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

xpost Asynchronous virtual learning is a terrible thing to do to kids imo. I mean, I get that it theoretically helps with scheduling, but in reality it means kids having to manage their own time and figure out when and how to access and complete a massive list of tasks, which is something even adults struggle with. I'm teaching middle school right now; half the class time is synchronous through Teams and the other half is asynchronous, and so I'm theoretically supposed to give them 100 minutes' worth of outside work a week. That's nuts and I can't bring myself to do it, but then I feel like I'm skimping on the teaching I owe them. No way to win.

Yeah, my 9 year old has noticeably been doing better this year with really rigid Zoom schedules and class group meetings, as opposed to the asynchronous from spring. He will say it feels more overwhelming and I'm not dismissing his stress of having to "perform" on Zoom calls all day, but he's been doing much better at keeping up with his assignments with way fewer breakdowns than we had in the spring.

xpost my teacher friends have reported almost exactly the same experience. miserable but want to hang on for their kids.

so many people I know (including family) are struggling financially. one of the few things that brings me joy is finally being in a place financially where I can give back to friends and help out much more significantly - because if I saw everybody struggling and had no ability to help, I'd feel powerless.

not saying this to horn-toot - but it's nice to be able to help some friends mitigate problems since apparently the government isn't going to help.

I'm starting to get anxious about winter, both from a POV of seasonal uptick in cases and also just how the New York weather will make us so much more cooped up than we are when it's nice outside. I wonder if outdoor dining will find a way to carry on with those carbon-guzzling heaters.

Winter is coming!

If we do not get this virus under control now, we are in for a perfect and terrible storm

We are not taking the expected seasonality of this SEASONAL virus seriously!

Instead, we've assumed our efforts are responsible for decreased cases this summer...

1/x pic.twitter.com/iiP4EAoMD8

— Michael Mina (@michaelmina_lab) October 7, 2020

It seems like having widely available rapid results saliva testing would make a big difference as we head into autumn and winter. It’s frustrating that we are still so far behind and there doesn’t seem to be enough emphasis on things that could make a difference.
I haven’t really gone out anywhere since March and even though I don’t really miss it, I feel kind of depressed that it seems like I’ve missed what was probably the optimal window for going out to do just a thing or two.

I don't know how I missed this but ALBA, wtf are you doing in NY???! Are you in the city?

Are you my neighbor?

just walking around my quartier during "rush hour" & I feel like we're doomed, the streets are packed, plenty of people wearing masks wrong or not wearing them all, lotsa coughing. & my kids have to ride the métro every day to go to school where they eat in the canteen where obviously no one wears a mask. fuck.

:(

Ugh

Ugh, that sucks, I'm sorry.

my job involves a company/client, and everyone decided it would be a great idea to get together tomorrow afternoon to have food and drinks at a restaurant/bar. i lied and said i couldn't make it, first because having a "fun" client get-together sounds like a fucking nightmare and i try to avoid it as much as i can, but also because i just don't want to hang out with people i barely know in close quarters!

as the three posts above indicate, there's so much Letting Down of the Guard going on, everywhere. i just know that it would be weird (to them) for me to wear a mask as I sit there with them around a table. there would be peer pressure to take it off. but they're not in my pod! and i live with the most risky people out there, i'm like a potential vector myself!

anyway, ugh is right

I mean this is the thread for venting, I hope it's just that, but I'm worried about the way in which we're just back to doing pretty much everything normally except that we're supposed to be wearing masks. & I think most people are wearing masks! but 1) is that really enough? I want to believe but... & 2) not everyone is, or their noses are exposed, and then they're coughing ; and 3) who's gonna *enforce* the rules? at what point are people just gonna give up on masks? my quartier is poor, and masks are an expense, a small one, but maybe today you'd rather have a few cigarettes or a beer instead, I mean it's just one day, and then... ?

