How was everyone dealing with this virus scare?

NYC and Long Island are juuuuust barely starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The density of population is really part of the problem as is the general selfishness and sense of immortality the young have ( I say that at 48.) Also, our Governor and more specifically (and infinitely dumber Mayor) really downplayed the risk to the young to limit panic and fear, but of course it was interpreted as a pass SO, the bars were packed with an "early Spring break" and the parks, the beaches and everyone walking arm in arm and having a grand old time. Then, the next genius move was to all shlep out of Brooklyn and invade the Hamptons. PC Richards sold 400 commercial freezers in ONE DAY and the tractor trailers went to deliver them to every third house on the prestigious streets with the Restaurant Depot truck behind them delivering cases of milk, flats of bread, sides of beef etc. The locals are furious that the markets are EMPTY due to this gluttony. And needless to say, the Hamptons have seen a real spike in cases. My wife and I both teach and my two boys are in grade school. So we are all home, going into week three. We live in a rural area anyway so the isolation is not that bad. We are all healthy and really haven't been around anyone. I think if we survived the contact of 6000 students daily, we are unlikely to get it from the 12pk my neighbor left on my porch the other day.....especially since my wife napalmed it prior to opening it.
One cool thing that came out of this was this monumental moment my 7 & 9 year old had yesterday.
Parker "Oh, My, that was a lot more than I expected."
Wilson "Ouch, jeees!"
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What I am curious to understand, is what is the daily death rate in the US? How many people die every day that are over 65? What is the adder due to this new virus? It is reported that we have 25K to 70K flu deaths per year, that is 70 to almost 200 per day for the flu. How many die from overdose, traffic accident, etc.
 
One positive note on this issue. People are getting outside and spending time with their families more than ever.

Nearly every day I see kids playing in the yard, couples riding bikes. Entire families out together in nature.

Well I hope this issue wraps up sooner rather than later, I really hope this trend to nature continues. With the movie theaters, schools, libraries all shut down I feel people are simplifying life in a beneficial way.
 
So my wife (operating room RN) was informed today a co-worker of hers tested positive. She worked Tuesday and so did this person. Michelle was in the OR nearly all day, with face mask and other OR garb, only getting a short break for lunch which she ate remote from her team. Today they called to let her know the news but CANNOT reveal the name of the worker. Isn't that a load of crap. She does not know if she was exposed or not. I have reported this to my Gov boss and I've been sent home due to possible exposure. Michelle is getting tested Mon morning but won't have results until Wednesday.

I am amazed that in the light of a pandemic killer they won't release the person's name, or at least let people know if the infected person was in on the same case. There is no shame in getting the virus and no reason to protect the identity, especially given the impacts to coworkers and their families. If I was the employee I'd call my coworkers and let them know. Not my wife's employer or infected worker. They have let us down!

Eric
 
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I am struggling with the quarantine...my job is considered essential so I'm going to work on my "normal" schedule..(Anyone who knows me knows it's far from normal).. We've been busier since everyone is forced to stay at home..now they're paying more attention to fluffy ...too much .. and in the area where I work..if the lap yapper farts one time too many they demand he be seen....even though he's not a critical emergency case...
The increase in cases is making it difficult to manage the ones that actually need to be in the ER overnight..
I had a week of vacation off for a diving trip which was cancelled..I had planned to keep the off days, however my people that swapped are now refusing to work the shifts since I'm still here...so I picked up 4 shifts..

I'm currently working on fabricating some easy maintenance purple martin poles for my dad

Trying to build myself a nice work bench vs the piece of crap I threw together..

And turn some much needed wrenching on my antique trucks.
 
Good morning, Eric~


I am very sorry to hear that your wife (and you) may have been exposed to Covid-19.


I appreciate your frustration with HIPAA. Although I remain a steadfast believer in the role of government to maintain societal boundaries through regulation, I also believe that good regulations are very, very difficult to do. It seems the Law of Unintended Consequences has a way of inserting itself into most every attempt. I have long observed HIPAA to be among the best (worst?) examples of regulation gone awry. It has missed the balance between legitimate personal privacy and good medical care.


I will step down off the soapbox now and simply wish everyone safety and good health.


All the best,


SJS

 
Eric Patterson said:
So my wife (operating room RN) was informed today a co-worker of hers tested positive. She worked Tuesday and so did this person. Michelle was in the OR nearly all day, with face mask and other OR garb, only getting a short break for lunch which she ate remote from her team. Today they called to let her know the news but CANNOT reveal the name of the worker. Isn't that a load of crap. She does not know if she was exposed or not. I have reported this to my Gov boss and I've been sent home due to possible exposure. Michelle is getting tested Mon morning but won't have results until Wednesday.

I am amazed that in the light of a pandemic killer they won't release the person's name, or at least let people know if the infected person was in on the same case. There is no shame in getting the virus and no reason to protect the identity, especially given the impacts to coworkers and their families. If I was the employee I'd call my coworkers and let them know. Not my wife's employer or infected worker. They have let us down!

Eric
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Wow, just read this. That really sucks, can you work from home?
 
Steve et. al.

Yes, the hospital is standing behind HIPAA and they are bound by that law not to disclose the patient identity. My issue is they know which workers were in which cases. They could simply tell my wife if the infected worked was in any of her cases. No name would be needed yet they will not provide this critical information and that decision is now affecting my entire team and lab miles from the hospital. Their decision has reaching impacts and I'd like an explanation. I think they are overapplying HIPAA. Further, to the individual worker that does not want their information released I say they are a terrible team player and would never want to work with them again. For Christ sake, is a virus that nearly everyone on the planet might end up with, not an STD! I can think of no legitimate reason for them to withhold such info. If someone has a good one please set me straight.

