Omicron anecdata?

[kbutton]

8 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Yikes. I would look for a new doctor stat. Even if the virus was man made, his statement makes no sense. You can eradicate even man made viruses by not providing a host etc.  

P.S. This is also a HUGE practice in multiple locations. Someone else would be someone else in the group (probably), and the lack of masking would be the same whether or not they believe the virus is man-made. It's just crazy.

Also, the outpatient surgery centers are where nurses who refuse to vaccinate have flocked. Changing doctors won't fix that, and it's really widespread here for nurses to think a variety of crazy stuff about Covid. I would be surprised if more than about 50% of nurses here have good information about Covid (not all would be totally nuts, but almost all would have some degree of conspiratorial thinking on some aspect of it). Many of the nurses who outright oppose vaccination and masks are very, very vocal and formed protests at various times. One super vocal nurse was tagging people from church on their FB posts (almost 100 church people were tagged) asking people to fast and pray to get a law passed saying that no one in any job of any kind could even be ASKED about their vaccination status for any vaccine, ever (not just covid), in order to get or keep a job, much less be required to be vaccinated for their job. Another vocal one was asking people to support it as well, but at least she was asking people to fast and pray in support.

The local hospital just ushered the last "I won't vaccinate" holdout out the door in the last couple of weeks. I have no idea what took so long. 

[prairiewindmomma]

On 4/26/2022 at 9:15 AM, KSera said:

I wished in hindsight I’d declined the mouth check when I (finally) took my unvaccinated kid for his well check. It turned out okay, but if either the doctor or the patient before us had been contagious with Covid, breaking the seal and then putting the mask back on could have been enough to catch it.  Now, truth is, I don’t expect with such a little one that his KF94 is making an airtight seal anyway, unfortunately, so it’s probably not as big a difference as if I had to remove my N95 in there. I get a good solid seal though I haven’t been fit tested so I don’t know for sure. If I were in a high-risk environment I would not want to remove my N95 even if it was only for a few seconds. because then the next breath you take starts with air that has then  gotten inside the mask that is no longer filtered. 

Because of my high risk status, none of my doctors have me remove my mask when I make visits---derm, rheumy, or primary care.  They all do remote visits unless I have to come in and even then they have HEPA filters running as well in the exam room.  

I don't think you're crazy for not wanting to remove the mask. 

[prairiewindmomma]

2 hours ago, kbutton said:

That's miserable. 

Isolate indefinitely, no. I can wear a mask indefinitely most of the time, but I can't do that while eating out, etc. That's where I am stuck. I wish people would socialize more with a mask. 

I was in a doctor's office yesterday where the doctor was the only one masked (no staff and nurses were, and they were actively telling people they don't have to mask), and he was only masked because the hospital his office is in says they have to mask. So, my brain was broken over the varied approach within the office--if it's a hospital rule, and he's masking, why is his staff not, and why are they actively inviting people to take them off. Then he said that we won't be virus free because it's man-made. I had no words at that point except sputtering about how numbers are going up. It's one thing to not mask with numbers stable, but when they go up, masks help. He assumed I wasn't vaccinated and therefore worried about getting sick...well, heart damage doesn't seem to care about vaccination status or covid-severity! 

It's all messed up for no good reason.

That's crazy town.

My state requires masking for all in all medical facilities. It's my last safe bastion as indoor masking mandates have stopped everywhere else.

[Eos]

8 hours ago, YaelAldrich said:

May she stay in excellent health! Could you help her get that 4th booster before y'all come?

Yes, I had that same thought after seeing your post.  I'm going to talk with her tonight and suggest it strongly.

[Matryoshka]

43 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

That's crazy town.

My state requires masking for all in all medical facilities. It's my last safe bastion as indoor masking mandates have stopped everywhere else.

Here too. Heck, I went to pick up eyeglasses today at the opticians, and they have a big sign saying they are a medical facility and masking is still mandatory- even while trying glasses on.

