How things are going in your area?

[strawhat]

Urgh.

 

So, locally, we just got a new county health director not too long ago.  The CHD does NOT have the power to put mandates in place, and she had gone to the City Council to recommend putting one in place.  No dice.  "No" from the mayor, governor, and (I think) the actual city council.    

 

The local hospitals are cancelling surgeries that aren't necessary and not booking new ones for more elective procedures.  That's across all the major providers I'm aware of.  A non-doctor friend of Eldest and Youngest (who works for the state system) says, in her opinion  we're probably headed for a lockdown again come this winter.  

 

Youngest's ex-husband had COVID, but thought it was only heat exhaustion.  He passed it to one of his parents, but (thankfully), so far as we know, not to the Strawbonnet.  They do not seem to have any inclination to get vaccinated.  Youngest may take Strawbonnet to get the shot, anyway, once her age group gets the OK.  Not behind Exes back.  She'll be quite outspoken about it, and I doubt that he'll fuss about it.

 

Strawcap's daycare (which deals with people who have a host of special needs) has had an incident with it, though not in his classroom.

[redambrosia]

On 8/26/2021 at 5:53 PM, strawhat said:

The local hospitals are cancelling surgeries that aren't necessary and not booking new ones for more elective procedures.

The thing is, what they consider “unnecessary” may not be so to the person receiving it. My mom has a thing in her eye socket (I can’t remember what it’s called) that gives her horrible headaches (she calls them headache bombs). They knock her on her tush for days at a time. She needs surgery to have it removed, but no one will do it because it’s “not necessary”.

 

She may not be actually dying from it, but she’s in horrible pain most of the time and unable to function. 
 

And that’s not even mentioning the hip replacement that she needs done.

[Inarah]

On 8/26/2021 at 6:53 PM, strawhat said:

Urgh.

 

 

A lot of the same issues here.  Everyone seems to think something needs to be done, but cannot agree on what, and it's getting way too political.   I'm still wearing a mask inside any kind of business and using copious amounts of sanitizer after touching things. 

 

[Corsair]

Well, my test came back this morning and I do have the little beastie. Thankfully, mine and Lady C symptoms are both non-hospitalizing, just like your basic variety of flu. Plenty of food and TP in the house and plenty of friends and family nearby [if we need an emergency run for groceries]. You all stay safe.

[Glitterwolf]

1 hour ago, Corsair said:

Well, my test came back this morning and I do have the little beastie. Thankfully, mine and Lady C symptoms are both non-hospitalizing, just like your basic variety of flu. Plenty of food and TP in the house and plenty of friends and family nearby [if we need an emergency run for groceries]. You all stay safe.

 

Sounds like what the vaccin does, it doesn't always prevent getting it, but if one gets it, it's supposed to be mild, not having to be admitted to hospital etc.

So I hope it will work out for you two and that it will soon pass.

Some people experience loss of taste/smell which can come back pretty quick for some and last for months for others.

I wish you a quick recovery!

[Cyradis]

3 hours ago, redambrosia said:

The thing is, what they consider “unnecessary” may not be so to the person receiving it. My mom has a thing in her eye socket (I can’t remember what it’s called) that gives her horrible headaches (she calls them headache bombs). They knock her on her tush for days at a time. She needs surgery to have it removed, but no one will do it because it’s “not necessary”.

 

She may not be actually dying from it, but she’s in horrible pain most of the time and unable to function. 
 

And that’s not even mentioning the hip replacement that she needs done.

 

A friend of a friend was in that sort of situation... but for heart attacks. Had a condition that needed surgery "soon". No surgery, would likely have a heart attack in the very near future. But at the time in Ontario, non-emergency surgeries were cancelled. If she did have a heart attack, she could get treatment, but she couldn't get the operation to prevent a heart attack. Fortunately she didn't have a heart attack before the hospitals cleared enough for non-emergency surgeries. But still.... friggin' scary to need to cancel some of these non-emergency things.

 

Glad your symptoms are mild, @Corsair. Kick the bug right in its ugly spiky buttocks and feel better soon!

[strawhat]

5 hours ago, Corsair said:

Well, my test came back this morning and I do have the little beastie. Thankfully, mine and Lady C symptoms are both non-hospitalizing, just like your basic variety of flu. Plenty of food and TP in the house and plenty of friends and family nearby [if we need an emergency run for groceries]. You all stay safe.

 

Take care, you two.

[strawhat]

On 8/26/2021 at 6:53 PM, strawhat said:

Youngest's ex-husband had COVID, but thought it was only heat exhaustion.  He passed it to one of his parents, but (thankfully), so far as we know, not to the Strawbonnet.  They do not seem to have any inclination to get vaccinated.  Youngest may take Strawbonnet to get the shot, anyway, once her age group gets the OK.  Not behind Exes back.  She'll be quite outspoken about it, and I doubt that he'll fuss about it.

