Does your husband have any clue just how lucky he is surviving Covid TWICE!!! I would be celebrating with dozens of kittens of every variety (I had no idea Maine coons were so expensive! It’s a lot of cat for the money, but wow…)
The brother-in-law of a good friend of mine died yesterday from COVID. He was fully vaccinated. He was 80-ish, in a nursing home, and I think he had some other health issues. His wife (my friend’s sister) is in the same nursing home and also has COVID. And dementia. That’s all I know at this point.
I know. Our surge seems to have plateaued, but school just started. I expect it to start going up again.
Our admin ‘has a cold or cold-like symptoms’. She will be working from home pending the results of a rapid COVID test she’ll have today. She’s older (she actually came out of retirement after our previous admin left for greener pastures) and has not been vaccinated. I don’t know if she hasn’t been vaccinated because she has a condition that would prevent her. She’s ‘hesitant’, but I don’t know why. Since I work in the basement, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I seldom see her. When I go to the ground floor to remind people I exist socialise, I wear a mask and try to maintain six feet of separation.
Thankfully, the risk of serious infection after recovering from COVID-19 is very low. Most studies I’ve seen show somewhere in the neighborhood of 1% or less. Here’s a recent study looking at over 9000 patients:
Reinfection was identified in 0.7% (n = 63, 95% confidence interval [CI]: .5%–.9%) during follow-up of 9119 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
From NPR:
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Can you just give me a sort of percentage? Do we know sort of what percentage of people have become reinfected?
ADALJA: It’s likely less than 1%, depending upon the numbers that you look at. It’s not a very common thing - at least - and it will get higher as we get further out. But right now, it’s probably less than 1%.
Given the number of natural infections out there, this is fantastic news. Hopefully both vaccine and naturally acquired immunity continue to last a long time.
Australia, was that really necessary?
A local government in rural Australia fatally shot dogs that were set to go to an animal shelter in another town over concerns that the shelter’s employees could spread the coronavirus by traveling to pick up the animals.
…
If she’s “hesitant,” that seems to indicate no exempting condition. I hope the full FDA approval of the vaccine prompts El Jefe(to use your term for him) to mandate vaccination for all employees or at the very least, requires her to work from home.
She’s working from home. I think we should go back to lock-down mode. Because going to Seattle two days a week is still a PITA.
Her hesitancy seems to be from the fear of unknown side-effects; but again, I don’t know her medical condition(s) if any. She may or may not have legitimate concerns. I don’t have Need To Know. She doesn’t appear to lean Right.
I meant permanently working from home, not just until she gets a negative test. Or did you mean she’ll be working from home from now on?
I don’t mean to sound vindictive. While it’s an extremely remote possibility that she has some legit medical reason not get vaccinated (and therefore isn’t just hesitant), it’s not zero. However, if that’s indeed the case, given the number of unvaccinated people, it’s dangerous for her to be around staffers and for staffers to be around her. Her reasons for being unvaxxed are and should remain private, even as management takes steps to ensure her safety and that of the rest of the staff.
The Minnesota State Fair starts in a few days. No vax requirements, no testing, a generic mask request. The fair is the largest in the country (Texas overall has more attendees, but is more than twice as long).
Over 100 booths aren’t opening this year, claiming inability to find employees and safety. I’m guessing it’s the more the former than the latter.
As it is, many hospitals are on the edge of hanging out “No Vacancy” signs around here. We’re screwed.
We have a small office, and there’s not much chance of exposure. She’s working from home until she gets results ‘out of an abundance of caution’. Our president is taking the pandemic very seriously. He hasn’t made vaccinations a condition of employment. Yet. He still may. If that happens, she may just re-retire.
As they said on KING5 this morning, people are used to working from home. I’d rather work from home full-time.
My coworker said she and her husband have been tested, and they should have results in 24-36 hours. She said they will be getting the Pfizer vaccine soon.
From the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office:
The Sheriff’s Office has received inquiries from citizens as to whether it will enforce the latest version of the Governor’s “mask” mandate. Violations of the order constitute a criminal misdemeanor under Washington State law. It is not practical for deputies to arrest people for violating the “mask” provisions of the order. Since the Governor’s initial order in 2020, the Sheriff’s Office has not arrested anyone for violating the order. The Washington State Secretary of Public Health previously announced that mask mandates are “not a mandate for law enforcement to detain, cite or arrest violators.”
The Sheriff’s Office is working to control a COVID-19 outbreak within the County Jail that has affected both inmates and staff. We are operating on a higher level of vigilance which will continue for the foreseeable future. Infrastructure issues relating to capacity and medical housing have created serious challenges to our ability to distance unaffected inmates and isolate those who test positive. Booking restrictions currently preclude law enforcement from booking people for simple misdemeanors and it makes no sense to introduce otherwise law-abiding citizens into the current environment.
The Sheriff’s Office has also received a few inquiries as to “why” the Sheriff has not declared the Governor’s Order “unconstitutional.” Under Washington law, the courts, not the Sheriff, have the authority to declare executive action unconstitutional. To the best of our knowledge, that has not occurred.
We urge everyone to exercise common sense and be mindful of good public health practices.
The community should be aware that citizens still have the right to control their private property. Trespassing laws may apply if someone refuses the direction of the person in charge to leave such property.
I thought it might be interesting to see how the American South’s Black Belt is handling covid. I used the Hotspots map from NYT.
There seems to be a correlation with fewer recent cases in the Black Belt. Until it gets to Mississippi, then it goes all to hell. But Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia (somewhat), Alabama, and a bit of Arkansas seem to show relatively fewer “hotspot” cases in the Black Belt areas than in the rest of the state.
I’m wondering whether this seeming correlation is real or an artifact of statistics, like these areas having a lower population than the rest of the state or something. Or maybe I’m not even seeing what I think I’m seeing.
We were informed today by his school that our son has been in close contact with someone who has tested positive. 
Damn. I am so sorry.
It seems to me that being asked to send hundreds of children to school every day unvaccinated and/or unmasked turns every school day into a superspreader event. 
Shit. So sorry to hear this.
My coworker reports that her test came back negative. She just has a cold.
Good news for all. Sorry about her cold though.
This was posted on the Model Steam Boat hobbyist site:
“Hello Friends - on August 1 Ed and his wife Cathy went to the ER in the new town they had just moved to. Both were found to have Covid. Ed’s case was more severe than Cathy’s and he was admitted to the ICU. Cathy went to their new Kentucky home ( which is 100 plus years old ) to battle the terrible disease alone. Ed was put on a ventilator on August 3. Ed had to be placed on some ‘paralytic drugs’ while on the ventilator. Believe me when I say there have been so many ups and downs in this battle. On August 16 they were able to finally remove Ed from the ventilator! Ed is still in ICU. It is a daily battle - some steps forward and others backwards. I will not go into all the details - suffice to say Ed has a long long battle ahead of him. I am happy to say though that on August 11 Cathy was found to be Covid free! As I mentioned they had just made their last move to their new home in a new town. No friends yet…Cathy and Ed would be so thrilled to have any note of encouragement at this tough time in their lives. If you would like to send me a PM I can give you their address, and additional info. Thanks for your concerns - this is one terrible disease not to be taken lightly. Ed’s nurses were crying when they called Cathy to tell her he was off the ventilator because he was the first to come off one alive.”
Sheesh and people are whining about wearing masks!