The Covid-19 Thread: News, Preparation Tips, Etc

[Melaninme]

 

[oneastrocurlie]

Meanwhile, idiotic NYC, with over 110,000 lab-diagnosed new cases since Christmas Day - that’s NOT counting all of the positive home test kits, or the symptomatic people who haven’t tested at all - just had the Dept. of Education send out a notice that public schools will be open in person on January 3rd. 20% of people able to test are turning up positive, but let’s keep going, and, oh yes, have a super-spreader New Years Eve celebration in Times Square while we’re at it.

I'm really surprised NYE in Times Square wasn't canceled.

 

[lavaflow99]

I'm really surprised NYE in Times Square wasn't canceled.

Too much money has already been spent. They refuse to backpedal so close to game time

 

[oneastrocurlie]

They would say this as cases numbers are setting records. I see what they did there. And to think of all the positive test that aren't getting reported from folks testing at home.

 

[PatDM'T]

Been living in
a bubble so
just learned
about this now.

"Let's Go Darwin" Is Trending Online, but What Does the Phrase Actually Mean?

"Let's go Darwin" is a new phrase gaining popularity online, and some want to know what the phrase means and where it originally came from.

www.distractify.com

 

[discodumpling]

I feel like I'm at the tail end of this thing! 5 days ain't enough. I finally had the strength to sit in my living room for 2 hrs, Sip some ginger tea and nibble on some Strawberries. Appetite is coming back and im thinking about a quick walk to the park on this final day of 2021.

 

[BrownBetty]

Omarion is making its way through my family, 5 more folks have it. 2 are telling me they have all the symptoms but they had a negative rapid test so it isn't covid. I said "ok" and went on with my day.
One fam member is out in bars and restaurants constantly. They tell me they are shocked they caught it since they are so "careful".

 

[Black Ambrosia]

A Walgreens pharmacy had to close a few cities over from me because both pharmacists have Covid. The Fulton County DMV is closed because of Covid. Covid is definitely like, "Ok, you don't have to shut things down, I'll do it for you."

I think it was 6 different hospital systems here in Atlanta issued a joint statement basically saying they are overwhelmed. They are asking people who think they have Covid to go to appropriate testing sites rather than the emergency rooms, to mask up, vaccinate...you know all the stuff that they've been saying for the last two years. I know one testing site that closed because the workers...got Covid. And I've been reading that several others have lines that are wrapping around several blocks.

My family and I have spent the holiday break in the house!! We got a puppy, we've gone to the grocery store, I've gone to the library, and my parents came over on Christmas day. That's it. And ringing in the New Year...we'll be right in this house!

Idk if it's the same one but my sister was just telling me a Walgreens not far from her home (College Park area) was closed for the same reason.

 

[TrulyBlessed]

Chile….

 

[TrulyBlessed]

 

[MamaBear2012]

Idk if it's the same one but my sister was just telling me a Walgreens not far from her home (College Park area) was closed for the same reason.

This one is the Camp Creek location. This virus is just sweeping through cities.

 

[MamaBear2012]

My ATL teacher friend says districts are gearing up for an online return to learning from winter break. And my sister, who is an infectious diseases doc (just passed her boards y’all!) says her kids’ district in Seattle are talking about the same thing. Sis says the physicians of the area just had a “town hall meeting” about the exponential spread of this variant. She anticipates a roll back of restrictions/rules. Aka no more dining out, even w masks.

Nothing from my district yet. We shall see.

Clayton was the first to say they are going virtual. Fulton followed up a few hours later. Dekalb just said they will too. So far, Atlanta Public is saying, "We'll test all staff on Monday since it's a teacher work day, and y'all get your kids tested before you send them on Tuesday."

 

[Evolving78]

The rollercoaster continues.

 

[lavaflow99]

 

[TrulyBlessed]

Omg!

 

[Seattle Slew]

Glad I got both the COVID and Flu booster already. I got them at the same time.

 

[awhyley]

Another hospital I am credentialed at just sent a similar email (this one is in the University of Maryland Hospital System). Here is a few concerning parts:

• Documentation standards will be relaxed but please ensure that your notes convey essential information to other clinical staff and providers.
• If collaborating with emergency measures requires you to change your care of a patient in a way that is safe but not your normal practice, IT has enabled you to use the following Smartphrase. You may use it as needed in patient care documentation, along with an objective description of the decision being made and how the patient’s care will continue to be safe and effective. The following language can be inserted by using the dot phrase “.crisisstandardsofcare”:
• o At the direction of Hospital Incident Command, we have implemented a modified care model and are currently working under adjusted/crisis policies, procedures, and processes due to the significant operational challenges the hospital is currently facing.

