Covid-19 #3: It's More Personal Than Ever

[Buckwheat]

I didn't feel that much covid-anxiety recently, I was stressed about the new job starting, but covid was always at the back of my mind with all the precautions we are taking, hand-washing, mask-wearing, the threat of moving to remote work any day, etc.

However, it just hit me hard today when I heard that a family member of a coworker is going to be tested. I was last in contact with this coworker on Friday, we travelled in the same car. It is very unlikely that she got it from that family member - if the family member even has it, as there was no test yet - and even less likely that she passed it on to me or anybody else at work. But earlier today, I went for a walk with a friend who has a teeny tiny little baby. I didn't even touch the baby, let alone coughed or sneezed into her, obviously, and we were outside the whole time, not in any enclosed space. But I just cannot get it out of my mind how terrible it would be to bring disease into such a family if I happened to be a carrier. So I am being a bit of a hypohondriac today and feeling worse because I am stressing over what is probably nothing.

[Zorral]

On 9/2/2020 at 6:02 PM, BigFatCoward said:

It actually gets easier rather than harder during prolonged periods of time

I've noticed this too.  But still, I've not done what you just did.  Thank you!  Not that big a deal, but so essential, so right,  Again, thank you!

~~~~~~~~~~

Another beautiful day here like these weeks of September are. Since 9/11 and Katrina we here have taken to calling this 9/11 weather.  Nobody can stand to be inside in these bright blue and golden days.

Earlier last week I had physical reunions with two different groups of librarian friends at two different libraries.  I stood outside, they came to stand on the stoops and steps, 6 feet apart, wearing masks and gloves -- and we talked and caught up.  There is no library services at these branches (NYU's is still just ded, fred), except for Grab 'n Go.  The books we ask for online are checked out and checked in, online.  We go inside to pick them up and walk out again.  So you can imagine how much work they are doing -- every piece has to be disinfected at every stage. I am so GRATEFul to have these places to go to, filled with people I've known for so long and admire, respect and like so much.

~~~~~~~~

Today I SAW Sayid! He’s working at the the family restaurant of French Mediterranean food. o, holy cow!  With all the immune compromising from his cancer, radiation, chemo he was out there taking orders and serving customers. But I can imagine, especially on a day like this, with a whole year + of battling cancer – being outside and doing something beats not doing it, and taking the chance with C-19.

So I let him hug me.  We both were wearing masks and gloves.  He cried.  He told me I was beautiful. I could understand him perfectly despite the speech impediment he still has going on from the several operations on the tumor on his cheek bone and the bone graft.  He wants to buy Partner and me a drink.  I realized … while his brother is the best with menus and choosing food, and sister-in-law is the artist with accounting and bills – Sayid is the heart and soul of what had been our Local  Without him it just wasn’t what it was, whether he was actually present when we stopped in for a meal or nightcap.not.  When he started his cancer battle we started to lose interest in being there.

Seeing people again, whom I saw nearly every day for years and years -- I cannot describe how it makes me feel. But I think it goes along the lines of Sayid cryng and saying I was beautiful, and I thought he was beautiful.  That's how we look to each other again, after all this time.

