The Virus - Are You Affected?

[Jokodo]

Our office has had three covid positive tests in a week. One young guy has had symptoms, fever and aching but is on the mend. Three people is out of a staff of about 10 is quite a lot. Everyone else has had two tests since and all negative. People are going in to the office less and less.

I haven't been to my companies office since early October. I'm in the fortunate situation that I have an office space close to home but outside our apartment (which frankly is too small to efficiently work from home with two kids around) which we've been renting since 2018 because a) my partner is self-employed, b) I had the ability to work from home 1-2 days a week even before the pandemic, and 3) kids, which turned out to be a very sensible investment. It's a refurbished basement flat 100 metres from home, which we're sharing with two other people but we have a separate room to ourselves. So I'm not technically working from home-home as in isolating from all non-household members, but I figure a separate room a short walk from home, and two other people I may run across on the way to the toilet or to fetch some water, is still way better than a 40 minute ride on public transport twice a day to an office with 10 other people.

 

[crazyfingers]

It has probably been 2 years since i was in the office and i've probably been to the office 6 times in the last 4 years.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Our ‘new’ office cursed. Pandemic is only one of the several reasons we haven’t been in it. Flood, noise from construction, solvent leak during construction, saw dust incident from construction, humidity rain, ransomware attack. Well the last one wasn’t just our office.

 

[Jarhyn]

Our ‘new’ office cursed. Pandemic is only one of the several reasons we haven’t been in it. Flood, noise from construction, solvent leak during construction, saw dust incident from construction, humidity rain, ransomware attack. Well the last one wasn’t just our office.

... You need me to come in and do an exorcism?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Our office has had three covid positive tests in a week. One young guy has had symptoms, fever and aching but is on the mend. Three people is out of a staff of about 10 is quite a lot. Everyone else has had two tests since and all negative. People are going in to the office less and less.

See why we keep harping on masks?

"BuT tHeY WoRe MaSkS AnD sTiLl GoT iT, and NoBodY DieD!!!111"

To which I will preemptively respond:

The universe is probabilistic. Don't take probabilistically bad gambles because the probabilities of outcomes are the true arbiter of the ethics of engaging in the preconditions.

Masks are a good mandate, because they decrease probabilities of bad outcomes for everyone without decreasing the probabilities of good outcomes.

And note that the primary benefit of wearing surgical masks is to others--they're more effective at keeping you from spreading it than keeping you from catching it. You need high compliance for surgical masks to provide a large benefit.

Given the number of plague rats out there safety is only from wearing the good stuff--and I would say the number of people I see doing that is only a couple of percent. I see more people unmasked (chin mask, or face shield) than I see wearing the good stuff.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

It has probably been 2 years since i was in the office and i've probably been to the office 6 times in the last 4 years.

My current job I have been on site 3 times in 7 years now. Given their covidiot behavior I would not be willing to go there at this point.

 

[Jarhyn]

"BuT tHeY WoRe MaSkS AnD sTiLl GoT iT, and NoBodY DieD!!!111"

To which I will preemptively respond:

The universe is probabilistic. Don't take probabilistically bad gambles because the probabilities of outcomes are the true arbiter of the ethics of engaging in the preconditions.

Masks are a good mandate, because they decrease probabilities of bad outcomes for everyone without decreasing the probabilities of good outcomes.

And note that the primary benefit of wearing surgical masks is to others--they're more effective at keeping you from spreading it than keeping you from catching it. You need high compliance for surgical masks to provide a large benefit.

Given the number of plague rats out there safety is only from wearing the good stuff--and I would say the number of people I see doing that is only a couple of percent. I see more people unmasked (chin mask, or face shield) than I see wearing the good stuff.

The greatest benefit comes from uniform effective activity. It is a lot less effective at keeping it out than keeping it in. That said, both are effective, as effective as, say, getting your cat neutered. Which is to say, at least a little effective.

 

[crazyfingers]

It has probably been 2 years since i was in the office and i've probably been to the office 6 times in the last 4 years.

My current job I have been on site 3 times in 7 years now. Given their covidiot behavior I would not be willing to go there at this point.

Ya. Fortunately management at my employer, based in NJ and MA, are not requiring anyone who can WFH to go to the office. Business travel is still banned.

I just took on another expert witness gig for an office products manufacturer who is going Federal over patent infringing imports from China. I wrote into the contract that all work will be remote until I, my whole family and any person I'd ever be face to face with have been vaccinated and travel restrictions are gone. The USITC is still remote but court dates won't be for at least a year. Witness Depositions are all virtual too.

 

[J842P]

One of my dad's aunts died after being hospitalized due to COVID. She was old. Her daughter and their family all seem to have gotten it. The daughter (also an older lady) was in the hospital for a while, but just out. Apparently they all got it over the holiday during a large family gathering. Stupid.

My brother, he's 43 and lives in Spain, contracted it a few weeks ago during a little outbreak in the office where he wasn't allowed to work from home. It was a mild case, thankfully. Of course, my mother worried a lot. She can be a very anxious person and this whole experience has been very hard on her. Apparently, my brother's office was not enforcing masks at all. He just lost his job, though, his company had to downsize due to Brexit (it was a real-estate company that worked with foreign nationals from the UK). More troubling news for my poor mom.

My younger cousin, about 27, just got it from his girlfriend. He lives in Guatemala. He is 28. I think he's suffering mild symptoms, with mild loss of smell. I'm worried he might have exposed my aunt, she has hypertension problems.

I'm currently back on the East coast and have been here since December. Since I can work from home, I'm staying until mid February. I quarantined for 2 weeks when I got here, so as not to expose my parents.