Not the time to get sick.

That red part right there

 

[Evolving78]

Glad I got both the COVID and Flu booster already. I got them at the same time.

I guess I need to edit my booster shot appointment… laughing to keep from crying…

 

[dancinstallion]

There is a viral infection going around that is not showing up as Covid, maybe it is Omicron but the tests are showing neg. My in laws are chronic carriers
My sister in law came to visit over Christmas weekend and her kids were coughing up a storm. Well I woke up with a fever and chills yesterday and my sister in law had to take her son to the hospital because of his fever that he had for 3 days and dehydration
My sister in law and her kids got DH and DS sick in Sept, now me in December. This is not ok. I am pissed, I didn't even want their behinds to come over but dh begged.
They are the newschool of typhoid mary.

I broke my fever in 24 hours. Her kid has had a fever for 3 days that isn't relieved by Tylenol, do you think she listened on how to break his fever, nope SMH.

I forgot to add that sister in law showed dh a pic of her son (that his teacher sent her) being sent home from school in Nov because....wait for it.....a fever
No child should be sick this much and often. And his sister nose is always blocked/clogged. There isn't that much allergies or sinuses in the world to be always blocked like this.

I told dh that he needs to talk to her before I do because I am not going to be nice.

 

[Evolving78]

There is a viral infection going around that is not showing up as Covid, maybe it is Omicron but the tests are showing neg. My in laws are chronic carriers
My sister in law came to visit over Christmas weekend and her kids were coughing up a storm. Well I woke up with a fever and chills yesterday and my sister in law had to take her son to the hospital because of his fever that he had for 3 days and dehydration
My sister in law and her kids got DH and DS sick in Sept, now me in December. This is not ok. I am pissed, I didn't even want their behinds to come over but dh begged.
They are the newschool of typhoid mary.

I broke my fever in 24 hours. Her kid has had a fever for 3 days that isn't relieved by Tylenol, do you think she listened on how to break his fever, nope SMH.

I forgot to add that sister in law showed dh a pic of her son (that his teacher sent her) being sent home from school in Nov because....wait for it.....a fever
No child should be sick this much and often. And his sister nose is always blocked/clogged. There isn't that much allergies or sinuses in the world to be always blocked like this.

I told dh that he needs to talk to her before I do because I am not going to be nice.

You need to just have that talk with her. You were pretty much given the invitation to do so when they came to visit and you got sick.

 

[Black Ambrosia]

There is a viral infection going around that is not showing up as Covid, maybe it is Omicron but the tests are showing neg. My in laws are chronic carriers
My sister in law came to visit over Christmas weekend and her kids were coughing up a storm. Well I woke up with a fever and chills yesterday and my sister in law had to take her son to the hospital because of his fever that he had for 3 days and dehydration
My sister in law and her kids got DH and DS sick in Sept, now me in December. This is not ok. I am pissed, I didn't even want their behinds to come over but dh begged.
They are the newschool of typhoid mary.

You think the tests aren't sensitive enough to pick up omicron? Are you following the same steps you would for covid? If it's something else, how is that normally detected?

 

[MamaBear2012]

There is a viral infection going around that is not showing up as Covid, maybe it is Omicron but the tests are showing neg. My in laws are chronic carriers
My sister in law came to visit over Christmas weekend and her kids were coughing up a storm. Well I woke up with a fever and chills yesterday and my sister in law had to take her son to the hospital because of his fever that he had for 3 days and dehydration
My sister in law and her kids got DH and DS sick in Sept, now me in December. This is not ok. I am pissed, I didn't even want their behinds to come over but dh begged.
They are the newschool of typhoid mary.

I broke my fever in 24 hours. Her kid has had a fever for 3 days that isn't relieved by Tylenol, do you think she listened on how to break his fever, nope SMH.

I forgot to add that sister in law showed dh a pic of her son (that his teacher sent her) being sent home from school in Nov because....wait for it.....a fever
No child should be sick this much and often. And his sister nose is always blocked/clogged. There isn't that much allergies or sinuses in the world to be always blocked like this.

I told dh that he needs to talk to her before I do because I am not going to be nice.

I was just talking to a friend about viral loads this morning. I worked in HIV/AIDS for several years, so that's where my knowledge base about viruses comes from. The CDC is doing too much and not enough, so I can only lean on my HIV understanding.