Particularly in light of that experience, what I next enountered, in Washington Square Park, was not reassuring.  Though almost everyone  else was wearing masks, even people who knew each other sitting together – there was a large group of white kids dressed sort East Indian, seated close together on an Indian print cotton cloth, doing that faux Buddhist-whatever thing (they were not the Hari Krishnas), with cymbols and small drums and – SINGING.  LOUDLY.  NO MASKS.  I got the hell outta there as fast as possible.  Frackin' religious crazies.

~~~~~~~~~~

Two close friends are going nutz with their 8 year old's education.  They can't afford a teaching pod.  They both work full time and can't home school.  They've engaged a private tutor to help them one hour Mon-Friday via Zoom with his work flow and lesson plans.  It's all they can do right now.  They can't afford to catch  C-19 from him picking up in a classroom.  Their apartment, which costs the earth, of course, in a good Brooklyn neighborhood, is too small for them to truly isolate if either of them get sick.  And if both of them do? what about their son?

 

 

[HexMachina]

There has been a localised ‘outbreak’ close to where my parents live, stemming from a charity football match. No additional lockdowns yet but the situation is being monitored and i imagine if there is anything to come it will be next week. I am somewhat worried and reasonably so - the football event was at a club my dad often goes to, and he is also in an occupation which brings him into contact with a lot of people in the local area throughout the day. He wears a mask and takes all the precautions he can but i’m still somewhat anxious

[HexMachina]

On 9/6/2020 at 10:50 PM, HelenaExMachina said:

There has been a localised ‘outbreak’ close to where my parents live, stemming from a charity football match. No additional lockdowns yet but the situation is being monitored and i imagine if there is anything to come it will be next week. I am somewhat worried and reasonably so - the football event was at a club my dad often goes to, and he is also in an occupation which brings him into contact with a lot of people in the local area throughout the day. He wears a mask and takes all the precautions he can but i’m still somewhat anxious

Looking more and more likely that they will soon be in localised lockdown, which will also mean my nanna is in lockdown too. I think there is another border from here but not too sure who. Maybe @Sophelia? Anyway, not going to affect me because of where i now live but still a bit worried for my family. 

I’m also starting a phased return to the office from tomorrow

[rotting sea cow]

On 8/20/2020 at 1:25 PM, The Anti-Targ said:

Now here is a curious conversation I had with a friend just tonight. She's Iranian, and she went to Iran last March (2019) to try to help her early stage Alzheimer's mother get settled into aged care in Tehran. She (my friend) got sick while in Iran with symptoms very curiously similar to COVID-19, and she says at that time Iran was in a state of semi-lockdown with the streets of Tehran much less busy than normal. She went to a doctor while she was ill and rather than the doctor diagnosing her with 'flu, which is the main differential when presenting with COVID-19 symptoms, he said she just had a cold and she will shake it off. My friend said she was pretty sick for about a month. There were a lot of people sick with the same disease.

I checked a couple of times in the conversation that it was March 2019 that she went to Iran, and there is no mistake, is was 2019. Of course there was no test to find out if it was COVID and it could have been some other bug going around, including 'flu. But she's convinced she had COVID-19.  Too late for her to get antibody tested because the antibodies wane. I don't know if there is a cell mediated immunity test available yet.

I remember you said the same in the earliest versions of these threads. At that time I didn't believe you, but now there are news out there that COVID-19 hit much earlier than though (there was already evidence from Europe). Maybe there is something to learn there. The chinese had always claimed that the virus didn't come from Wuhan only it was detected there for first time. I wonder what they know.

Incidentally, I was talking to an Armenian woman over the weekend and she said she fell seriously ill last summer (August 2019) while visiting the family and had to be hospitalized. She said a lots of the symptoms overlap of what COVID-19 is now described. She didn't get a diagnostic only it was likely viral, maybe a chickenpox complication, but she was vaccinated and didn't have any cutaneous condition.

 

[Zorral]

Nothing beats a pandemic to expose in stark, sharp relief the difference between the pillagers and the rest of us.

Because, of course, shooting grouse needs an audience, beaters, cleaners, dog handlers, gun bearers, etc. and how in the world could it be expected that those for whom their hunting parties are just part of the normal year to go without doing this (while, surely, stiffing the 'help', as their sorts are so wont to do).

Quote

 

...Grouse shooting and hunting with guns in England are among outdoor activities exempted from the government’s “rule of six” coronavirus regulations....

In a statement on its website, BASC said: “The ‘rule of six’ restrictions brought in today could have disrupted game shooting which usually includes eight or more people. However, the exemption will allow shooting to operate under Covid-safe guidance.....

 

In the meantime,

"Coronavirus live news: England confirms 2,621 new infections as global cases hit one-day record high"

[Sophelia]

6 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Looking more and more likely that they will soon be in localised lockdown, which will also mean my nanna is in lockdown too. I think there is another border from here but not too sure who. Maybe @Sophelia? Anyway, not going to affect me because of where i now live but still a bit worried for my family. 

Well-remembered @HelenaExMachina - I've just come back to Sunderland because I'm due to be on campus to teach, but we don't know what's going to happen. The lockdowns elsewhere seem to be very light touch ones, just banning friends and family meeting in the home but not in the pub... it's not really a lockdown like the original one, and seems very random what people are allowed to do. Hopefully your family aren't affected. Last time I looked it was still less than 1 in 1000 people had it, so chances of encountering someone wandering around not very high, and if wearing masks hopefully unlikely to transmit in any case. But I understand, as I worry too, just went on metro and several people not wearing masks (one probably medical reasons, one was drinking water, one was a child, but it's still a risk, and we still don't really know why it's spreading more in some places).