But meanwhile, at my fitness studio, almost no one (besides me) is masking in spite of small room, heavy breathing, lots o' people. Taking another break till numbers look better... I feel like that's another place universal masking should stick around longer...

Edited April 28, 2022 by Matryoshka

[Jean in Newcastle]

44 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

That's crazy town.

My state requires masking for all in all medical facilities. It's my last safe bastion as indoor masking mandates have stopped everywhere else.

My state too.  This includes the chiropractor. 

Today I had to remove my mask for less than a minute while they took my temperature at my doctor's office.  But that was it. 

[kbutton]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

That's crazy town.

My state requires masking for all in all medical facilities. It's my last safe bastion as indoor masking mandates have stopped everywhere else.

I thought it was the case here, but I don't think it actually is. My chiropractor stopped last summer, and he is the chiropractor I switched to because the first one refused to follow the law.

Last summer, one of my kids had wisdom teeth removed. They were loosey-goosey about wearing masks, and I couldn't do a thing about it. They told me on the phone that they were safe. What they meant was they were happy with their precautions. I was livid, especially because we paid them tons of money (more than four wisdom teeth, all impacted, lots of carving to be done), and we asked all the right questions up front. Only someone who was purposefully disingenuous would've answered our questions the way they did. They also did other things that were above and beyond, like having internet consults vs. face-to-face consults before surgery! It was just...deceptive and cherry-picked and gross.

My governor tried so hard. He reached across party lines to pick his health department head (that protestors ran off) before Covid was even a thought, and she was awesome. The state legislature, which is full of corruption (the speaker of the House is in legal trouble, and the legislature refuses to draw fair and constitutional districts, so we are having to pay $25 million for an extra primary) passed legislation removing most of the governor's emergency powers. It will have long-lasting effects on natural disasters and everything going forward, not just Covid.

 

[mommyoffive]

Coronavirus Deranges the Immune System in Complex and Deadly Ways | Kaiser Health News (khn.org)

 

Covid deaths no longer overwhelmingly among unvaccinated as toll on elderly grows (yahoo.com)

 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Announces Tentative Advisory Committee Meeting Schedule Regarding COVID- 19 Vaccines | FDA

 

 

 

Just got the notice that the studio my kids dance at they are going to go mask optional.  NOOOOO.  They have had such a strict procedure for so long.  They are going to go off of CDC transmission and wait until the county is Moderate.  UGH.   They have said that a lot of the families have had Covid with being hospitalized and complications.  Ugh.  Doesn't seem like the time to do it then.  I am just stressed. 

 

[Matryoshka]

34 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Just got the notice that the studio my kids dance at they are going to go mask optional.  NOOOOO.  They have had such a strict procedure for so long.  They are going to go off of CDC transmission and wait until the county is Moderate.  UGH.   They have said that a lot of the families have had Covid with being hospitalized and complications.  Ugh.  Doesn't seem like the time to do it then.  I am just stressed. 

It is so freaking stressful.  I started going to my fitness studio in mid-Feb as things were coming down, mask mandate was still in place.  About two weeks in, masks were optional.  I've kept wearing mine, but only like two other people per class do.  I've stopped going again this week, because here we are up to Moderate again and climbing - but still no masks, 'cause Covid is gone don'tcha know...

[KSera]

34 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

here we are up to Moderate again and climbing - but still no masks, 'cause Covid is gone don'tcha know...

Yeah, what’s the deal with this? When the CDC changed the metric so that the majority of places would not require masks, the idea was that guidelines would change if things went back up. But now here we are with lots of places back up in the moderate range and nothing is changing. I can’t say I’m at all surprised, but I certainly am frustrated.

[prairiewindmomma]

The one upside (and like probably the only one) has been that with the decrease in masking it’s been easier to source and restock up on N95s.
 

I would be hella surprised if they reintroduced masking mandates.  I don’t think there is the political will to do so.

[KSera]

47 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I would be hella surprised if they reintroduced masking mandates.  I don’t think there is the political will to do so.

