[Poll] Do you personally know someone who has Covid-19?

[KKBlue]

... But I work at Home Depot so I face many other people every day at work. I usually don’t spend more than a few minutes with any particular person though.

I actually went to nights with Home Depot - pack down - taking a cut hours to avoid the interactions with the general public. There are still coworkers who have either contacted the virus or is out because of someone in their house's family testing positive. Home Depot is doing a good job with attempting to keep us safe and controlling the spreading Covid. Wish the store would let us know by using a form of confidentiality posting when a department has a positive (they stopped that a few months back).

So that's not home depot doing a good job at all. If they used to report on infections and now don't, that's not because there are so few it wasn't worth it - likely quite the opposite. Thankfully public health in Ontario contact traces where they can, and discloses where public infections occured (X grocery store, 5 employees test positive). The public notice is pretty important in my opinion.

HD is doing a good job considering the scale of the company. I remember precautions being put into place as the weeks went by early covid 2020. Home Depot was one of the first "essential" businesses to enforce the Covid restrictions around town. The ability to control the general public is the trickiest here in the US.
This week our store manager actually went around and asked several customers to leave because of not complying with face mask ordinances. It's hard when a jerk will pull off their mask so they can spit in an assistant manager's face.

[Isgrimnur]

That's assault.

[stessier]

... But I work at Home Depot so I face many other people every day at work. I usually don’t spend more than a few minutes with any particular person though.

I actually went to nights with Home Depot - pack down - taking a cut hours to avoid the interactions with the general public. There are still coworkers who have either contacted the virus or is out because of someone in their house's family testing positive. Home Depot is doing a good job with attempting to keep us safe and controlling the spreading Covid. Wish the store would let us know by using a form of confidentiality posting when a department has a positive (they stopped that a few months back).

So that's not home depot doing a good job at all. If they used to report on infections and now don't, that's not because there are so few it wasn't worth it - likely quite the opposite. Thankfully public health in Ontario contact traces where they can, and discloses where public infections occured (X grocery store, 5 employees test positive). The public notice is pretty important in my opinion.

HD is doing a good job considering the scale of the company. I remember precautions being put into place as the weeks went by early covid 2020. Home Depot was one of the first "essential" businesses to enforce the Covid restrictions around town. The ability to control the general public is the trickiest here in the US.
This week our store manager actually went around and asked several customers to leave because of not complying with face mask ordinances. It's hard when a jerk will pull off their mask so they can spit in an assistant manager's face.

That is very location specific. Around me, HD is where you go when you don't want to wear a mask (both employees and customers). Lowes is the one that has much better compliance.

[KKBlue]

stessier, that is very unnerving. I'm CT and the store is in a "city" location. We (associates) have to wear a mask which is mandatory and cannot clock in unless we fill out a health questioner.

And yes Isgrimnur, it totally is assault! Not all of the security cameras work and I am not sure where the incident took place and not sure if the person's identity was known. I do know she (assistant manager) has put in her resignation after 13 years with the company and is moving on.

It's all been a constant wish for everyone to be kind and thoughtful... tired, trying not to lose hope.

[Isgrimnur]

[LordMortis]

This week our store manager actually went around and asked several customers to leave because of not complying with face mask ordinances. It's hard when a jerk will pull off their mask so they can spit in an assistant manager's face.

So many people's true colors have been revealed through out this pandemic (and longer) and it's depressing. It almost makes isolation more comfortable.

[FishPants]

This week our store manager actually went around and asked several customers to leave because of not complying with face mask ordinances. It's hard when a jerk will pull off their mask so they can spit in an assistant manager's face.

So many people's true colors have been revealed through out this pandemic (and longer) and it's depressing. It almost makes isolation more comfortable.

Yep I agree. I always knew there's a percentage of selfish assholes, but holy shit this past year I had no idea how high that % really is. And how many of them are living near me.

I'm kind of glad my kids are growing up (well not really, but bear with me) and will be out of the house in a few years (ok, no seriously I'm not ok with that) -- that combined with the availability of starlink means I can contemplate moving out into the country and still have high speed Internet without fucking neighbours. I believe that's when I earn my grumpy Jedi wings or something.

