[Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

[Lorini]

Soo ... with COVID mutating at least twice (enough to be noticed) in a year, does this mean we're likely looking at something that will never be contained?

Like the whole world turns red and Madagascar laughs at everyone because they closed their ports in the first two months?

They’d have to go a plan b like build more hospitals, allow more immigrants who are certified medical professionals to immigrate, invest more in controlling infectious diseases, stuff we should have been doing in the first place.

[$iljanus]

Soo ... with COVID mutating at least twice (enough to be noticed) in a year, does this mean we're likely looking at something that will never be contained?

Like the whole world turns red and Madagascar laughs at everyone because they closed their ports in the first two months?

They’d have to go a plan b like build more hospitals, allow more immigrants who are certified medical professionals to immigrate, invest more in controlling infectious diseases, stuff we should have been doing in the first place.

More local clinics to provide primary preventative care to communities to try and keep people out of the hospital and to act as the first line of surveillance for infectious diseases that may crop up in a neighborhood.

[Paingod]

So that's ... 4 people now I know who've either been exposed or tested positive.

A random contractor months ago (his whole family was sick), a co-worker in a clinic 2 months ago, my boss last week, and a co-worker two desk down from me is in quarantine because her kid may have been exposed at daycare (thanks to some other parents who KNEW their kid had been exposed and couldn't be bothered to quarantine until the test came back positive).

[Blackhawk]

So, the county where my son goes to school went to 'red' status today. That's always been the school's line in the sand. When it gets to that point, they'll follow the state's guidance and go all virtual until it drops back down.

Now that it's happened they've decided they don't wanna. It's not convenient, so they're staying hybrid. And there is *zero* that I can do except shuffle my son off to school every day. I can't even contact the district superintendent, as she hides behind her secretary and doesn't have contact information.

I'm tired of being the only one taking this seriously. It's got me stressed to the point that I'm almost sick from it.

[Paingod]

It's got me stressed to the point that I'm almost sick from it.

Give it time, they'll make sure you do get sick from it.

My wife told me last night that she was afraid of me getting it. Not because I'm at risk or anything, but because she hates the way I act when I'm sick - and if I'm sick for a month she'd go insane.

I think that I act like a sick person should - wanting nothing more than hot soup and a blanket. When she's sick, though, she'll crawl out of bed and stagger around "doing her part" because she doesn't know how to rest. She thinks I should, too.

[Jeff V]

The sickest my wife ever saw me was when I was laid up with a leg infection my 5th trip to the Philippines. I got the flu once in the 8 years since she came here, didn't go to work for most of a week but did a fair amount of WFH. She tried feeding me ginger soup, which was worse than the illness; that was about the extent of her trying to help.

[RMC]

So, the county where my son goes to school went to 'red' status today. That's always been the school's line in the sand. When it gets to that point, they'll follow the state's guidance and go all virtual until it drops back down.

Now that it's happened they've decided they don't wanna. It's not convenient, so they're staying hybrid. And there is *zero* that I can do except shuffle my son off to school every day. I can't even contact the district superintendent, as she hides behind her secretary and doesn't have contact information.

I'm tired of being the only one taking this seriously. It's got me stressed to the point that I'm almost sick from it.

The School district my three daughters go to has determined that even though every other school district next to it are only doing remote learning, they are special and are just doing in person classes. Even the college that my oldest takes some classes at are all remote, but not the elementary and high schools, nope they are special and are not having any issues... Oh, except we get daily communications about how many new Covid cases they have been notified of, but those were most certainly not aquired in the schools... heh.. yeah..

[ImLawBoy]

My oldest son's school started the year fully remote, then went hybrid, then went remote when cases spiked in the state. They're currently remote, and they're supposed to start hybrid again next week (I think). (We have the option to continue being full remote, and we are taking advantage of that due to my son's health issues.) They haven't had any outbreaks at the school, which is good.

They sent notice last week that they'd be going full-time in person early next month. The teachers are designated "essential", so they're in line to get vaccinated. We're keeping our kid remote (too many unknowns and too much risk for us - they're OK with that). On today's "morning meeting" class, my son and wife were the first non-staff to arrive (my wife always attends as my son's communication partner). One of the teachers was talking about how she wasn't going to be getting the vaccine, which is something she's said before, because she wanted to wait and see how it affects others first.

My wife sent an e-mail to the school's director letting her know about this. If the whole idea of returning to in-person learning is based on the teachers being vaccinated, that seems like it would be a problem.