So, one of the things that I used to talk to my patients about (I'm a social worker) is medication compliance. If my patients adhered to their medication regimen, then they could take their viral load (the amount of virus in their bodies) down to "undetectable". And when they were undetectable, even if they had unprotected sex, it was unlikely that they would spread the virus. That didn't mean that they no longer had HIV, it just meant that the virus was low enough to be "undetectable" in that moment. If they stopped taking their medication as prescribed, the virus would multiply in their bodies. And if they continued to be reckless with their medication (taking it off and on), then the virus was smart enough to make that cocktail one that no longer worked for them.

In my mind, there are plenty of people who are testing "too early" or they don't have enough of the virus in their body for it to be detected. But in a few days, if testing again, the viral load would be substantial enough to be detected on the test. In fact, if you take a PCR test, it will show up as "detected" if positive. Again, I'm just thinking about this from the lens of the work that I used to do, and Covid could be very different, but I think that plenty of people have/had Covid, but are testing at the wrong time.

 

[sunshinebeautiful]

Whew, chile, I was talking about this when covid first came out. Let me go ahead and schedule this flu shot and hope it's effective against this year's strain. I want no parts of this.

 

[sunshinebeautiful]

I was just talking to a friend about viral loads this morning. I worked in HIV/AIDS for several years, so that's where my knowledge base about viruses comes from. The CDC is doing too much and not enough, so I can only lean on my HIV understanding.

So, one of the things that I used to talk to my patients about (I'm a social worker) is medication compliance. If my patients adhered to their medication regimen, then they could take their viral load (the amount of virus in their bodies) down to "undetectable". And when they were undetectable, even if they had unprotected sex, it was unlikely that they would spread the virus. That didn't mean that they no longer had HIV, it just meant that the virus was low enough to be "undetectable" in that moment. If they stopped taking their medication as prescribed, the virus would multiply in their bodies. And if they continued to be reckless with their medication (taking it off and on), then the virus was smart enough to make that cocktail one that no longer worked for them.

In my mind, there are plenty of people who are testing "too early" or they don't have enough of the virus in their body for it to be detected. But in a few days, if testing again, the viral load would be substantial enough to be detected on the test. In fact, if you take a PCR test, it will show up as "detected" if positive. Again, I'm just thinking about this from the lens of the work that I used to do, and Covid could be very different, but I think that plenty of people have/had Covid, but are testing at the wrong time.

Yup. This. I ran across a graphic explaining this the other day.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-trust-rapid-covid-test-result-2021-12

 

[dancinstallion]

You think the tests aren't sensitive enough to pick up omicron? Are you following the same steps you would for covid? If it's something else, how is that normally detected?

I am treating it just like Covid, I have/had same symptoms as Omicron fever chills stuffy nose and now cough in 2 days. Deep in My ear canals were very very itchy, I get a PCR on Monday but I don't think it will show. There were no earlier appointments. I don't feel sick but I do feel pissed off. I want to fight my sister in law and her husband.
Now I am stuck quarantined in my bedroom.

I think her son has omicron and it isn't being detected, or he already had covid and is now having pneumonia or other viral infection post covid and that is why he is neg

Our air purifiers didn't purify enough. I want to toss them bad boys in the trash, we had them on full blast the whole time too.

 

[MamaBear2012]

Yup. This. I ran across a graphic explaining this the other day.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-trust-rapid-covid-test-result-2021-12

Oooh, yep. It's just as I thought then.

Now I'd be interested to see if the idea of a high viral load making it easier to be passed on to others is the same. Since the two viruses obviously have different ways of transmission, I'm not sure.

The friend that I was talking to about viral loads was recently diagnosed with Covid - her and her whole family. So her mom came to help them out. My friend has been wearing two masks and kind of staying away from her mother, but she said that she thinks it's been long enough so she is taking off her mask today. I was asking her if she had retested to see if she's still testing "positive" and she said that she hadn't planned to retest. I really can't blame her since the CDC has given so many mixed messages. But that's why I was even thinking about viral loads.

I'm sure one day we'll all look back at this time and have so many more answers than we do now. At least I hope that's the case.

 

[dancinstallion]

My sister in law and her kids got DH and DS sick in Sept, now me in December. This is not ok. I am pissed, I didn't even want their behinds to come over but dh begged.
They are the newschool of typhoid mary.