I agree, but I do think they should be very clearly advising that we have moved into a higher risk time and xyz groups are strongly urged to mask up at this time. I think there are a lot of people in those groups who have no idea they are considered at high risk if they are not masked right now, but that would change their behavior if they did know. I have quite a few older family members in that group. They wore masks when they were required, but they just trust the guidelines so they think they’re not required now and have no idea that with the move to medium risk, they are in the category that is advised to remain masked again right now.

I also think that somehow what constitutes higher risk for severe Covid has still not sufficiently been internalized by people. It’s been said enough times what those groups are that I don’t actually know what more could be done on that front, but I would wager that only about half the people in that group realize that they are in that group.

[melmichigan]

This is the Michigan community transmission map as of today.  The new metrics are a joke, and most people don't realize they can change the metric choices. Source: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view?list_select_state=Michigan&data-type=Risk&list_select_county=26025

Edited April 30, 2022 by melmichigan

[Kassia]

@melmichiganI brought up the info for my county and don't understand it.  It says community level is low but the county is in red and says transmission level is high.  Can you (or someone else) tell me what this means?  I hope I don't sound dumb but I'd like to understand what I'm seeing.  

 

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view?list_select_state=Ohio&data-type=Risk&null=Risk&list_select_county=39055

ETA - I don't think the link shows my Ohio county (Geauga) specifically so I'm editing to add it here.

Edited April 30, 2022 by Kassia

[melmichigan]

1 hour ago, Kassia said:

@melmichiganI brought up the info for my county and don't understand it.  It says community level is low but the county is in red and says transmission level is high.  Can you (or someone else) tell me what this means?  I hope I don't sound dumb but I'd like to understand what I'm seeing.  

 

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view?list_select_state=Ohio&data-type=Risk&null=Risk&list_select_county=39055

ETA - I don't think the link shows my Ohio county (Geauga) specifically so I'm editing to add it here.

The community level metric: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/community-levels.html

The transmission level metric: https://www.akingump.com/a/web/oHFiv6tLE6XqSTREwwMnN6/2nfajr/table-1.pdf

In simplest terms, the community level is the new action level and the transmission level is the old standard that is kept around for healthcare use to understand what is really going on. So my community level is low, but in reality cases are climbing (doubling), and the percentage positivity is over 15% and rising. YMMV.

Edited April 30, 2022 by melmichigan

[KSera]

1 hour ago, Kassia said:

@melmichiganI brought up the info for my county and don't understand it.  It says community level is low but the county is in red and says transmission level is high.  Can you (or someone else) tell me what this means?  I hope I don't sound dumb but I'd like to understand what I'm seeing.  

 

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view?list_select_state=Ohio&data-type=Risk&null=Risk&list_select_county=39055

ETA - I don't think the link shows my Ohio county (Geauga) specifically so I'm editing to add it here.

The community level relies heavily on hospital capacity. If there is a low risk of hospital overwhelm, and you would likely have a bed if you got very ill, essentially it will code you green. Transmission level is the one that’s relevant if you actually care about your chances of catching it. The CDC really should be letting people at high risk know both levels clearly, because the high risk people are most likely to need those beds, and it’s the transmission level they need to be aware of if they want to stay out of them.

[Kassia]

40 minutes ago, KSera said:

and it’s the transmission level they need to be aware of if they want to stay out of them.

Thanks. I was only looking at community level.  Our transmission rate is high, which I'm surprised about.  I really had no idea.  I know a lot of people have it and aren't being tested and also not sick enough to go to the hospital so I just assumed there are a lot of unreported cases.  We're at 10.81% positivity now.

[Ali in OR]

Well, I made a spur of the moment decision to get my 2nd booster this morning. I was trying to wait until fall, but our school district office sent out an email that CDC just put our county back to medium risk with over 200 cases this week. We had 10 cases in my school this week. And we just found out this morning that the reason we had no caregiver for our dd this week is because our regular person tested positive on Wednesday. I had fever and exhaustion the day after both 2nd and 3rd shots, so if I get a shot, it needs to be on a Friday night or Saturday morning for me to recover enough for school on Monday. So I got my shot this morning. And now I'm trying to get all my chores and thinking done before I feel the effects.