 

And we were informed today that Ex's other parental unit has come down with it.  Since Ex lives with his parents, we will not be seeing Strawbonnet for some time.

 

Being in a small town is not a defense.

[Corsair]

1 hour ago, strawhat said:

 

And we were informed today that Ex's other parental unit has come down with it.  Since Ex lives with his parents, we will not be seeing Strawbonnet for some time.

 

Being in a small town is not a defense.

Praying for you all

[Glitterwolf]

6 hours ago, strawhat said:

 

And we were informed today that Ex's other parental unit has come down with it.  Since Ex lives with his parents, we will not be seeing Strawbonnet for some time.

 

Being in a small town is not a defense.

 

I'll be thinking of you!

 

Hope all who are affected will recover quickly and without longer term problems.

[Cranky Dog]

Our provincial vaccine passport officially launches in a few hours. And already it's causing problems outside of the whole "privacy vs liberty vs public health" debate.

 

TLDR: Whether you support the idea or not, it's a mess.

 

So you need an app from either Apple or Android. Two apps really. One for the consumer to create a code, and one for businesses to check the code. If you use Android, you also need to put the app's name in quotation marks (because reasons?). For some reason, the QR Code you got after your vaccines is needed to generate a new QR Code that validates your fully vaccinated status. But if you don't have a smartphone to carry, you have to find a way to load it up and print it out. So you still need a computer, or tablet, or smartphone again... which the elderly love to use. Or you can contact the website/government agency that is already swamped with demands to get the code... Aauuuurgh!

 

I got mine working on my tablet, but since I don't use an Apple or Android phone, I have to do some copy/paste/resize/print to get it to show on my regular phone.

 

I'm visiting my mother in two days. I just know I'll be helping her and most of my local relatives to get their passports working.

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Cranky Dog

[WhiteWulfe]

Our city has brought back their mask mandate, which I'm happy about.  Numerous cities around the province are having discussions about doing such themselves as the province breaches the 1k new cases in a day, and an also escalating amount in the hospital too. 

 

Here they're talking about something similar to a vaccine passport, but not much has come of it yet. 

Edited September 1, 2021 by WhiteWulfe

[Cyradis]

BC showed their modeling data for the next month; best we can hope for this month is a plateau it seems, possibly still increasing cases. But may be out of the major-growth and into slow-growth, at least.

 

I heard that Quebec's vaccine passport system had some hacking issues already too; digital security is important. One part of why I'd rather have a system like getting carded at a liquor store, if feasible. Another concern mentioned was accessibility for not just elderly, but for the homeless. They may not have a cellphone, and they need access to the internet and printing facilities to print a card to use. Many of them are in fact vaccinated, they just lack the means to prove it.

 

Our system is set to begin on the 13th. Hopefully we've watched Quebec's mishaps and adjusted accordingly.

 

I've been working on campus most days now. It is nice. I also got vaccinated again.

 

HAH tricked ya. I got my booster shot against tetanus, not covid. T'is the season for vaccination, may as well actually update against tetanus!

[Thoramel]

Well, we were supposed to be going back into the offices starting next month on a rotating schedule that would see only about 25% of staff in at any given time. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing as the building we work in has poor ventilation and cramped quarters. Assuming everyone masked up and followed rules then the overall risk to folks should be extremely low. For the last few months those of us who are either field/technical staff or management have been able to go into the offices on a as needed basis. And we've been allowing everyone back in one week in four (same as the no more than 25% in at any given time policy above) if they wanted to work from the office instead of home. Unfortunately, too many of those going in have been flaunting the mask and distance policy and now there are a number of positive cases among staff and their families. So they're shutting it down again and moving the return to office date back until at least next year.  I'm actually impressed that our current administration has been concerned about the spread of Covid among its employees and that they've consulted with our union reps about developing safety protocols and sticking to them. But I'm saddened that so many people have been ignoring the rules and putting everyone else at risk.

 

I've also been travelling around the state a lot for work. I live in an urban area where when I go into a store I'm seeing something like 80 to 90% of folks masked up. Considering vaccination rates around here are higher than average for the state that means even vaccinated people are still taking precautions to protect their community. But I've been absolutely blown away by how many people just don't seem to care when I get out of the more core urban areas. I was in a Kroger last week getting supplies and of the couple of hundred people in there I was literally the only non-employee I saw wearing a mask. Given that the county I was in has an abysmally low vaccination rate I'm assuming everyone else must not care about one another. It is, quite frankly, really depressing and anger inducing all at once. 

 

I've got a few outdoor events coming up this month that I'm really looking forward to going to (with a mask on of course). But I'm starting to wonder if they'll be getting canceled in the near future. Very frustrating.

[WhiteWulfe]

Province brought in new measures as of tomorrow, although most of them are just recommendations, even as our cases keep increasing at an alarming rate.  Interestingly, they're now offering $100 debit cards to people who get vaccinated...  But only for those who start doing such today...