COVID-19 Issues

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Sun Jan 09, 2022 2:48 pm

Oh no, is this the second time now?! Can they get you antibodies right away? You and Eli had better keep checking in to let us know if you're doing okay. The antibodies were really helpful for our family members who got it. I don't know how old you have to be for them to prioritize you - around here they have to ration it out.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Sun Jan 09, 2022 4:05 pm

I'm fine. Its like the flu for me this time. Much milder than the first time. My fever isn't as bad and I'm not as fatigued as before.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:02 pm

Covid sucks. My fever stopped after 48 hours, and it wasn't nearly as high as last time, but I can't stop coughing, which means I can't sleep, which means I'm tired all the time. My oxygen saturation is 97 to 99 and I'm not having trouble breathing, so that's good.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Thu Jan 13, 2022 8:32 am

Could have gotten out of isolation with a clean test. I failed it. Ugh. Five more days of isolation. Ugh. Double up. Ugh Ugh.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Thu Jan 13, 2022 10:46 pm

Suddenly about 20% of the people I know here seem to have covid and another 20% are sick and waiting on a test they can't obtain.
It seems miraculous to me that no one in my immediate little family has it, because much of the extended family does and many of the people we work with or go to school with or whatever. I was literally in the process of exiting my parents driveway when a person I was with two days ago texted to let me know she has it.

Also and inexplicably, various people are annoyed with us because we aren't social enough and don't want to do things like go out to dinner. I don't even know what to say to that. Thankfully we agreed around here a long time ago to do nothing for Valentine's Day, but the dark birthday season also approaches and people will demand that you celebrate it. It's not a celebration day, it's a marker of our inexorable passage into nothingness. Yet you would hasten the nothingness by having me go out and about to catch covid. I am at a loss for dealing with the human world.
A coyote has moved into the area so even the dogs are being unreasonable and ridiculous these days.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:18 am

We've had several people on my son's high school swim team test positive. It's tricky, because you can't swim with a mask on, so they're supposed to ("supposed to" being the operative phrase here) wear their mask up until the point they get into the pool, then put it back on immediately after getting out of the pool. And they're only considered a close contact with an infected person if they swam in the same lane as that person during practices or meet warmups. Because of the positive tests, and because of some of the swimmers not wearing masks in the pool area when they should, the school athletic director threatened to end the swim season early. As it is, the team, coaches, and athletic director as a group decided to not attend a multi-team meet this weekend. Part of the reason being that so many other teams have withdrawn as well due to COVID risks, and partly because they would all have to warmup in the same lane at the multi-team meets, meaning if any of them subsequently tested positive, they would all be considered close contacts and have to quarantine, effectively ending the season for the whole team. So they now have two dual-meets, where they'll at least have multiple warmup lanes available, then conference, sectionals, and state. If they can get at least a majority of the team through to conference, it will be a success.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Fri Jan 14, 2022 10:58 pm

Oh wow, that's a mess to organize. How do you know which person could be transmitting it to which other ones, in a swimming pool?

