CAN SOMEONE IN SELF-ISOLATION WITHOUT SYMPTOMS GO FOR A WALK IN THE PARK?
You really need to steer clear of close contact with anyone you run into. Avoid shaking hands, and make sure you maintain a decent distance from others—I suppose that means at least three feet if you're outdoors and about six feet when you're inside.
So, I saw this guy asking if he’s allowed to walk his dog. He lives in a house and has been taking the dog out really early, like before 5 AM, and then super late at night. Apparently, they just told him he can't get near anyone, and while he was out, he was wearing a mask—and I don't mean some scrap of fabric, I mean an actual, legitimate face mask. If you ask me, I think he's doing just fine.
Nobody is checking up on you, at least not any of those roughly 50 people I know have been sidelined. But I doubt everyone is going to go running for sick leave—not really. It’ll mostly be those specific departments where taking time off won't actually hit their paycheck that hard. Just wait until the ladies working the registers at Target or Walmart catch onto the scheme.
mellownomad7 said:Got some news here, not sure if anyone else caught this.
People showing COVID symptoms are now being classified as "probable cases." According to Sunday's edition of The New York Times, this new status kicked in on Thursday, though we don't know the total count for the US yet.
Family doctors can now skip sending everyone with COVID-19 symptoms straight for a PCR test; instead, they can just order isolation. It lasts 10 days from when symptoms start, provided the patient has been symptom-free for the last three. These folks get tagged with a "probable COVID-19" diagnosis, or U07.2, per the paper.
"We got new guidelines a few days ago letting us treat symptomatic patients as probable positives. I’ve had cases where one family member tests positive via PCR, then everyone else starts feeling sick. Since you're waiting five days for a PCR result, I just diagnose them as probable cases. Once I finish my rounds, I log those U07.2 diagnoses into the system," said one general practitioner in Chicago.
I guess I'm honestly a bit worried about a spike in people taking sick days soon. Instead of dealing with a ten-day quarantine, maybe all it takes is claiming you have the flu, faking the symptoms, spinning a quick story, and boom—you’re just staying home from work while testing negative.
Someone I know in my apartment building is stuck in isolation right now. They’re dealing with some minor symptoms—fever, stuffy nose, things like that—and they’re just sitting around waiting for a call to get tested. Isn't the standard procedure supposed to be that you report yourself first, and then they tell you when to show up? I don't really get this whole waiting game. Apparently, they called their doctor on Wednesday because they thought the symptoms were starting, and the doctor just ordered them into self-isolation.
Maybe you should just shoot an email over to the CIA or whatever local agency handles those municipal districts you're dealing with. They really ought to be the ones issuing your permit to you.
Matthew Jackson2 said:No, sorry, that’s just not how it works—they didn't come here for the holiday spirit, they came to check on their vacation homes and prune the gardens around them (not to mention half these properties are still officially listed as farmland or orchards in the county records), and that happens to be a perfectly legitimate reason to get a travel pass. Sure, for some people it might actually be true, especially if a neighbor called in a complaint or if they genuinely need to deal with a pest problem before the gophers take over the yard, but the system simply lacks any mechanism to tell the difference. But it doesn't matter; pretty soon every third American is going to have a pass. The main thing is that the measure itself is justified, and the fact that we could use those same police officers—the same amount currently enforcing these rules—to ensure that not a single person in quarantine so much as peeks their nose out of their apartment, or even have them deliver groceries, well, that's beside the point.
They aren't really, though, because everyone with a second home leaves a spare key with a neighbor to keep an eye on things during the winter or to let contractors in for repairs before summer hits, and so on. I have keys left with people too, but I'm not moving an inch while these restrictions are in place. As for the weeds, I couldn't care less; I'll deal with them when I get back.
Technically, it's prohibited, but everyone I know down at the coast says most of the weekenders already rolled in to soak up the sun for the holidays. And of course, they immediately swarmed the grocery stores. I mean, seriously, couldn't they have just brought food from home? I don't get it, honestly. Maybe they should just let those people who own vacation rentals in places like Cape Cod or the Hamptons do whatever they want, too... it's all the same thing, really.
I suppose some of these "locals" actually have proof they aren't positive, though it’s only a few of them. A handful might even have the paperwork—employer certifications or official notices specifying the exact date they're required to return to the States.
They’re moving people back to home isolation, so there's no longer a need for those organized group stays. I think I saw someone mention this on one of the other threads, and if I recall correctly, there was some info about it posted on the official CDC site too.
I called the local hospital this morning, thinking—maybe, just maybe—that the poor guy might finally get some actual news about seeing an oncologist. Sadly, no luck there. He ran into some incredibly abrasive staff who wouldn't give him a straight answer; all they’ll say is "call us back every single morning and we'll see."
It’s easier to adapt when you take things in small steps rather than being hit with the most draconian measures right out of the gate. From what I can see, my neighbors here are actually being quite disciplined; I think everyone just wants this whole ordeal to be over as soon as possible. However, I have to say, it seems like the banks have handled their part of this pretty clumsily. Everything—literally any request similar to what we've seen before—that used to be handled easily in a branch should have been moved online by now. Just imagine those smaller towns that don't even have a single local bank branch, especially now that under the new National lockdown and border closure decree, people aren't allowed to leave their homes.
Someone who needs an urgent initial oncology consultation can't even get an appointment because the only oncologist available right now is out with the flu, and they have absolutely no idea when he'll be back on the job.
The LOM staff just laughs it off, saying, “Hahaha, you guys really have no luck,” while politely offering some painkillers.
So, what now?? With this virus going around, who knows how long the wait will be. And then, when (or if!) the appointment finally happens, the first thing they’ll probably ask is—where have you been all this time? Why did you wait?
I honestly don't hear anyone else's popcorn. I can't tell if I'm just lucky enough to sit next to people who stay dead silent, or if theaters just crank the volume up so high that the noise levels are physically painful, making it impossible to notice anything else.
It really bugs me when some idiot is staring at their phone screen, or the people sitting right in front of me who won't stop stretching, or that lady who spends the whole movie talking about her office life... I usually catch the early screenings, so it’s almost always just a few people there, which lets me actually enjoy the peace.
Megan Thomas5 said:That wasn't the flu; it was just some virus. People nowadays call everything "the flu"—as soon as they cough once, they claim it. Especially in certain parts of the country where everyone thinks every little bug is some major illness. So, you can't really use what someone calls "the flu" as a reliable metric anymore, because people label every common cold that way.
Fever basically means anything involving an elevated temperature (fever!!), which I guess explains why it's such a common thing to hear people claiming they have a fever in certain parts of the country. But look, the flu is the flu. There is a distinct difference, and we should probably acknowledge that.