Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #105

[Knitty]

@CharlestonGal I am so sorry to hear about your niece. 39 is so YOUNG.

@tabitha111 My mother's building is falling apart. She has had no housekeeping at all for several weeks, which affects her less than some others, because she wouldn't let housekeeping in her apartment since they wouldn't tell her if they were vaccinated. She has been going to the dining room to pick up her food. She went down on the late side of it Sunday, and found out the cook left and that somebody else was cooking and that the food was inedible so most residents had left for restaurants! She immediately thought COVID, but management kept telling them that the cook left because he was overworked, and just needed some time off. Until today, when she got a letter from corporate saying that they have COVID challenges among dining and management staff and they are bringing in corporate staff for now. Nothing about how the residents should protect themselves, wear masks, limit leaving the building. Nothing about limiting non-essential visitors. Nothing. Only a handful wear masks, they are elbow-to-elbow in the dining room, bus driver is out so they are taking Ubers to Walmart and restaurants. Her friend in another similar place says they have complete continuity, nobody out sick and are locked down until further notice. My mom is in this one because it was brand-spanking-new when she was ready to move in, but she's wishing she'd gone to the other one.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

As omicron changes infection risk, experts share their approaches (nbcnews.com)

NBC News asked four public health experts about their personal behavior and risk calculus during this omicron surge.

The rapid spread of the omicron variant has left many vaccinated people feeling confused about which activities are safe as the U.S. heads into the third year of the Covid-19 crisis.

Omicron appears to be far more transmissible than prior versions of the virus and better able to evade immune protection from vaccines or prior infection, though it seems to cause less severe illness.

The average number of new cases in the U.S. topped 590,000 on Wednesday, with an average of 1,349 deaths. More than 110,000 Covid patients are hospitalized. For many people, those stark statistics raise familiar questions about whether to curtail social gatherings, travel and other activities.

...All of them advised vaccinated people to remain vigilant and conscientious — and not to return fully to pre-pandemic life — but there was no firm consensus around some activities like air travel...

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Email from Beaumont Health System (Michigan):

COVID cases are rising rapidly in the community, and our ability to care for you and your family is at risk.

Hospitalizations at Beaumont have increased 40% in the past week. 62% of our COVID patients are unvaccinated and only 8% have received a booster. More than 430 Beaumont employees are also out with COVID symptoms.

“Our health care systems are overwhelmed and it’s more important than ever for the community to help contain the spread of this illness," said Dr. Nick Gilpin, Beaumont’s medical director of infection prevention. "If you have ignored our pleas for help before, now is the time to take action."

What you can do to help:

• Get vaccinated.
• Get boosted.
• Wear a mask.
• Practice social distancing / limit gatherings.
• Stay home if you’re feeling sick.
• Encourage friends and family to take action/get vaccinated/pay attention.

 

[mickey2942]

CDC director turns to media consultant as Covid-19 messaging frustrations mount - CNNPolitics

Has the CDC been reading our thread on Covid at WS?!

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Did anyone get a Pfizer booster?

How were the side effects compared to the first 2 doses?

I'm getting a little nervous ....... I had put off getting the first 2 shots.

First August 2021 and second September 2021.

DH and I had Pfizer boosters on November 16. My left arm was very sore with mild discomfort in my left shoulder and neck, as well. Other than that, I was fine. DH ran a low-grade fever and slept almost 30 hours straight due to fatigue.

Please don't avoid getting the booster but be prepared in case you have mild side effects. JMO

 

[tabitha111]

@Knitty I wonder if it's Atria ? (that is the parent company of our residence)
No lockdowns, lots of activities going on here, but we do have staff OUT. I question why they are out, but since my director is sweeping Covid under the rug, I doubt she will let anyone know the real reasons. We have 3 cooks. I wonder what will happen if all of them or even 2 of them get ill....at least I have plenty of frozen meals! I hope your mother stays well.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

@CharlestonGal I am so sorry to hear about your niece. 39 is so YOUNG.

@tabitha111 My mother's building is falling apart. She has had no housekeeping at all for several weeks, which affects her less than some others, because she wouldn't let housekeeping in her apartment since they wouldn't tell her if they were vaccinated. She has been going to the dining room to pick up her food. She went down on the late side of it Sunday, and found out the cook left and that somebody else was cooking and that the food was inedible so most residents had left for restaurants! She immediately thought COVID, but management kept telling them that the cook left because he was overworked, and just needed some time off. Until today, when she got a letter from corporate saying that they have COVID challenges among dining and management staff and they are bringing in corporate staff for now. Nothing about how the residents should protect themselves, wear masks, limit leaving the building. Nothing about limiting non-essential visitors. Nothing. Only a handful wear masks, they are elbow-to-elbow in the dining room, bus driver is out so they are taking Ubers to Walmart and restaurants. Her friend in another similar place says they have complete continuity, nobody out sick and are locked down until further notice. My mom is in this one because it was brand-spanking-new when she was ready to move in, but she's wishing she'd gone to the other one.