I am so done with all this - not even so much the pandemic conditions, which are simply a natural reality, but done with the fact that we could be dealing with it pretty well except for all the STUPIDDDDDDDDDDDD. Endless stupid. I'm back to that psychological place where I want to move to a new state, but jobs? Kids? I can tell that my drip drip drip method is having an effect because my husband suggested we purchase a house in Canada and rent it out and then go there as needed... like 2024, or worse pandemic issues, or... he is freaking me out lately talking about how he used to play that pandemic computer game/app and win every time by mutating the virus first to the much more easily transmitted form, and then giving it a little 'more deadly' tweak suddenly... so he thinks this will happen with COVID and eventually people will be going around without symptoms, spreading it freely, but the "it" will finally be the one that kills you more effectively and quickly after the long period of silent incubation and transmission. Then all hell will break loose because the people here are psychologically unequipped to do what it takes to actually stay away from one another. My response has been, "be quiet because I dislike thinking about anything beyond what we have right here". Already enough going on. I honestly don't think we can move to another place without significant difficulties. We need to wait about 10-15 years. At that point I cannot imagine staying where I live because of what we have been through the last two years. Either the population will have to gradually change for the better, or I'm done with this. Should have stayed gone a long time ago and brought my parents to me, by the ocean. I've been thinking about leaving for a temporary period, maybe just trying to find a temporary version of my job somewhere else and do it there to get a break from being ... here. But my parents are here and I cannot move them. I could move kids temporarily, I could travel around, but when you have kids, spouse, parents, home, pets, all these relationships you need to care for at once in the same place, there is no moving around. But I feel like a trapped animal in this place, like a bird that is supposed to live in a certain kind of habitat, a certain type of forest, and is being made to live in a desert. It's a very familiar feeling I know well - we call it "the background feeling of All of High School Life". Took a long time to kill off that feeling and now here it is again, but stronger and more serious. Very sad that it is partly because of COVID, but it really is partly because of COVID. I talk to a good friend who is from Canada and it is eye-opening with respect to how bad things are getting where I live. People are not living their best lives, let's put it that way. Not being their best. Me included.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Sat Jan 15, 2022 3:26 pm

Great. The weekend before final exams, and our son finds out one of his teammates that shares his lane during practice on Friday has tested positive. So now we have to scramble and get him tested and have a negative result before Tuesday morning in order for him to be able to take his exams in person and on time. And chances are high that the athletic director will now cancel the season.

By the way, it’s next to impossible to find available testing appointments anywhere. The earliest appointment we could find was Monday afternoon, so we’re instead hoping to do a drive through testing site run by our school district that just requires a reservation for first come first serve testing. And we’ll likely have to get him tested multiple times during the week, since Monday may be too soon for him to test positive.

Ugh, I’m so done with this.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Sat Jan 15, 2022 5:07 pm

I'm so furious about all of it I am unable to type a coherent reply and have had to delete my various attempts. Done with it, yep. Done. I hope your kid is OK. The vaccines still are helping and helping the young people quite a lot, from the data I saw this morning.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Sun Jan 16, 2022 5:18 am

We've been frustrated lately that we get these emails about a person in our kid's class having tested positive, but he's considered a close contact so no need to isolate/quarantine, and the last day that the person who tested positive was in the school was (the same day we received the email). Like, who would send their kid to school when they've been exposed and tested and you're waiting for the test results?! But then we get the call yesterday from the school nurse (bless that poor soul!). Because our son has been vaccinated and boosted, isn't showing any symptoms, and hasn't tested positive (as opposed to has tested negative), they said (according to CDC guidelines) he doesn't need to isolate or quarantine, and can go about all of his normal activities. And the school attendance policy says, because we elected in person schooling for him this semester, he needs to attend in person UNLESS he's tested positive or is showing symptoms. And the policy for swim practice mirrors the attendance policy for school, meaning he would need to attend practice unless he's showing symptoms or has a positive test. If he has it, he may not test positive until up to 5 days after exposure, and it may be 10-14 days after exposure before he has symptoms. So we could get him tested on Monday, but would still need to get him tested later in the week as well to make sure he doesn't have it. And we' still won't be positive unless we continue to test him or monitor for symptoms for the next 2 weeks. And because he's vacced/boosted and has no symptoms (so far), we can't keep him home from school in the meantime.

Ugh. If only we had competent leadership at the start of this outbreak two years ago.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:18 am

So I woke up with a fever. Did an online appointment and they're worried that I might be developing post-Covid pneumonia. They told me I need to get into see a doctor to listen to my lungs and maybe do chest x-rays. My local doctor is closed and the waiting list at all the urgent cares are over 45 people long. Ugh.

But in better news, my isolation ends today!

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 10:00 am

Ugh is right. Sorry, man.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 10:19 am

Oof. Not fun. Sorry, and here's hoping you're able to get in, and that you get good news.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 1:24 pm

Okay change of plans. Just monitor my symptoms. No need to go to the doctor unless the fever spikes, I have difficulty breathing or my blood-ox-saturation is below 95% for any significant period of time.