[LawBeefaroni]

My oldest son's school started the year fully remote, then went hybrid, then went remote when cases spiked in the state. They're currently remote, and they're supposed to start hybrid again next week (I think). (We have the option to continue being full remote, and we are taking advantage of that due to my son's health issues.) They haven't had any outbreaks at the school, which is good.

They sent notice last week that they'd be going full-time in person early next month. The teachers are designated "essential", so they're in line to get vaccinated. We're keeping our kid remote (too many unknowns and too much risk for us - they're OK with that). On today's "morning meeting" class, my son and wife were the first non-staff to arrive (my wife always attends as my son's communication partner). One of the teachers was talking about how she wasn't going to be getting the vaccine, which is something she's said before, because she wanted to wait and see how it affects others first.

My wife sent an e-mail to the school's director letting her know about this. If the whole idea of returning to in-person learning is based on the teachers being vaccinated, that seems like it would be a problem.

40% of CPS teachers failed to show up as required on Monday as they prepare to go back.

It's a giant clusterfuck.

[ImLawBoy]

My oldest son's school started the year fully remote, then went hybrid, then went remote when cases spiked in the state. They're currently remote, and they're supposed to start hybrid again next week (I think). (We have the option to continue being full remote, and we are taking advantage of that due to my son's health issues.) They haven't had any outbreaks at the school, which is good.

They sent notice last week that they'd be going full-time in person early next month. The teachers are designated "essential", so they're in line to get vaccinated. We're keeping our kid remote (too many unknowns and too much risk for us - they're OK with that). On today's "morning meeting" class, my son and wife were the first non-staff to arrive (my wife always attends as my son's communication partner). One of the teachers was talking about how she wasn't going to be getting the vaccine, which is something she's said before, because she wanted to wait and see how it affects others first.

My wife sent an e-mail to the school's director letting her know about this. If the whole idea of returning to in-person learning is based on the teachers being vaccinated, that seems like it would be a problem.

40% of CPS teachers failed to show up as required on Monday as they prepare to go back.

It's a giant clusterfuck.

Yeah, that's a big ol' mess, but to be clear, my oldest does not attend a CPS school.

[RMC]

My oldest son's school started the year fully remote, then went hybrid, then went remote when cases spiked in the state. They're currently remote, and they're supposed to start hybrid again next week (I think). (We have the option to continue being full remote, and we are taking advantage of that due to my son's health issues.) They haven't had any outbreaks at the school, which is good.

They sent notice last week that they'd be going full-time in person early next month. The teachers are designated "essential", so they're in line to get vaccinated. We're keeping our kid remote (too many unknowns and too much risk for us - they're OK with that). On today's "morning meeting" class, my son and wife were the first non-staff to arrive (my wife always attends as my son's communication partner). One of the teachers was talking about how she wasn't going to be getting the vaccine, which is something she's said before, because she wanted to wait and see how it affects others first.

My wife sent an e-mail to the school's director letting her know about this. If the whole idea of returning to in-person learning is based on the teachers being vaccinated, that seems like it would be a problem.

40% of CPS teachers failed to show up as required on Monday as they prepare to go back.

It's a giant clusterfuck.

Yeah, that's a big ol' mess, but to be clear, my oldest does not attend a CPS school.

And just because you are vaccinated does not mean you can't be a carrier, I guess having the vaccine might mean you are less likely too, but I have not read that either. Lots of unknowns. And unless you have had a bad reaction t o a vaccine in the past, I guess I have no idea why you wouldn't get it. It's a vaccine, not an experimental drug.... <shrug>

[gbasden]

Give it time, they'll make sure you do get sick from it.

My wife told me last night that she was afraid of me getting it. Not because I'm at risk or anything, but because she hates the way I act when I'm sick - and if I'm sick for a month she'd go insane.

I think that I act like a sick person should - wanting nothing more than hot soup and a blanket. When she's sick, though, she'll crawl out of bed and stagger around "doing her part" because she doesn't know how to rest. She thinks I should, too.

Your wife doesn't have the strongest track record for behaving rationally. I'm sorry you have to worry about that on top of the worry about getting exposed.

[Kraken]

I think that I act like a sick person should - wanting nothing more than hot soup and a blanket. When she's sick, though, she'll crawl out of bed and stagger around "doing her part" because she doesn't know how to rest. She thinks I should, too.

Similar dynamic in our marriage. When I get really sick, I take to bed and stay there until I'm over it, sleeping as much as possible and rising only to tend to bodily functions. With a bad flu, I can sleep 16 hours a day. Wife hauls herself through a normal day, complaining and making herself sicker while prolonging the illness. When your body needs to heal you shouldn't make it do other things.