I broke my fever in 24 hours. Her kid has had a fever for 3 days that isn't relieved by Tylenol, do you think she listened on how to break his fever, nope SMH.

I forgot to add that sister in law showed dh a pic of her son (that his teacher sent her) being sent home from school in Nov because....wait for it.....a fever
No child should be sick this much and often. And his sister nose is always blocked/clogged. There isn't that much allergies or sinuses in the world to be always blocked like this.

I told dh that he needs to talk to her before I do because I am not going to be nice.

My friend got jokes.

Me: I didn't want my in laws over but in marriage you have to compromise

Her: you compromised your immune system


Good one, I was caught slipping in my own house with my guards down. I will take the L

 

[naturalgyrl5199]

So I def had a good cry yesterday. No one died ya'll I'm just tired....

I had to gently as possibly chew out my mom (no yelling) bc she spent NYE/New Years day and after with her friends at the Hardrock and the hotel. She facetimed me yesterday about it and told me she was staying there. She also told me her husband has COVID and has been very sick since he tested positive on Tuesday. I was like...um...did you test: Her: "No! I feel fine." Me: (sigh)--"okaaay...but mom you could be positive and spreading it to your friends. Protocol dictates you're presumptive positive and he is SYMPTOMATIC....Remember, this is how its spread because some people never have symptoms." She also fibbed bout having access to a test (of course cause lines are crowded now)....But then when I called my sister who forgot to tell me our stepdad was sick (he has severe asthma, and he is fine)....she said--no I thought mom used the other home test I dropped everything in the middle of work last week to drop off at their house.... She left town 2 days after his positive test. Not 5 days. he is still very symptomatic.


Not to mention my unvaxxed cousins who party a lot who are now sick with COVID---but not before coming to my granny's house where my dad and his wife live to keep granny company. My dad is under prostate cancer treatment and his wife, she has health issues. The cousins came by on Christmas and were positive by the 27th with moderate symptoms. My dad complained of mild cold symptoms but initiated his health/herbs/supplement protocol and says he felt much better within a day. He is vaccinated. I told him not to let anyone in that house who is not masked. He didn't know this about cancer anyways because he said they were all over there hugging and kissing everyone. He will tell granny who will lay down the law cause her oldest and favorite granddaughter says so. She is also the family mouthpiece. They know cuz is crazy and can make a 7 hour drive in 5 on 1 tank of gas as well.

But I'm tired cause Omicron done took out 2 staff members, we got 3 more out pending test results this fine Monday morning. Another is out bc the vaccine booster had her sick. One needing to go home NOW bc the vaccine made her sick as well. So we are stretched thinner than again. I'm tired because the last 2 weeks I've been coming home like a zombie pushing myself through the holidays and I got reckless blood relations including my mom who isn't aware she needs to sacrifice partying....and is looking to go on a cruise with her same friends in 2 weeks. Its free. We think we can talk her out of it. I'm just tired.

*its not the going out...its the going out when you have been exposed to a SYMPTOMATIC positive person*

We thought by 2022 we'd be winding down as a conservative prediction. I'm pushing this out to 2024/2025 with how people behave alone. Vaccines won't save us. Behaviors are killing us.

 

[Everything Zen]

I’m sorry @naturalgyrl5199 - I resigned myself to the same timeline last year but my anxiety isn’t on 10 because I at least have access to the vaccine and I’m fully dosed and boosted. All you can do is what you already been doing and love your wayward family from afar. I’ve already resigned myself to the fact that @Crackers Phinn stared:everyone ain’t gonna make and it’s not your job to protect them from themselves.

I think of it this way- COVID is a more acute version of watching all of us carry on with the bad habits that eventually catch up to us in spite of many warning:
- the morbidly obese continuing with poor life style habits
- the smokers smoking after bypass surgery
- the alcoholics drinking themselves to death
- men refusing/delaying their annual exams
colonoscopies and urologists wondering why
they have stage 4 colon and prostate cancer bc
those exams are gay.

It is what it is.

 

[naturalgyrl5199]

Health data suggests South Africa’s Omicron peak has passed with no major spike in deaths

A study out of South Africa found the country may have already passed the peak of it omicron-fueled surge in cases of the coronavirus, with data suggesting the variant has not caused a co…

www.google.com

This is good for SA but know that its a criminal offense in SA to be out in public without a mask. So they have other things in place to mitigate spread. They also have other issues with how they respond to COVID. We can use this as an FYI but we cannot expect the same to happen in the US because of our behaviors. Which is unfortunate.