Coronavirus prep
Options
Replies
-
Not that it matters where I am - the vaccine situation here is a *kitten* show. The Canadian government totally screwed up vaccine procurement and we will be over here still in lockdown and dying while the rest of the world is getting back to normal.
Agreed. Last I heard my health district had run out of vaccines and was cancelling scheduled appointments.
Thankfully my 87 year old mother got her first Pfizer shot last week. Her retirement home was in outbreak since Dec 29 so I was worried it might come too late for them, but somehow only staff members ever tested positive and not a single resident was infected.
I don't know how you've coped all this time with her in an outbreak home, that must have been terrifying. 85% of our local deaths have been in a single LTC facility. I'm so glad she's managed to get her first dose!
My 81 year old father still lives somewhat independently in his own home and isn't even on the radar for vaccination yet.
It was very stressful but she is in a semi-independent living retirement home which she has her own small unit and goes to downstairs to the dining room and for activities and meds. So it is a little easier to control the spread than in a long term care home where people are immobile and having more intense care. They were confined to their rooms and had their meals and meds delivered during the outbreak and by some miracle none of the residents got it, just several staff.10 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »NM Governor just announced yesterday that public schools can resume in person learning on a hybrid schedule starting Feb 8. It will be up to individual districts as to whether or not they will. I'm in the largest school district in the state, so it'll be interesting to see what they do...hoping the kids will be able to go back though...a couple days out of the week is better than nothing.
Not necessarily for the teachers and their families. Even if teachers are vaccinated (most aren’t right now) the best information says they can still take it home to their families. As can the kids.
Some districts (Oklahoma) say the kids don’t have to wear masks indoors if they’re sitting six feet apart.
I am so scared for my teacher friends and their families.
I have a couple of friends who are teachers and I know quite a few teachers at my kids' school, and every single one of them is and has been ready to get back. The one's that don't want to can opt out. Masks are required in NM indoors and will also be required in school. They are also required outdoors in crowded public areas and any outdoor land/property maintained by a government entity.
Group A will be Monday and Tuesday...Wednesday is a deep clean day...group B on Thursday and Friday. Smaller classes and more separation. All NM private schools have been doing this since the fall and it hasn't been an issue.
From the sounds of things, most districts won't go back until the very end of February as they need time to ramp up. It is thought that by then, most teachers who want to be vaccinated will be. NM is 2nd in the nation in regards to per capita vaccine distribution and getting needles into arms. We've vaccinated roughly 10% of our population currently
Sounds like your districts have more effective safety plans than the ones where my friends are working (Michigan, Oklahoma, Florida) where they’re not doing what they should to protect anyone, frankly. Especially people with pre-existing conditions which make them more vulnerable to serious health risks as a result of COVID.
No one gets paid enough to literally die for their job.
NM still has some of the most stringent restrictions in the US. We opened up a bit over the summer as our cases were pretty low...end of July had a 7 day rolling average of around 330 new cases per day. By early September we were down to a 7 day rolling average of around 88 new cases per day and there was a lot of pressure to open up further, including schools.
This is about the time when individuals started to become much more lax in their precautions...a lot more people out and about doing "normal" things...more people dining out where earlier in the summer people were more apprehensive even though indoor dining was open...more parties and large gatherings at home and public places, etc. We started spiking again in October and by Thanksgiving our 7 day rolling average had jumped over 2,500 per day, with many days having numbers over 3K per day.
We went into another stay at home "lockdown" about a week before Thanksgiving and have been in that position since. No indoor dining...limited outdoor patio dining...no bars are open...gyms open, but with substantial restrictions on occupancy as well as amenities that can be used, etc. The NM government is also trying their best to limit travel to NM for other states, which hurts as tourism is one of our largest industries. Of course, they can't straight up deny entry to the state...but there's nothing to do here, and the things that are open like the zoo, botanical gardens, state parks, etc are only open to NM residents and ID is required to enter these places.
No idea how much longer this will go on...but our numbers have dropped to a 7 day rolling average of around 700 as of yesterday. There has been a big push to re-open schools on at least a hybrid basis, even if we need to keep other restrictions such as indoor dining in place. Mid year reports across most school districts show a high failure rate with distance learning as well as growing mental health issues with children across the state that simply didn't exist at this level before. As well as we've done as a state with this virus, unfortunately, we are also leading the nation in childhood suicide.12 -
kshama2001 wrote: »We don't have a readout. A tech said it was set at the max, which is 130 degrees in my state, but when I measure it from the sink with a digital thermometer, I get 136.