[kbutton]

43 minutes ago, Kassia said:

Thanks. I was only looking at community level.  Our transmission rate is high, which I'm surprised about.  I really had no idea.  I know a lot of people have it and aren't being tested and also not sick enough to go to the hospital so I just assumed there are a lot of unreported cases.  We're at 10.81% positivity now.

We are at substantial transmission, and virtually no one is masking. I might need to start going back to grocery pickup, but it's hard to go back to planning that way now that I've become more comfortable ducking in for this or that while I'm running errands.

[Kassia]

18 minutes ago, kbutton said:

We are at substantial transmission, and virtually no one is masking. I might need to start going back to grocery pickup, but it's hard to go back to planning that way now that I've become more comfortable ducking in for this or that while I'm running errands.

No one is masking here either but we had very little masking even at peak levels when our county hospital was full.  I really thought we were low-risk here until today.  Good thing we rarely go out.  

[kbutton]

2 minutes ago, Kassia said:

No one is masking here either but we had very little masking even at peak levels when our county hospital was full.  I really thought we were low-risk here until today.  Good thing we rarely go out.  

We had varying levels. Never a lot once the mandate was dropped, but at least some stores were still having employees mask, which makes a difference. 

I also usually avoid stores at peak times but have been less able to do so lately. I think when I was going at off-peak hours I was seeing more masks. I've never found the level of masking here to be very reassuring, lol! 

[Ting Tang]

Very few are masking here.  Cases are reported every Friday, and it keeps going up, but it seems very hush-hush otherwise.  I think we have been spared so far, so it is going to be very hard on me mentally when we do finally get it, and it does seem inevitable.  I just replenished our dwindling mask stash.  

[mommyoffive]

High transmission county here.  When I take the kids to ballet the restaurants are packed everyone eating inside.  My kids are still masking for outdoor nature school.  I really want to feel comfy with them  not doing that.  If rates were not this high I think I would.  

Has anyone read when this surge that really isn't happening going to peak? 

[ktgrok]

On 4/28/2022 at 3:47 PM, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

One of my sisters just got diagnosed with Covid for the third time.  The first in November 2020, the second in Fall 2021, and now.  She’s fully vaccinated and boostered. She also still has long Covid symptoms from fall 2021 including vertigo and parasomia.  There just seems to be no winning. Most of us can’t actually isolate completely(or even at all), and especially not for years on end. 

Is this the sister that, like you, doesn't seem to respond to some vaccines well, in general? 

[ktgrok]

I had an emergency root canal for an abcessed tooth yesterday and the only one that consistently masked was the actual dentist. they techs or what not did while working on me, but the peopel standing around at the front desk were not masked. And this is in a place with people with their mouths wide open!

Not that I had a choice in being there - the root was gone, the infection was bad, and my bridge had fallen out from it all - maybe the swelling, not sure. 

So I had to be seen, and had to take my mask off. 

[mommyoffive]

1 minute ago, ktgrok said:

I had an emergency root canal for an abcessed tooth yesterday and the only one that consistently masked was the actual dentist. they techs or what not did while working on me, but the peopel standing around at the front desk were not masked. And this is in a place with people with their mouths wide open!

Not that I had a choice in being there - the root was gone, the infection was bad, and my bridge had fallen out from it all - maybe the swelling, not sure. 

So I had to be seen, and had to take my mask off. 

This is why I cancelled my dentist apt for the month.  I got all the kids in before rates were climbing, but I had to wait for mine. The dentist and all dental techs mask well.  Have before covid.  But the desk staff and people in the waiting room either no or pretend masking below chins.

[Ting Tang]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

This is why I cancelled my dentist apt for the month.  I got all the kids in before rates were climbing, but I had to wait for mine. The dentist and all dental techs mask well.  Have before covid.  But the desk staff and people in the waiting room either no or pretend masking below chins.