It seems like having widely available rapid results saliva testing would make a big difference as we head into autumn and winter. It’s frustrating that we are still so far behind and there doesn’t seem to be enough emphasis on things that could make a difference.

i think the evidence from the whitehouse is that widely available rapid results don't actually help that much because we live in a world in which a significant fraction of the population is hostile to the idea of public health.

a significant part of the population - around here at least - have spent their whole lives being proud of no-one telling THEM what to do and don't see this any differently.

not being told what to do is basically the top priority for most of white america

at my kid’s school, parents have received an untold number of comms about masks being mandatory when picking up their children. reminders are periodically sent out. i went today to pick up my son and maybe half the parents were wearing masks. and maybe half of them actually had the masks on the NOSE and MOUTH parts of their heads. tough one to figure out, i guess. i’m in london, in the borough that for awhile had the highest covid incidence in the entire country.

I mean this is the thread for venting, I hope it's just that, but I'm worried about the way in which we're just back to doing pretty much everything normally except that we're supposed to be wearing masks. & I think most people are wearing masks! but 1) is that really enough? I want to believe but... & 2) not everyone is, or their noses are exposed, and then they're coughing ; and 3) who's gonna *enforce* the rules? at what point are people just gonna give up on masks? my quartier is poor, and masks are an expense, a small one, but maybe today you'd rather have a few cigarettes or a beer instead, I mean it's just one day, and then... ?

― All cars are bad (Euler), Thursday, October 8, 2020 12:29 PM bookmarkflaglink

I mean I definitely don't think a mask means all activities are back on/ok. I'm not going to sit here judging every activity if the person is masked, though I sure af will if they're not or distanced.

depends a lot on whether the activity is indoors or outdoors, for indoors, how good the ventilation is, for outdoors, how spaced out is everybody (the lower risk goes away if you're all on top of each other).

due to the abandonment of our government, I feel like a lot of people are pushed into doing things they don't want to. My brother's been back doing his acting gigs at Universal, and while he probably doesn't think it's fully safe, otherwise, he loses his job, which he's had for almost a decade. and they just layed off a TON of supervisors yesterday, so he's freaked. he masks, he takes it seriously, but....if the government supported the businesses allowing them to close and pay their employees so they stayed home, he'd prefer that.

I almost certainly got the vaccine in my COVID trial, but without knowing how effective it is, I'm certainly not going to be reckless just in case.

i've become very shut-in....other than this message board, if i'm not meeting up with a friend for a "responsible" meetup, I ain't talking to nobody. worries me a lot because tat's how I was in my lonelier, pre-medicated 20s, and don't want to undo all of the years of progress, but....can't be having block parties either.

(note, I realize not all posters here live in the US, so I'm sharing my US perspective, for which i speak only for myself)

I don't know how I missed this but ALBA, wtf are you doing in NY???! Are you in the city?

Ha, probably easy to miss this international event. Yes, we moved here a year ago. Been a weird time to be here, all right! Will probably stay another year. Hoping things will be a little more explorable before then.

for moderate to harsh illnesses not related to COVID, too...it's frustrating when you come down with them because even if you're sure it's not COVID because maybe they're symptoms you have routinely (i.e. sinusitis), you still want to be sure it's not COVID, so you wind up waiting 2-3 days, if not more, to get a result and then you get seen for the actual symptoms, after 3+ days of more misery. Or you're confident it's not, because you "know" what it is, so you skip that test, and worry whether it actually is and whether you're being irresponsible.

or you waste your time at a hospital hoping you can get told that same day if you have it and then get treatment, and then pay out the yinyang for it. my PCP isn't even seeing patients in person, just video chat, which complicates things more.

not being told what to do is basically the top priority for most of white america

― call all destroyer

Let's not forget about telling everyone else what to do.

Are you my neighbor?

