Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

lol

haaaa

On the Monday morning call today, one of my colleagues announced that her housemate, a doctor, tested positive. They are now isolating in separate parts of the flat It seems the medical profession is getting hit really hard here, as with everywhere else.

My husband works in an emergency room, and yes, many people have gotten it.

My buddy who's a respiratory therapist in New Orleans caught it pretty early on. He was bedridden for a while but never hospitalized and iirc to go back to work he had to pass 2 tests within 24 hours of each other

Same with some of his co-workers who got it with the two tests. They both had mild cases and they know exactly who they got it from, too, which is odd to think about.

Is it me, or does anybody else hear crickets on FB when they post any positive COVID development, but get engagement out the ass when the post a negative one?

if it bleeds it ledes

My solution is to never post on FB except about art and music stuff. That way if there's little engagement, I can just say, "well, their loss"

partner has symptoms so we got swabbed but the hospital is making us sign up for a completely broken patient portal to get the results

i know "completely broken patient portal" is redundant

Update on my colleague, her doctor housemate has been shipped off to a quarantine hotel. He’s been so busy recently that he’s hardly been home and was asymptomatic. Her and other housemates have scrubbed the place top to bottom and are isolating in their rooms as much as possible. Waiting till Monday for a test appointment. Contacts don’t get tested till day 11 of quarantine unless they show symptoms, I’m not sure if it’s just PCR or they do antibodies as well.

I hesitate to post this given the more serious issues posted in this thread, but, here goes.

My wife and I are renting a house in Maine with close friends (just the four of us) in a couple weeks. We have all been WFH for months and observing quarantine (going out for groceries/alcohol mainly). Maine requires a 14 day quarantine unless you reside in certain states (such as NY, where we live) or have a negative test from a sample taken within 3 days of traveling to the state.

We were all planning on getting tested shortly before traveling anyway, to put everyone's minds at ease and in case we are asked. But, afaict, normal testing results here take 3-14 days meaning there is a good chance we won't have results back before we travel. There is limited rapid testing available following an online consultation, which tells me we would have to lie about symptoms to gain access (we know people who have done this). So what do we do:

1. Just rely on the NY exemption to quarantine (our friends ultimately trust us and probably don't care).
2. Schedule normal testing 3 days before we leave and hope we get the results in time.
3. Lie and push for rapid testing.

Just to add, the only activities we would be doing outside the house are shopping, occasional outdoor lobster shack dining, and hiking.

I think the risk of hanging out with another couple at a house in Maine is quite low. And even if one of you has it, and gives it to the other three, it wouldn't go further than your little bubble. Right? These sorts of 'household bubbles' are commonplace now even in countries with quite strict guidelines.

Of course you don't want to get it, or give it to the other three. So you'd have to see how comfortable you are with that risk.

Could you schedule a test for 14 days before you leave i.e. now-ish and then really not leave your house at all until your trip?

the NYC health and hospitals free testing turned around antibodies test same day and Coronavirus test 3 days (took on a friday got back monday). results were online. it was easy.

pbkr, i can recommend a doctor's office on the upper east side that is offering same day turnaround covid testing for $85 out of pocket.

I would take that recommendation just in case (webmail is fine), but leaning toward doing the regular testing locally and hoping the results come back quickly.

I've seen a few friends since March precisely because we trust each other not to have (a) eaten at restaurants (b) expanded their bubbles beyond their own constrictions. We still sit outside despite Florida's mephitic heat. Do what you must to stay sane so long as you're safe. Enjoy the vacation, PBKR.

rely on the exemption

my partner's brother took his family on a Maine vacation from NYC and had zero issues or hassles

just ilx mailed that doc info... also, i don't know why i don't just post it here for any other NYCers who are capable of paying the exorbitant fast turnaround fee:
https://www.medicalofficesofmanhattan.com/rapid-covid-test/

Does anyone know about Massachusetts regs at the moment? I'm organizing a camping trip with some friends in the Catskills, but I'd really, really like to stop by my favorite bookstore in Hadley, MA, as a detour on the way back down south...I'm coming from PA. The bookstore is open, and my stop there last year replenished my shelves and reinvigorated my reading practice for months— there's nothing like it in PA.

(Figured as long as we're talking about vacations and interstate travel, I could get this little squib in. Apologies if it seemsout of order!)

Table are you going to Gray Matter?

MA requires a negative test off of a sample taken within 72 hours of traveling into the state to avoid a 14 day quarantine.

More info here: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-travel-order#quarantine-requirement-and-testing-options-

Hadrian, yes. Or I want to.

(Unrelated to travel, my daughter found this on tik tok and said (in so many words) that it was OTM re: online schooling:)

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJkMM9tq/

DJP, I guess I want to know whether the interstate travel exemption can get me past that.

Nope:

Transitory travel: This includes people who are passing through Massachusetts and permits travelers to drive through the State or to connect to their airplane, bus or train, or to stop at a highway rest stop, but this exception extends only so long as is reasonably required for the traveler to complete their transit, make any necessary airplane, bus, or train connection, or make use of travel services such as at a highway rest stop.

