Mr. 9 came down with COVID on Saturday. A couple of days with an unpleasant fever later, he's OK but home from school until at least Friday, and possibly longer, depending on if he still rapid-tests positive on Thursday night. We're very curious to see what the school's testing results show this week. (If he didn't get it from school, he could maybe have gotten it from me, and I got it from the office I had just started returning to last week, but I've been both entirely asymptomatic and testing negative on rapid and PCR both?)
N95'ing up in our own house is a drag, but neither my wife nor I have gotten sick yet. Figuring out how to eat meals safely is extra-annoying because it's cold and rainy outside.
Sorry to hear that, Nathan. Sucks to be stuck at home with a grumpy/sick child.
When xelA had covid, we made zero effort to isolate from him. Living in an apartment it seemed a pointless exercise that would just stress him and us out. As it happened, neither of us caught it from him. We've both had COVID, my wife before our son and me after, but not at the same time.*
* as in separated by multiple weeks, not days. We didn't infect each other.
Are we in the same city, Nathan? I can't remember. My kid's fifth grade glass was about 1/3 absent at the beginning of this week, and the parent grapevine told us that at least 6 and as many as 12 of those 14 absences were covid. We're getting basically no information from the school about cases anymore, which is one of our frustrations with the situation.
The kids will mostly be all right, of course, but one of them spiked a 104 fever and was nearly hospitalized, and at least a couple of parents have gotten sick from their kids, and those of us planning grandparent visits all have an additional layer of anxiety. I appreciate that we're all going to have to live with the presence of this virus in the long term but (a) they could tell us what's happening in the school, and b) it'd be nice to see the school do *something* to try to mitigate the ongoing outbreak (encourage masks, even if they can't require them? eat lunch outside once in a while?), and (b) the teacher who was actively coughing in the first half of last week before testing positive on Thursday night could've put his mask back on.
Here's my Covid story:
My boss recently went on a much needed vacation (2 weeks, and I think his first travel since the start of the pandemic). During the second week of his vacation there was a stretch where half the office was on vacation, the other half was working remotely (for some reason or another) and I was the only person in the office. I appreciated the quiet, but it was a little weird being the person to let the water guy or fed ex person into the office, and having to lock the front door when I went for lunch.
It gave me more sympathy for why my boss wanted to have people back in the office; when we were all remote he'd often go into the office to work and I imagine it felt strange being in an empty building.
After my boss got back we had a big check-in meeting for everyone to give a status update.
Two days later he tested positive for COVID. Now the rest of us all have to start testing. I wasn't too worried. I've been continuing to wear a KN95 mask when I'm at work but not in my personal office, so I felt like I was pretty safe. But I'd had a ~15 minute conversation with him unmasked. I was in my office, he poked his head in the door and asked a question and it turned into a conversation. He stayed in the doorway so he was more than 6ft away -- about 8 ft, and that was my closest exposure.
I already had a week of scheduled time off coming up, so I immediately decided that it made sense for me to work from home for the following week and then have time off the next week.
I worked from home and took rapid tests daily. I was negative, all of my co-workers were also negative on their rapid tests, and my boss never really had symptoms, but had about a week of testing positive on rapid tests. So, it was a best case scenario in that nobody actually got sick.
It was still exhausting. Even though my risk was fairly low I still spent the whole week feeling a little nervous and also like I didn't want to start any projects or plan anything knowing that if I did test positive one morning all my plans would be out the window.
I could definitely see the appeal of just deciding to say, "fuck it" and not worry about and just behave normally. But that wasn't how I felt.
I am pregnant and being extra careful distancing from friends with (pre)school age children because it just seems like Covid flare ups everywhere. Feel really bad for families with immunocompromised kids or folks at home. And I mean, it still sucks even for healthy, vaccinated kids and parents --- hope Mr. 9 feels better soon and your precautions hold up Nathan!
My brother in law is getting married a week from Saturday and I am one of 7 invited guests, the only one not related by blood to either bride or groom. They're moving up here soon and I'd like for us to all become closer and spend time together, so it seems like a worthy emotional investment. and my mother-in-law is desperate for me to be there --- and she's been ailing ( non infectiously) so it would really make a big difference to her. Its a very short flight and I *think* my N95 should be sufficient. But dang I am increasingly nervous.
And waddly. Starting to feel pretty waddly.
That why babies are wrapped in waddling clothes.
Congrats!! How far along are you? Waddly makes me think somewhere in the 5 month range?
We've both got covid. I'm essentially through it, I had a very mild cold-like illness and now just a tiny bit of lingering cough. RWM got it from me, so is a few days behind. She got a worse cough and some loss of smell, but still basically better than an average cold in terms of how she feels. Somewhat annoying timing, it's our first week of a long trip to Europe, but at least we're in the work part of the trip where we have a nice flat to hole up in and not like a part where we're supposed to be traveling. Still annoyed I didn't get it back in Jan/Feb when it would have been convenient.