I canceled the pediatric dentist and can’t get them in until late August now. I also canceled my son’s orthodontist treatment because during our visit staff didn’t mask— during the mandate. I live in a small area with few resources, and the kid offices are like zoos. This seems to be cyclical and not seasonal. 😔

Edited May 1, 2022 by Ting Tang

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

1 hour ago, ktgrok said:

Is this the sister that, like you, doesn't seem to respond to some vaccines well, in general? 

No, she generally has good immunity.  Like before Covid, I don’t think she’s been sick since she got strep 25 years ago.  She has a high risk non healthcare job and probably has enough exposure to keep getting exposed to variants that evade immunity.

A lot of doctors and epidemiologists that I follow have been retweeting this guy.  Basically he believes that about every six months for the foreseeable future we’ll have another wave, as immunity to infection doesn’t seem to last and the constantly mutating virus keeps coming up with new ways to evade either/both natural and acquired immunity.

 

[Laura Corin]

Weird masking patterns in Scotland this week, now that there isn't a general mandate. Masking is at about 50 percent in shops. But I went to a classical music concert and it was less than 10 percent.  It's a large, airy, modern space, but you are of course sitting right next to people.

My friend and I masked, and I managed to leave an empty seat next to me.

Cases still high but dropping.

[kbutton]

13 hours ago, ktgrok said:

I had an emergency root canal for an abcessed tooth yesterday and the only one that consistently masked was the actual dentist. they techs or what not did while working on me, but the peopel standing around at the front desk were not masked. And this is in a place with people with their mouths wide open!

Not that I had a choice in being there - the root was gone, the infection was bad, and my bridge had fallen out from it all - maybe the swelling, not sure. 

So I had to be seen, and had to take my mask off. 

I am sorry. This is how the orthodontist has been for months. DS has to go at this point since it's his last appointment this week before surgery and for two months afterward. 

They have three offices, and they assigned us to the one that they designed during Covid to have a (lot) more space, but I am still pretty upset that won't mask up front or require masks.

Our dentist is still masking and requiring masking, and you wait in the car.

[mommyoffive]

1 minute ago, kbutton said:

I am sorry. This is how the orthodontist has been for months. DS has to go at this point since it's his last appointment this week before surgery and for two months afterward. 

They have three offices, and they assigned us to the one that they designed during Covid to have a (lot) more space, but I am still pretty upset that won't mask up front or require masks.

Our dentist is still masking and requiring masking, and you wait in the car.

Our ortho is the same way.  It really upsets me.  And the office is not set up safely for this at all.  One big room with chairs and people getting worked on all at once.  No separate rooms.

[kbutton]

1 minute ago, mommyoffive said:

Our ortho is the same way.  It really upsets me.  And the office is not set up safely for this at all.  One big room with chairs and people getting worked on all at once.  No separate rooms.

Yep. Same here. I think they have a room for when you first get them put on or they have to do something particularly special, and that's it. 

[mommyoffive]

Just a PSA for anyone with travel coming up

Airbnb ending refunds for guests who get COVID-19 (thepointsguy.com)

[mommyoffive]

Cases Are Rising in Nearly Every Corner of the U.S. (yahoo.com)

[AmandaVT]

Cases are crazy in VT right now but everyone seems to be pretending all is well. 🙄 I posted in my pity party thread earlier that I tested positive today. The only place I could have gotten it is at school and we only had one confirmed covid case in school this past week. The student is not someone on my caseload or friends with anyone on my caseload. So I'm thinking cases are much more prevalent than have been reported to the school. I'm one of two teachers still masking and we have almost no students masking. 

Cases are rising in my county too. 

[Matryoshka]

8 minutes ago, AmandaVT said:

Cases are crazy in VT right now but everyone seems to be pretending all is well. 🙄 I posted in my pity party thread earlier that I tested positive today. The only place I could have gotten it is at school and we only had one confirmed covid case in school this past week. The student is not someone on my caseload or friends with anyone on my caseload. So I'm thinking cases are much more prevalent than have been reported to the school. I'm one of two teachers still masking and we have almost no students masking. 