I told Michelle last night that should they call her to work to decline (she's PRN and is under no obligation to report). If they won't have her back she shouldn't put herself and her family in any further risk or situation of uncertainty for them.

In my opinion right now our health care workers are heroes. Them along with people that work the food supply chain, power grid, as well as others that are under tremendous pressure to keep society functioning under these unprecedented times. I hope their employers have their backs.

Eric

Edit: I guess a different motivation for the worker not wanting to have their name released is they knew they were sick, hoped it wasn't the coronavirus, and came to work because they needed the money, and are now embarrassed by their carelessness after testing positive.
 
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Tod

I just got approval for telework. However my job doesn't lend itself that well to telework. Bill Burruss suggested I park a THAAD Launcher in my driveway :)

Eric
 
Eric Patterson said:
Edit: I guess a different motivation for the worker not wanting to have their name released is they knew they were sick, hoped it wasn't the coronavirus, and came to work because they needed the money, and are now embarrassed by their carelessness after testing positive.
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Eric,
Oh the horror in owning up to one's action's.
I can understand your frustration.
 
I don't know whether you will find any level of solace in this, but the same scenario has played-out for the a lab. tech. and an ICU nurse who work in the Beaumont Hospital system (now operating at capacity in Wayne and Oakland Counties in Metro Detroit. The lab. tech was told to wear a mask and continue to report for work. The ICU nurse was told that six of the nine patients she personally intubated that shift had tested positive for Covid-19... three days later.

This issue also has direct repurcussions on the rate of usage of PPE gear, since hospital personnel don't know who is positive for Covid-19. or they presenting with a severe flue induced lower respiratory tract issue, so heathcare staff
have to assume that both patients are Covid-19 diagnoses, and treat via protocol accordingly because the administration botched their ramp-up of testing and test production, instead authorizing the States to develop their own tests and administer them- resulting in a hodge-podge of return rates, a broader range of false negatives and false positives due to lack of standardized test kit production controls, and an inability to determine which strain the patient has. '

We desperately need a chief executive that is capable and willing to engage in some level of introspection and frank honesty; instead of consistently blaming others (GM and Ford make cars, how are cars even slightly related to ventilators in function and design? Consequently, development and ramp-up of production requires first finding a suitable partner and facility, prior massive and time consuming ramp-up. Now, contrast that against Dyson's efforts, a company with electric motor supply sources, air movement and flow directing engineering, circuitry and wiring sources and panels established, etc Stable genius? Hardly!), nearly a month into a global pandemic and Defense Procurement Act is finally invoked.

At best, the administration's management and logic appear to be some odd Runge-Kutta approach applied via discrete time-steps. They don't reflect the current reality, the responses are out-of-sync with respect to the need, and they far underestimate both the risk and seriousness of the immediate and longterm needs of both the healhcare provider system and network in the U.S.
 
Eric et al,
It is my understanding that in South Korea, with each case, it became public knowledge immediately. People could then go to the national database and see who was infected this allowed them to corral the virus quicker than we will be able to in the US.

As with many things in our country, individual rights are deemed more important than what is good for the community/group/country as a whole.

With Covid-19, we will pay big time for insisting that are personal freedoms are more important than taking care of our neighbor and being responsible to our neighbor.

Larry
 
Eric.

Hope you and your wife are still doing good.
Mr Sanford...agreed there are soo many soapboxes one can get on with management of this whole thing....
 
Sorry to hear of your predicament Eric. I hope you can make it work telecommuting. We're trying it at my office with mixed results. With a wink a client asked me years ago "Do you know how many people work for you?" I took a moment too long to respond so the punchline came "About half." Maybe we need a little more time to adjust, I surely hope we can keep things going.

Edit: I guess a different motivation for the worker not wanting to have their name released is they knew they were sick, hoped it wasn't the coronavirus, and came to work because they needed the money, and are now embarrassed by their carelessness after testing positive.
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I'm curious in your wife's case, if she or her co-worker contract the virus, are they entitled to sick leave or workers comp? To me it seems a no brainer that health care workers should enjoy those benefits when infected on the job, but every state and hospital seems to be different.
 
Appreciate the support very much. I'm not as pissed now that I spent a day in the shop putting another coat of Waterlox on the workbench and some other projects.

SJ, Michelle is PRN, meaning she works on an hourly basis with no benefits. I doubt she's entitled to any such compensation.

RL, are those US or world-wide estimates?

Eric
 
My local gun shop said he could sell .223 and 9mm rounds non-stop if he could get anymore. I suppose it is the toilet paper of the sports shooting crowd
 
I get it now Eric, but it still doesn't seem right. I hope your family, and everyone else's, come out of this healthy.

Just noticed that Trump says no enforced quarantine for NY, NJ and parts of CT. I thought it was a good idea two or three days ago, now it's too late. People fled NYC, they're at their summer homes throughout Long Island and New England now. One giant covid 19 bomb. My wife and I stayed put instead of heading north, trying to do our part in not spreading it (we don't feel sick, but who knows). Not sure what to think about the RI police pulling over cars with NY plates, that might be a slippery slope.
 
Eric Patterson said:
Tod

I just got approval for telework. However my job doesn't lend itself that well to telework. Bill Burruss suggested I park a THAAD Launcher in my driveway :)

Eric
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Update us with the test results When you get them, this is going to hit a lot of us before it is through. Hang in there.
 
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