I am so damn angry right now b/c I went into work, and a symptomatic medical assistant came in to work. I guess that maybe she did a rapid test that was neg but later tested positive. She was coughing and drove to work with a coworker, both unmasked. I rode in the elevator with this person. I wore my kf94 w surgical mask over, which is technically breaking the rules, and she had a surgical mask. I walked by her in the garage when I was wearing a mask but she wasn't. It's an open garage, but I mean if you are coughing up a storm and work in healthcare and have access to free tests. But, of course, they stopped Covid pay, so now she's out and has to use vacation time.
10: wow, so can't imagine driving anywhere with anyone unmasked if I was coughy.
8: Ending Week 27! I can't really wrap my head around months.
7: I could probably use better waddling clothes.
You're probably fine. That's a brief contact.
UPETGI, hope you're both totally recovered asap.
It's kind of crazy how much of Unfogged seems to be recently struck w Covid. Like probably our densest cluster of this whole time?
My workgroup -- 24 people, total -- had exactly one case up until April of this year. We've had five more since early April, apparently from three different sources.
Got my second booster two weeks ago, and I'm going to a dinner party tomorrow night with a bunch of liberals. And we know that liberals don't get Covid.
My best guess is that people with boosters were underrepresented back in January and the booster is wearing off making us prime suspects for this wave.
I'm saving my second booster for marriage. In theory, I should probably keep wearing a mask but in practice I'm just mentally checked out and stressed by too many things.
My friend who is an economist at the Fed and an adjunct at Harvard got it. He did antigen and then went to get a free PCR.
I went to state schools, so I'm probably safe.
16: I suspect that's likely true - a slight uptick in colleagues getting it despite classes being done. We've still dodged it afaik.
So maybe tonight wasn't a good night for me to joke about covid, but anyway. At least I feel bad because of seasonal allergies, so far. It's really nice that he sneezed on my laptop while taking the test that would be positive.
Are you supposed to tell the school office about the result of a home test or should you wait to confirm with a lab test?
Obviously, staying home either way. Also, I'm trying to work in "out of an abundance of caution" even though that's really a 2020 phrase.
My parents are in their 80s and my mom recently got the second booster because it seems like it does have a significant even if not dramatic effect. Unfortunately my dad, who was in one of the earliest booster groups and got his first booster shot while already at the hospital for a cancer treatment, has been hesitating because he wants to know if he'll be able to time things so that he could be in the early group for a potential new shot that's more effective against currently-circulating variants. That is, he's hoping there will be an updated Covid shot the way they update flu shots each season.
I've been encouraging him to get the shot as soon as possible because it's not likely that any new shot will be out until the fall, if that ever happens. So the sooner he gets a shot, the sooner he'll be eligible for the next one. It's not like there's going to be a new shot in June and he just has to hold out until then. I think the real problem is my dad has had a strong reaction to each shot, enough that he has to use a cane for a few days, and he doesn't want to go through that for what might be a minimal benefit. At least he's committed to masking and distancing.
I've you're positive on rapid you almost certainly have it, there's not much benefit to confirming with pcr. It's *negatives* on rapid that are relatively meaningless. The positive/negative difference on both kinds of tests is so dramatic that if you're positive on rapid and negative on pcr then you're probably still more likely than not to have it.
The new recommendations in the UK are kinda wild: if you're sick don't test, just stay home until you feel better (and have been fever free for some time), when you feel better go back to work, and if you're a kid just go to school unless you have a fever.
We're still testing people before they visit hospitals and care homes (as visitors, or to work there). But otherwise, yes, it's basically "treat it like a normal illness".
I'm slightly confused about whether the rule is "treat it like a normal illness" or "treat it like a responsible person would treat a normal illness." But I guess it's hard to make that clear.
28: well, the latter. 26 is just how any normal responsible person should act when sick/pyrexic.
27 and 28: Most people weren't responsible about illness before.
27: we don't test people to work in hospitals or nursing homes.
And requiring food service employees to wash their hands after pooping is a violation of the interstate commerce clause.
Unless the bathroom is in a different state from the kitchen.
I guarantee that this piece will, despite what its URL may suggest, improve your day.
I am interested in thinking about the question of whether the word choice is too closely linked to libertarianism.
In the developmental disabilities world, it was viewed as empowering to call people consumers of healthcare services, but I think that framing can be problematic.