[Isgrimnur]

I can contemplate moving out into the country and still have high speed Internet without fucking neighbours.

We don't kinkshame. Except for hepcat. We have his waiver on file.

[El Guapo]

Got an e-mail this morning that my boss's brother (who turned 57 on Saturday) died overnight of COVID.

[Jag]

Got an e-mail this morning that my boss's brother (who turned 57 on Saturday) died overnight of COVID.

My bosses friend was just hospitalized and had a stroke in the hospital that affected both sides of his brain. They don't expect him to recover. He is 55. COVID has us older (but not yet that old) folks in the crosshairs.

[Archinerd]

As of this week, my friend's dad (in his mid 60s) can walk again on his own, without a walker or cane. He got covid just before Thanksgiving.

[malchior]

My MIL had a vaccination appointment for today but unfortunately mid-week she got symptoms. She just got her positive result back. We are pretty sure she was exposed by my FIL because my FIL went to a funeral for get this...a co-worker who died from COVID (and the wife the week before). He went to a memorial dinner afterwards.

Turns out he was symptomatic last weekend. Apparently the new variant is tearing through the dockworkers' union here in NJ so this may have been inevitable. She had him double mask but it obviously did not have help if he was the source of exposure. In any case, he accompanied my MIL to deal with some elder care issues while sick and he knew it.

There is another possibility. She was also back working at her school because she was ordered to work a book return for students. It is possible she got exposed there because fuck high risk school workers. Anyway, we're pretty upset obviously since she was about to finally get the shot.

If anything it shows that people just don't understand risk. She told us about this all after the fact and we were...like what the heck were you all thinking. He just sat in the car to not expose my wife's grandfather. So they recognized it but still decided to do all this and then went on to expose my BIL and his wife. They are all a bunch of knuckleheads and they wonder why we insisted on no visits.

Edit: Updated. BIL's wife tested positive as well.

[Madmarcus]

My BIL has tested positive. He's been fairly good about everything related to Covid but he's a pilot and to keep his job he had to keep flying (ie exposing himself to many people since the flight crew isn't constant like people in an office). He's not flying now of course.

[disarm]

First post in this thread for a while...

After a little more than two years of good luck, COVID finally hit our house over the weekend. My wife and I both started having mild symptoms Saturday afternoon (cough, fatigue), and were feeling pretty lousy by Sunday morning. I woke up with a 101.4 fever and a home test showed positive almost instantly. I had pretty severe myalgia since Saturday night, but that already seems to be getting better, and I've been sleeping a lot to combat the fatigue. I also felt "off" in a way that's hard to describe for the first 36 hours, just sluggish and had trouble focusing on anything, but that has pretty much resolved over the course of today. Other than a slight cough and runny nose, I'm now 2-3 days in and feel like I'm turning a corner...just hope it stays that way...

My wife is fairing better (maybe because she's a few years younger and in better physical shape?)...slight cough and not sleeping well, but she was able to swim laps in our pool for almost an hour today. I told her that her experience must feel totally different from mine because there's no way I could exert myself like that right now. In any case, we're quarantining at home together and trying hard not to infect our 8yo son who is showing no signs of illness so far. Hopefully, masking in the house, aggressive hand washing, and keeping our distance as much as possible will be enough to spare him (although he's vaccinated and would probably be fine). At this point, we're stuck biding our time at home until this passes and we can go back to work sometime next week.

The big question is where we were exposed. We both started symptoms at exactly the same time, so we must have had the same exposure. The most likely culprit is going to a sold-out Red Sox game on Wednesday...probably not the best thing we've done, but not the most risky either (air travel several times and a visit to Universal Studios seemed worse). Interestingly, noone else sitting with us at the game have shown any symptoms though (my 8yo son and two 13yo step-daughters). We all had the whole week off last week and spent all our time together, but my wife and I are the only two obviously sick. The girls went to stay with their dad Sunday so we don''t get them sick, but our son is stuck at home with his two sick parents. I think that's the worst part of the whole thing...having to distance from our son within the same house. No snuggling on the couch for movies, eating dinner at the same table, or hugs and kisses at bed time. He's pretty understanding and coping well though...just gets a lot of TV and video game time this week

[Daehawk]

My sister had it last week and she is shotted and boosted. Fever no energy she said. She is better this week and doesn't think sh is contagious now. She is weak and coughing but running errands and shopping. Her son and his family are coming in tomorrow with teenagers to stay with her a week.

