The Coronavirus Panic Thread

[csquared]

You know the case count is high when they post:
ALERT: The Daily Status Report will not update today, Jan. 3, due to a large amount of data overwhelming the system. We are working to fix the problem and expect to have an update tomorrow at 3 p.m

[KuariKaydrith]

The cases have skyrocketed here and as of midnight we're back to Level 4 (the highest being Level 5). Thankfully the bosses at my work have made the decision to close for the week, and we will be issued ROEs so we can apply for the latest round of benefits being rolled out for workers in the province. Honestly, I'm glad that we're taking this step - on Friday we ended up not opening after one of our employees notified us that she'd been contacted by Public Health to isolate and get tested. Until that point she had been coming into work for several days after already telling us that her folks had tested positive earlier in the week and they were likely positive when she was there for Christmas. Yet our bosses were saying it was okay for her to be at work because she was non-symptomatic.

Ugh.

I'm not even going to get into how badly this latest round of shit has been handled because I'll likely blow several fuses. Suffice it to say that I told the missus that she should have just stayed home instead of coming into work and potentially spreading it, regardless of what higher management said.

[Dreamstalker]

I returned to work today from a vacation and overheard that a few CWs had to quarantine (they're back now). We probably won't see a notice about "potential exposure" for a month if past handling has been any indication (last time this happened it resulted in a few people quitting over the lack of communication and resultant health risk). Still seeing maskholes in the store; as expected manglement is doing zip to enforce masking. I'd think it would be in the company's interest to crack down but who am I kidding? I'm just notifying a manager whenever I see one of these morons; let them deal with it. Mighty tempting to drop a dime to the town board of health about a business allowing unmasked shoppers...but my job. I have a new triple-layer mask for work only. The company policy on Covid leave states that 'voluntary travel' disqualifies someone from said leave...how can they tell where you picked it up especially now?

We found out yesterday that a family friend (who we all spent time with) tested positive. All cousins are negative; dad's trying to get a test. Mom thinks she may have it (she likely had Covid early in 2020, she's definitely dealing with some long-covid symptoms now on top of her fibromyalgia). I felt a bit punky for a day when we were in NJ but chalked it up to seasonal crap and being in a house with very dry air, an obese cat who is never bathed and central HVAC filters that were last changed during the Obama administration. I'm mostly fine now. Mom's going to lay low and call our doctor on Monday if she's still feeling off.

[Racket_Man]

Found out late Friday that the GM tested positive so reduced open hours for the next 2 weeks. AND Yes both my ex and myself tested negative

[Ghel]

I started feeling sick on Sunday, got tested on Monday, got a positive result on Tuesday. Yay. My boss tried to tell me today that the CDC's new guidelines say I can come back to work after 5 days. I reminded him that it's only if you're asymptomatic, which I most definitely am not. I told him I'm planning to quarantine 14 days. I'll let him know if I'm feeling well enough to come back before that, but I doubt that's going to happen.

I got the vaccine and booster, but I still feel like crap. Sinus headache, congestion, sore throat, slight cough, sneezing, general tiredness. It's like a bad sinus infection or cold. I don't want to think about what it would be like if I hadn't been vaccinated.

[KuariKaydrith]

One of my coworkers called out of work due to needing a test. According to local public health guidelines I should have also isolated until she got the results as I spend a lot of my time both at work and outside of work with her as she's my best friend. But when I brought that up to my boss I was told that as I was not a part of the coworker's household I didn't have to isolate. Let's just say that I'm very glad that my friend's test came back negative. If it had come back positive, well, we would've had to shut down for a few days until all staff could get tested. That's just a little too close for comfort for me, honestly.