Yours and Tabitha's stories are just so informative.......... and painful. How will the last two years affect our thinking as we and our children get closer to considering independent or assisted living.......... so much food for thought.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Yours and Tabitha's stories are just so informative.......... and painful. How will the last two years affect our thinking as we and our children get closer to considering independent or assisted living.......... so much food for thought.

It’s a lot to think about. Going through this now, it’s concerning to move a parent into a independent living place during Covid. That provides meals with a limited kitchen. Especially with the current variant.

 

[MimosaMornings]

As omicron changes infection risk, experts share their approaches (nbcnews.com)

NBC News asked four public health experts about their personal behavior and risk calculus during this omicron surge.

The rapid spread of the omicron variant has left many vaccinated people feeling confused about which activities are safe as the U.S. heads into the third year of the Covid-19 crisis.

Omicron appears to be far more transmissible than prior versions of the virus and better able to evade immune protection from vaccines or prior infection, though it seems to cause less severe illness.

The average number of new cases in the U.S. topped 590,000 on Wednesday, with an average of 1,349 deaths. More than 110,000 Covid patients are hospitalized. For many people, those stark statistics raise familiar questions about whether to curtail social gatherings, travel and other activities.

...All of them advised vaccinated people to remain vigilant and conscientious — and not to return fully to pre-pandemic life — but there was no firm consensus around some activities like air travel...

I had a teams covid call this morning, they updated our safety protocol and risk rankings - now indoors without a mask around people not in your household is higher risk and especially if others in the indoor environment are not wearing masks.
Restaurants, bars, theatres, gyms, stores.
Social gatherings without masks even with rapid test moved up the list.
They didn’t have air travel ranked as high perhaps due to stricter mask mandates at airports/airplanes and wearing of N95/KN95 with no eating/drinking on the plane.
It can be confusing and challenging.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Supreme Court conservatives skeptical of Biden vaccine and mask requirements (nbcnews.com)

Several conservative justices suggested they didn't think the government had the authority to impose such sweeping requirements covering millions of employees.

The Supreme Court's conservative majority signaled Friday that it is unlikely to allow the Biden administration to enforce a measure intended to help stop the spread of Covid in the nation's workplaces.

The court heard more than three hours of argument in an unusual session to take up emergency appeals involving federal vaccine or testing requirements for large employers and the vaccine mandate for some health care workers — rules that would affect as many as 100 million workers...

One issue is whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has the legal power to require that businesses with 100 or more employees ensure they are vaccinated or that unvaccinated workers wear masks and show negative Covid test results at least once a week...

 

[Chelly]

My son got the results of his pcr test back and it's positive. He caught what he thinks is omicron on Dec 27th when he used a rapid test. He was infected by his brother-in-law on Christmas Day. My son is fully vaccinated and has had a booster shot. His brother-in-law is fully vaccinated but didn't get boosted. Brother-in-law's pcr came back negative. My son has ordered another pcr and will use it in a few days.

My daughter-in-law, son's wife, still has congestion. She used a rapid test and it was still positive so she's holding off on doing another test until she feels better. She also has MS. I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but thought I'd put it here.

The other person is the 81 year old grandfather who's still testing positive, but is not sick and never seemed to be. He is also fully vaccinated and boosted. The four others didn't catch it and have tested negative. They, too, are fully vaxxed and boosted.

All eight of them were together for Christmas.

@jakat Sincere thanks for sharing your family's covid experiences with us. I think hearing about people's experiences, first-hand from the source, is the most helpful way to arm ourselves against COVID. Knowledge is power.

 

[Knitty]

@Knitty I wonder if it's Atria ? (that is the parent company of our residence)
No lockdowns, lots of activities going on here, but we do have staff OUT. I question why they are out, but since my director is sweeping Covid under the rug, I doubt she will let anyone know the real reasons. We have 3 cooks. I wonder what will happen if all of them or even 2 of them get ill....at least I have plenty of frozen meals! I hope your mother stays well.

She's not in an Atria building, but she is in a nationwide chain. She's fortunate to be in independent-she can't see very well but niece takes her shopping and she's still able to cook-she has small but full kitchen. I wish she would let niece bring groceries to her, but at least she wears N95 masks anytime she is outside of her apartment. She walks the hallways and stairs and says she's hearing lots of coughing but so far everybody is saying they only have colds and nobody wants to test. One man was sitting by the fireplace waiting for his COVID test to come in - he was exposed New Year's Day but nobody told him to quarantine while waiting for the test, so he didn't. No mask. I am just appalled. Mom had her house on the market when COVID hit, and it sold and she moved to this facility in June 2020. They were immaculate with precautions at that point, but they were only at 25% occupancy. They are at 90% now. It's terrifying. It's a lovely place, but I think they are letting down the the residents.