It's always possible. I live in Prospect Lefferts Gardens.

no way! i lived there for a couple years and loved it

I had to drive downtown for a walk-through today, which is an surprisingly warm and gorgeous day in Chicago. The lakefront path was packed and it seemed that maaaaaaaaaaybe 1 in 30 people had mask on.

It’s so frustrating that the test results generally take at least a few days, during which you might be doing things and being exposed to others, then when you get the results they may no longer even be accurate. Obviously most people aren’t going to get tested constantly even when there’s constant potential exposure. Some people will never care or try, but for those of us there should be a way to easily have a quick test (maybe even self-administered) before going out or seeing people.
I hardly ever go out or see anyone outside the one other person in my household (who works outside the household so I can’t completely isolate). I don’t much want to, but it would nice to be able to do just one or two things without feeling like I’m being selfish and irresponsible.

Fwiw folks I have been tested often for the last few months both 24 hr version and 15 min rapid and it doesn’t make it any less stressful

Alba, you're my neighbor; i'm in kensington.

about every other day, i am continuing to jog (mostly during off-hours [4pm], off-trail, veering away as much as possible whenever I come across people) without a mask in Prospect Park; there doesn't appear to be any evidence that I've seen that it's notably risky for other people or for me as long as i stay distanced and in motion and also because I tried jogging once or twice with a mask and almost hyperventilated after five minutes.

That said, the number of mass, unmasked gatherings on pedal-busses / picnic blankets / BBQs at any given moment out there is reaching peak, end-of-summer status. And, though I don't enjoy singling anyone out, there is an undeniable and dependable contingent of orthodox jewish multi-family hootenannies of fifteen or more unmasked people flocking across the park who are just not interested in giving you any sidewalk space.

"it is what it is."

Comparing the gov’t Covid19 maps for end of September and start of October, it looks as if things are getting better.

UNTIL you notice they’ve changed the numbers corresponding to each colour. Had they used the same ones, most of the country would be red or dark red.#BitSneaky pic.twitter.com/61u1dd4G1U

— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) October 9, 2020

https://everymoviecough.com/

lotta sneezes mixed in too btw just in case you're keeping score

Holy shit i just got wrung thru the “how 2 rly test 4 covid” wringer from 7a-3:45p. Results in 72hrs.

Kid presumptively pos based on symptoms, but tested _negative_ on the abbott-ID bullshit. i can’t even write or talk about it, i need to go get lost for a minute.

sorry

thx. i'm pretty fucking resilient. the 14 y/o who was in the car with me for 5+ hours as we followed breadcrumb instrux from dead end to dead end on testing venues and opportunities was miserable enough to sleep and listen to her music and not complain. her temp has bounced to 102.5 and back to normal twice in the past day.

it's cool, we were both cloth-masked, if she ends up actually pos, i'm sure i'm still clean lol.

Where are you located, Hunt3r?

my employer is doing proactive community testing so I volunteered to get tested every two weeks, gotta say the ~72 hours after I test negative I have a spring in my step. there's too much damn uncertainty right now and just that little hit of being sure about something (until I go out into the world again) feels good.

south side of denver. much of the confusion and cross-metro travel was related to stale or incomplete info. a ton of same was tied to mandatory telehealth shit that didn't work. apps failed. when i was at home, browser pages were not linked to current pages. on the road, phone menu hell was unavoidable and insoluble. and people were just wrong about locations, hours, or availability of specific tests at specific sites.

i kept telling my kid that as frustrated and insane-sounding as i surely was, she should imagine persons trying to navigate far more difficult and precarious bureaucratic bullshit in the really real, with many fewer resources than we have. it was the only thing i could think to retreat to, in order to sound balanced and reasonable and kind, while swearing like a nutter. she was smart enough to call bullshit on me anyway.

