[Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

[Blackhawk]

I have the same window problem. I've learned to just park a couple of feet further away, open the door, and stand up. "Sorry, window's not working right now." I've never had an issue with it.

[ImLawBoy]

even my pharmacy has a drive through.

Our pharmacy has a drive through, and it's great. They have a drawer that they open that they put the meds in and they talk through a speaker so there's minimal contact. Plus we're at our out-of-pocket maximum, so I don't even need to give them my credit card to run.

[YellowKing]

Just got the official "we're recommending work from home permanently" from my boss. He was putting feelers out to see what kind of push back he got from the team. Just from my discussions with my peers, I'm pretty sure it's an even split between people who love it and people who hate it.

I'm a bit torn. While I really enjoy working from home, the idea of giving up social interaction with co-workers permanently is a little scary. I'm good friends with most of my co-workers, and that's a rather large social hit. On my pre-quarantine schedule I was working from home 2 days a week and in the office for 3, and that was a really nice balance.

Ultimately it's going to be an organizational decision, not just my manager. At this point I'm pulling for some hybrid approach, where we either WFH the majority of the time but have 1-2 days a week we come in, or perhaps we have a scheduled rotation of people who are WFH and in office. Either way, it seems the organization is pretty set on cutting costs by eliminating office space, so I think whatever solution they come up with I'll be WFH more than I was pre-quarantine.

[Unagi]

I imagine there are going to be a lot of office rental decisions being reconsidered.
A lot of operations are probably seeing how effective they can be without throwing money at a rental.

Office vacancies will be a big thing for years, is my guess.

[LawBeefaroni]

Conversely, I'm expecting a full-time return to work in the next few weeks. With the mandatory 1-day per week PTO of course.

Once non-emergency services open up, office staff will have to be there to handle patients. That means managers need to be on site. Which means all other support staff and admin will need to be on site to avoid the appearance that some employees have the "privilege" of WFH. There's already some angst in this area.



OTOH, the Governor is going to the Capitol to get force of law behind his executive orders. He added penalties, including imprisonment, for violations but his emergency power is winding down. And our mayor has been strong-arming the suburbs to remain closed. Obviously it would hurt Chicago if is stayed closed at the mayor's order and the 'burbs opened and got all the business.

[Blackhawk]

I'm good friends with most of my co-workers, and that's a rather large social hit.

I wonder if this sort of thing could result in a limited rebirth of the 'neighborhood?'

[LawBeefaroni]

I like my co-workers and socialize with them a lot but they are not reason enough for me to miss going in to work. My social network is old friends, bar friends, and neighbors. Co-workers have yet to overlap any of those groups.

[LawBeefaroni]

Just got word that preschool isn't opening back until July 6 at the earliest. Chicago Park District has July 6 as their opening of summer camp programs so the preschool is following their lead. And even when it does open, it will be in shifts since they will have to reduce class sizes. Wife is going to freak out. I'll be back in the office full time well before then.

[Paingod]

Maine hasn't cracked 1,800 known cases yet. We're rolling into tourist season as one of the "cleanest" states with two of the top-five most infected states within easy driving distance... and with nothing more than an "honor system" 14-day quarantine for people visiting the state.

I'm really not looking forward to this.

[hitbyambulance]

no clue when my office is reopening, and as it looks like i won't be working there past June, it doesn't matter anymore

(and just when the bus schedule had improved...)

[gameoverman]

I'm good friends with most of my co-workers, and that's a rather large social hit.

I wonder if this sort of thing could result in a limited rebirth of the 'neighborhood?'

Maybe someone's kids could open a lemonade stand and all the adults working from home on that street could gather there for a chat as they buy a drink.

[noxiousdog]

I'm good friends with most of my co-workers, and that's a rather large social hit.

I wonder if this sort of thing could result in a limited rebirth of the 'neighborhood?'

Maybe someone's kids could open a lemonade stand and all the adults working from home on that street could gather there for a chat as they buy a drink.

Health violation. Those will be shut down by your county health officials.

[Smoove_B]

I'm good friends with most of my co-workers, and that's a rather large social hit.

I wonder if this sort of thing could result in a limited rebirth of the 'neighborhood?'

Maybe someone's kids could open a lemonade stand and all the adults working from home on that street could gather there for a chat as they buy a drink.

Health violation. Those will be shut down by your county health officials.

[Zaxxon]

I'm good friends with most of my co-workers, and that's a rather large social hit.

I wonder if this sort of thing could result in a limited rebirth of the 'neighborhood?'

Maybe someone's kids could open a lemonade stand and all the adults working from home on that street could gather there for a chat as they buy a drink.

Health violation. Those will be shut down by your county health officials.

Remember last year's brouhaha over shutting down kids' lemonade stands because of lack of permitting? Oh, the quaint controversies of The Before Times...

[LordMortis]

I'm good friends with most of my co-workers, and that's a rather large social hit.

I wonder if this sort of thing could result in a limited rebirth of the 'neighborhood?'