[Smoove_B]

Sorry to hear all that; i can't imagine what you're trying to grapple with over your kid.

I would bet money it was the baseball game, yes. The ongoing common theme from the dozens of stories I've heard (both here in the Jerz and around the U.S. from various investigators) is the rise is cases from outdoor gatherings, likely related to BA.5 (though I don't know of anyone that's had their illness sequenced to prove it). All it would take (theoretically) is to be seated near someone or standing on a line (bathroom, vendor) close enough so you're breathing in what they're exhaling. Of if you're moving through a high traffic covered area of the stadium where the air isn't circulating - like a tunnel or the passages from the stadium proper back to the concession stands. Given the thousands of people moving through, if there are air "dead spots", the virus could hang out and concentrate - kinda like that famous story (well, famous in my circles) about the cheerleaders that ran through the "vomit cloud" and got norovirus.

The best visualizations I've been seeing lately are those trying to get people to think about spread like cigarette smoke. If I could imagine breathing in seconhadn smoke from a person I'm near, I'm close enough to be at risk for Covid exposure - and should be masked.

I have tickets to go see a minor league game in a few weeks and I'm having a hard time imagining we'll go - for that reason.

Regardless, I hope y'all feel better. Extended family members that I've spoken to that had it a few weeks ago were knocked for a loop for about a week. They're older (and vaccinated) but it still really beat them up. I don't know if they have lingering symptoms but I've heard from others that the fatigue and cough lingers for quite some time after in some cases.

[disarm]

Sorry to hear all that; i can't imagine what you're trying to grapple with over your kid.

Regardless, I hope y'all feel better. Extended family members that I've spoken to that had it a few weeks ago were knocked for a loop for about a week. They're older (and vaccinated) but it still really beat them up. I don't know if they have lingering symptoms but I've heard from others that the fatigue and cough lingers for quite some time after in some cases.

My son is actually taking it pretty well. He understands that the distancing is only temporary, so we'll get through it and back to normal soon.

Unfortunately, I know quite a few people from work who have been sick recently (happens when you work in a busy hospital around hundreds of people...but I was off last week), and most have said a few days of feeling pretty awful, then finish out the week or a little longer feeling tired. After that, some seem to have a lingering cough but many don't. My cough is already fading, so hopefully it won't hang around too long. If someone told me I had to work tomorrow, I'm feeling well enough that it wouldn't be too much of a struggle. I've definitely gone to work in the past (pre-COVID times) feeling worse. I did do some lawn work outside today and felt decent...no shortness of breath. The strangest symptom I've had are probably a few weird episodes where I just start sweating profusely without a fever or much physical activity. It happened once yesterday when I went on a neighborhood walk with my wife, then another time today when I was putting together a new bed for my son...just start dripping sweat out of nowhere, lasts about 15 minutes, and my temp is normal the whole time. Really strange

[Kraken]

...and now I know there is such a thing as a "vomit cloud."

[Daehawk]

I thought that was only a thing on amusement park rides.

[Max Peck]

...and now I know there is such a thing as a "vomit cloud."

A thing better learned by reading about it than experiencing it.

[Brian]

Myself, wife, and eldest daughter all got it at the tail end of June.

The biggest concern was keeping my mother, who lives with us, from being exposed so we kept to our rooms, masked up anytime we had to venture outside of our rooms, and ride it out.

I tested positive on a Friday morning and quarantined for a total of six days but two of those were weekend so I only had to burn four days of PTO.

I sent my boss a list of folks I interacted with on the preceeding Thursday and he said he would get that to HR so they could let those people know. Interestingly, once I returned to work, I encountered one of those people and asked him if he'd been notified and no, nobody told him.

No sooner had I recovered from the 'Rona then I had a Dr's appointment for my second shingles vaccination. That bastard hit me pretty hard so I went from feeling shitty from covid, recovering, and then feeling shitty from the shingles vax. Joy.

Thankfully, my mother made it through without getting infected. The other two people living in our house, youngest daughter and her husband, had already gone through their covid infections a couple of months ago.