This is something everyone should check regularly, how hot is it out of the tap. The heater may be off or someone may have fiddled with the setting after a cold shower. I had to do this when I worked in a youth group home, to prevent youths from getting accidentally scalded.1 -
-
kshama2001 wrote: »We don't have a readout. A tech said it was set at the max, which is 130 degrees in my state, but when I measure it from the sink with a digital thermometer, I get 136.
This is something everyone should check regularly, how hot is it out of the tap. The heater may be off or someone may have fiddled with the setting after a cold shower. I had to do this when I worked in a youth group home, to prevent youths from getting accidentally scalded.
This is what I have been thinking about seeing these posts about water temps. I remember years ago a plumber setting our hot water heat to somewhere around 110 F, maybe as much as 114, but definitely well below 120, to avoid scalding, and this was in a household of adults, none of whom were mentally compromised. I had the impression it was either a county code or a professional best practices thing. It wasn't like the homeowner couldn't change it after he left, but there was no wink-wink on his part pointing that out.5 -
kshama2001 wrote: »We don't have a readout. A tech said it was set at the max, which is 130 degrees in my state, but when I measure it from the sink with a digital thermometer, I get 136.
This is something everyone should check regularly, how hot is it out of the tap. The heater may be off or someone may have fiddled with the setting after a cold shower. I had to do this when I worked in a youth group home, to prevent youths from getting accidentally scalded.
Maybe I'm a bit weird, anal or whatever but I typically turn tbe water on, let if run a bit then slowly move my hand towards the running water. If my hand starts to feel too hot i turn the temperature the faucet down.
Isn't that the typical way.to do it?11 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »We don't have a readout. A tech said it was set at the max, which is 130 degrees in my state, but when I measure it from the sink with a digital thermometer, I get 136.
This is something everyone should check regularly, how hot is it out of the tap. The heater may be off or someone may have fiddled with the setting after a cold shower. I had to do this when I worked in a youth group home, to prevent youths from getting accidentally scalded.
This is what I have been thinking about seeing these posts about water temps. I remember years ago a plumber setting our hot water heat to somewhere around 110 F, maybe as much as 114, but definitely well below 120, to avoid scalding, and this was in a household of adults, none of whom were mentally compromised. I had the impression it was either a county code or a professional best practices thing. It wasn't like the homeowner couldn't change it after he left, but there was no wink-wink on his part pointing that out.
My Dad was a pipefitter. Yes, it's a general practice thing to keep people from getting accidentally burned. I keep mine at 140 and you can get scalded if you're not careful.2 -
Back on the school transmission discussion.... There is one aspect I have not seen/read discussed. It is a correlation vs. causation concern.
Where kids attending in-person have lower infection rates than kids schooling remotely, the frequent explanation is that school infection rates reflect the community vs. driving community spread. In other words, kids catch it in the community and come to school with it, but they don't seem to be spreading it at school in a statistically significant way. So schools in communities with low infection are both more likely to be holding in person classes and more likely to have low infection rates. Likewise schools in communities with bad spread are both more likely to be remote only and more likely to have high infection rates.
I haven't seen wealth discrepancy discussed. Where I live, per capita infection by zip code very clearly shows a lot more spread in poor neighborhoods and very little in rich neighborhoods. The average public school student where I live qualifies for free breakfast & lunch. There are so few students who do not qualify that the district gives free meals to all. The average private school student is pretty wealthy. Which schools are more likely to be open? The private ones that (1) can afford protective measures and (2) have students less likely to be infected to start with. This dynamic is not incompatible with the community spread explanation, but I do not see it called out explicitly. Do you all?
tl;dr - The lower incidence of covid spread with in-person schooling is more a reflection of wealth (underlying causation) than manner of delivering classes (correlation to spread).12 -
I confused about all the discussion of water temp. Here are CDC's instructions for washing a mask. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-to-wash-cloth-face-coverings.html
Remember, when you are cleaning COVID from your hands, it is soap/detergent that matters. No one scalds there hands to remove the virus.9 -
I confused about all the discussion of water temp. Here are CDC's instructions for washing a mask. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-to-wash-cloth-face-coverings.html
Remember, when you are cleaning COVID from your hands, it is soap/detergent that matters. No one scalds there hands to remove the virus.
I spray my cloth mask with a disinfectant and then wash. As for hands, alcohol (gel) immediately kills COVID, so some of that before handwashing will be safer.3 -
snowflake954 wrote: »I confused about all the discussion of water temp. Here are CDC's instructions for washing a mask. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-to-wash-cloth-face-coverings.html
Remember, when you are cleaning COVID from your hands, it is soap/detergent that matters. No one scalds there hands to remove the virus.
I spray my cloth mask with a disinfectant and then wash. As for hands, alcohol (gel) immediately kills COVID, so some of that before handwashing will be safer.
