Coronavirus

[Beebee]

I had a positive case in class this week.  I KNOW the student was vaccinated, and that the campus is masked up indoors, and all the appropriate precautions were taken.  I teach about this and know what breakthrough cases actually mean....

....but my first reaction was "Is [student] REALLY vaccinated?"

Bad FishProf.

So, you have actually seen their vaccination card, and if you did you are sure that the card was legit?

If you check into the emergency room or urgent care, they are not allowed to turn you away. So if you can't pay, they can't turn you away. If you are not vaccinated, they can't turn you away. IOW, people can lie about their status when they are checking themselves in. This totally screws up the case numbers.

Meh, not sure there's need for that much suspicion. Vaccinated people are less likely to test positive, but it does happen and it does seem like immunity against infection does wane while protection against getting really sick remains strong. In the long run we are all going to have to get used to the idea that vaccinated people will sometimes get covid and it isn't that big a deal.

Seven people I know, all of whom are vaccinated, have tested positive in the last few weeks.

Yeah, our university requires vaccination (you upload your vaccine card and they actually check somehow - even for vendors and contractors), masks indoors, and weekly testing. We are in a highly-vaxxed state in a town with an indoor mask mandate but also a high population density, and the campus is basically embedded in the city. The weekly testing has been showing students and a couple faculty test positive, so it happens. I know at least a couple students who I know got their shots once they came on campus (I suspect they could not due to family, from where they came from, plus international students) so they should count as fully vaxxed by now, which I hope might help. I had two test positive in my class of 30; both were asymptomatic, just had to isolate. I had a few others contact me saying they were close contacts and will quarantine until testing even though they were not required to (they test every 2-3 days for 2 weeks, but officially they are allowed to come to class. This is more stringent than CDC guidelines for close contacts who are vaccinated). Nobody else in class tested positive in either case, so I can say, not classroom transmission. Students of course socialize, they eat indoors. No way around that. And honestly that's going to happen if you regularly test everyone; it's unlikely they have close unmasked contacts with high-risk individuals while living with vaccinated college classmates. At some point, when everyone has some sort of immunity (vaccines possibly with boosters as needed, infection, or both), hopefully we will reach a point where it will have to become not a big deal. I don't know when that is.

[mamselle]

I had a positive case in class this week.  I KNOW the student was vaccinated, and that the campus is masked up indoors, and all the appropriate precautions were taken.  I teach about this and know what breakthrough cases actually mean....

....but my first reaction was "Is [student] REALLY vaccinated?"

Bad FishProf.

So, you have actually seen their vaccination card, and if you did you are sure that the card was legit?

If you check into the emergency room or urgent care, they are not allowed to turn you away. So if you can't pay, they can't turn you away. If you are not vaccinated, they can't turn you away. IOW, people can lie about their status when they are checking themselves in. This totally screws up the case numbers.

It's not true that ER's can't turn people away.

It varies by state but ER's are not a "home is where they have to take you in when you show up there" kind of place.

That's another urban (maybe also rural) myth that wants correcting.

M.

[Caracal]

I had a positive case in class this week.  I KNOW the student was vaccinated, and that the campus is masked up indoors, and all the appropriate precautions were taken.  I teach about this and know what breakthrough cases actually mean....

....but my first reaction was "Is [student] REALLY vaccinated?"

Bad FishProf.

So, you have actually seen their vaccination card, and if you did you are sure that the card was legit?

If you check into the emergency room or urgent care, they are not allowed to turn you away. So if you can't pay, they can't turn you away. If you are not vaccinated, they can't turn you away. IOW, people can lie about their status when they are checking themselves in. This totally screws up the case numbers.

It's not true that ER's can't turn people away.

It varies by state but ER's are not a "home is where they have to take you in when you show up there" kind of place.

That's another urban (maybe also rural) myth that wants correcting.

M.

They have to treat people who are suffering some sort of emergency until the person is stabilized. If it isn't an emergency, its a different situation.

