The COVID-19 Discussion Thread (OTB)

[Gillianren]

Yeah, I've put off my dentist, in part because I won't take the kids but of course can't ask anyone to babysit right now.

I've been talking to one of the office workers at Simon's new school, and she says they've gotten a lot of last-minute enrollments. Meaning I'm not the only person for whom dealing with school was a low priority, in part in the hopes that school would figure things out by the time I had to deal with it.

[Noclevername]

I feel like I can talk about this now.

We had a Covid scare in my household this week.

My nephew woke up with several symptoms, including shortness of breath. He had no fever, and we thought it might be allergies, but we have several vulnerable persons living together including my elderly mother who has asthma. So we immediately took him to get a Covid-19 test. The results would take "48 to 72 hours", they said. It actually took considerably longer.

This was the day after my niece's birthday party, so we had to warn all of our former party guests about the situation. Stressing all of those families out, too.

For days, my nephew was in isolation and we all wore masks at home. Hand washing and sanitizing everything, already a habit, soon reached frenzied levels. We waited and waited. Finally, my sister grew tired of waiting and called the office back and was mercifully told... by the receptionist, not a medical practitioner... that the test had already come back negative. It was an additional 24 hours after that, when the medical staff finally contacted us to officially give us the same news. We gladly shared the message to party guests, friends and relatives.

It was an extremely fearful and frustrating week, especially for my nephew. But I'm very, very happy it's over and that the situation resolved safely for all of us.

Now we can go back to merely our normal level of paranoia about the pandemic.

[John Mendenhall]

I feel like I can talk about this now.

We had a Covid scare in my household this week.

My nephew woke up with several symptoms, including shortness of breath. He had no fever, and we thought it might be allergies, but we have several vulnerable persons living together including my elderly mother who has asthma. So we immediately took him to get a Covid-19 test. The results would take "48 to 72 hours", they said. It actually took considerably longer.

This was the day after my niece's birthday party, so we had to warn all of our former party guests about the situation. Stressing all of those families out, too.

For days, my nephew was in isolation and we all wore masks at home. Hand washing and sanitizing everything, already a habit, soon reached frenzied levels. We waited and waited. Finally, my sister grew tired of waiting and called the office back and was mercifully told... by the receptionist, not a medical practitioner... that the test had already come back negative. It was an additional 24 hours after that, when the medical staff finally contacted us to officially give us the same news. We gladly shared the message to party guests, friends and relatives.

It was an extremely fearful and frustrating week, especially for my nephew. But I'm very, very happy it's over and that the situation resolved safely for all of us.

Now we can go back to merely our normal level of paranoia about the pandemic.

Glad that it worked out ok. Keep up your cautions!

[grant hutchison]

I wish we could track down and punish the person responsible for inventing "elbow bumping". Really, what's that about?
"OK, so we shouldn't shake hands any more, but let's find another way in which we can have people stand face to face in close proximity."

I'm glad I live in a culture where a nod and a wave is accepted as a standard form of greeting for friends and family.

Grant Hutchison

[Solfe]

The students in one of my classes seem rather well adapted for wearing masks all day long. On Monday, we'll find out how my younger students do. We have two cohorts, so I have two classes. It's interesting. I hope I'm not tapped for online education. That is kind of rough.

[Extravoice]

I was nasal swabbed this morning at a drive-through tent at our nearby hospital. It was unpleasant, but not painful. Results should be available in 48 hours.

Meanwhile, I have to quarantine as much as possible to avoid infection between now and Friday, when I’m scheduled for a colonoscopy.


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[Jens]

I wish we could track down and punish the person responsible for inventing "elbow bumping". Really, what's that about?
"OK, so we shouldn't shake hands any more, but let's find another way in which we can have people stand face to face in close proximity."

I'm glad I live in a culture where a nod and a wave is accepted as a standard form of greeting for friends and family.

Grant Hutchison

I feel the same way. As a person living in East Asia, isn’t a bow enough? People have been doing it for centuries, and it works quite well...

[Noclevername]

Gah. Another sickie in my family. 3 or 4 of the COVID-19 symptoms, but no fever or cough. Probably just a cold but we can't take the chance with so many susceptibles here. Quarantine and test time... again.

[Trebuchet]

i'm tired of wearing a mask to protect others. When I have to go out today I'm going to wear an N-95 to protect ME! And my wife. Maybe it'll help with the smoke in our air, as well.
Perhaps I'll disable the outlet valve, however.

[Extravoice]

i'm tired of wearing a mask to protect others. When I have to go out today I'm going to wear an N-95 to protect ME! And my wife. Maybe it'll help with the smoke in our air, as well.
Perhaps I'll disable the outlet valve, however.

I have an N95 mask that I use when I go grocery shopping or any place particularly worrisome. Otherwise, I wear one of the cloth masks Mrs Extravoice made to CDC recommendations.


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[Torsten]

I feel the same way. As a person living in East Asia, isn’t a bow enough? People have been doing it for centuries, and it works quite well...

I started doing this months ago. It seems such a respectful way to greet someone you've not previously met. Otherwise, as Grant said, a nod and a wave works just fine around here.

In the DIY thread, Trebuchet mentioned being demotivated to "DO" things (and from the context, I took that to mean constructive projects, but correct me if I'm wrong). Similarly, I observed many of my neighbours getting ambitious and doing projects around their houses, while I've been in a bit of a funk whenever I've thought of such projects. Instead, I've taken advantage of whatever good weather we've had and bicycled and hiked more than in previous years, and got away on the motorcycle several times. I did a trip to the Yukon, which was surreal in some ways. There was a small fraction of the traffic I've seen in other years, and submitting to an ID check at an internal border was weird. (The Yukon Territory invited British Columbians to holiday there this summer, due to the relatively low number of COVID-19 cases in BC, though new cases here are frustratingly high again.) I visited a dear friend 700 km away several times and hiked with her group of friends, which lent a sense of normalcy to my life, despite the physical distancing we observed. And I met my granddaughter for the first time after assuring my son that I'd self-isolate for two weeks before doing the trip.

But I don't see any way to do any more of this now and be a responsible citizen. We have too much untraced community spread happening. Sigh, now steeling myself for the winter.

[Trebuchet]

Correct, constructive projects. I've got a whole old garage that needs storage and a better workshop built into it.

My lovely niece visited yesterday. It was strange and frustrating sitting in my own house with a loved one, everyone wearing masks and staying six feet apart.

[Gillianren]

Graham's taking a week of paid vacation in October, and I would love to be able to give myself a day during it. The question is, what could I do?

[Chuck]

I gave away two more masks yesterday and thought I'd buy another ten-pack at the 99¢ Store. I asked the girl at the cash register where they were and she said aisle 4 but she had a box right there that she could sell, so I said I'd take it. I now have 50 of the things. But for $5.99 that's about 12¢ per mask.

[Solfe]

We collect information on our students for their records. Usually this is for behavioral purposes. If someone is prone to illness, if/when they get upset which shows up as a behavior thing. A lot of them can't speak or are not particularly skilled at determining their own feelings or communicating them to others. Our protocol for assessing student behavior starts with "medical", so if we know that someone isn't feeling good it's a relief that we have a pretty solid answer as to what is bugging them. That is horrible for them because no one wants to be sick, but at least we have really simple answer as to "why" something is happening.

I don't mind sick students, it's a time for a little one on one. Perhaps read a favorite story to keep the day light until someone comes to pick them up.

This year, very few students are showing up ill which is relief in one respect, but a horror show in others. We have to reference the COVID symptoms and go through a new protocol of making sure the student stays away from others if we have the tiniest idea that have COVID. So far, we have used that protocol 3 times in 2 weeks. It's kind of scary knowing that under normal conditions (IE like last year) it should be happening a lot more. Apparently, masks, hand washing and social distancing keeps a lot of illnesses at bay. Of course, the new battle is losing 1/6 of your class for 2 weeks because of some other kind of virus or bug. (Or eating enough candy to get sick. Because kids are kids...)

[Noclevername]

Gah. Another sickie in my family. 3 or 4 of the COVID-19 symptoms, but no fever or cough. Probably just a cold but we can't take the chance with so many susceptibles here. Quarantine and test time... again.

It took a week for my niece's test results to come back negative. Other students there got tested after her and went back to school before her. She missed a full week of school because the lab lost her file (among others).

[Extravoice]

My daughter has been placed in home quarantine for two weeks. She is a preschool teacher, and one of her students tested positive.

[Gillianren]

I knew there would be no point in putting Irene in preschool; I wouldn't feel safe sending her to a preschool that was actually effective.

[Chuck]

Whilst bicycling home from work I lent my cell phone to an elderly woman who had a flat tire and needed to call her husband. I thought about what a bad idea that was as I was handing it over.

[Extravoice]

Whilst bicycling home from work I lent my cell phone to an elderly woman who had a flat tire and needed to call her husband. I thought about what a bad idea that was as I was handing it over.

Not a bad idea to help someone, but I’d carefully clean it he phone (and my hands, anything I touched, etc.) when I got home.

ETA: of course, she took some risk using your phone, but was in a pinch.