I've read a few twitter threads, and one was a story from an ICU nurse whee the woman's life was in real danger. Everybody says that the life of the mother is an exception (except for the creeps who want to re-implant ectopic pregnancies), but this story was harrowing. The woman had severe pre-eclampsia, and they had to put her on a vent. This was a desperately desired pregnancy. Her family tried to get her to 24 weeks so that the fetus would be viable, and she was in the ICU for a couple of weeks, but her condition deteriorated so rapidly that they had to terminate. Her blood pressure normalized quite quickly and they were able to get her off the vent. She was devastated to wake up and learn she was no longer pregnant, but not terminating the pregnancy would have resulted in her dying and the fetus would not have survived. I don't. Know what language to use there. I'm sure she felt that she lost a baby.
In any case, that would be protected by a "life of the mother" standard, but they had such a standard in Ireland, and Savita Halappanavar still died.
I accidentally went to Canada yesterday, and had to don a mask to get them to let me leave.
We have good taste in immigrants.
You let Bieber leave without a mask.
I accidentally went to Canada yesterday, and had to don a mask to get them to let me leave.
I recently read the Borders story, and would recommend it. It's short, the book takes ~15 minutes to read (and was adapted from a short story), but it's very well done.
Acclaimed writer Thomas King is publishing his first graphic novel. Borders was originally a short story written in 1993. It's about a boy and his mother who try to take a road trip from Alberta to Salt Lake City. When they reach the American Canadian border, they identify as Blackfoot, and not Canadian or American -- causing problems and putting the pair in limbo between the two countries. What unfolds is a powerful story about justice, identity and belonging.
I seriously thought they got much stricter about the borders in places where it used to be pretty easy to cross in foot. Of course, reservations are a different story.
You need a reservation to get into Canada?
My Canadian-resident son tells me that there are places where the border just runs through a suburban area and it's sort of on the honor system not to really cross there.
Like how newspaper machines used to trust you to only take one copy.
42 There's a special thing about Blackfeet tribal ID at the border, at least at the 3 stations in Blackfeet country.
I didn't have a reservation to get into Canada, and that's sort of the problem. More specifically, since I hadn't planned on entering Canada, I didn't do the covid-shot app, and so wasn't right for entry. (When I realized I'd missed the exit for the US border station was was committed to entering Canada, my wife, who had neither her [expired] passport nor green card on her person, got out of the car and walked back into the US.) If I'd uploaded my info to the covid app, I think they'd have waived me in, instead of making me go into the Canada border station to be examined by an immigration officer. 'What's your purpose in entering Canada?' 'To leave as soon as possible.'
This was the first border station east of the Blackfeet Reservation, anyway.
45 sounds like the Irish border, which in som3 places runs through people's fields and farmyards. But nobody checks you crossing it anyway, even on major roads. That's why the Irish, including most in NI, are so annoyed about Brexit, because the tories want to reintroduce border checks.
Sick teens with energy are the worst.
Anyway, I got a 98 on my pulse oximeter, which is an A+ at some schools.
Derby Line, VT:
"Besides the library, five inhabited structures are divided by the border. Most residents use the US entrances to avoid problems with the border patrol; crossing the border within buildings does not require official permission."
Very Tardis-esque.
50: Me too! At one point it was as low as 94, but then I sat up straight and it got back to 96.
For the old-timers here, Biohazard died of natural causes at home on Friday. He was 80.
53: Thank you for letting us know. I'm so sorry to hear that. I wish I'd known that he was ill. I had the sense though that he never got over DE's death.
I'm sorry ru hear that, but thanks guy letting us know.
Oh. I liked them both. I hope he felt he was going to a reunion with her (in some manner).
I was literally thinking of him last night and wondering if he was still around. I'm sorry to hear the answer, but thanks for telling us.
I don't think he was sick much at all, which is a mercy. I don't know details, but three days ago he was posting his usual quotidian stuff on FB. The family asked for donations to the Amanda Foundation -- the animal shelter where he volunteered -- if anyone wanted to do anything.
https://www.amandafoundation.org/donate (There's a "notes" field somewhere in the process if you want to dedicate a donation.
I'm so sorry to hear that. He was such a charming person; DE was too.
I've never really been on Facebook so I don't see people in the other place.
Oh no, that's such a loss. Thanks for thinking to let us know here, though.
Thanks, apo. I was thinking about them recently; they were such a good couple.
I'm sorry to hear that about Biohazard. What was the full-length form of DE?
51 It's Canada on the inside.
Very sorry to hear about Biohazard
I have an e-mail from him from 4 years ago in response to one i had sent a couple of years before letting me know that he was cleaning out the Biohazard account. I wish I had followed up.
I just saw the news about biohazard this morning, and I'm so sad. I'll miss him quite a lot.
So sorry to hear about Biohazard.