My father in law has just started in home hospice. He is in his mid 90’s. The nurse comes for the first time. She isn’t vaccinated because of heath reasons. The PT guy that came also wasn’t vaccinated- he had had covid twice already. In both cases, we said thanks, but we want someone else. Honestly!
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We are doing a renovation of our house. Big project. It is being slowed down by workers either with Covid or exposed to Covid (and isolating). One of two carpenters came so the work was slower – the other has pneumonia but does not want to be vaccinated because he is athletic and fit. [I suspect he won’t test to find out if he has Covid or not, because getting Covid would be a blow to his self-image]. The plumbers who were going to come this week will come next week when they team gets back from Covid (for one) and Covid exposure for (another). [For those concerned, the area in which they are doing the construction is sealed by both wood and plastic from the area we are living in. So, none of the workers get into our space unless we as them to do so.]
Supply chain issues may actually be less of a problem in the short run than crew depletions due to Covid.
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It took my daughter an extra week to get a refrigerator delivered because one of the delivery men had covid. They ended up waiving the haul away fee.
This is what we’re seeing for our new home. Our builder seemed surprised today by how much more things are being delayed by labor shortages due to Covid than by material shortages or delivery delays.
Our tile subcontractor is down to one small crew now. Since the whole house has tile floors, this could take months. We’ve been waiting to get some plumbing and gas work completed. The latest plumber said he’d just be off work for five days (tested positive yesterday), then he’d return. The builder didn’t seem too happy with the plumber coming back so soon and thought it would be better to wait 10 days. The vax rate here is low and masking/social distancing is rare except for a few federal govt/military employers that require it. The local hospitals are begging people to stay away if their symptoms are mild or manageable at home.
The builder keeps wanting me to meet various subs at the house to discuss finish choices and other details. I have continued to insist on doing everything by email, text and phone now that the work is mostly interior stuff. I’ve drawn illustrations of the tile layouts for each space and am currently working in the cabinetry hardware guide.
H keeps telling me that we can redo anything we don’t like after the pandemic, but he doesn’t want me to risk being in close quarters with anyone who’s unvax’d and won’t wear a mask. I’ve been simplifying my designs to reduce execution risk (and shorten the time to completion) in hopes that there won’t be anything major we’ll want to change later.
So glad we went forward with the roofing project this summer. Kid says her husband’s coworker could not get anyone to come out to fix the roof leak after the snowstorm. Covid and bad driving conditions. Ugh.
In other news, I got two Covid contact notifications from my employer (I’m 100% remote, so this is N/A) - both happened today. I think we only had a couple of sick folks in the building throughout the entire pandemic up to this point.
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Currently awaiting a meeting with big wigs. Right now 14 in the room. One still coming. We are supposed to have 8 in here. Only one other with a mask other than me. 4 are sitting two feet apart including the unmasked HR director
Edit - two more did put their masks on when it started but still poor compliance. I was double masked with my paper one and the cloth/nose wire one with the PM2.5 filter. Fortunately this one wasn’t two hours like they can be
are your work places going by the new cdc rule of 5 days isolation for vaxxed covid cases? think that will be implemented? and no need to isolate if exposed while vaxxed and boostered? i wonder if smaller places can make those changes (and are willing to) more than larger places. ?
We’ve been in that situation since the beginning. No symptoms come to work. You’re only exposed if someone from the health department calls you but since they never call the sick people, nobody gets isolated.
But now if you’re positive and fully vaxd, you come back to work after 5 days. You’re supposed to mask but that isn’t enforced.
I tested positive for COVId yesterday. I’m fully vaccinated with booster. I was convinced several times in the past when I had been directly exposed that I had it and did not. This time I had a sore throat and runny nose. Was convinced it was just a cold but had a new employee starting who has a baby at home. Was going to be spending a good part of the day sitting by her training her so wanted to be sure it was just a cold so got tested. It was positive. I have sore throat, headache, slightly achy, bit of chest pressure. No fever.