One nice thing about the pandemic precautions: 2020 was the first year in memory that Wife didn't come down with her annual lung crud around the holidays. Every year she gets worn out and socializes too much, and winds up with bronchitis that lasts for months. She also gets sick every time she flies anywhere, so being grounded has been a help, too. Plus, less wear and tear on the broom.

[Daehawk]

Im sick of seeing people on FB post their idiotic "So what happened to the flu? Did COVID just make it magically disappear? What about that useless vaccine?"....Wish I could strangle them. Of course with all the precautions the flu is eased. Morons.

[Kraken]

Let's talk about the serious side of this pandemic: the bucatini shortage.

Spring turned to summer (allegedly; there is no hard proof of time actually moving forward). Summer turned to fall. All the while we searched high and low for bucatini, at Whole Foods and Russo’s and New York Market and Key Food, our friends searching at City Acres and Food Town and Brooklyn Harvest, stumbling upon it only occasionally and then panic-buying it, then feeling bad for panic-buying it, then repeating the cycle.
...
I instantly decided that as a serious journalist, it was my duty to figure out what the literal fuck was going on. I Googled “bucatini shortage” and found only one article on the topic from April 2020, wherein SNL star and Vulture alum Bowen Yang lamented to W magazine, “There’s more of a bucatini scarcity problem than there is a toilet-paper issue, I think.”
...
“I’ve touched closely to the reason. Because of the environment, people have been using bucatini as straws, instead of a plastic straw.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked.

“Yes. You can buy them. There are a couple of companies making them. You can have your soda and then eat your straw,” he said. “It’s like eating your fork or knife.” My mind reeled as it tried to understand and accept this information as true. “But pasta is not a ready-to-eat product,” Rosario added. “You have to cook it. So when you use pasta to drink sodas, you’re drinking and eating a not-ready-to-eat product. You put yourself at risk because that product has never been pasteurized or killed. And the only pasta cut affected is bucatini because of the hole.”

This made both perfect sense and absolutely no fucking sense at all, the sort of demented-timeline event that could only happen in 2020, when everything is, metaphorically, an innocent piece of pasta turned into a straw in a bid to help the environment that actually ends up being fatally dangerous.

The sauce thickens from there.

[ImLawBoy]

You guys are feeding into the stereotype that men are babies when we get sick. You can still get rest without going into hibernation!

[Isgrimnur]

Hibernation isn’t being a baby. Hibernation is resting and being left alone, which is my preference. I’m not ringing a bell to have my pillows fluffed or my socks delivered. Just leave me to my misery and I will reach out when needed.

[ImLawBoy]

Hibernation isn’t being a baby. Hibernation is resting and being left alone, which is my preference. I’m not ringing a bell to have my pillows fluffed or my socks delivered. Just leave me to my misery and I will reach out when needed.

That's all well and good if you're not putting an unreasonable burden on your spouse or others in your household. If I took that route, I'd be leaving the missus to deal with 3 kids on her own, including 6-year old twins who seem to think that fighting is as important to life as breathing and eating.

[Isgrimnur]

No kids here, so not an issue. But I understand.

[Alefroth]

Soo ... with COVID mutating at least twice (enough to be noticed) in a year, does this mean we're likely looking at something that will never be contained?

Like the whole world turns red and Madagascar laughs at everyone because they closed their ports in the first two months?

Or maybe it will require a yearly shot to protect against that year's variant.

[Blackhawk]

When I'm sick, I absolutely rest, and I absolutely put an additional burden on the family. And when they're sick, they rest and it's my turn to shoulder the burden. As long as everybody involved has their turn, it's all fair.

[pr0ner]

My oldest son's school started the year fully remote, then went hybrid, then went remote when cases spiked in the state. They're currently remote, and they're supposed to start hybrid again next week (I think). (We have the option to continue being full remote, and we are taking advantage of that due to my son's health issues.) They haven't had any outbreaks at the school, which is good.

They sent notice last week that they'd be going full-time in person early next month. The teachers are designated "essential", so they're in line to get vaccinated. We're keeping our kid remote (too many unknowns and too much risk for us - they're OK with that). On today's "morning meeting" class, my son and wife were the first non-staff to arrive (my wife always attends as my son's communication partner). One of the teachers was talking about how she wasn't going to be getting the vaccine, which is something she's said before, because she wanted to wait and see how it affects others first.