Cases are rising in my county too. 

Holy wow, that's crazy. I went to check the dashboards I check to see what VT looked like vs my state (also having an uptick here just to your south), but wow. % increase in hospitalizations and deaths there are going up twice as fast as cases, which does seem to be because testing is down? That is Not Good.

Hope your case is mild and you're on the mend soon.

[AmandaVT]

3 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

Holy wow, that's crazy. I went to check the dashboards I check to see what VT looked like vs my state (also having an uptick here just to your south), but wow. % increase in hospitalizations and deaths there are going up twice as fast as cases, which does seem to be because testing is down? That is Not Good.

Hope your case is mild and you're on the mend soon.

It's nuts here! And no one seems to care - it's like we have entered an alternate reality all of a sudden. I work at a small school (which is the only place I could have been exposed) and until the last couple of months, I would have 100% known which student/staff I got it from. Kids can come in sick now - and we're not asking them to test. It stinks.

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, AmandaVT said:

It's nuts here! And no one seems to care - it's like we have entered an alternate reality all of a sudden. I work at a small school (which is the only place I could have been exposed) and until the last couple of months, I would have 100% known which student/staff I got it from. Kids can come in sick now - and we're not asking them to test. It stinks.

That really stinks.  I think this is how it is pretty much everywhere now.  No rules, no mandates, and cases going up up up.  We are going to keep masking and such, but I think this isn't going to work when everyone else isn't.  Feeling like it is a matter of time at this point.

[Catwoman]

On 4/30/2022 at 9:15 PM, ktgrok said:

I had an emergency root canal for an abcessed tooth yesterday and the only one that consistently masked was the actual dentist. they techs or what not did while working on me, but the peopel standing around at the front desk were not masked. And this is in a place with people with their mouths wide open!

Not that I had a choice in being there - the root was gone, the infection was bad, and my bridge had fallen out from it all - maybe the swelling, not sure. 

So I had to be seen, and had to take my mask off. 

Ugh! I’m so sorry they weren’t being careful — you have taken so many precautions all along, and I feel awful that you had no choice but to be potentially exposed like this!

Sending lots of Covid-free hugs and prayers that everyone in that office was healthy and that you don’t even catch so much as a cold! 

[HSmomof2]

My dad tested positive today for Covid. He’s 74, fairly healthy, and double boosted. Currently has mild symptoms—sore throat, stuffy/runny nose, cough. Hoping it stays mild and my mom avoids it. She’s also double boosted but has other health conditions that would make her higher risk. Unfortunately, dd(16) visited them briefly yesterday (less than 15 min) before my dad was feeling ill. She’ll test in 5 days unless she develops symptoms before.

 

ETA: Dad’s primary care is prescribing Paxlovid for him as well as monoclonal antibodies. 

Edited May 2, 2022 by HSmomof2
Additional info

[TexasProud]

Where are you guys finding your Covid info now? All the dashboards and stuff I watch changed their metrics. I really don't have a clue how to figure out where we are now. 

[mommyoffive]

State of Affairs: May 2 - by Katelyn Jetelina (substack.com)

[mommyoffive]

32 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

Where are you guys finding your Covid info now? All the dashboards and stuff I watch changed their metrics. I really don't have a clue how to figure out where we are now. 

I like the CDC transmission page that Mel posted on this page.  

[mommyoffive]

South Africa’s latest surge is a possible preview of the pandemic’s next chapter. (msn.com)

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

I’m in Syracuse airport today flying to Charlotte. I’ve seen two people in the whole airport wearing masks, both just cloth masks that probably don’t do much.   There are people sneezing and coughing all over. I booked this speaking engagement last year when it was still looking like vaccines were very effective against infection.

I pretty much expect to come back with Covid. I cancelled my trip to Virginia next week.  They had low enrollment and gave the speakers an easy out, so I took it.  I’m not really thrilled about flying at the moment.

