The Venting Thread

[clean]

But I'm missing something, maybe, if she's staying in the same house with them, and making food or staying in the same rooms with them, how does going out in the car with one of them constitute any greater danger?

Revolving stories...
When it was only her father that was sick (diagnosed only last Thursday) I was told that he was wearing a mask when not in bed.  That may not be true, (or true any longer) as last night I reminded her that she said that, and the story changed to 'he puts his mask on when he needs help standing up, but we sit six feet away.  (Except that her concepts of measurement are always questionable... an ounce can be a quart, a inch can be a foot, two feet can be six feet, and the units are not consistent.... like when my Indian friend says "10 minutes" which is actually closer to 30 American minutes - her measurements keep changing, and must always be verified). 

She claims that she is wearing her mask when near him.  (What "near" means, I m no longer certain).

It is a big house, so there is room to separate (much more so than she would have been separated from me had she been here).  (Besides...  She was there in the first place because i dropped her to be with them in the Cancer Center Hospital City (CCHC), and she was unable to return because i was Positive.   She spent her time there helping them prepare for their return to CCHC so that her father could begin radiation treatment.  She has been quite helpful to them, and they have said so, therefore I am glad that she was there as I expected she was more useful to them, safer than home as she was not exposed to either my COVID OR my grumpiness and irritability (which I would have to PAY for LATER and for a LONG TIME!!)   So there is room at that house to be six feet apart, and her bedroom is upstairs and all of them sleep downstairs, and she goes there a lot to decompress.... they call each other on the phone from different rooms!  (I dont know where they would be without unlimited calling!!)

IN the car, it is impossible to be six feet away.  And now we KNOW that at least 3 of them are confirmed positive - there is no doubt!  Her car is small, and there is no way to sufficiently separate.  The volume of a car (windows closed, recycled air from the cabin AC) would almost guarantee exposure. 

After our 'conversation' last night, where I threatened to Call Her Dad! and suggest that he is being selfish and not considering the health of his CAREGIVER daughter  She said that the told her dad that she 'got in trouble' and stood her ground to say that she wasnt taking any of them in the car until they test negative.  That worked for now  (or so she says!)! 

We discussed on planning for her (assuming we are both negative) to come home Saturday, so that she is not disappointed if she isnt able to come home sooner.  Her mom is not reacting well to the antiviral, and she wont finish the treatment until Friday night.  She can be more useful there.  ( I would not be good company to her if she came back sooner anyway.  I am catching up from being sick, and teaching 2 compressed online classes where students seem to expect that I will answer questions at 4 am and are annoyed to wait (and then more annoyed when I reply with the answer that the answer to their question was already discussed on the Zoom Meeting (recordings available) and in the examples in the text, and THEN AGAIN in the Students Helping Students Discussion Board, and IF they had checked those places as I suggested many times, that they would not have needed to wait for me to respond - unless that is just an excuse to NOT work! -- and it IS!). 

But I rant... 
Off to be tested again!  (I will be more surprised to still be positive, but I still cough, so Im not convinced yet, that I am not longer positive).  We will know tomorrow


Final thing to know... My wife is Very, Very nice.  That is her greatest strength and weakness.  While she can be exceedingly stubborn  (downright defiant) with me, she is not so with her father (perhaps the culture from 'the old country', though she was brought to the US as a toddler). Even when he makes stupid, selfish, illogical demands, she is unable to disobey.  (Somehow all of the defiance toward the parents was saved for the youngest , batshit crazy (even rude) daughter!) 

[mamselle]

Aha. A lot going on.

If it's any use, while doing colonial gravestones research, I ran across this study on epidemic transmissions in close quarters...in 17th/18th c. England ...

   https://archives.history.ac.uk/history-in-focus/Medical/epichamp.html

It might not convince the rest of them, but at least it confirms your position....

M.

[downer]

Apparently driving in a car is relatively safe for COVID with windows open or opened regularly and masks on. There is a whole science to it.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-58202468
On the other hand, car fatalities were at a 16 year high in 2021. Seems iike people are driving more. So it's a win if you survive a car journey.

[clean]

Apparently driving in a car is relatively safe for COVID with windows open or opened regularly and masks on. There is a whole science to it.

IF the temperature is 96 with a 106 heat index, and the AC is keeping the car comfortable, then the windows are not open enough to  ventilate the car ESPECIALLY if you are parked on asphalt waiting to get close to the  the drive through 'teller tube' for your meds.

Im unconvinced. 

[downer]

It's a venting thread, so vent away.

