Apparently, the chair of another dept in my college has been sick for 8 days, based on her FB post (just now) her symptoms sound a lot like Mr. Jodi's actually: persistent fever and the complications that brings, intense fatigue etc. but in all, symptoms not bad enough to need hospitalization.

She wrote that she has not been tested but that her doc believes she has COVID and the same doc believes that the virus is "all over" our city. The didn't test her because she doesn't fit into any risk groups, which is apparently the MO in place in this area. Still, she clearly has symptoms, I wish they would have tested her! >_<

Why close to home, you ask? Her dept and my dept are in the same building. Her office is on the 8th floor, my departmental offices are on the 7th floor, and my own office is on the 3rd. My floor includes profs from her dept and mine... You can see where my mind is going here.

The last time I had meaningful contact with anyone other than Mr. SK was 9 days ago. I was in that building, I taught and I was in a meeting w/ 10 other people from my dept. During that time, and in the days before it, I would have crossed paths with a ton of people who would have also been crossing paths with her. I don't think I actually saw her in person at any point in that week though (so that's good at least).

If any of those folks (or me) are going to get sick from a connection to her, it will be within the next 5-7 days then. Separate from this, just going off of the subreddit (yes, I've been reading that :P for our town/university, a significant number of students who live in apartments will be coming back here after spring break. (Dorms are closed, but a lot more students live "off campus.) Even though classes are moved online and all university facilities are closed, a lot of students are saying they think it's safer here because there are fewer cases. No, there's just no testing happening here! This is one of the many reasons why the lack of testing is a problem, it gives people a false sense of security.

We are running low on salad fixings and other fresh food items. This morning Mr. SK said he wants to go to the supermarket tomorrow. In about 10 minutes, he's going to find out that that is no longer an option.

We have a similar situation here. Yesterday I told mr. Pique he'd been on his last shopping trip. He acts like he grew up in France, he stops at the store virtually every day to pick up something. He loves to shop; it's like entertainment for him, or like he has overdeveloped hunter-gatherer instincts. If we are out of just one thing, it's an excuse. I told him "find another hobby"

He is taking clorox wipes with him and wiping everything down, and wearing gloves. He isn't wearing a mask. He's 71.

The accounts I am reading of how vicious this disease can become when it gets bad have me terrified, frankly. And as far as I am concerned, we can live on what we already have for a month, easily.

Mr. pique sounds like Mr. SK. We have five frozen pizzas, 24 cans of soup, frozen meats and fixings for pasta... cereals, crackers, snacks... apples and bananas and canned fruit.

No more shopping for at least two weeks!!!

Mr. Jodi had a full day of contact with people, multiple meetings the Monday he came home sick. All of the high risk contacts (the ones who spent an extended period of time closer than 6 feet to him in an enclosed area self quarantined, and many of the people who were only considered low risk did it also - as far as I know NONE of those people have gotten sick, and their quarantines end today. The average time from exposure to symptoms is something like 5 days. So you are probably fine.

Jodi, two people in MT higher ed (that I am aware of) quarantined themselves after contact with a known case, and publicly announced it. One of them tested positive.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
Mr. pique sounds like Mr. SK. We have five frozen pizzas, 24 cans of soup, frozen meats and fixings for pasta... cereals, crackers, snacks... apples and bananas and canned fruit.

No more shopping for at least two weeks!!!

Spouses of hunter-gatherers unite!!!

Do any of your grocery stores offer home delivery?

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
Do any of your grocery stores offer home delivery?

We live ten miles out in the countryside at the top of a road requiring a 4x4. We can ask, but I very much doubt it. I'm going to look into online and volunteer services.

quote:

quarantined themselves after contact with a known case, and publicly announced it.

Jodi, your comments (about the folks in close contact with Mr. Jodi), and the fact that you yourself are asymptomatic, are all encouraging, to be sure! Certainly there's no reason for me personally to panic. (I'll save that for when we run out of TP!)

But part of what makes me so mad is what pique is saying here in her quote -- the person I'm talking about has not (to my knowledge) made any specific effort to notify contacts. If she had, I should have been notified in some other, more formal, way besides on FB. And the university's daily corona-update missives continue to report no cases in the university community and no potential cases being monitored.

Except, she is *in* the university community, and because she's a chair, she's interacting with a lot more people beyond her dept moreso that other faculty/staff.

Continued reports that say "no cases here" just create and reinforce a false sense of security in the community, and will likely influence parents' decisions to allow their children to return to their off-campus apartments, thinking that there are fewer cases here than in other parts of the state. All of this would be different if 1) there was more systematic testing of anyone who is symptomatic, and 2) more forthrightness about the presence of cases in the absence of testing.

Sigh.

Also piqué:

quote:

Spouses of hunter-gatherers unite!!!

WTG, we don't have grocery stores that deliver. But I'm hoping that eventually we can use those services like whatever Walmart calls its pick-up options. But right now, we do not need to go to the store or procure additional items, that was the whole point in stocking up on our trip last Wed. I think I finally have Mr. SK convinced of that! Whew.

Same here--I know there are some in "our community" (where I work) who are exhibiting symptoms and may well be positive. But they don't fit the protocol, so they aren't getting tested. I was in a meeting with one individual, but well over 10 days ago, so I figure I'm safe.

But I'm reminded of Jodi's situation, and how difficult it was for them to get tested when they *did* tick all the boxes. It is infuriating. Where the heck are all these tests that I keep reading are being produced at a breakneck pace?

Unfortunately even if the tests become readily available, the shortage of personal protection equipment is driving the decision to defer testing if confirmation won't change how the patient will be treated.

So if you have symptoms but aren't that bad and they would have sent you home to be sick there unless you worsened and needed hospitalization, they're not going to bother to test you. They don't want to waste the PPE; doctors and nurses actually treating patients need it.

quote:

if confirmation won't change how the patient will be treated

I get this, and the need to converse PPE etc. is very, very important.

But there's no protocol in place to make up for the lack of confirmed cases. There should be a runny tally of not just confirmed cases, but also presumed cases.

And it's not just whether confirmation will change how the patient is treated, but also whether confirmation will change how the patient and those connected to the patient behave.

I know we'll all on the same page here, it's just so frustrating. And this is why America is doomed to follow the same course as, if not worse than, Italy.

Sigh.

And (sorry to harp on), I am reminded of myself and how I've been making my own decisions.

Our state dept of public health has a page with a map showing the counties where confirmed cases are. I've been following that, tracking it as if it had real meaning. But it doesn't, clearly. The absence of a confirmed case is 100% meaningless.

I sort of knew that before, but I think, had I not learned of this woman I'm writing about, and looking at that map, which shows zero cases in this county, I would have let Mr. SK go to the store tomorrow (just for example). We have been fairly cautious, but now will be even more cautious.

Everyone needs to be getting that message, and clearly they're not.

Ok, I'll stop.

The message I've heard is "If you feel sick at all, assume it's COVID-19 and act accordingly." That means notifying everyone you could have been in contact with that you are sick. If it's not COVID-19, it's probably something else you could pass along and you should be taking the same precautions.

There's no way to fine tune this so "just" people who test positive are isolated.

I share your frustration. There should be national directives on this, not the repeated mantra of "we've put millions of tests out there".

Tests are *so* last week.