How are you dealing with life now with the Covid-19 virus situation? (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

That's great news @Robert Crawford!

 

[Mike2001]

Great news Robert. Must have made your Christmas morning.

 

[ChristopherG]

That would be nice since I’m an essential infrastructure worker as defined by dept of homeland security and my job is customer-facing with some customers who refuse to wear a mask.

Same here but DoD. don't necessarily interact with customers these days but I do go into work and we have over 6000 employees at my workplace. At least half to 2/3 of them work from home though. I go in about half the time. My employer has intimated that they are working on procuring vaccinations within the defined priority. We'll see.

 

[Tony Bensley]

I got some good news this Christmas morning as my sister is out of the hospital and is doing much better now.

That is fantastic news, Robert!

Hope you have a great Christmas!

CHEERS!

 

[TonyD]

That’s about the best news you can hear these days.

 

[jayembee]

Has anyone figured out how to find out when they will be eligible for the vaccine? Do I have to call someone? When I asked my doctor he said he had yet to receive instructions.

As the understand it, the second group includes front-line workers and those 75 and over. I missed it by one year.

As I understand it at the moment, being 67 years old I will be in "Group 2". It doesn't help that "Group 1" is divided into sub-groups; I believe that what you refer to as "the second group" is Group 1B. Anyway, depending on how well the deployment goes, I might be able to get my first shot mid-to-late January...I think. My wife probably won't be able to get one until well into Spring.

 

[jayembee]

My wife and I usually spend Christmas Eve with her parents and brother's family. Then we spend Christmas Day with her sister's family. No such luck this year. But like with Thanksgiving, we (and her siblings) made meals for the 'rents and delivered them yesterday afternoon. Our contribution was Swedish meatballs, fruit soup, raspberry jello, a carton of egg nog and a bottle of sparkling apple-mango cider.

Last night, we had out own servings of the same. Today (in an hour or so) we'll heat up our own spiral ham, mashed potatoes, and fresh squash. Earlier, my wife had a nice nap, and expressed gratitude for our nice, quiet low-key Christmas together. After dinner, we'll watch Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max, followed by Soul on Disney+.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I can’t complain; all of the people in our pod made it over for dinner, the meal came out well, and the cleanup wasn’t bad. Honestly, it wasn’t that far removed from a normal holiday in terms of attendance. It just felt different. The days have gotten blurry and when you don’t go out a lot, you don’t really encounter all of the December rituals that make it seem like Christmas is in the air. Or at least that’s my experience of it. I was glad we got to do something but I look forward to next year having more of the spirit.

 

[TJPC]

Over the "Covid hiatus" my wife and I have discovered that we have different reactions to the ambience in the house. She has become an intensely quiet person who has very quiet hobbies she pursues in her office (card making etc.).

I on the other hand generally hate silence and always have music, the TV turned to an all news station, a pod cast, or talk radio playing. Every room in the house including the garage and furnace room has either a Google mini or Google hub in it. When she was out with her friends I would tell Google to play the radio on "all speaker group" and have my station all over the house. When I do jobs around the house now, or cut the grass, I always put earphones in my iPhone and listen to podcasts.

Every day, after we finish our separate house hold chores or pay bills etc., we meet in the living room around 4:30. She loves games on her iPad (sound off). I love movies. We have had to make a deal. Every other day is a "quiet day". On those days I watch my Blu rays or DVDs on my portable player that has an earphone jack. On the alternate days I watch the big set, which does not. It seems to be working for us.

 

[Clinton McClure]

The quiet appeals to me. I work around loud mailroom equipment all day and when I get home, my wife always has a radio turned up and blaring music in the kitchen, usually the tv is on something kind of loud and annoying, and then she’ll be ignoring all that and looking at Facebook or watching YouTube videos on her phone. That’s why I love Saturday and Sunday mornings or anytime she goes upstairs to soak in the tub. Unless I’m in the theater room, I usually turn off all noise and enjoy the silence.

 

[HawksFord]

It was a bit of a good news/bad news day here yesterday. My oldest boy's fiancee was exposed through work but has now had three negative tests and is in the clear. On the other hand, an uncle who is already in an assisted living facility and struggling has now tested positive for COVID.

 

[DaveF]

I’m now seeing friends reporting on FB that they’re getting the vaccine! (They’re in medicine or military supporting distro). One friend posted this morning that she’s got a lot of allergies, and after consultation with fellow experts, decided to get it. Which is encouraging, as I’ve got friends with serious allergies who are anxious that they might not be able to take the vaccine. So, this is just anecdote, but it’s an encouraging anecdote for me, being concerned about my friends.

 

[DaveF]

And to keep up the holiday mood, being “stuck” at home this year, we drove down to a regional park to do their big lights display. That was a nice way to spend the evening.

Then we drove up to two nearby homes that have done the music-sync’d light production. One was full-blown, super-high quality like you see on YouTube. The other was a bit less sophisticated, but had a life-size video display with Santa walking about in an upstairs bedroom window doing Santa things! Really impressive!

 

[Johnny Angell]

I’m now seeing friends reporting on FB that they’re getting the vaccine! (They’re in medicine or military supporting distro). One friend posted this morning that she’s got a lot of allergies, and after consultation with fellow experts, decided to get it. Which is encouraging, as I’ve got friends with serious allergies who are anxious that they might not be able to take the vaccine. So, this is just anecdote, but it’s an encouraging anecdote for me, being concerned about my friends.

As I understand it, those allergic reactions happen pretty quickly, like within 15 minutes. I presume that clinics will request recipients to hand around for that time.

As soon as I wrote that, what happens when you get the vaccination at a drug store and have the reaction?

 

[DaveF]

As I understand it, those allergic reactions happen pretty quickly, like within 15 minutes. I presume that clinics will request recipients to hand around for that time.

As soon as I wrote that, what happens when you get the vaccination at a drug store and have the reaction?

I don't think they're doing COVID-19 vaccinations at the local CVS yet.

Looking ahead, I assume it will be handled however vaccinations for people with allergy concerns are currently handled.

 

[Clinton McClure]

At least to begin with, immunizations are only supposed to be given where there is a trained medical professional present with epinephrine in case of a severe reaction such as anaphylaxis and all recipients are required to wait, post injection, for 15 minutes.

 

[jayembee]

On a tangential note...I realized yesterday that I have to reschedule some medical appointments. I've had a dental (cleaning) appointment scheduled for the 11th, and last week made a bevy of appointments for PT, one of which is on the same day as the dental appointment. It's not like there's not enough time between appointments. The problem is that the dental appointment is in Massachusetts. I'm in New Hampshire, and if I go out of state (especially Mass, which is not having a great time with Covid at the moment) I have to quarantine when I get back. Which means I won't be able to go to that day's PT, or the PT appointments I have scheduled for later that week or the week after.

 

[Johnny Angell]

At least to begin with, immunizations are only supposed to be given where there is a trained medical professional present with epinephrine in case of a severe reaction such as anaphylaxis and all recipients are required to wait, post injection, for 15 minutes.

It’s my understanding that drug stores like Walgreens and CVS will be giving the vaccinations. Will they have to have a nurse present? That would be a lot of nurses and extra expense.

 

[Malcolm R]

I think certified Pharmacists are pretty close to RN's or doctors, and are permitted to administer vaccines in all 50 states. In retail stores, vaccines are administered by the pharmacists. It's possible they may hire nurses to assist, if we reach a point where there's enough vaccine for full-time vaccinations during store hours.

 

[jayembee]

Might also be an opportunity for people with paramedic certification who need extra work.