Edited: I’m up to five I count in masks in the terminal including myself.  I’m not hopeful that anyone other than me will be masked on the plane. Sigh.

Edited May 2, 2022 by Mrs Tiggywinkle

[TexasProud]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

I like the CDC transmission page that Mel posted on this page.  

Yeah, but it doesn't have positivity rates. And it feels like the status for green and yellow have changed.  It is just in a completely different format and I don't know how to judge what to do based on them.  Before if we had positivity of over 10 percent, I went back to wearing a mask when I was out.  But maybe we are just on a different scales. I mean our hospitals have had 0 admissions according to them for quite awhile, so maybe you just live life now.  So hard to know. Flying home with my mom tomorrow. On the way out here we were the only ones on the entire plane wearing our masks.  Just don't know.

[prairiewindmomma]

My BIL picked up COVID on a business trip to NY…my parents have been exposed extensively as BIL did not test in a timely fashion and did not mask or isolate at the beginning of his illness.

I share this not to shame him but because I hear versions of this almost every day—“just thought it was the cold that’s going around”—as if COVID ceased to exist when the mask mandate dropped. 🤦

Edited May 2, 2022 by prairiewindmomma

[KSera]

28 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

Yeah, but it doesn't have positivity rates. And it feels like the status for green and yellow have changed.  It is just in a completely different format and I don't know how to judge what to do based on them.  Before if we had positivity of over 10 percent, I went back to wearing a mask when I was out.  But maybe we are just on a different scales. I mean our hospitals have had 0 admissions according to them for quite awhile, so maybe you just live life now.  So hard to know. Flying home with my mom tomorrow. On the way out here we were the only ones on the entire plane wearing our masks.  Just don't know.

You can switch to the community transmission map on the drop down menu. The map colors will change to being red, orange, yellow and blue. If you’re seeing the green map, that’s not the community transmission one.

[ktgrok]

Our youth director at church has Covid. She's isolating, but we skipped church this week figuring at least some of the people she works with likely were exposed before she knew. 

I REALLY wish I had an idea of what our numbers are, but with the state only reporting every two weeks, I have no way to know. The national maps I've seen seem to just use the numbers from the state, so are not accurate. 

It's crazy. 

And DH has a cross country flight this week - going from Orlando to San Diego. I am NOT happy about it, but it's for work. He's is doing a workshop at a conference, and now is going to be the MC for some of the stuff there too. He's also teaching in person again, twice a week. 

[kbutton]

13 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

My BIL picked up COVID on a business trip to NY…my parents have been exposed extensively as BIL did not test in a timely fashion and did not mask or isolate at the beginning of his illness.

I share this not to shame him but because I hear versions of this almost every day—“just thought it was the cold that’s going around”—as if COVID ceased to exist when the mask mandate dropped. 🤦

I feel like it's hard to know if something is a cold or COVID, but if you're not being terribly careful or are being careful but still doing something really vulnerable (traveling), then I don't understand why people are surprised!

Ugh.

We are so, so careful. We don't unmask around anyone except the four of us who live together and sometimes when we're outside (if not crowded, etc.). We don't eat around other people. We don't sing around other people. Heck, my DH works in healthcare, and he's only had symptoms once (and it turned out to likely be norovirus--two negative Covid tests later, one PCR). If I get allergy symptoms, they probably are allergies. 

That said, I am really concerned about what to do when my son is in the hospital next month for surgery. If the weather is nice, we might be able to take food outside to eat, but he'll be eating in his room. I don't think you're supposed to sleep in a mask, so if that's the case, he'll be likely unmasked to sleep and so will the person staying overnight with him. Ugh. Do we just test every couple of days for kicks? I really don't want to pick up something there and give it to my other son at home or to my parents who are coming to support us. (They will mask everywhere and with everyone for ten days before they come.)

I hate it when doing the right thing stinks, and everyone else claims to be doing the right thing but isn't actually being realistic. I want credit for it, lol!!!