Maybe someone's kids could open a lemonade stand and all the adults working from home on that street could gather there for a chat as they buy a drink.

Health violation. Those will be shut down by your county health officials.

And I don't believe their coming back

Spoiler:

Remember last year's brouhaha over shutting down kids' lemonade stands because of lack of permitting? Oh, the quaint controversies of The Before Times...

That was actually the first thing I thought of

[Isgrimnur]

Texas, 2019

HB 234, sponsored by Texas State Senator Nelson (R-Flower Mound), legalizing lemonade stands in Texas, was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott last week.
...
Specifically, HB 234 frees lemonade stands from government interference and allows children to operate stands on private property without a license. The new law comes in response to a 2015 incident where police shut down a lemonade stand run by two siblings trying to raise money for a Father’s Day present.

[Kraken]

Maine hasn't cracked 1,800 known cases yet. We're rolling into tourist season as one of the "cleanest" states with two of the top-five most infected states within easy driving distance... and with nothing more than an "honor system" 14-day quarantine for people visiting the state.

I'm really not looking forward to this.

If your restaurants and bars are open, I'd stay out of them until tourist season is over. Massholes are eager to party, ours are still closed, and we're still recording >1,000 cases a day.

[Montag]

My office is doing the split groups. The M W F and the T R groups. I think it is silly to do it this way. I would rather doing full week on and then at home to allow it to cook off during the weekend versus the hot bunking approach.

[malchior]

My office is doing the split groups. The M W F and the T R groups. I think it is silly to do it this way. I would rather doing full week on and then at home to allow it to cook off during the weekend versus the hot bunking approach.

I've seen both schemes in practice and 1-on 1-off is far better. It's very hard to schedule things and tedious to keep straight.

[LordMortis]

My office is doing the split groups. The M W F and the T R groups. I think it is silly to do it this way. I would rather doing full week on and then at home to allow it to cook off during the weekend versus the hot bunking approach.

We're going to be WFH unless you have permission to come in with each work area having a defined occupancy and the floor taped off for distance keeping. Oh, And a big conversion to the open office implamentation to make us into a giant buffet sneeze guard. Oh, the cost of changing it to reduce the spread of disease. If only someone could have seen that coming. (what has two thumbs and was whining about open office architecture and the spread of disease since it first was told about the move to an open office architecture at great expense and continued to whine every time it was forced to walk through an area of parents of young children at home?)

[Blackhawk]

My office is doing the split groups. The M W F and the T R groups. I think it is silly to do it this way. I would rather doing full week on and then at home to allow it to cook off during the weekend versus the hot bunking approach.

R?

[LordMortis]

R?

Some people do that instead of Th. I never understood it

MTWRF

[Kelric]

R?

Some people do that instead of Th. I never understood it

MTWRF

MTWTF. Done.

[The Meal]

My office is doing the split groups. The M W F and the T R groups. I think it is silly to do it this way. I would rather doing full week on and then at home to allow it to cook off during the weekend versus the hot bunking approach.

R?

Easier to type than Θ

[Kraken]

R?

Some people do that instead of Th. I never understood it

MTWRF

I can't remember where I learned it, but I've been abbreviating that way for decades.

[The Meal]

R?

Some people do that instead of Th. I never understood it

MTWRF

I can't remember where I learned it, but I've been abbreviating that way for decades.

It was a college syllabus that informed me.

[Blackhawk]

On the very rare occasions where it's an issue, I usually see M T W Th F

[Zaxxon]

On the very rare occasions where it's an issue, I usually see M T W Th F

Blasphemy.

[Paingod]

Maine hasn't cracked 1,800 known cases yet. We're rolling into tourist season as one of the "cleanest" states with two of the top-five most infected states within easy driving distance... and with nothing more than an "honor system" 14-day quarantine for people visiting the state.

I'm really not looking forward to this.

If your restaurants and bars are open, I'd stay out of them until tourist season is over. Massholes are eager to party, ours are still closed, and we're still recording >1,000 cases a day.

Thankfully, as far as I know, restaurants are take-out only. I don't think anywhere has open or even distanced seating. That won't stop tourists from infecting every corner store, gas station, and grocery store they pass through.

[LordMortis]

On the very rare occasions where it's an issue, I usually see M T W Th F

Blasphemy.

Su M T W Th F S

[stessier]

This really doesn't make me feel any better.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) —
State leaders met again Tuesday as part of Gov. Henry McMaster’s task force focused on reopening the economy and made a big recommendation regarding the upcoming holiday weekend.

The accelerateSC meetings have been held in an effort to rejuvenate the state's economy after several businesses were forced to suspend operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advertisement
At the beginning of Tuesday's meeting, some state leaders suggested opening up attractions to the public starting this Memorial Day weekend, WIS-TV reported.

"We had a large crowd along the Grand Strand this weekend. Well if you stop and think about it -- swimming pools were closed this weekend, attractions were closed this weekend," Duane Parrish, the director of SC Parks, Recreation and Tourism, said.