Damn, I’m really sorry. The system let you down. I hope you get some bett confirmation soon.

again, thx. man, the overall system is just _not very serious about being successful_.

that's a tough grade, and i don't think it's so much 'malfeasance' as 'misfeasance + complexity.' well, except at the topmost level of public health, and comes from the topmost, centermost. that shit is pure malevolent malfeasance. but this is politrix free zone.

liiiike, why would you allow a test to be used that is so unreliable that school districts (as overseen by a tri-county, state health authority) will not accept a negative outcome? i understand the basis of the individual decisions in the decision tree. but the coordination must be mandated from the top. without coordination, you won't beat a pandemic, motherfuckers.

when i asked at 8:30a to the urgent care joint "this abbreviated nasal swab test, does she need the 3 day test too?" the clinic said, "well, if you want, both are nasal swab tests." i was so neckdeep i pushed forward, but i knew i had more forensics to conduct after. nobody at the clinic, and believe me i asked, advised me clearly "hey _this_ test you're paying your copay for, it is not accepted by local school districts and you need a pcr too, for clearance."

my next call was to the school and i advised them it was an abbott test. the first level staffer, who is like, an attendance admin, was helpful she recorded all the info and passed it to the touring school nurse. when the touring nurse called back, she set me straight- "that test is garbage for our purposes, so so sorry, i wish i'd got to you first!" but then she could only recommend me to a blizzard-of-misinfo on the cdphe state website on locations of pcr test sites. we travelled to two test venues that had closed down after running out of tests, and phone hell did not allow you to talk to someone with current places that were in operation.

so after much travel and travail and at like, hour 4, i called my kid's pediatric provider. they were not taking calls on fridays (?), but after 10 min of phone menus, i determined that after we completed the mandatory telehealth registration and approval, they were very proud that they could do a non-pcr test, sooooo fuck no.

so i called MY pcp's office, which is rather large and after several steps required to get my kid logged into their telehealth system, they could do a drive thru test. in 4 days on tuesday.

we finally got a good referral to a local hospital's program. their telehealth login system failed to confirm my 3p drive thru test 'reservation,' but the person i called at the hospital (who didn't have the access to even know if my reservation had been logged) said "just go you only have 15 min to get there." we got there, as car number 12ish, at 3p. at 3:45 we met car attendant 1 who said "no worries if the appointment went thru, we got this, as long as you logged in as a patient." which it had.

waaah waaaah! there was tons of other shit along the way. pandemic, public health, private insurance, scattershot fractured information systems-- it doesn't have to be this way and must not be to work.

(all day long i never had a negative conversation, everyone was kind, smart, sympathetic and sometimes quite intentionally hilarious. but not til the final stop were they ~useful~). fin fin. stay well.

fuck, that sounds really hard.

I'm feeling this: "the overall system is just _not very serious about being successful_."
my city has a mask ordinance : they're required everywhere. but in my neighborhood, only about 40% of people are wearing them (correctly). but since the confinement ended in May, I haven't seen any police in my neighborhood, so no enforcement of this rule. & I know this internet space is anti-police, but then ordinances for public health like this one have no force. what are we supposed to do? everyone "knows" they're supposed to be wearing masks, but they don't want to, and no one is making them. maybe this is the future we're supposed to be hoping for?

got a covid truther leaflet from some local group through the door today. among the many stupid points made was one questioning why there has been no study done on the the health risks of long term mask wearing. yes they do believe that wearing cloth masks is possibly bad for ones health.

whole leaflet which is by '[vilage name] Covid 19 Common Sense Alliance' cheered me tbh.

So they can wear commercially made masks for 5 hours on Halloween but

*village
xp

long term as in over a period of months i think. they believe it hinders oxygen intake

anyone aware what infection rates are for flu and other communicable shit right now— shouldnt there be a virtuous circle thing going on where we’re all healthier because of germophobia?

srsly too lazy to hunt it up meself, i get lost in a world of tangents if i do that ha

This sore throat I have today is nothing to worry about it is. Not one of the main indicators, only 15% of COVID sufferers will get a sore throat or so I have read.

it’s unlikely.