# Do you still see a lot of Covid “Ghost Artifacts”? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [February 29, 2024, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295 "2024-02-29T21:52:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/61 "2024-03-05T13:07:25Z")
> [@digs](#): > > The “Ghost” word in the OP implies that since Covid is gone, these are unneeded now. Covid’s still around and so are introverts, and I love having space between me and the unwashed masses… I’m not an introvert. And i do think there are “ghost” distancing signs on the floor. But i agree that covid isn’t gone, and i hope we can get some permanent upgrades in public health behavior, like improved ventilation. But I’m pessimistic. Too many people want to totally ignore it, and don’t mind that we’ve never had good decent protection against flu or RSV, either. We’ve been treating them all like the common cold. Anyway, I’m typing this as i wait for a covid test to develop, because i just came back from a square dance weekend where we all ate and danced in an inadequately ventilated space. And if i don’t come down with covid this week (looking good so far, but the week is young) it’s because the organizers did ask everyone to test before arriving, and every morning. A couple of people dropped out before arriving. One guy and his roommate left after he developed covid Saturday AM, and another woman and her husband left after she tested positive (no symptoms) Sunday morning. The tests are supposed to register positive at about the same level of virus in the nose that is associated with “infectious”. So right now I’m cautiously optimistic. But i spent a lot of time with the woman who left. The organizer is asking us to report if we get sick, and posting anonymous data. So far, one close contact of the sick guy has come down with covid. Test negative this AM, so I’m off to a busy day. I’ll be wearing an N95 mask in case I’m brewing something, though, so i don’t spread it. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/62 "2024-03-05T20:59:11Z")
Before covid, all our Walmarts were 24-hours. Now they close at 10 or 11 pm, I forget which. That hasn’t changed. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/63 "2024-03-05T23:58:58Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Oh, and I appreciate the free sanitizer (“Holy Water”, heh heh). Whenever I’m shopping, my hands get dirty, or at least scuzzy … especially because I can’t resist plowing through a lot of old books and used LPs, and getting some of that “dust of ages” off feels SO good… Hand sanitizer is probably the most off-putting stuff I’ve ever put on my hands; far worse than baby shit. I’d much rather be dusty than thickened-alcohol sanitized. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/64 "2024-03-06T00:30:42Z")
At least half of the sanitizer boxes on every wall are empty. I don’t much mind sanitizer, you use it a lot as a doctor. But there is a cheaper version that smells strongly of vodka and has a greasy texture. That stuff is the pits. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/65 "2024-03-07T16:35:49Z")
I ran into that last week; I went to go eat lunch last Wednesday at a local restaurant that I’m pretty sure was open seven days a week for lunch and dinner prior to the pandemic. Apparently now, they’re not open at all on Mondays, dinner only on Tuesday/Wednesday, and lunch/dinner on Thursday-Sunday. Otherwise, it’s mostly forlorn floor circle decals that haven’t been peeled up yet, or things like old signs advocating social-distancing, mask wearing and hand-washing. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/66 "2024-03-07T17:17:32Z")
I miss the arrows in the supermarket. Kept people from clogging up the lanes. Now we are back to people not knowing how to handle a shopping cart. Supermarkets around here still have shop from home where they bring the items out to your car. There are a lot of other businesses that still have the signs up for curbside pickup but nobody uses them. I wonder if the information on their signs is up to date. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/67 "2024-03-07T17:24:04Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Nobody’s fooled. > > It’s just that for those of us who are vaccinated and boosted, there’s not much else to do but go on with our lives, and for those who aren’t, well, they’ve been taking their chances all along. > > And FYI, if you are vaccinated and boosted, COVID generally just isn’t that serious. Not enough to really do anything out of the ordinary for it. > > And I’m not so sure that your link isn’t a bit conspiracy-theorist, in that if it’s true, why aren’t we hearing more dissenting voices? Instead, we’ve got this one woman publishing her own substack about it, and making claims like there’s no herd immunity, etc… and the literal whole rest of the world saying otherwise. > > Plus, that article is kind of cruddy… her articles she cites don’t really support her claim. They’re all about post-COVID ER wait times, and in all the ones I read, they _mention_ COVID, but more along the lines of “a litlte COVID”, not “COVID is overloading our ERs”. > > So call me a bit skeptical if she’s the only one saying something different than nearly every other public health person out there. Especially considering she’s basically a professional activist, and NOT a doctor, public health researcher, or anything like that. Lots of correlation equals causation in that article. Wait times are up, must be Covid? Except it’s clear that hospitalizations for Covid are down. During the height of Covid I was helping to bring out either bodies or people on death’s door daily out of houses. We got updates on the deaths in town daily. The county set up a secret extra morgue for the overflow. That isn’t happening now. My wife is doing clinicals in multiple hospitals in the area. Covid isn’t a big concern in any of them and we were one of the worst hot zones in the country. It’s still here. I caught Covid right before Christmas. Went to an urgent care and the doctor was unconcerned. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/68 "2024-03-07T17:24:43Z")