Eliahad · Post by **Eliahad** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:00 pm

Did they say anything if your cough lasts a week+. Asking for a friend.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:06 pm

Oh I am so sorry all of you are suffering like this! Over the years we began to realize that people send their kids to school sick all the time. I couldn't understand how people managed this stuff with two working parents and the acrobatics of substitute child care until I realized people send their sick kids in with a fever or immediately post-vomiting ALL THE TIME.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:25 pm

Eliahad wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:00 pm Did they say anything if your cough lasts a week+. Asking for a friend.

They said that it can last for two to three weeks. The risk is getting an upper respiratory infection, but you don't need to follow up for it unless you're having difficulty breathing, shortness of breath or fever spiking.

Mando · Post by **Mando** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 3:39 pm

Kyle wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:25 pm
Eliahad wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:00 pm Did they say anything if your cough lasts a week+. Asking for a friend.
They said that it can last for two to three weeks. The risk is getting an upper respiratory infection, but you don't need to follow up for it unless you're having difficulty breathing, shortness of breath or fever spiking.

Have they mentioned lung scarring?

Nowadays I am grateful for SP02 of 93. I guess it's my new normal.

Don't lay around too much. staying vertical is important...but you probably knew that already.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 3:45 pm

They're not worried about lung scarring because my blood ox has been so good.

Mando · Post by **Mando** » Mon Jan 17, 2022 4:01 pm

I am so happy for you. That is great news.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Tue Jan 18, 2022 12:49 pm

A student in one of my classes test positive.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Tue Jan 18, 2022 7:18 pm

Lately I have been shocked by the extent to which people I know fairly well are coming out directly in favor of stuff like "if and when we have to make triage decisions, vaccine status determines the health care response you get". It surprises me how many people IN health care are starting to think this way, openly, and how there's a more aggressive edge to it now. The burnout and pressure we are putting on people is terrible.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Tue Jan 18, 2022 7:50 pm

My daughter tested positive.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:20 pm

Akiva wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 7:50 pm My daughter tested positive.

Oh no, I hope it passes quickly and not to anyone else! Keep us posted.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:56 pm

Phoebe wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:20 pm
Akiva wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 7:50 pm My daughter tested positive.
Oh no, I hope it passes quickly and not to anyone else! Keep us posted.

The rest of us tested negative this evening. I hope it stays that way.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Tue Jan 18, 2022 9:14 pm

So far so good! Take care of yourself.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Tue Jan 18, 2022 10:27 pm

Phoebe wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 9:14 pm So far so good! Take care of yourself.

And as we all know, I’m great at that.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 5:32 am

Neil Gorsuch is an ass.

Hope your duaghter is okay, Akiva.

Our son was a close contact to another person on the swim team that tested positive, since they had a pasta dinner the night before last week's swim meet, so they were sitting around maskless and eating. His test from Monday morning came back negative. He's going to get tested again today, since that will be 5 days after his most recent known exposure.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 6:59 am

Six of my students are quarantining for the next 5 days.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 5:02 am

Hope you're feeling better, Kyle.

Found out Saturday that our son's girlfriend, who was over at the house Thursday night, tested positive. She's vacced but not boosted, while our son is vacced and boosted. My wife is taking him to get tested today, again, and we'll hope for the best.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 5:21 am

Yesterday I finally turned a corner and had a significant improvement in my health. This is the first morning where I woke up not feeling sick. I've been trying to stay positive, but I've been pretty sick for awhile. I think yesterday was my first day completely free of fever since January 7 when I first started Covid symptoms. To be clear, it wasn't as bad as the first time I had Covid, but a wracking cough, 100.5 fever that comes and goes all day and extreme fatigue for 16 days is no joke. And I still get winded just doing stuff like taking the trash out. I'm just grateful that my wife convinced me to go to the doctor for my upper respiratory infection before it turned into pneumonia.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:37 am

Oh wow, glad to hear it is getting better, but damn! You have been through the wringer. My mother-in-law had long covid for about 3 months; apparently that's a pretty normal length of time for an older person to suffer lingering effects.
Hope this improvement sticks!