My wife sent an e-mail to the school's director letting her know about this. If the whole idea of returning to in-person learning is based on the teachers being vaccinated, that seems like it would be a problem.

40% of CPS teachers failed to show up as required on Monday as they prepare to go back.

It's a giant clusterfuck.

Well when you have special ed teachers and (ex?) union leaders like Sarah Chambers leading the charge to stick with remote learning while vacationing in Puerto Rico, it's no wonder it's a clusterfuck.

[Blackhawk]

So, the county where my son goes to school went to 'red' status today. That's always been the school's line in the sand. When it gets to that point, they'll follow the state's guidance and go all virtual until it drops back down.

Now that it's happened they've decided they don't wanna. It's not convenient, so they're staying hybrid. And there is *zero* that I can do except shuffle my son off to school every day. I can't even contact the district superintendent, as she hides behind her secretary and doesn't have contact information.

I'm tired of being the only one taking this seriously. It's got me stressed to the point that I'm almost sick from it.

The official statement is that the cases are skyrocketing in the county, pushing it to the state's worst rating - but that it isn't skyrocketing in the school, so there's no need to take any action. This, conveniently, means that there is no actual, defined metric as to when the school needs to take action. It puts it entirely at the whim of the Superintendent, who has already shown that she doesn't consider COVID-19 to be a risk, and there is word going around that she intends to go back to full in-person in three weeks.

And the thing that infuriates me the most is that there is exactly zero that I can do about it. I have no avenue to take any action other than to bend over and be her bitch.

[Paingod]

My boss is a goddamn idiot.

In emails this morning I asked how he was holding up and how his son was. His son tested positive back in late December, and my boss had to quarantine until the 16th because he couldn't not hang out with his kid. He said it sucked, that he was having some symptoms, but was looking forward to being back next week.

Hol' up there. Feeling symptoms? Back next week? No thanks.

I stepped over to talk with the Director of Ops and asked what she knew. She knew nothing except that he was told by the other owners to stay the hell away and follow correct quarantine guidelines until the 16th. She talked briefly about her last interaction with him on Friday, asking if he wanted her to help pass out W2's or anything. He said he'd take care of it, don't worry.

I came in this morning and found my W2 on my desk.

"So he came in over the weekend and visited everyone's desk to pass out W2's ... while he was "feeling some symptoms" ...?" I asked. Her response was a panicked look and she stood up to "Go start sterilizing the office and talk with staff" ... and I had the pleasure of talking with one of the other owners and explaining what had happened. He was displeased and said he'd check in with my boss and see how he was doing, and I let him know that if my boss didn't say anything about feeling sick, it was okay for him to say "I heard you might be feeling some symptoms" ... because come on, dude. WTF is wrong with you?

My office reeks of Chlorox wipes now, but I spent hours tapping on my keyboard an eating the trail mix I brought this morning. I'm just hoping it's true that it's hard to pass COVID without direct air transmission and it dies fairly easily on dry surfaces.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

From everything I've read, surface-to-surface transmission is very uncommon. And I believe most studies indicated that the virus would degrade on a surface after a few hours. So pretty dumb of your boss, but I think you'll be fine.

[Paingod]

That's what I'm banking on, but I don't appreciate him opting to provide us even a small chance of infection.

[LordMortis]

They won't tell me who "due to HIPPA" but someone in my building has COVID. I suppose I'll be able to figure out who isn't coming in when next I show up but dollars to doughnuts it's the fucker I avoid... like the plague... because he wears his make below the nose and for reasons I don't understand the office let him. The field would consist of two people whose spouses are teachers and two others who are young enough to think they invulnerable because young people being cooped up for a year is a big ask.

[Sudy]

Ontario is entering a state of emergency for the first time since July. Stores that don't sell primarily groceries or pharmacy goods must be closed between 8:00pm and 07:00am. This might inconvenience me occasionally as a night shifter, but big deal. That said, other than it being unfair to retail workers who can't work from home, isn't it a good idea to spread out shopping hours as broadly as possible, to increase distancing? It's being done "in an effort to discourage late-night shopping". Is that really where we think a large number of transmissions are occurring? The people who are going out to Best Buy between 8:00pm and nine? If we've been ordered to stay home except for essential purposes, and grocery/drug stores (and takeout restaurants) are excepted from the revised restrictions, then what the hell are they even talking about? I'm not sure I trust there are genius healthcare professionals and economists behind this anymore. I guess it keeps idiot 9-5ers from casually shopping after work, but they still have three hours, so.... And now they'll just be packed tighter with the rest. Is that the idea? To kill off the stupid people?