Josh in Chicago, that's why I'm not making students do any group work or breakout discussions or anything like that. When I was teaching *university* students in person, I gave them three periods of class time to prepare presentations so that they didn't have to do anything outside of class. Only delusional teachers think that anything of substance is getting done in small groups or breakout rooms, it's laughable.

It is required for me to pick up books at this bookstore to complete my transit.

xxxp awesome place, absent the plague I would flag you down for a drink :(

Thanks for the advice, encouragement and information everyone. Been looking forward to it all summer but always worried whether it would actually happen. Probably going to take the test a couple days before we go, just in case.

Alas...maybe next time. I guess I'll just wait and see whether PA is included in the state exemptions list at some point, because things have been going pretty well here (fingers crossed!).

And Hadrian, I have many friends in the Northampton area, so yes, next time I'm up there (absent plague), let's definitely get together for a drink!

for sure! dm-ing you my #

oh ha I forgot I have yr email already

https://film.avclub.com/the-new-mutants-finally-opens-this-week-here-s-why-we-1844833667

The A.V. Club won’t be reviewing it, however. At least not this week, and probably not for many afterwards. A few days ago, we reached out to Disney and were informed by representatives of the studio that they would not be providing press with either an advance screening of the film or a digital review link. In other words, the only way critics will be able to see The New Mutants is if they buy a ticket and go to a theater, just like everyone else. In normal times, that’s exactly what we’d do: Studios will sometimes decline to screen a movie in advance of its public premiere—often, it must be said, when they’re afraid that reviews will be negative enough to hurt attendance. (Maybe The New Mutants is a train wreck. Or maybe Disney just thinks it is.)

But these are not normal times. Last week, we published an interview with scientific experts on the dangers of going to the movies now, during a pandemic that is in no way under control. They did not mince words: There’s a very good chance you could get sick. And that’s a risk The A.V. Club will not be taking to review a movie, any movie, even one that will satisfy our burning curiosity about a long-delayed comic-book blockbuster that sounds more like A Nightmare On Elm Street III: The Dream Warriors than First Class. We are, in fact, adopting the official policy of only reviewing films our writers can safely watch, whether in a socially distanced press screening or with a digital screener. And yes, that applies to all our writers, even those willing to take the risk for an assignment, because we’re not willing to monetize that risk, either.

I’m still assuming for the time being that, given the contract renegotiation/kickback structure and shortened window, a lot of theater releases are a way to fulfill existing agreements before a digital release drops within a month.

PKBR, someone in my house used an in-home test from https://www.everlywell.com/products/covid-19-test/ while quarantining. you can keep the test in a corner until you want it. she took it (and fedex picked it up) on thursday, got the result on a saturday. might help if you're somewhere with slow turnaround and you want to do this before you head to NYC. there are a few other options for this, but everlywell is the one that was recommended to me by an immunologist friend working on this stuff.

Thanks. I didn't know such a thing existed and will keep it in mind.

tactical cargo mask

http://www.tombogo.com/store/p142/Cargo_Pocket_Face_Mask.html

i’ve seen a neck gaiter (not approved for covid purposes, fabric too breathable) with an inside pocket. probably a weed pocket

two cargo pockets!

i just bought a pack of 5 silicone "cages" that you put on your nose and mouth to keep the fabric off your face/breathing area. they can't arrive soon enough. i am tired of feeling like i am being smothered.

My sister (who is a preschool director and thus masked all the time) recommends those highly.

Those would make a difference for me. I should get some. I'll start teaching again in a few weeks & it'll be masked all the time.

Masks are mandated outside in the entire city of Paris & the petit couronne as of tomorrow morning. They're already required in all inside places open to the public (well, obviously not in your own apartments).

Thanks for the heads up on those "cages"; I will also try them out. Would love feedback from others in this thread on them!

I gave blood yesterday and during the covid screening part they seem to have expanded the symptoms they ask about: previously it was have you had a fever, new continuous cough or loss of taste/smell (+ have you or anyone in your household tested positive for coronavirus obv), now they also ask about runny nose, sneezing, cold sores and maybe one other I’m forgetting - have I missed something and these have been bumped up the frequent symptoms list?

My cousin, who has special needs and lives in a group home, had been on lockdown for months, hasn't and been able to go to his job, and has otherwise had his routine disrupted as a result of the quarantines. My aunt had only recently been able to begin seeing him in person (masked and distanced) in the home's yard. So one of the live-in care workers who stay in the home in shifts came in while sick and now my cousin and the other three residents have all tested positive for the virus.

My cousin's case seems relatively mild so far but the home is on lockdown again. This shit is just so enraging because it was mostly avoidable.

Oof, that's terrible.

xpost I gave blood on Sunday via the Red Cross and they didn't have any real covid screening questions, at least nothing specific. Obviously beforehand they ask you not to come in if you're sick, and they take your temperature there, and there are the other current physical precautions, but most of the screening questions seemed to be the usual about IV drugs, gay sex and mad cow. Those mostly kinda generic "new" symptoms, though, I want to say the CDC added them a month or so ago? Maybe just as an extra precaution to make sure people with even just the sniffles aren't coming in?