[dismalist]

Correct. No hospital participating in Medicare [virtually all of them] can turn away emergency patients [EMTALA, 1986]. The patient must be stabilized. A bill will be sent, but payment is not a condition for treatment.

[Caracal]

I had a positive case in class this week.  I KNOW the student was vaccinated, and that the campus is masked up indoors, and all the appropriate precautions were taken.  I teach about this and know what breakthrough cases actually mean....

....but my first reaction was "Is [student] REALLY vaccinated?"

Bad FishProf.

So, you have actually seen their vaccination card, and if you did you are sure that the card was legit?

If you check into the emergency room or urgent care, they are not allowed to turn you away. So if you can't pay, they can't turn you away. If you are not vaccinated, they can't turn you away. IOW, people can lie about their status when they are checking themselves in. This totally screws up the case numbers.

Meh, not sure there's need for that much suspicion. Vaccinated people are less likely to test positive, but it does happen and it does seem like immunity against infection does wane while protection against getting really sick remains strong. In the long run we are all going to have to get used to the idea that vaccinated people will sometimes get covid and it isn't that big a deal.

Seven people I know, all of whom are vaccinated, have tested positive in the last few weeks.

Yeah, our university requires vaccination (you upload your vaccine card and they actually check somehow - even for vendors and contractors), masks indoors, and weekly testing. We are in a highly-vaxxed state in a town with an indoor mask mandate but also a high population density, and the campus is basically embedded in the city. The weekly testing has been showing students and a couple faculty test positive, so it happens. I know at least a couple students who I know got their shots once they came on campus (I suspect they could not due to family, from where they came from, plus international students) so they should count as fully vaxxed by now, which I hope might help. I had two test positive in my class of 30; both were asymptomatic, just had to isolate. I had a few others contact me saying they were close contacts and will quarantine until testing even though they were not required to (they test every 2-3 days for 2 weeks, but officially they are allowed to come to class. This is more stringent than CDC guidelines for close contacts who are vaccinated). Nobody else in class tested positive in either case, so I can say, not classroom transmission. Students of course socialize, they eat indoors. No way around that. And honestly that's going to happen if you regularly test everyone; it's unlikely they have close unmasked contacts with high-risk individuals while living with vaccinated college classmates. At some point, when everyone has some sort of immunity (vaccines possibly with boosters as needed, infection, or both), hopefully we will reach a point where it will have to become not a big deal. I don't know when that is.

Every time I have some extremely mild symptom and take a rapid test, (all negative thus far) I don't worry about getting really sick while I'm waiting for the results. What I start worrying about is having to take the kid out of daycare for two weeks, having to reorganize my classes and having to let our small group of friends who come to our house know that I tested positive and they should get tests and their kids might need to stay out of school.

Eventually, it does seem like COVID will become mostly like a cold and there won't be a need for anything more than staying home when you aren't feeling well. I don't really have a good sense of what the medium term is going to look like. Hopefully, as things improve, we can move towards something less disruptive.

[kaysixteen]

How common is it, for most Americans in most walks of life, nowadays, to actually take a covid test?   I have worked a retail job throughout the pandemic, for instance, but have never taken one, nor even been asked to do so... I am of course fully vaxxed since early May.

[dismalist]

How common is it, for most Americans in most walks of life, nowadays, to actually take a covid test?   I have worked a retail job throughout the pandemic, for instance, but have never taken one, nor even been asked to do so... I am of course fully vaxxed since early May.

An at home test was approved by the FDA only the other day, whereas in Europe, they're a dime a dozen, literally.

[Hegemony]

How common is it, for most Americans in most walks of life, nowadays, to actually take a covid test?   I have worked a retail job throughout the pandemic, for instance, but have never taken one, nor even been asked to do so... I am of course fully vaxxed since early May.