I have similarly disinfected my mask by spraying down with rubbing alcohol.1 -
Back on the school transmission discussion.... There is one aspect I have not seen/read discussed. It is a correlation vs. causation concern.
Where kids attending in-person have lower infection rates than kids schooling remotely, the frequent explanation is that school infection rates reflect the community vs. driving community spread. In other words, kids catch it in the community and come to school with it, but they don't seem to be spreading it at school in a statistically significant way. So schools in communities with low infection are both more likely to be holding in person classes and more likely to have low infection rates. Likewise schools in communities with bad spread are both more likely to be remote only and more likely to have high infection rates.
I haven't seen wealth discrepancy discussed. Where I live, per capita infection by zip code very clearly shows a lot more spread in poor neighborhoods and very little in rich neighborhoods. The average public school student where I live qualifies for free breakfast & lunch. There are so few students who do not qualify that the district gives free meals to all. The average private school student is pretty wealthy. Which schools are more likely to be open? The private ones that (1) can afford protective measures and (2) have students less likely to be infected to start with. This dynamic is not incompatible with the community spread explanation, but I do not see it called out explicitly. Do you all?
tl;dr - The lower incidence of covid spread with in-person schooling is more a reflection of wealth (underlying causation) than manner of delivering classes (correlation to spread).
My niece is a substitute teacher. She lives with my brother. These are the two that have Covid-19 right now. I didn't realize she was teaching in person. My sister in law is a nurse and has been obsessed with protecting the family. They have been also caregivers for her Mom and Dad (her mom died last week from natural causes). My brother and niece either got it from preparing for the arrangements, but more likely got it from her teaching infected kids.
She teaches English to Spanish speaking children.
Personally, I've felt all along we didn't do enough to protect teachers. My niece seems to already be recovering, where my brother isn't doing that great.12 -
Yeh, I've seen headlines that said school isn't a worrisome infection source. How can it not be?? That simply doesn't make sense to me.9
-
Yeh, I've seen headlines that said school isn't a worrisome infection source. How can it not be?? That simply doesn't make sense to me.
I'm not sure what the delay is for the J&J, but we need that in a hurry for teachers and others. The more teachers we can vaccinate, the better. We have three teachers among my nieces. Two out of three have caught Covid-19. The first one that caught it did recover well, as did her son.8 -
-
Well, coronavirus prep has translated to less winter storm prep needed. Normally the shelves would have been bare and stores mobbed yesterday and the day before, but we must be all stocked up here in Massachusetts.
@SModa61 - I'm on the South Shore and got mostly slush - I hear it was much worse on parts of the North Shore - how'd you make out?5 -
@kshama2001 - Glad you are doing well. We are all shoveled out. There was a decent amount of heavy snow here and lots of smaller branches down throughout the yard, but doing fine. Did you see the Channel 5 Opps?
I'll give you three guesses what town I live in. :P2 -
@kshama2001 - Glad you are doing well. We are all shoveled out. There was a decent amount of heavy snow here and lots of smaller branches down throughout the yard, but doing fine. Did you see the Channel 5 Opps?
I'll give you three guesses what town I live in. :P
That's still a lot of snow even without the extra 0!
Glad you are all shoveled out and presumably with power as you're online
0 -
Yeh, I've seen headlines that said school isn't a worrisome infection source. How can it not be?? That simply doesn't make sense to me.
The numbers say that when communities reopen schools for in person classes, it doesn't cause a spike. There could be lots of reasons for that, like places that reopen schools already have high numbers from people not being careful, or the fact that just because schools are open doesn't mean a lot of parents aren't keeping their kids home anyway. I'd also bet schools that are able to reconfigure and supply their schools for safety "even out" the schools that can't and do in fact cause some spread.
It seems that schools that can space kids and teachers out, provide everyone with PPE, and pay enough personnel to monitor children for safety compliance can keep everyone pretty safe. But as was mentioned lots of US school systems simply don't have the money for that.
IMHO teachers should be prioritized for vaccination right behind healthcare workers, so 1b I guess. I'm not a parent, but every parent I know says getting kids back to regular school is super important and vaccinating teachers so they are protected when safety measures don't quite cut it is the best way to do that I think.12 -
kshama2001 wrote: »@kshama2001 - Glad you are doing well. We are all shoveled out. There was a decent amount of heavy snow here and lots of smaller branches down throughout the yard, but doing fine. Did you see the Channel 5 Opps?
I'll give you three guesses what town I live in. :P
That's still a lot of snow even without the extra 0!
Glad you are all shoveled out and presumably with power as you're online
@kshama2001 I don't think the "0" was the issue at that point in time. I think is was a missing decimal point. Wilmington is next to us so I think we were 2.30". Snow was to the top of my boots so 12" total, maybe?0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.6K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.2K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 914 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions