, the minivan they carpool to soccer practice in, they can't just run around.

preventing some illness is better than preventing none!

@eff maybe consider physical security and wear elastomeric respirators, or N95s at least.

Attendees who leave port 23 open are mocked, compromised, honeypots, or all. Attendees who leave mouth and nose ports open are demonstrating situational unawareness.

And did you notice the other layer of protection?

Yup - look at the size of that doorway to outside! It must be open as wide as a quarter of the width of the apartment.

#SwissCheeseModel keeps projects on schedule!

https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2024/06/27/In-The-Eviction-Vancouver-Plays-Itself/?utm_source=mastodon

@jarich Absolutely!

#Vaccines protect against acute phase death, but do very little to prevent against mild and asymptomatic infections, and eventually, Long COVID.

The only way to reliably avoid #LongCOVID right now is to not get acute #COVID.

Which, outside of a privileged few, means layering #SwissCHeeseModel defenses against a world that's #cosplaying2019, happy to shop, work, and learn while sick with "something."

@kh I hear you about "chemical protections".

But, do you eat sushi?

One of that article's recommended active ingredients (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan) is applied in minuscule amounts, and is a commonly eaten seaweed extract.