[Trebuchet]

Next time, I'd suggest having her give you the number, dial it yourself, and then put it on speaker so she can talk from at least a little distance while you hold it.

[grant hutchison]

I carry a little bottle of hand-sanitizer with me all the time now. It's useful in all sorts of unexpected situations, like the one above. I'd have offered the lady some hand santizer before and after she used my phone; if for some reason she didn't want to do that (or I thought she hadn't done it properly) I'd have santized my own hands after I'd stowed the phone away, then dealt with the phone and whatever pocket the phone was stowed in at leisure.
The evidence seems to be that mouth-to-hand-to-object-to-hand-to-mouth transmission is unlikely, so I'd rather hand her my phone than stand near her while she spoke loudly, which is a much more direct route of transmission. But a lot of this stuff is less about relative risk and more about controlling the stuff you can control, and affording other people the courtesy of seeing you do it.

Grant Hutchison

[PetersCreek]

Well, the wife and I survived a fantastic trip to Washington wine country. Only a few wineries and tasting rooms were closed and most of those due to their regular, scheduled hours on the days we were there. All observied the state's protocols as a minimum and many went beyond them. I only saw a few folks who seemed to be obstinate objectors or were just completely insensitive to the breeze on their noses.

The worst part of the trip had to be getting tested upon coming home. Before we could even collect our luggage and two cases of wine, they had us scan a QR code to register online, right there at the airport. This ill-thought-out scheme required us to enter the same information three times in three separate parts of the process because none of them talked to each other. Besides being poorly designed, it was worded so that processes and requirments were unclear...and both of us have medical backgrounds. But we both tested negative. There's an option for followup testing but since I'm working from home, I'm going with the 14-day social distance option.

[Chuck]

Next time, I'd suggest having her give you the number, dial it yourself, and then put it on speaker so she can talk from at least a little distance while you hold it.

We were out in the wind near a busy street. I don't think speaker phone would have worked. But I could have talked to her husband and relayed what they wanted to say. That would have seemed weird, though.

[Trebuchet]

We were out in the wind near a busy street. I don't think speaker phone would have worked. But I could have talked to her husband and relayed what they wanted to say. That would have seemed weird, though.

Better weird than dead.

[grant hutchison]

Using some else's phone is perhaps one of those situations where masks can be counterproductive.
My own phone is sufficiently small that its lower edge is not even level with the corner of my mouth when I make a call--so droplet spray is projecting away from it. But if the person using it was wearing a surgical mask, the lateral jet we know these masks produce would spray straight on to the phone screen. Under those circumstances I'd want to specifically wipe down my phone screen once I got home--but I'd be wanting to wipe down my phone anyway, so no big deal.

Grant Hutchison

[Van Rijn]

I just can’t comprehend this:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...after-n1245098

Two sisters stab a security guard 27 times because he asked them to wear masks to enter a store. Let’s see, on one hand you could leave or wear a mask. On the other hand, you would probably spend a good chunk of your life in prison for attempted murder. Decisions, decisions. Sure, I expect there was something seriously wrong in their lives already but still. It’s just bizarre how so many people react so badly to the idea of wearing a mask.

[grant hutchison]

Obviously, I know nothing about the individuals involved in this specific incident, but often these events have very little to do with a person having strong feelings about the apparent precipitating event. There's a whole bunch of people who not only have difficulty modelling other people as being like themselves, but who also struggle to imagine their future self as being in any way related to their present self. If they're also not very good at impulse control, stuff like this happens. I grew up around a few guys like that, and have had professional contact with several more.
We're currently seeing this stuff batched up by the media as "refused to wear mask" incidents (there was one on the London Underground recently, too), but I think that's just because Covid is a prominent stressor in everyone's lives at present, so these incidents are firing off everywhere. But massive escalations from trivial disagreements are happening all the time--they just don't generally have a common theme for journalists to latch on to.

Grant Hutchison

[profloater]

I remember years ago an undergraduate associate losing his temper violently because several people sang popular alternative words at a Christmas carol service and he had to be restrained. Later he could not explain himself, although drink had been taken, as they say, but there must have been unrelated issues. I have colleagues who unfortunately have fallen into the “there is no virus” conspiracy, and seem to believe mask wearing is a government plot to condition us all. The only underlying issue seems to be a desire to get one over on the services provided by the government, to score some kind of personal victory. Sadly , as discussed here, these people move beyond reason and become paranoid. Today in France M. Macron advises mask wearing indoors at home as part of a new lock down.

[Noclevername]

I could get into a whole rant about this Atlas Thugged Cult of Selfishness. Unfortunately it is bound to politics and outside the bounds of this Forum.