 

[Lilibet]

Yours and Tabitha's stories are just so informative.......... and painful. How will the last two years affect our thinking as we and our children get closer to considering independent or assisted living.......... so much food for thought.

Definitely food for thought! We had figured that we would move to the one independent/assisted living combination facility in our town later this year. We love our downtown apartment, but the owner plans to move back to it next fall.

We had lived at that facility in a cottage for about 3 years and left because the nationwide chain Brookdale was awful. It’s changed hands to a more locally-owned Salem, Oregon company and has done a good job, but recently I see that residents don’t wear masks. Sooooooo…back to the drawing board for us! But at 76 & 77 with increasing physical limitations, we want our next move to be our last. What to do, what to do?

 

[Lilibet]

Good for you! Makes you safer also

I agree. Clearly Admin doesn’t appreciate you @tabitha111. Take care of yourself and don’t let the turkeys get you down!

 

[Midgie2]

CharlesronGal- So sorry to hear about your niece. You’re in my thoughts.

 

[Knitty]

Are you guys paying attention to the numbers at the schools in your area? I don't have children in the schools, and my grandchildren are preschool-aged, but ours went from 25 the on Tuesday (the day they went back to school) to 289 today, and double that out from exposure.

I went to Publix this morning, an hour or so after they opened. Only about half of the customers were masked. I'm in Florida and thanks to our governor, we don't have the numbers by county so I'm just making guesses based on who I know that has COVID right now - more at one time by far than at any time during the entire the pandemic. I'm absolutely amazed people are still so cavalier.

 

[Tiff23fr]

- yikes..

HOUSTON — A warrant has been issued for a Houston-area mom accused of putting her son in the trunk of her car after he tested positive for COVID-19.

Police: Texas teacher put son in trunk at COVID-19 testing site | khou.com

 

[LadyL]

My niece has passed away from multi-organ failure due to infection with the SARS-CoV 2 virus. She was only 39.

She suffered from poorly controlled diabetes and hypertension, had a very unhealthy BMI, was a smoker and declined to get a booster shot, all of which likely contributed greatly to her severe illness and rapid decline.

Take care of yourselves out there, folks.

so sorry CG

 

[Lilibet]

Oregon issued an interim crisis care tool today which is basically standards for triage. I have to wonder if “likelihood of survival to hospital discharge” will put the unvaxxed and elderly (80+) vaxxed at a disadvantage, since they are majority of those dying of covid at hospitals. Of course, each person is evaluated individually, not according to statistics, but I wouldn’t want to have to make that decision! From the link…

Hospitals may implement OHA’s interim crisis care tool -- or one of their own that is consistent with Oregon’s Principles in Promoting Health Equity in Resource Constrained Events – if they have taken specific steps to extend their capacity to deliver care. Those steps include stockpiling supplies, delaying non-urgent care, and repurposing existing beds and staff that are not typically used to provide critical care.

Under the interim triage tool, all patients who can potentially benefit from treatment will be offered care, if health care resources are sufficient. If hospital staff, beds and treatment are insufficient, all patients will be individually assessed according to the best available objective medical evidence. According to the tool:

• No one will be denied care based on stereotypes, assumptions about any individual’s quality of life, or judgement about an individual’s “worth” based on the presence or absence of disabilities.
• Care decisions should be based on the likelihood of survival to hospital discharge.

Under Oregon’s interim crisis care standards, state health officials expect providers to treat all patients with respect, care and compassion. Hospital clinicians may not base care decisions on an individual’s use of past or future medical or social resources. They should apply reasonable modifications to any triage scoring criteria when considering individuals with underlying disabilities or certain underlying health conditions.

Triage decisions will be made without regard to morally or scientifically irrelevant considerations such as income, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, health insurance coverage or other factors.
BBM
OHA issues interim triage tool to help hospitals facing a crisis of overwhelming COVID-19 admissions

More detail here:
https://sharedsystems.dhsoha.state....c.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

 

[LadyL]

I have to fess up-- I got my covid vaccine shots and booster
but I have never had a flu shot and dont plan on getting one--
you may ask why-- I am afraid of having an allergic reaction'
they say dont get it if you are allergic to eggs---As far as I know
I am not allergic to eggs, but that does not rule out the possibility
I could be allergic to the flu shot IMO

I'm allergic to eggs and I used to not get the flu shot but then thought maybe getting the flu would be worse than my mild side affects from the egg. I have gotten the flu shot now a few years with no adverse reaction.