Huge numbers of tests. I've had two in the last two months. Each time I needed to take one (because I had a fever and needed to know whether to stay home from an in-person gathering), I searched multiple test sites in my county, and I always had to wait 2-3 days before a test slot was open. Both times it was open only in a very rural pharmacy miles from where I live. And every time I go to the pharmacy in the next town, there is a long line of cars waiting for tests. Prescriptions have a week-long wait because so many pharmacy workers have been diverted to doing COVID tests. A friend who is a nurse in Philadelphia tells me that for the same reason, non-urgent prescriptions have a month-long wait time in her area. So — millions of people are taking tests.

[rac]

How common is it, for most Americans in most walks of life, nowadays, to actually take a covid test?   I have worked a retail job throughout the pandemic, for instance, but have never taken one, nor even been asked to do so... I am of course fully vaxxed since early May.

Huge numbers of tests. I've had two in the last two months. Each time I needed to take one (because I had a fever and needed to know whether to stay home from an in-person gathering), I searched multiple test sites in my county, and I always had to wait 2-3 days before a test slot was open. Both times it was open only in a very rural pharmacy miles from where I live. And every time I go to the pharmacy in the next town, there is a long line of cars waiting for tests. Prescriptions have a week-long wait because so many pharmacy workers have been diverted to doing COVID tests. A friend who is a nurse in Philadelphia tells me that for the same reason, non-urgent prescriptions have a month-long wait time in her area. So — millions of people are taking tests.

I hope that anybody with a fever, covid or not, stays home from in-person gatherings lol...And that wait for prescriptions is awful!

[dismalist]

Well, the US testing rate is not great. See here https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/daily-tests-per-thousand-people-smoothed-7-day?tab=chart&country=GBR~USA~ITA~FRA~DEU~SWE

The European countries are understated in the graph, for the collection of at-home test results cannot be covering everybody.

[the_geneticist]

How common is it, for most Americans in most walks of life, nowadays, to actually take a covid test?   I have worked a retail job throughout the pandemic, for instance, but have never taken one, nor even been asked to do so... I am of course fully vaxxed since early May.

I've been tested several times.  It's free and pretty easy to get in my area: pharmacies, clinics, kiosk downtown near the transit center, campus, etc.

[Caracal]

How common is it, for most Americans in most walks of life, nowadays, to actually take a covid test?   I have worked a retail job throughout the pandemic, for instance, but have never taken one, nor even been asked to do so... I am of course fully vaxxed since early May.

I've been tested several times.  It's free and pretty easy to get in my area: pharmacies, clinics, kiosk downtown near the transit center, campus, etc.

Yeah, I think since the beginning of the pandemic I've had 3vPCR tests. Kid has had at least 4. We are also doing the at home tests pretty frequently for very, very minor symptoms. I get a slight sore throat and congestion fairly often. If it was a full blown cold I would stay home and probably go get a PCR test, but the at home tests are really useful when one of us has something that is probably nothing at all. Apparently, they are quite good at detecting Covid if you do have symptoms. I think they aren't nearly as useful if you don't have symptoms but are visiting family or something.

[apl68]

I know somebody who got a breakthrough COVID infection.  He got two false negatives before a third test returned a positive.  I don't know how often this sort of thing happens.

[pink_]

How common is it, for most Americans in most walks of life, nowadays, to actually take a covid test?   I have worked a retail job throughout the pandemic, for instance, but have never taken one, nor even been asked to do so... I am of course fully vaxxed since early May.

I get tested weekly. It's free and very easy on my campus. I live in a state with low vaccination rates and a LOT of anti-maskers, and I've been teaching in-person (with Kn95 masks) since August 2020. I'm fully-vaxxed myself , but I know multiple people who have gotten breakthrough infections, and I just don't want to be responsible for making someone else sick. I also really like my cardio-vascular system as it is.

[Puget]

Everyone on our campus is tested once a week (faculty and staff) or twice a week (students), in addition to a vaccine requirement (we are at 97%). Vaccinate-test-trace + mask when conditions warrant and you can have very low cases on a campus (only 2 in the past 2 weeks here).