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:23 am

Got tested this morning, for the first time ever. Don't have any symptoms, but between our son's girlfriend being positive and having a worker at the house that was positive, we're playing it safe. And as long as we get tested at the same time as our son, there's free testing available through the school district, since he's a student.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 1:23 pm

My wife and I both tested positive today.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 1:27 pm

Oof, good luck to you both. Hope you both only have mild symptoms.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 2:10 pm

Just stay on top of it. Fluids, monitor your temp and pulse/ox. Even though my symptoms lasted so long, one of the things that kept me calm (and made the doctors feel better) was knowing that my blood ox saturation was always above 95%, which meant that I probably wouldn't have to go to the hospital. If you don't have a pulse/ox monitor (the lighty uppy thing they put on your index finger at the doctor)- they sell them very cheaply on Amazon- under $20.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Wed Jan 26, 2022 2:07 pm

And now my son has it, so the whole house is sick.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Wed Jan 26, 2022 2:51 pm

Sorry you're having to deal with it, hope it turns out well, sending positive vibes.

Mando · Post by **Mando** » Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:12 pm

Sorry to hear that, dude. Chin up, we are pulling for you.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:56 am

Akiva wrote: ↑Wed Jan 26, 2022 2:07 pm And now my son has it, so the whole house is sick.

Keep us posted on how you're doing!

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:00 am

Fortunately, all of our household that were tested have tested negative.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Fri Jan 28, 2022 12:32 pm

We've mostly recovered. The kids and I feel fine; my wife is having a harder time, but she is improving.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Fri Jan 28, 2022 12:46 pm

Glad to hear you and the kids are doing well, and hope the wife keeps improving.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Sun Jan 30, 2022 8:12 pm

Akiva wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 12:32 pm We've mostly recovered. The kids and I feel fine; my wife is having a harder time, but she is improving.

Good news!

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Tue Feb 08, 2022 9:37 pm

I feel bad for saying this when I know so many nurses and classroom teachers who are struggling with this daily for years now, but I am having trouble coping with the "just asking questions!" and "DoInG mY oWn ReSuRcH!" contingent in the workplace/wider world. It's one thing for those people to exist out there, having to cope with living as themselves, but it's another thing entirely for them to make their problems my problems. I don't want those problems. I don't want to police people with these problems, I don't want to have to interact and deal with it, you know? Imagine being a nurse and having to care for the patient who is like this, with all the wrenching effort that can require, and sometimes a set of family members fighting you tooth and nail the whole time! Imagine dealing with the parents who are raging at you because the school has a mask requirement. I am humbled and feel unworthy to complain but must vent this somewhere safe. I have to deal with this stuff now and I Do Not Like It. I also have to work with a person who has infected their own family with all of this fake, confused skepticism to the extent that the adult kids are becoming violent and hostile toward the government, toward innocent people like teachers and nurses who are trying to do their jobs and be sane and normal, and so on. I have to bite my tongue, you know, sometimes literally. I have to walk away because I have nothing nice to say anymore and I can't pretend to be friendly at this point. The Dumb is damaging our world and community - seriously hurting it. When this person's kid does something terrible, well... I don't even know what to do with this information. It's not actionable information but the fact that I have to ask myself that question is ridiculous. Adults! In a workplace! People are losing it lately.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Mon Feb 21, 2022 12:25 pm

I just have to vent to people who understand what I'm talking about. I am part of a couple of moms groups which are basically a bunch of moms who all have kids in the same age and grade, so we can coordinate rides and parties and activities and s***. Or more to the point: they coordinate and I show up to volunteer as a driver and occasionally say awkward things to which no one replies or maybe one person will laugh hysterically and that's it.