[Racket_Man]

found out on Friday that someone I worked with on the previous Monday tested positive. even though I got the 3d shot I am going to get tested anyway as I have someone living with me that has multiple medical conditions (she also got the 3d shot at the same time I did)

[Ghel]

Our main branch (in another state, thankfully) has had a bit of an outbreak of COVID cases. They've closed down the lobby and re-instituted a masking policy. The gal who taught me escrows was out last week on a planned vacation and hasn't come back this week. Pretty sure it's due to COVID. Luckily for me, things have been going pretty smooth with the escrow distributions. One of the lenders is also out sick with COVID (that one was verified to us at a loan meeting in a "I'm not saying it's COVID, but you can probably guess why he's out" way), so I can't ask him about any of his loans when there's an issue. I just had to use my best judgment.

I realize this all sounds very self-centered. I have no excuse. I hope they all recover without serious issues. I also hope their absences don't effect my work too much.

[Buzzard]

California is getting a *new* indoor mask mandate that will last into January. Yeah, like that's going to magically get these knuckleheads to suddenly get with the program. Stores out here are getting more and more 'meh' about it. There's a few places, like the few fast food/chinese food places that I'll still use, that are still HARD on the mask and distance routines. (Gee, they don't want the hassle of replacing staff OR reports that their customers got sick. ...or they actually care about their people )

Most of my people are vaxed, but... still got some idjits

[Dreamstalker]

NYC has reimposed indoor mask mandates, and my aunt in NJ is freaking out a bit. Mom's now thinking we should get rapid tests before driving down there...good luck with that. The tests are expensive (not covered by insurance) and impossible to find. I'm really hoping aunt doesn't insist we mask up in the house...

Mom now can't find her vax card. She lost it after I gave her the card holder...so somehow I'm responsible. Nope, all I know is that you tried your card in the holder, told me it didn't work and that was apparently when you lost track of it. I never saw or touched your card, ever.

[NorthernZel]

News from DK: New restrictions are in place re: covid pass for restaurants, mask mandates in public transport, concerts are restricted. Nevertheless test centers are turned into vaccine centers even though there is more demands for testing. Go figure.

[Argus]

My mom didn't bring hers to her booster appointment either; when she scheduled it CVS never mentioned anything about it...

That was mentioned in the email CVS sent me the day before my booster appointment. It does appear that the pharmacy and MinuteClinic have independent scheduling systems, and maybe only one has that reminder.

I guess I've been fortunate with side effects. The second shot gave me an annoying headache the next day (making me feel a little silly for taking that day off in advance), and the booster resulted in twinges of pain in that shoulder the next day.

[MadMike]

So the booster knocked me on my ass for about a day and a half. I didn't feel sick this time, but I felt out of it to the point where I felt it would be a bad idea for me to try to drive. Ended up working from home one more day than we're supposed to, but it was either that or call off completely. No one said anything to me about it, and it's quite possible no one even noticed. This one guy who retired recently told me that he had been working from home full time, even before the pandemic, and no one seemed to notice.

[Dreamstalker]

My mom didn't bring hers to her booster appointment either; when she scheduled it CVS never mentioned anything about it...and somehow that became my fault for "not knowing we needed it" (ok why the hell am I getting dragged into this?). She had a pic on her phone, but they couldn't accept that for obvious reasons. She was able to go back to the location with the card (that car trip was another litany of "why didn't you think to tell me, why can't they use the one on my phone"...ENOUGH) and the tech filled it in. I got all 3 of my shots at my clinic, so they have my info. The state is planning a digital passport of sorts I heard.

I bought a bunch of those plastic vax card holders, and will give one to everyone at Christmas (maybe decorated, or maybe I'll bring my glitter pens, stickers etc and we can turn it into a fun thing). (edit: mom says that I "wasted my money" on the card holders because they "don't work"...it's to physically protect the original card which you're not supposed to carry all the time anyway, I don't know what else you think it's supposed to do).

[Ghel]

I managed to get my booster scheduled on the second try. Got the poke yesterday. My only side-effect is a slightly sore arm.

Somewhere in the many paragraphs of disclosures, warnings, etc. I scrolled past when I made my appointment, it said to bring in my vaccine card. Well, I didn't get one when I got my COVID vaccine. I didn't even think about it at the time. Luckily, I had pulled the info from the state database into my clinic account, so I pulled it up on the clinic's website on my phone to show the pharmacist. They were fine with that.