Well, it is really scary too. Those of us who work in hospitals don’t just live in the hospital (though it does feel like it sometimes.) We go home, we go to the store, etc. Our families then go out to their jobs, schools, etc.
My hospital directly employs about 9,000 people. That’s 9,000 people sent out into the community daily, and we aren’t tested unless we are symptomatic. The person in line behind you could have been working with Covid patients an hour before, and they have to fill out a checklist of symptoms to be approved to be tested.
I’m lucky, because I’m able to remain isolated and folks in area stores are still distancing. My plan is to continue following the guidelines and stay at home the majority of the time. Most of my family and friends are avoiding meeting with healthcare providers in person unless they are having some kind of emergency, to minimize their risk. We’ve already heard of people in other professions involving a lot of contact with others getting sick and dying.
The lack of adequate testing and pushing people to go into places where there are lines or crowds is why we’re supporting changes in policy and the administration. It doesn’t have to be this way. I’m sorry that it is.
This is an interesting point. There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding how virus statistics are being tracked and reported. I’ve seen comparisons with death by multiple causes last year, but not a lot of detailed comparisons with other medical conditions.
This virus is the abnormal, preventable thing that can be picked up from asymptomatic carriers. That leads me to wonder how many people who don’t have any pre-existing health conditions or symptoms are diagnosed with preventable things every year. I’m excluding those who know they have conditions, because none I know have stopped getting medical treatment.
It’s not clear that the risk of waiting an additional six to twelve months for annual screenings and wellness checks is worse than the risk of an in-person checkup with a healthcare provider. Healthcare providers have been pushing back on in-person appointments, too.
Certainly seeing fewer generic colds in kids this fall. Not zero, of course, but a fraction of what this time of year usually looks like. We’ll see how it plays out.
Already on it. I have been carrying a vial of lemon oil to test. Started off with mint, but found you can detect the cooling sensation even if you can’t detect the smell. Lemon seems to work pretty well, and most folks are familiar with and can identify it, if they can smell.
Edit due to consecutive replies:
Yup. We’ve been told that if we are exposed but asymptomatic, we are expected to work, just maitain mask protocols. Of course, this policy has changed pretty much weekly for months, so I am honestly not certain what the latest iteration is.
On the topic of primary care docs at higher risk, I feel the need to point out that we trend older than inpatient docs and are far more likely to interact with asymptomatic carriers, as well as, in my field, having a bit less control over how much family is involved with each visit. We just had our first confirmed work-acquired case, but I am certain there will be more.
So much this. Routine childhood vaccinations have fallen dramatically due to folks quite reasonably not wanting to be anywhere near healthcare centers. Waiting for pertussis or measles to crop up. They are always waiting.
Also, at least here the health dept has stopped giving childhood immunizations due to exposure risks. Seems like a poor trade off, but nobody asked me.
The trick though is to ask the person if they smell apples or oranges, not lemons. That way you don’t condition the tested person to expect a lemon smell.
Amyl acetate (Banana oil) works pretty well too but tends to linger in the area for a while.
In the back of my mind I’m thinking that the test needs to account for a mildly adversarial subject, someone who really wants to get on a plane or does not want to miss class, hence a bit of randomization.
So scratch mint and banana from the list… noted…
I’ll admit the inclusion of skunk on the list (ethyl mercaptan, right?) is just to keep the high school kids from falling asleep in line, but I expect it might have the same lingering property as banana oil… certainly does linger a while on a cat…
When I was in to be checked (I had bronchitis) my doc told me the loss of taste and smell without a stuffy nose is a big red flag. Particulary a issue telling the diffence between sweet and sour. @docsoc using the lemon is very clever!
I’m having a hard time with the disbelief here. We’ve been seeing the absolute worst in human behavior for months, and somehow officials think all the parents in their area will follow their rules?
Considering the numbers of Covid-deniers together with the number of parents who sent their kids to school while sick in the Beforetimes, this doesn’t surprise me one bit. If they were willing to send their kid to school with flu, why wouldn’t they do the same with Covid?
certainly does linger a while on a cat…