But now.
One group is on a tear about how we just don't need masks anymore - this is the same group that was having pool parties and all kinds of summer activities in 2020 before any of us had vaccines. I was trying to tune them out sort of like ignoring a wasp that keeps coming by when you're trying to walk down the sidewalk.
And then the second group started up! They are convinced that the vaccines have affected their health for the worse and so they don't want to get a booster and they certainly don't want their kids to get vaccinated. Their whole thing right now is being very very concerned about completely non-existent vaccine mandates and definitely not wanting any of them to have to get a booster; also worried that next year their kids will have to be vaccinated to go to school, which is about as likely as a safe with a million dollars in it falling down from the sky right in front of me right now.
I want to tell them that after I got the vaccine, I had stopped getting my period for a couple months and then each time I got my period again like double strength, a week or two after having the vaccine. Sample size: one person getting vaccines on two different occasions, but the results were pretty dramatic both times and it appears that the goddess of menopause has now blessed me, thank you so much thank you thank you thank you so much.
So in essence, if I would conclude anything from that experience, it's that the vaccine made me more powerful and fertile. It's literally like they rolled the clock back three months, I went through the end of perimenopause again, and then repeated it with the booster.

I think it would be hilarious to tell them this story because they're all talking about the terrible things they suffered because they've had runny noses and allergies and sore throats and coughs and malaise and tiredness and all kinds of nonsense that they're blaming on the vaccine. I would be like, but ladies, it made me temporarily fertile again on both occasions! I am the oldest one of them so this would be especially funny for me. It's unpleasant always being the oldest mom among the moms. Anyway, I will say nothing but the idea that my kid has to be around their unvaccinated kids all the time because they are this stupid is driving me slightly batty. I may seem like an aggressive combative online because the normal way of my people is to argue about everything, but I assure you that in the group of the moms I would be the least likely of anyone to ever say anything disruptive or aggressive. It would probably be healthier if I had the courage to tell them in a very polite way that they are full of s*** but the other moms fully terrify me and I don't want them to stop letting their kids hang out with mine so there we are.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Mon Mar 14, 2022 11:02 pm

I have so much given up on Covid mitigation efforts due to being exposed so much and so often and constantly around people who take no precautions regardless of risk levels. So I went to Walmart, of all places, which I haven't done in maybe ... 20 months or so? And it was filled with people wearing masks, so I was astonished. Basically the last place I would have expected it here. I will return!

poorpete · Post by **poorpete** » Tue Mar 15, 2022 7:02 am

Yay! I mean boo to having to wear masks and covid being a permanent resident in our life, creator of death and lasting hurt, emotional and physical. But signs of people not buying into conspiracies, and tiny bits of mitigation. so. Yay

Most counties and cities in New York are below 10 cases per 100,000 people and I was just sitting here waiting for my county to drop to that level before we let our kids go maskless in school. Well as counties continue to drop, our numbers stayed around 22. Now it's up to 25, and stuck frustrated at my county. We just turned green, probably because hospitalizations are down, but not sure how long that will last, especially with numbers going up in Europe, who is normally a few weeks to a month ahead of us. Just a tad pessimistic today, hope if there's another spike it's smaller and we can have another semi-relaxing summer.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 12:44 pm

Since I'm 50+ and have asthma, I now qualify to get a second Pfizer booster shot, which is scheduled for Saturday. That will work out well, as I'll have to travel by airplane later this month for work.

poorpete · Post by **poorpete** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:28 pm

Good luck!

We're part of one of 17 counties in the US with high community transmission and encouraged mask use by everyone in indoor public settings. Unsure if anyone in our county has adjusted to the CDC guidelines, schools and church seems just about the same as it was when we were "green."

Interesting to see how much rules do affect people's actions. Everyone was wearing masks when it was the rules in church and school. Do those no longer wearing masks during this surge, did they always think masks were unneeded? I don't think so... I think it's all about rules. I wonder if the state came out and said, even though it's not safe, starting today you don't have to wear a seat belt. I wonder if seat belt wearing, second nature to most of the country now and obvious life saver, would drop considerably anyways? If safety requires effort, then the state needs to require safety?