 

[SimpleDon]

I just came back from getting my first injection of the Moderna (sp?) vaccine.

I told them that I had the Covid-19 nearly a year ago. They told me that they had reports that the people who have had the disease have more reaction problems, especially after the second injection. If I had a serious reaction to the first injection I should consider not having the second one.

It has been nearly one year since I had the disease. Yes, the first confirmed hospitalization in the US from the disease was 20 January 2019, a year ago yesterday. I beat the odds to get the disease just two weeks later.

I feel like I am still recovering from Covid-19 after one year. I just recovered my sense of smell. I first realized when I smelled my wife's Christmas cookies baking in early December. My nurse says that she still sees that I am getting stronger nearly every day.

 

[DrZoidberg]

A friend (and also a tenant) father died from Covid-19 yesterday. He lived in California.

 

[southernhybrid]

We spoke to Jobar yesterday. His girlfriend's mother has COVID but she is only having mild symptoms, despite being in her 80s. She is still caring for her dependent son, who lives with her. So far, the other family members have no symptoms.


He is still staying away from the entire family for safety's sake. I'm only mentioning this because those of you who have been members here for several years know that Jobar was once an admin here as well as a frequent poster until about two years ago.

 

[DrZoidberg]

We spoke to Jobar yesterday. His girlfriend's mother has COVID but she is only having mild symptoms, despite being in her 80s. She is still caring for her dependent son, who lives with her. So far, the other family members have no symptoms.


He is still staying away from the entire family for safety's sake. I'm only mentioning this because those of you who have been members here for several years know that Jobar was once an admin here as well as a frequent poster until about two years ago.

As far as I know how severe symptoms you get seem pretty random. If you get a serious disease then being old or otherwise immunocompromised makes it much worse. But whether or not you get a serious reaction seems unrelated to anything.

 

[WAB]

I am one of about four or five (I forgot the actual number - but they told me who the others were) employees at my facility - a skilled nursing home - who has not yet tested positive for Covid. We are tested now twice a week. I have been advised: "Be careful, and realize, if you continue working here, odds are you will eventually test positive."

I am not worried for myself, since every one I know who has tested positive and whom I have spoken to has said that there were no severe symptoms, only an "ache", usually, some sniffles and light fever. but I AM worried about passing it to someone else, a loved one, or anyone really.

 

[Elixir]

We spoke to Jobar yesterday. His girlfriend's mother has COVID but she is only having mild symptoms, despite being in her 80s. She is still caring for her dependent son, who lives with her. So far, the other family members have no symptoms.


He is still staying away from the entire family for safety's sake. I'm only mentioning this because those of you who have been members here for several years know that Jobar was once an admin here as well as a frequent poster until about two years ago.

As far as I know how severe symptoms you get seem pretty random. If you get a serious disease then being old or otherwise immunocompromised makes it much worse. But whether or not you get a serious reaction seems unrelated to anything.

It does seem to correlate with the initial viral load. IOW, the more viral particles you inhale or otherwise ingest, the more severe the ensuing symptoms. Another argument for masks...

 

[Politesse]

My cousin's great aunt, who has lived with them these past several years due to failing health, caught the coronavirus during a hospital visit. So now the cousin, her sister, her husband, and her kids are all quarantining. Which is a problem, because they were also taking care of my grandparents, who now have no one to run errands for them beyond the senior home where they are locked down. It's worse because Lettie herself is almost certainly going to die within a matter of days, she wasn't in good shape to begin with. But no news yet.

 

[SLD]

I just popped positive. Not much to say about it, but have to quarantine for 10 days. Working from home is just not for me. Hard to concentrate. I prefer the office.

 

[crazyfingers]

I just popped positive. Not much to say about it, but have to quarantine for 10 days. Working from home is just not for me. Hard to concentrate. I prefer the office.

That sucks. Do you think you got it at the office? Where else could you have gotten it?

 

[TomC]

Here's an episode of the indirect damage caused by the USA's dreadful response to the threat.

My mother-in-law has a twin sister. They're very close. My mother-in-law is Fay and her sister is May.

About a week ago, May's daughter had a heart attack. Daughter is Anita. Anita was quarantining because she'd been exposed rather seriously. Nobody noticed that Anita wasn't around for several hours. By the time they found her, she'd suffered major brain damage.

The hospital did all they could, but Anita never came out of the coma. And due to hospital C19 rules, almost nobody could even go and see her. They pulled the plug a couple of days ago, Anita is in Hospice "being kept comfortable".
But she's basically going to die alone. Even though her family tradition is taking care of each other and gathering around somebody's death bed in droves.

Anita didn't die of C19, directly. But yeah, I do blame the Trump administration and their bullshit handling of the epidemic for this situation.

"It's not a big deal! We'll have the country open and the economy growing by Easter!"

FUCK you Donald J Trump.
Tom

 

[Loren Pechtel]

We spoke to Jobar yesterday. His girlfriend's mother has COVID but she is only having mild symptoms, despite being in her 80s. She is still caring for her dependent son, who lives with her. So far, the other family members have no symptoms.


He is still staying away from the entire family for safety's sake. I'm only mentioning this because those of you who have been members here for several years know that Jobar was once an admin here as well as a frequent poster until about two years ago.

As far as I know how severe symptoms you get seem pretty random. If you get a serious disease then being old or otherwise immunocompromised makes it much worse. But whether or not you get a serious reaction seems unrelated to anything.

It appears to be related to how big your initial exposure is. That's why the medical people have been hit extra hard by this. Beyond that it's a crapshoot, it's just chance where the clots end up.