"Opening up swimming pools yesterday. Opening up attractions this weekend would relieve some of that pressure of people being together in one place. We think it's really important from an attraction standpoint to have that -- not just in the Grand Strand -- statewide to have that. We have an industry born plan and a healthcare approved plan ready to go."

When the governor answered questions after the meeting, he said he believes that is a good recommendation.

A member of the task force from the S.C. Hospital association, Christian Soura, said DHEC reported 4,200 test results on Monday alone.

To put that in perspective, in March there were 5,700 results reported during the whole month.

Soura also reemphasized the state's goal to test 2 percent of the population this month. Leaders said there are more than 200 testing sites right now with more to come.

The director for the Department of Health and Environmental Control, Rick Toomey, also said they are working to keep recovery rates up-to-date.

"The first case was March 5th, that's a long time ago, but we still count that case as one of the cumulative cases, it's something we are working on and we should be looking at because a majority of people are recovering," he said.

[YellowKing]

While I wouldn't be super comfortable with attractions re-opening either, SC is looking pretty good in terms of all the effective reproduction number and positive case trends I've seen. Much better than NC, which is plateauing dangerously on the line between "all good" and "oh shit."

For fun I've been watching random celebrity Instagram live streams. Because they're just as bored as the rest of us, it's fun to watch them do mundane tasks with no makeup. Yesterday I watched an extremely charming session of Drew Barrymore preparing Taco Tuesday, and last night I watched Melissa Villasenor from SNL water her house plants and ask for gardening advice.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

This really doesn't make me feel any better.

I suppose I understand the idea: if you're going to open up some attractions/destinations, better to open up them all to reduce crowding at any one place (like we saw at Folly Beach this past weekend). The worry is that opening everything up will make people complacent and think that everything is back to normal. I went to a county park over the weekend that had just opened up; the park is big enough that you can walk the trails without coming very near anyone. But there's also a fishing pier at the park. I walked by that and it was packed. And, not surprisingly, I didn't see anyone wearing a mask... So maybe opening everything up will spread the crowds around, but I somehow doubt it. I'm not going to be surprised when we see a spike in cases two weeks from now.

[Unagi]

While I wouldn't be super comfortable with attractions re-opening either, SC is looking pretty good in terms of all the effective reproduction number and positive case trends I've seen. Much better than NC, which is plateauing dangerously on the line between "all good" and "oh shit."

So.
You seem to have full faith in SC and NC’s desire to paint an accurate picture.
Would you say that’s well placed?

[Kraken]

For fun I've been watching random celebrity Instagram live streams. Because they're just as bored as the rest of us, it's fun to watch them do mundane tasks with no makeup. Yesterday I watched an extremely charming session of Drew Barrymore preparing Taco Tuesday, and last night I watched Melissa Villasenor from SNL water her house plants and ask for gardening advice.

I've been enjoying the late-night show monologues on youtube, usually a day late. Trevor Noah has been killing it. Colbert is usually a bit drunk. Kimmel and Meyers, not so hot.

[YellowKing]

So. You seem to have full faith in SC and NC’s desire to paint an accurate picture.
Would you say that’s well placed?

From an NC perspective, I have a little more faith because I work for a hospital. My organization has never given me any reason to believe they're not completely transparent and honest on everything, so if they say the numbers are good enough to start opening back up then I believe them. We have a lot of excellent physicians who are not afraid to speak their mind, and I assume at least some of them would be screaming if we were truly endangering our local community.

I also have a little more faith in NC since we have a Democratic governor. Not to get political outside of non R&P, but while Cooper may be pressured by the GOP legislature, he's never been one since the start of this crisis to try to avoid shutdowns.

From a personal perspective, I'm not jumping into the masses just because they're re-opening stuff anyway. So whether they say everything's rosy or not, my behavior hasn't changed.

[hitbyambulance]

latest state rankings:


WA state still holding on at #18, but NC has zipped on past TN and is coming up fast - they'll surpass us in a few days

also, MN, my homeland... what is going on...

[YellowKing]

WA state still holding on at #18, but NC has zipped on past TN and is coming up fast - they'll surpass us in a few days

Gov. Cooper is giving an address at 5pm. It was expected to be an announcement of Phase II re-opening, but considering we had our highest daily increase it will be interesting to see what they decide. I do know they've been making much ado about testing increases being the reason for the higher case count, but I'm still skeptical.

[Daehawk]

Im not sure why TN's stats seem better than other states around us. When you compare infections to deaths I mean. Looking at TN and WA we both have 18000 or so but TN has a little over 300 deaths while WA has a little over 1000.

[malchior]

Im not sure why TN's stats seem better than other states around us. When you compare infections to deaths I mean. Looking at TN and WA we both have 18000 or so but TN has a little over 300 deaths while WA has a little over 1000.

Different classification criteria and/or bad data probably.