It was actually difficult to find testing here. Walgreens first opening was Monday. Health department Saturday. Walgreens was out of home tests. Walmart said they were out but as I was leaving (masked) another girl came in (unmasked) and said she had called and was told they had just had some come in on a truck. The employee I had asked ran after me and told me to wait while she checked. About 10 minutes later they brought 2 test kits out. Went home to test and was surprised to see the 2 lines indicating positive. I have scheduled PCR tests at the county health department for myself and my husband tomorrow.
So far husband is symptom free which is surprising as we were in the car together for 2 days driving back from FL and we drank from the same water bottle (I know, stupid). He does not need this. I think I must have got it somewhere on the journey home - hotel, Starbucks, fast food stop. Who knows. Thankfully my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter in FL have no symptoms.
My small office follows the CDC guidelines so I am home 5 days then back to work masked 5 days.
I have a video conference with doc today. My husband called the nurse to ask if we should be doing anything and she suggested it. I don’t think it’s particularly necessary.
He could be asymptomatic. If so, it’s possible he gave it to you. Regardless, I wish you all the best.
I really wish scientists could find out the key to who is likely to have no issues with Covid and who needs more protection and offer a simple blood test for each of us to know it we want to. Asymptomatic to death is a wide range.
Curious as to why you have a PCR test scheduled for yourself. If the rapid is positive with symptoms you are positive. By the time you get PCR results your quarantine time will be done (if you go by the 5 days). What will the PCR test do for you? There are so many other sick people right now who can’t get a test. I agree your husband should keep his appointment.
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My boss thinks the at homes are not reliable so wanted me to. She wanted me to go to urgent care but they have the exact test I did at home so I did not want to do that. It’s easier just to do what she wants. I agree it is a bit pointless as the result won’t be in till I am back at work. I was making the PCR appointment for my husband and the health department appointments were almost completely open so I went ahead and made one for myself. I think I’m not quite convinced I have it.
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I have not scheduled a follow-up test for myself since I have symptoms and tested positive on a home test. Getting a PCR test in my area is very difficult right now. I am WFH and normally only go to the office a couple of hours a week. I did not go in this week and plan to stay out next week too just to be sure not to expose anyone.
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my CA sis (vaxxed not boosted) got it - positive with a home test at our house. Maybe because she was visiting here in the midwest, (and thinks we are slightly behind the times!) - she got a clinic rapid test the next day - positive – and then got another rapid clinic - the third day (positive). Three days later felt better and flew back to CA… the guidelines changed while she was sick, so she followed CDC guidance on isolating 5 days. back in CA she tested negative on day 7. we have no idea why she kept getting tested here. It seemed a waste of resources! Oh well; she feels great now.
@bgbg4us I’m in San Diego and it’s really difficult to get tested at a site so I will probably do a home test again next week.
I understand not trusting the reliability of a home negative test but a positive is a positive. And even if you don’t think you are truly positive what difference does it make at this point. Your quarantine time is happening regardless. Just think it is a waste of resources to test again.
Even our local healthcare testing. Many will do a rapid and a PCR at the same time. If the rapid is negative then they send off the PCR to the lab. If it is positive they don’t waste the lab time and don’t send off the PCR.
i just hope everyone realizes there is no shame in getting covid. (that’s what i just told a v&b friend who doesnt want other friends to know she has it.)
my thoughts: shame on you if you dont protect yourself from the effects. but come on - it’s not like you’ve done anything inherently wrong if you get it. it is everywhere right now; its not discriminating.
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@bhs1978 thanks for your input When I talked to my doctor a while ago he suggested I get the PCR test. He said if I were to get worse he can’t request anything like infusion based on the home test. So I’ll go with my doctor’s recommendation.
I asked about the reliability of the home tests. He said false positives are rare so it is highly likely I do have it. He also said false negatives are much more common.
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The rapid tests tend to show positive approximately when you are contagious, but are likely to show negative if you are infected but in the pre-contagious or post-contagious stage.
Therefore, the rapid tests are best used for precautionary testing (i.e. testing just before you go where you may expose others), rather than making medical decisions (at least for negative results).
PCR testing is more accurate for making medical decisions (though they can still show negative in the very early stages of infection and show positive long after by detecting “dead” virus), but the time lag and lesser accessibility make them poorly suited for precautionary testing.
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@ucbalumnus thanks. That’s interesting.