Still no door to door solicitors, here’s hoping that never recovers. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/69 "2024-03-07T17:26:01Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Still no door to door solicitors, here’s hoping that never recovers. Thankfully that’s never been a thing where I live. Except for political campaigning. Nothing will stomp that out. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/70 "2024-03-07T19:13:04Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I miss the arrows in the supermarket. Kept people from clogging up the lanes. I hated those. If i forgot something at the start of the store, i had to go all the way around the loop again. I changed supermarkets to avoid them. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/71 "2024-03-07T19:28:36Z")
I had some kind of upper respiratory crud a couple of weeks ago (coughing, congestion, sinus pain, runny nose, etc…) , and the urgent care clinic didn’t even test me for COVID. I was surprised, but not upset about it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/72 "2024-03-07T19:59:04Z")
They still come around here, usually trying to sell solar or Spectrum. The former get told “No thanks.” The latter get told they have 5 seconds to get off my property. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/73 "2024-03-07T20:19:21Z")
A lot of restaurants started closing some days or evenings. Lower volumes, but also difficulties getting enough staff. Staff difficulties only partially related to Covid. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/74 "2024-03-08T03:01:18Z")
You went to a medical clinic with symptoms of the third leading cause of death right after a major surge and you’re not angry they didn’t at least test you? No wonder American healthcare is so substandard if we expect so little from it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/75 "2024-03-08T04:01:30Z")
I went to an urgent care clinic after a _possible_ covid exposure and specifically asked for a covid test. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/76 "2024-03-08T14:23:42Z")
Surprised, not angry. But that’s my point- COVID just isn’t really thought of as a “thing” anymore, not even among medical professionals in many situations. Part of the problem I suspect, is that COVID symptoms overlap with _so_ many things (colds, allergies, flu, sinus infections, etc… ), and the quick tests aren’t as accurate anymore as they first were, so I think there’s probably a level of triage going on that’s either unconscious, or barely conscious- they know what COVID looks like in Feb 2024, so if someone comes in with symptoms that match that, they’ll test first. Otherwise, it’s probably down the road. Beyond that, there’s also likely a huge level of “What can you do?” Even the CDC has basically started treating it like other simple respiratory diseases with a “Stay home when you’re sick, but return to school or work once you’re feeling better and you’ve been without a fever for 24 hours.” approach, which is pretty much exactly what they’ll tell you for any other disease like that. And I wasn’t running a fever, which is probably the #1 reason they didn’t test me, I’m guessing. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/77 "2024-03-08T15:03:40Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Beyond that, there’s also likely a huge level of “What can you do?” Yep - it’s not like you’re told to isolate for 10 days after a positive test anymore and you don’t get anti-virals just because you test positive. If the treatment/recommendation is going to be the same no matter what the test results are, there’s no point to conducting the test. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/78 "2024-03-08T15:07:50Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Even the CDC has basically started treating it like other simple respiratory diseases with a “Stay home when you’re sick, but return to school or work once you’re feeling better and you’ve been without a fever for 24 hours.” approach, which is pretty much exactly what they’ll tell you for any other disease like that. Yes, except they have changed their recommendations for ALL respiratory diseases, and now urge you to take precautions (ventilation, masks, avoiding the most vulnerable) after you return to work for all those diseases. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/79 "2024-03-08T15:23:14Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Beyond that, there’s also likely a huge level of “What can you do?” There are known medication treatments. And they work best when given soon after onset. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295/80 "2024-03-08T16:42:37Z")
There are anti virals specific to covid (and different ones specific to flu) but the treatments for covid aren’t recommended for everyone. I’m at an age that, when many of my friends have had covid, one partner was advised to take paxlovid, and the other wasn’t. I can think of at least 3 couples like that. So for many people presenting with mild symptoms of “could be covid”, the recommended treatment is to stay home, drink plenty of fluids, and take it easy until they feel better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-see-a-lot-of-covid-ghost-artifacts/998295.md?page=5)