The Coronavirus Panic Thread

[Arcus]

With the third vaccine about to be submitted for approval (with more on the way,) the supply will hopefully start to catch up to the need.

[EricKei]

Update for our state: All doses currently in stock have been reserved; no new signups allowed for now, though people who have Dose 1 will be able to get Dose 2. Everyone else has to wait a month or so for more to arrive.

[KuariKaydrith]

I've pretty much had a constant semi-stuffy nose and loss of taste for decades, plus aches and pains for the most recent of those decades. I tend to just answer the "Do you have these symptoms?" questionnaires with "Well, do you mean any NEW aches and pains? No."

The laser therapy place I go to has made it clear in their covid questionnaire that they are referring to NEW symptoms and not something that has been ongoing for years.

[EricKei]

I've pretty much had a constant semi-stuffy nose and loss of taste for decades, plus aches and pains for the most recent of those decades. I tend to just answer the "Do you have these symptoms?" questionnaires with "Well, do you mean any NEW aches and pains? No."

[notalwaysright]

I'm not normally a hypochondriac, and I don't get sick very often. In fact, since the pandemic, not once. Until last week. Very mildly sick. Low fever, cough, sinus headache, runny nose. Many of the symptoms, but not too bad. If the the world was sane, I wouldn't have thought much of it.

But the world is insane, and like the title of this thread, I full on PANICKED. Soooo, yeah went to the county free drive through testing site and just one day later got my negative result. Big relief, man. And my coworkers were relieved to hear I went to be tested because they sure didn't want me back at work if I wasn't sure. Plus now that I went I see it was really easy and fast and if (heaven forbid) I needed to do it again, I wouldn't be worried about that element. I'd be free to worry about everything else.

[Nunavut Pants]

Two residents in Mom's facility have tested positive. First residents to do so. Hopefully (probably) not in her wing. Residents will be vaccinated starting around the end of the month. Can't come soon enough for me!!!

[dalesys]

I was exposed two month's ago. Tested negative. Wondering if you've caught it is really fun when you have a hoopty body that parrots low level symptoms at random for shits and giggles.


Cough? Congestion? Aches and pains? Maybe fever? Can't smell? Loss of taste? ... wait, it took microbit memory two hours to remember that bowl of hot soup...


Wheee! Hope I last long enough to get vaccinated (I'm 69), though I wish I could transfer my slot to my cashier daughter (48). Teacher (40) is in line, probably before me.

[Dreamstalker]

Customers are allowed to bring their own bags, but they must do their own bagging. If a customer is disabled or otherwise unable to bag themselves (unwilling does not count) we can bag, but we must either wear disposable gloves and change them afterwards or sanitize our hands and station immediately after. Generally it's easier to simply operate under "you bring them, you pack them"; the gloves I wear would be ruined by sanitizer and get hand-washed when I come home.

A few co-irkers assume that this policy is at the discretion of the worker. That's fine, you can assume that risk but don't demand that I do so. My understanding of the own-bag rule is that employees cannot touch them (I do have to be a bit careful about bringing cooties home; that's my business and neither a CW nor customer can force me to explain why). We are under no obligation to bag in anything other than store bags. Each register used to have a sign to that effect, but they got taken down recently ...hey corporate, this ISN'T OVER.

[Food Lady]

Thank you, Pants. That's very helpful.

[Arcus]

I admit that I am waiting a bit to see what the side effects are for the second shot with the different types of the vaccines. Thanks to being unable to find a job since March, I'm one of those that stays home most of the time so I'm lower down the list of people that need to get it quickly. Plus with the distribution not going as well as hoped, my holding back leaves it for someone that needs it more.

I know I will get it. It will just be a little later.

[PoliteBoy]

Stay. At. Home.

I obviously can't control if people want to travel or not, but I believe common sense is now a commodity now more than ever.

The situation in Australia at the moment is relatively stable, except for the small cluster in Sydney, the capital city of the state New South Wales. The cluster started just before Christmas and all the surrounding states (Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, South Australia to the west, Canberra located inland) clamped down and completely shut down the borders, no one in or out unless exempted.

In particular, the area classified as the Northern Beaches in Sydney has been completely sealed off to make sure the cluster there doesn't spread out. The CBD and outer suburbs are fine but it is advised not to travel.

The meat of the problem is that I work in the border town that is literally a five minute walk from the NSW-QLD border so travelers from wherever in NSW can travel here as long as they don't cross the border.

Naturally, people from Sydney have still been coming up during Christmas and New Year rather than just staying put or staying in tourist towns further away from the border. When someone checks in and they say they're from SYdney, I make sure to ask if they come from the Northern Beaches. Most have said no and just said they come from the outer suburbs. But it still leaves me on edge though.

Look, call me a draconian asshole. Go ahead. But if the words 'highly infectious disease' don't bother you, then I suppose being flippant about it is to be expected. Yes, you may not be infected but how do you know for sure? Don't go to a major hub that could lead to another hub and another. Seriously, how do you screw up 'Stay at home'?

[Nunavut Pants]

I feel ambivalent about the vaccine. I don't know what kind of issues it will cause and from what I understand, it might not keep me from getting others sick.

The vaccine is from 90% to 95% effective. That's among the most effective vaccines we currently have for anything. It will keep you from getting sick, it will keep you from being contagious, and if that fails it will at least keep you from being as sick.

There have been thousands of people who have taken the vaccine in the past four or five months. The number of people who have had problems that have definitively been connected to the vaccine are something like four. Four people total.

Now, hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers have taken the first dose of the vaccine. If you don't see stories of doctors dropping dead in the next month, you can probably take that as a hint that the vaccine is safe.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Refusing to protect your employees is a stable of corporate culture.

That explains all the horse manure corporate spreads around.

[Kristev]

Refusing to protect your employees is a stable of corporate culture.

[Food Lady]

KuariKaydrith, sorry you have to deal with that. I don't understand not protecting one's employees.

I feel ambivalent about the vaccine. I don't know what kind of issues it will cause and from what I understand, it might not keep me from getting others sick. If that's true, I'm not sure there's a point. I don't get sick but my concern has been the possibility that I'm a carrier. I don't really know how to proceed except I keep masking and hoping that protects people around me. Annoyed me that when I took my car in Thursday, half the staff had no masks at all and half of the ones that did weren't wearing them correctly. Yet they will put plastic all over my seat and steering wheel to protect...someone, not sure me or them. All I can do is hope they don't pick up something from my car, Covid or otherwise. I never know what I might be carrying. The only times I ever get sick it's non-contagious allergies or food poisoning. Green onions in the burritos? Check. Bacteria in batches of peanut butter? Check. Those were the last two. I'm not 100% certain but I believe those times were either food-borne, given the symptoms and time frames. The last time I had actual flu was 2013 or 2014? I don't remember the year but I remember spending Christmas alone.