I’m happy to report that the GF’s relative (31, EMT) who was on a ventilator is now off and talking this morning.
It’s really nice hearing good news, although I imagine he still has some difficulties ahead. At least he has a road to travel vs not. He has young kids too - a baby and a 5 year old. I’m thrilled that they will have their daddy back soon. I wish it were that way for everyone.
My S’s buddy was supposed to spend tonight at S’s house & they planned to snowboard tomorrow. The friend casually mentioned this morning that his GF was Covid positive & finally tested negative today … and he was with her while she was positive. S told his friend to stay away from him for two weeks. He is not pleased that his friend doesn’t seem to understand the danger of this virus.
Heard this story yesterday from my town. A local barber, probably in his 70s, who has had a barbershop in town forever, died from Covid. It seems that he was not following any safety guidelines in his barbershop. Not only didn’t he wear a mask when he was cutting hair, but neither did his customers. My husband asked another barber about it, who said that nobody is “policing” these types of violations. It is just beyond me that he probably contracted it from a client and who know how many clients he infected also.
They certainly are policing violations around here. Restaurants, salons, small businesses have been closed for violating the masks rules, occupancy limits, or other violations.
My brother runs an outdoor sports club. He was required to have signs and police social distancing on and off the fields. Park rangers checked.
My stylist rented a chair in a small salon. My stylist and her clients wore masks but the owner of the salon and her clients did not. Not only did they not wear masks, they bragged about being at our local super spreader event at the bowling alley. They were glad to get that over.
I told my stylist I would not go back. She was trying by being as far away as she could from the other person (can’t even call her a stylist)
My stylist opened up her own place, she carved out a salon in her husband’s business and I was the only person there. I was the first appointment of the day. The next appointment was her mom and I only saw her for a minute. And everyone has masks on.
The health department was policing that our restaurants stayed closed. But our local police made it very clear that they would not respond to any violations of not following the government rules as far as masking.
My good friend, husband and son have COVID. The husband is older and has COPD. My friend and her husband got an infusion of a monoclonal antibody and are getting better, just a little tired, after a week. However their 21 year old son has pneumonia and still has a fever.
My brother just told me that his wife has COVID. He tested negative early on and is waiting for results from a second test. She is tired and can’t smell. They separated inside their house and have enough bathrooms and space for that.
My mother is still recovering and doesn’t understand she had it. Almost all the residents have gotten their first shot but we delayed it since she still had symptoms. Thirty percent of the staff is refusing vaccination, all people of color.
A bunch of close calls in January, culminating in my dad hearing a rumor that three people in his apartment building of mostly older folks had it. He was suddenly very concerned, fearing he would get it from the air, the elevator, the common areas. I was ready to get him and bring him here. Then those stories turned out to be just rumors, not true at all, and he got his first vaccine. Whew! He will get the second this week.
A friend from swimming tested positive. Covid raced through her family, but they were lucky to have mild cases. My friend stayed home until she tested negative. And here I thought swimming was a safe space. (We are outside.) We had become complacent.
It’s getting extremely hard not to! SO over it!
Glad your dad is ok. My parents got theirs and I don’t feel so continuously anxious.
My SIL called Sunday to say that my brother and their two daughters were all recovering from Covid. The youngest daughter apparently gave it to them as far they can tell. She had it first and did not know it as her only symptoms were sore eyeballs, being a bit tired and a headache (which she is prone to anyway.) The only thing she had done was pick up take out food for the family. She was wearing a cotton mask, but the order wasn’t ready and she waited inside the restaurant for about ten minutes. The other daughter wasn’t very sick either, but both adults have been pretty miserable and still fatigued though theoretically recovered. Good reminder that you might want to wait in the car if your order isn’t ready.
Good thing they found out who gave it to them…I mean we really need to have someone to blame even if it is a child. 
Good information and cautionary tale about the food pickup, so thanks @mathmom. I passed it on to my kids. I have heard other stories about food pickup too.
Yes, waiting outside is safer than waiting inside, especially with a mostly static set of people (other people waiting) inside (i.e. if one of them is exhaling virus, then you would be continuously exposed to them while waiting).
I don’t want to refute your sil’s feeling of where the family picked up Covid.
But I do want to point out that there is a lot of shame out there from people who have caught the virus. And brought it home to their family who becomes quite ill. People are not always as honest as they could be.
Most of us have spent 10 minutes masked in a store or other inside business during the pandemic. It’s not a particularly risky situation.
Saying that, it could have happened that way.
I do agree with deb922. There is a low probability of getting infected sitting in a room for 10 min when fully masked (not impossible).
Nope that’s the way it happened.
It’s not a particularly risky situation, but it’s not non-zero and the new mutants are out there now. At the point they contracted it community positivity rates were through the roof. They had a contact tracer who did an extensive questioning of the entire family. My SIL called because she wanted us to be aware of what had happened. She’s got serious asthma and the whole family is VERY aware they could kill her.
@deb922 I have gone into grocery stores masked (I have worn two all year) but while shopping we are moving around, and air flow can help with contagion. Standing in one place near the door would involve a lot more exposure. In any case, I prefer to be as safe as possible, so I listen to any anecdote! I asked my kids and was relieved that they only do pickup at restaurants where they can pick up outside.
As for grocery stores, I switched to curbside pickup during this latest surge. After watching a video of air and particles escaping from masks, I started feeling nervous waiting in line at the grocery store, when there is so much COVID in my area.
We all have our own level of tolerance. Now that my mother, sister in law, and best friend’s entire family have been sick, and my small town has many cases, it has just become a lot more real. Noone should feel ashamed: many have no idea how they got COVID after being careful and considerate for almost a year.
Right now I’m feeling like things that felt safe before don’t feel safe any more. We had 25 “active” cases of Covid in our town most of the summer, it’s over 900 now. I haven’t gone grocery shopping in over three weeks. DH made a couple of Costco run and we get vegetables from our CSA. He’s had the first shot of the vaccine and goes first thing. He says it’s pretty empty then and he’s in and out in 10 minutes.
Thanks for the additional information. I know you didn’t need to, but I kinda wish you had included in your original post that it had been contact traced (I was unaware that they could even contact trace at this point). Because that is scary and a very small encounter.
And as you say, things that used to feel safe, may not be now.
Life seems so unfair sometimes. My friends and relatives are out ignoring that we are in a pandemic. Maskless pictures of their Mexican vacations, maskless family gatherings, maskless pictures with friends inside restaurants. Maskless picture of 15 people around a table with a lunch buffet. Girls trips.
But another gets Covid from a masked 10 minute wait for takeout.
It just really stinks sometimes.
A local rabbi got it. H attends his Zoom lessons on Tuesday nights. Feeling lucky H is worried enough about Covid that he had not attended any live services or lessons. (IDK if there were any live ones offered. )