[Jeff V]

I think that's the worst part of the whole thing...having to distance from our son within the same house. No snuggling on the couch for movies, eating dinner at the same table, or hugs and kisses at bed time. He's pretty understanding and coping well though...just gets a lot of TV and video game time this week

This was not a problem when I had it a few weeks ago...my kids ran screaming from the room every time I entered, putting their hands over their mouth and nose as if that just as effective as a mask (it probably is).

My daughter remains the only one not to have caught it. She's also the only we were ever notified had close contact with someone positive (early spring at school).

[coopasonic]

My wife just came back from a 5 day road trip and last night she found out that 3 of the people she was with, both indoors and out, were not feeling well and have tested positive in the past couple days. We are all vaxxed and all but the 12yo are boosted. I guess we'll see but it may have finally found its way to my house too. Who would have ever guessed that a road trip from Texas to Iowa and back would see her exposed?

[Hrdina]

No sooner had I recovered from the 'Rona then I had a Dr's appointment for my second shingles vaccination. That bastard hit me pretty hard so I went from feeling shitty from covid, recovering, and then feeling shitty from the shingles vax. Joy.

Huh, I had my second shingles vaccine a few weeks ago, and that one really kicked me arse enough that I had to take a day off work. I got the vax in the morning, and maybe 12-14 hours later I started to get chills. The next morning when I got up my temperature was 100.0 F, so I called in sick and went back to sleep. By the afternoon I felt fine other than the arm pain.

I had no problems at all with the first shingle vax, or any of my (three so far) covid shots.

[Kraken]

Yeah, Shingrix means business. Better than getting shingles, tho.

Wife tested negative on a home test tonight, as did I (as usual). If her PCR test on Friday confirms that result then we're finally clear.

[coopasonic]

My wife just came back from a 5 day road trip and last night she found out that 3 of the people she was with, both indoors and out, were not feeling well and have tested positive in the past couple days. We are all vaxxed and all but the 12yo are boosted. I guess we'll see but it may have finally found its way to my house too. Who would have ever guessed that a road trip from Texas to Iowa and back would see her exposed?

Wife tested negative, but keeping an eye on things. This morning we heard her 80yo mom tested positive and is symptomatic. 10 days after welcoming 30-ish people into her home to celebrate her birthday. She's actually pretty healthy for an 80yo, but they were supposed to be headed to Europe next week to visit family in Germany and then a cruise. They haven't cancelled the trip yet.

I think I'll just continue sitting at home.

[Isgrimnur]

coop getting it knocked me off the 'No' list a while back.

I was willing to chalk it all up to a bad head cold. I haven't had any chest congestion, just fatigue, sore throat, etc. Cough was light, stuffy nose, but less than a bad allergy day, fever.

However, I received a shipment of bar soap that I've been waiting on. And unless their quality control has gone to shit, the reason I can't smell them is because I have the new hotness in illnesses.

[Holman]

I'm kind of shocked that no one in our five-person household has caught Covid. (I suppose it's possible that we've all had it and been asymptomatic, but that seems unlikely. And if any of us did catch it, the rest of us almost certainly would too.)

We're all vaxed and boosted, and we were very good about masking when it was considered very necessary, but I think we've all gotten slack about masks in the past six months.

Meanwhile, we just finished week 2 of the semester and I already have one student out with Covid.

[Kraken]

I was just talking to a friend about our covid experiences over the past year. He only knew he had it when his senses of smell and taste went away. He did eventually get some aches and fatigue for good measure, but those were fleeting. His senses only returned very slowly and still aren't 100% of what they were. Since he works as a wine buyer, that's a huge deal -- he built a very successful career around his refined palate and travels regularly to wineries all over the world -- or did, before 2020. Fortunately, he's getting up there in years and can muddle through until he retires next year.

I hope your sniffer comes back online without any glitches, Isg.

[Isgrimnur]

Thank you.

[RunningMn9]

I’m running out of people that I know that haven’t had COVID. I’m assuming Smoove will be the last hold out.

[WYBaugh]

After three years of not catching covid, I tested positive on the 17th and immediately started Paxlovid. Felt crappy for a couple of days but nothing more major than Paxlovid Mouth. I maintained good O2 levels, etc.