[dbt1949]

Monday they are supposed to open the inoculations for 70+. Still haven't a clue how we're going to do that tho.

[Max Peck]

Ontario is entering a state of emergency for the first time since July. Stores that don't sell primarily groceries or pharmacy goods must be closed between 8:00pm and 07:00am. This might inconvenience me occasionally as a night shifter, but big deal. That said, other than it being unfair to retail workers who can't work from home, isn't it a good idea to spread out shopping hours as broadly as possible, to increase distancing? It's being done "in an effort to discourage late-night shopping". Is that really where we think a large number of transmissions are occurring? The people who are going out to Best Buy between 8:00pm and nine? If we've been ordered to stay home except for essential purposes, and grocery/drug stores (and takeout restaurants) are excepted from the revised restrictions, then what the hell are they even talking about? I'm not sure I trust there are genius healthcare professionals and economists behind this anymore. I guess it keeps idiot 9-5ers from casually shopping after work, but they still have three hours, so.... And now they'll just be packed tighter with the rest. Is that the idea? To kill off the stupid people?

My suspicion is that the restricted shopping hours are as close as Ford can bring himself to an actual curfew such as they have across the river in Quebec.

[Max Peck]

I hadn't previously heard that even asymptomatic COVID=19 infections can result in relatively severe lung damage.

Post-COVID lungs worse than the worst smokers' lungs, surgeon says

A Texas trauma surgeon says it's rare that X-rays from any of her COVID-19 patients come back without dense scarring. Dr. Brittany Bankhead-Kendall tweeted, "Post-COVID lungs look worse than any type of terrible smoker's lung we've ever seen. And they collapse. And they clot off. And the shortness of breath lingers on... & on... & on."

"Everyone's just so worried about the mortality thing and that's terrible and it's awful," she told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth. "But man, for all the survivors and the people who have tested positive this is — it's going to be a problem."

Bankhead-Kendall, an assistant professor of surgery with Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, has treated thousands of patients since the pandemic began in March.

She says patients who've had COVID-19 symptoms show a severe chest X-ray every time, and those who were asymptomatic show a severe chest X-ray 70% to 80% of the time.

Presumably, that is 70-80% of a relatively small subset of asymptomatic infections, given that I doubt that the great majority of asymptomatic cases have had chest X-rays, but I still find it surprising.

[Paingod]

I hadn't previously heard that even asymptomatic COVID=19 infections can result in relatively severe lung damage.

My wife has some concerns that her near-fatal bout of pneumonia 18 years ago may have damaged her lungs and made her more likely to have severe COVID symptoms.

I had no answer.

Oh, and right on cue: A movie about COVID-23 turning people into zombies is due out soon!

[LawBeefaroni]

Oh, and right on cue: A movie about COVID-23 turning people into zombies is due out soon!

Oh, geez. Because what we really need is to stigmatize COVID+.

[Isgrimnur]

HEY! Songbird was already released in December. We're only waiting on rental at this point.

[Paingod]

HEY! Songbird was already released in December. We're only waiting on rental at this point.

Couldn't recall the name. I just remembered seeing the trailers mixed in with others.

[Daehawk]

Texas family without sense of smell escapes house fire

Hadn't considered COVID taking someone's smell away and then a fire not being detected.

A Texas family suffering the effects of COVID-19 is safe after their home caught fire, and they weren't able to smell the smoke.

Fortunately, a fourth family member, a 17-year-old girl, was able to alert her three relatives and get them to safety.

Three people at the home where Bianca Rivera lives lost their sense of smell due to the virus and were oblivious to the danger that was consuming the structure. The teen told KWTX-TV she smelled something burning around 2 a.m.

[Lorini]

This is why you install smoke detectors.

[Isgrimnur]

This is why you install smoke detectors.

At least au pair.

[LawBeefaroni]

40% of CPS teachers failed to show up as required on Monday as they prepare to go back.

It's a giant clusterfuck.

Possible strike incoming.


The Chicago Teachers Union could vote as early as this week whether to go on its second strike in as many school years as thousands of teachers and staff continue to protest orders to return to schools they don’t believe are safe in a pandemic, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.

[Jeff V]

Not sure why CPS schools would be less safe than those in the 'burbs. My son has been in class since mid-August and hasn't infected us yet...nor has his teacher gone mysteriously absent. The crossing guard got it, though.