[S John]

My cousin just got over Covid. Not the first person I’ve known of to get it, but the first person in my family. He’s a firefighter in Florida and definitely got it in the line of duty. He’s in his early 30s so I was curious if he was asymptomatic. He said he was not and was legitimately pretty ill for a few days, but it passed after that, thank god. Poor guy had to miss the birth of his son because he was in quarantine.

[ljkeane]

16 hours ago, Zorral said:

Nothing beats a pandemic to expose in stark, sharp relief the difference between the pillagers and the rest of us.

The rule changes haven't been particularly well managed but to be fair it's all organised sports activities that are exempted from the rule of six restrictions not just shooting. As sports go grouse shooting's probably one of the better suited to actually taking part in while sticking to some social distancing. 

[Ormond]

Just got a Facebook message from the chemistry professor at my university saying he has volunteered for the trials on the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine and just received his shot (of course he doesn't know if it was the vaccine or the salt water placebo. 

Nice to know someone who is part of this and that people in my part of the country/world are involved. He says the scientist part of him is "geeking out" over this.

[Zorral]

People ask, "I am a subject in a covid-19 vaccine trial.  Do I still need to wear a mask?"

Yes, a story in today's paper.

[kairparavel]

I wasn't accepted into the NIH antibody study which I'm ok with. It was a longshot and SO many people applied. 

This is the study they are undertaking:

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-begins-study-quantify-undetected-cases-coronavirus-infection

[BigFatCoward]

Fucking packing to go back up north and they announce north tyneside is probably getting new restrictions. I havent seen my nana for 6 months, and she is 91, dont know how long she has left. 

[Fragile Bird]

25 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

Fucking packing to go back up north and they announce north tyneside is probably getting new restrictions. I havent seen my nana for 6 months, and she is 91, dont know how long she has left. 

That sucks.

My sister in law is due to fly to Poland on Monday, to spend 7 weeks with her 86 year old mom. We were talking last night about the fact Europe may start shutting down again, and was there a possibility she’d get trapped for months. It’s a risk.

[BigFatCoward]

19 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

That sucks.

My sister in law is due to fly to Poland on Monday, to spend 7 weeks with her 86 year old mom. We were talking last night about the fact Europe may start shutting down again, and was there a possibility she’d get trapped for months. It’s a risk.

TBF, I still travel into work in London and my daughter is at nursery. Probably should be avoiding 91 year olds anyway. 

[Filippa Eilhart]

Most countries rely on quarantines rather than flight bans these days. Poland being an exception of course, but all that means is she might have to be more creative in her flight itinerary.

eta: replying to @Fragile Bird since this is a new page. 

[Fragile Bird]

23 minutes ago, Filippa Eilhart said:

Most countries rely on quarantines rather than flight bans these days. Poland being an exception of course, but all that means is she might have to be more creative in her flight itinerary.

eta: replying to @Fragile Bird since this is a new page. 

The news here is all about big jumps in cases in Europe (Spain! France!) and would that lead to a shutdown in travel if things don’t improve in a few weeks. We have had a huge jump with the end of summer and people returning to work or finally taking a vacation. And students.

[Fury Resurrected]

Right now about once a week I will have a client need to reschedule due to COVID 19 symptoms, exposure, or a positive test. I usually see 1-2 clients a day, so this is over 10% 

[Fragile Bird]

It was my birthday last week, and my closest friends had me over for coffee and cake yesterday afternoon. We sat and chatted for an hour and a half. Outside, in the sun. Once the sun dropped below tree level it got bloody cold.

They told me they had a family dinner Saturday night in the backyard, with 3 heaters going full blast. Their Toronto daughter and son and his wife and their Montreal son and wife were there, plus the two of them (mid-60s) and her 96 year old mom, who lives with them.

I remembered some stuff I meant to return to them an hour after I left so I came back to drop it off, and my friend told me Toronto son just texted her to tell her a coworker has reported having Covid symptoms and will be going for testing today. This is how Covid spreads. Keeping my fingers crossed for them, and me. I am assuming that if their son is infected, his wife may be infected and everyone there may have been infected. What I don’t know is if they were at a stage already where they could have infected me. 
 

Damn.

[Zorral]

You are probably OK because you were outside, but only testing will say so, probably?

But this is how it happens, which is why we are keeping such desperately low limits on our social interactions. Because others may not be or cannot be doing so.

A very good friend is now sick.  She scorned masks and so on.  But their home network died due to age.  Their usual IT came in to install another one. The house is big and spacious.  She's never said whether he wore a mask or not.

But sure enough a few days ago he called to tell them he'd tested positive.  I asked if she was getting tested, and she said, "There's no point."

Now she's sick with something respiratory.  She still wasn't bothering with testing, until her grown son insisted she do so, or else he wasn't seeing her again.  Haven't heard from her since that last communication.

Everytime we're with someone, there's a risk.  I am getting my hair cut for the first time since February on Sunday.  Before it gets too cold to keep the door of the salon open.  The guy doing it has been doing it ever since they reopened -- by appointment only.  And only one person working at a time inside and only a single customer inside at a time.  But my trepidation is huge.

My anxiety about anyone else anywhere near me is spiking like crazy now that the university has reopened and the students are not following any rules or guidelines -- and the university is refusing to release any information to staff or faculty about any student of their being sick or testing positive. "Privacy."  For the first time it cares about student privacy.  Students are such spreaders and they are all over where I live, as as well as where I work -- though fortunately mostly I can still work from home.  But I do have to go out, a lot.