Tested negative on the 24th and was good until yesterday. Either I'm having really bad allergies or a cold. Having much more sinus and coughing issues than I did with covid.

I'm sick of being sick.

[Smoove_B]

I was willing to chalk it all up to a bad head cold. I haven't had any chest congestion, just fatigue, sore throat, etc. Cough was light, stuffy nose, but less than a bad allergy day, fever

Oy. As someone that also uses fancy-lad bar soap, I can at least appreciate how you found out. I hope it's minor and passes quickly.

I’m running out of people that I know that haven’t had COVID. I’m assuming Smoove will be the last hold out.

If I get it, there's no hope for anyone to avoid it.

[Smoove_B]

Tested negative on the 24th and was good until yesterday. Either I'm having really bad allergies or a cold. Having much more sinus and coughing issues than I did with covid.

Has anyone suggested Paxlovid rebound?

The CDC defines Paxlovid rebound as when a patient who, after receiving a full five-day course of treatment, either has a reemergence of COVID symptoms or tests positive after a previous, negative test. Under this classification, when you rebound, “you can have virus without symptoms, symptoms without virus, and you can have the two together,” Smith says. He adds that he’s slightly annoyed by the blanket classification of “rebound” because in virology, a “rebound” is when there is a reemergence of measurable amounts of virus.

[Jaymann]

I have managed to avoid it even though both children and grandchildren have had it. I have about 6 or 7 of the factors (though not obese thankfully) that would make it essentially a death sentence for me. So I self quarantine in my room and take all the shots.

[Isgrimnur]

I was willing to chalk it all up to a bad head cold. I haven't had any chest congestion, just fatigue, sore throat, etc. Cough was light, stuffy nose, but less than a bad allergy day, fever

Oy. As someone that also uses fancy-lad bar soap, I can at least appreciate how you found out. I hope it's minor and passes quickly.

Thank you. I am coming out of the worst of it, as today is the first day I've stayed awake for more than four hours at a stretch. A couple sleep sessions ended with me waking up in a cold sweat.

Honestly, between chicken pox at age 20, Bactrim reactions at ~33, and tonsillectomy at 35, this hasn't been one of the top illnesses. It's only memorable now because of the cause.

[WYBaugh]

Tested negative on the 24th and was good until yesterday. Either I'm having really bad allergies or a cold. Having much more sinus and coughing issues than I did with covid.

Has anyone suggested Paxlovid rebound?

The CDC defines Paxlovid rebound as when a patient who, after receiving a full five-day course of treatment, either has a reemergence of COVID symptoms or tests positive after a previous, negative test. Under this classification, when you rebound, “you can have virus without symptoms, symptoms without virus, and you can have the two together,” Smith says. He adds that he’s slightly annoyed by the blanket classification of “rebound” because in virology, a “rebound” is when there is a reemergence of measurable amounts of virus.

Ugh. Thank you for the link. Will re-test shortly.

Edit, and I'm positive.

[LawBeefaroni]

I'm kind of shocked that no one in our five-person household has caught Covid. (I suppose it's possible that we've all had it and been asymptomatic, but that seems unlikely. And if any of us did catch it, the rest of us almost certainly would too.)

We've had 2 of 4 test positive, about a year apart. Each time, no one else in the household tested positive. Both times were asymptomatic, the only reason we found out is because we tested before visiting high risk relatives.

[Jeff V]

3/4 in our family has had it. My daughter is invincible, it seems. She was once ID'd as having close contact with a positive case in school, and was required to be tested for 2 week to continue attending, but she didn't get it. She didn't get it when her brother got it. She didn't get it when her brother gave it to her mother. She didn't get it at Disney, where I got.

She did, however, projectile vomit at her cousin's wedding shower, to which she blames a bad hotdog and has declared herself "allergic to hotdogs" and will never eat them again.

[Isgrimnur]

She did, however, projectile vomit at her cousin's wedding shower, to which she blames a bad hotdog and has declared herself "allergic to hotdogs" and will never eat them again.

Probably for the best. Polish sausages are the superior encased meat product, anyway. Boudin or andouille are also acceptable substitutes.