I guess the problem is there's no good venting in closed stationary cars.

[mamselle]

Well done!

;--}

M.

[Langue_doc]

I am catching up from being sick, and teaching 2 compressed online classes where students seem to expect that I will answer questions at 4 am and are annoyed to wait (and then more annoyed when I reply with the answer that the answer to their question was already discussed on the Zoom Meeting

That's rough, clean. I didn't realize that you were coping with Covid and unreasonable relatives while teaching. Get well soon.

[Juvenal]

Aha. A lot going on.

If it's any use, while doing colonial gravestones research, I ran across this study on epidemic transmissions in close quarters...in 17th/18th c. England ...

   https://archives.history.ac.uk/history-in-focus/Medical/epichamp.html

It might not convince the rest of them, but at least it confirms your position....

M.

I'll be sure to avoid those centuries.

[clean]

Results from yesterday's COVID Test are Still Positive! 
My Bride sounds worse, but may not even wait for her results, and just go to the walk in clinic this afternoon.

My cough continues and my nose still drips.  My cough seems to be transitioning away from productive to non productive and my chest was burning some yesterday.  I resumed the cough suppressant yesterday afternoon and my chest is better. IF this new symptom continues I will head to the walk in clinic myself. 
I have a televisit with my PCP's office, but not til Monday. I wont be able to take a new COVID test until Monday, but I do have the rapid test that I can try at home before that visit. 

I told my wife that I think that the chances of me still being positve were 60 40 (against).  It has been 2 weeks since my first test and I expected that the cough would linger.  I did not expect a positive result to continue.  (and as much as my nose drips anything in my nose is recent... it is not picking up the corpses of 5 day old viruses!)

Will Joe Biden's office send me more test kits?

[clean]

Just answered my own question...

https://www.covid.gov/tests

everyone is eligible for a free 3rd round of tests (8 of the tests)

Just ordered some for my house.

[apl68]

Another reason why efforts to turn public libraries into test kit distribution sites seems to have foundered amid disinterest.  Oh well, the kits we've had no demand for didn't cost us anything.  Makes me less inclined to want to be part of the next bright idea for a new service that comes our way, though.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

The past few days have SUCKED. That is all.

[ergative]

I applied for a promotion and didn't get it. Blah.

[clean]

My Bride has now tested POSITIVE!
FIL on Thursday
MIL on Sunday night
BIL on Monday afternoon
Bride on Wednesday (results returned on Thursday).

I think that I will take a rapid test on Saturday if I continue to feel that I am improving.  I have an appointment (virtual) with Primary Doc's office on Monday afternoon (made when I started getting a burning in my chest after coughing Wednesday afternoon).  I will retest at work on Monday morning and take a rapid test early monday afternoon before the virtual visit so that I can give the an update and see how long I can continue to test positive, have the cough and runny nose, and 'covid brain'.
I think that the cough is subsiding and my sinuses dont seem as bad just now, so I may be at the end of it. IF I feel that I am slipping back into it or some of the symptoms that I was feeling I was developing yesterday return, I will visit the neighborhood walk in clinic to make sure that I havent developed some other complication (like bronchitis). 

STAY HEALTHY and dont let my FIL talk you into taking one of the Positive people anywhere that they have NO immediate NEED to go! 

[Puget]

My Bride has now tested POSITIVE!
FIL on Thursday
MIL on Sunday night
BIL on Monday afternoon
Bride on Wednesday (results returned on Thursday).

I think that I will take a rapid test on Saturday if I continue to feel that I am improving.  I have an appointment (virtual) with Primary Doc's office on Monday afternoon (made when I started getting a burning in my chest after coughing Wednesday afternoon).  I will retest at work on Monday morning and take a rapid test early monday afternoon before the virtual visit so that I can give the an update and see how long I can continue to test positive, have the cough and runny nose, and 'covid brain'.
I think that the cough is subsiding and my sinuses dont seem as bad just now, so I may be at the end of it. IF I feel that I am slipping back into it or some of the symptoms that I was feeling I was developing yesterday return, I will visit the neighborhood walk in clinic to make sure that I havent developed some other complication (like bronchitis). 

STAY HEALTHY and dont let my FIL talk you into taking one of the Positive people anywhere that they have NO immediate NEED to go!

Hope you feel better soon! Are the tests you are taking on campus PCR tests? If so, those can continue to be positive for weeks after you are no longer infectious, because they pick up on even small bits of viral RNA, which it can take the body a long time to clear even when there are no live viruses left. Rapid tests are the way to go to determine when you are no longer infectious and can leave isolation.