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shadowkat212 days since this thing started in New York or thereabouts.
In our continuing coverage of New York vs. the Corona Virus...
We continue to aggressively track clusters with a particular focus on the 20 ZIP codes with the highest infection rates. Within these 20 "hotspot" ZIP codes, the average infection rate is 5.5 percent. The rate of infection for the rest of New York State, excluding those 20 ZIP codes, is 0.82 percent. While these 20 ZIP codes accounted for almost a quarter of yesterday's positive cases, they represent only 6 percent of the state's population.
Areas with high positivity rates now have access to rapid testing machines that the State has made available. If you live or work in one of the following ZIP codes please get a test:
Rockland County (10952, 10977), Brooklyn (11230, 11204, 11219, 11223, 11229, 11210, 11234), the Bronx (10465, 10462), Manhattan (10040), Queens (11374), Staten Island (10306, 10304), Suffolk County (11717, 11746) and Nassau County (11580).
I told you that NY was test happy, right? Our erstwhile governor is convinced that if he can test and figure out where the infection is, and how many are infected - he can stop it. And NY Department of Health has gotten good at testing. Considering they started at only being able to test 20-30 people, now they can test over 100,000 a day. Also they've developed rapid testing now - so they can test and get the results back instantly. If they had their way - they'd test every single person in NY once a day.
Oh I got my flu shot yesterday. It stopped itching. Also told my bosses that after consultation with doctor, I'm working from home - mainly due to high blood pressure. Also, heard back from workplace's medical center - they agree - I'm better off working remotely from home. Unfortunately the union's collective bargaining agreement may override any reasonable accommodation request - even if it is under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. I'm going to check with the US Labor Dept tomorrow.
My company and union are trying to kill me. I won't let them.
What else is NY doing?
New York's COVID positive test rate is hovering at just over one percent. Yesterday, there were 605 total hospitalizations. Of the 97,960 tests reported yesterday, 1,000, or 1.02 percent, were positive. Sadly, we lost nine New Yorkers to the virus. [ Talked to the head of the medical center at work - and she agrees with me - we're going under lockdown again in about a month. We're currently taking bets to see how quickly it happens. Plus the Governor's trying to do too much at the same time - you can't send everyone back to the office, transform the MTA (aka merge it), send everyone back to school, restructure the police, all during a pandemic - while you've no money. Not to mention during an election year. A pandemic during a horrible election year is a recipe for disaster all by itself. But no we have to add all these other things on top of it. The Governor stated he understood people's anxiety and unwillingness to send their kids back to school. I thought, no you really don't. You are over-estimating the city and local government's ability to enforce your mask mandate. Also, you can't tell everyone the virus is everywhere - and then turn around and say, but it's perfectly safe to send your kids via public transportation to indoor schools where social distancing is hard to maintain. I wonder if they realize they are contradicting themselves?]
2. Cost should not be a barrier for essential workers to access mental health services. The State Department of Financial Services is extending its emergency regulation requiring NY health insurers to waive out-of-pocket costs, including cost-sharing, deductibles, copays and coinsurance, for in-network mental health services for New York's frontline essential workers until November 27. [So does this mean you'll force the stupid insurance companies to cover virtual health into 2021?]
3. The state is working with Orthodox Jewish community leaders to develop an action plan encouraging community members to follow Coronavirus guidelines. I had a productive meeting with leaders of the community today to discuss how we can all work together to contain the spread of COVID that we're starting to see in some religious communities across the state. We will develop an action plan to protect the health and safety of these New Yorkers. [Which would also protect the rest of us. My patience for the Hassadaic/Orthodox Jewish Community has become very strained - actually it is gone.]
4. The State has issued updated guidance for taxis, for-hire vehicles and other transportation services. Drivers are encouraged to transport passengers with the windows down to increase ventilation, and to implement physical barriers between rider and driver, in addition to the mandatory mask wearing requirement for both drivers and passengers. [ Oh, I wondered. To be fair - taxi's kind of already have plastic or glass partitions between themselves and passengers. The days of sitting up front with a taxi driver are long gone. But Lyft and Uber didn't. That could be an issue. Not that I plan on taking this type of transportation for the foreseeable future.]
5. National Governors Association Vice Chair Asa Hutchinson and I called on Congress to prioritize state and local aid. The pandemic is a national problem, affecting all states, and it demands a bipartisan and national solution. Read our joint statement. [This feels a bit like my futile attempts to get rid of the 10% reduction.]
Boss made fun of the debate at Staff Meeting From Doom today. It wasn't that bad. No news for once. Also, most of us have chosen not to discuss telework from home issues with boss - since boss is kind of useless.
Family
Niece is volunteering with a "get out the vote" group - that is attempting to swing various NY zip codes to progressive candidates. My area is not really affected. She asked if I could help. I had to tell her the same thing I told my church - I can't. Canvassing via telephone or other means will elevate my blood pressure - and send my anxiety sky-rocketing. I couldn't protest for the Black Lives Matter Movement for same reason - which is why I didn't.
My blood pressure has been high since February. We're trying to lower it. I've changed meds twice now. And we've determined it's anxiety related.
My blood pressure puts me in the high risk category for COVID. So, I have to watch all this activism from the sidelines, and give money when I can. Can't now - due to the 10% reduction and fears of lay-offs.
We had a nice chat via text-messaging. She wants to talk soon - she said she misses me. She's such a sweetie.
Mother is hanging in there but has diabetes, and isn't controlling it. They've upped her Metroformin. I'm on it now too. Mine is much lower than hers.
Mother: So, remember that I didn't fast..
Me: Yes
Mother: They tested my blood sugar levels - which were at 185
Me: But you didn't fast - how can that be accurate?
Mother: They said there was another test they could perform.
Me: Okay.
Coworker has 500 sugar level - and 12.6. I'm amazed he's alive. So are his doctors.
I rec'd The Go Wrong Show and Teen Wolf to Niece via Amazon Prime. Both are fun, and enjoyable. Also they don't require too much thought.
________
After work, I wandered around Greenwood Cemetery. About an hour and a half walk, home well before sunset. It was a lovely afternoon for a walk - sunny, and in the 60s.
I find the cemetery to be relaxing - there's not that many people walking around it, and you can easily walk for about thirty minutes or more without seeing a soul. Hard thing to accomplish in a city.
So I can take off the mask and breath outdoors - another hard thing to do in a city.
I'm wearing the new KN-95 masks that I bought from Vida - got a ten pack. They are easier to breath with than the cloth or surgical ones - give more space for air, I think. They aren't the N-95 which are medical use only, they are one step below that. So you don't take anything away from essential workers.
I hid a comment on a friend's FB page - it's a friend from church, I just found out she had COVID - long-haul COVID. And some of the comments - made my heart bleed for her. I hid them. They were nasty. And self-involved. She had COVID, and some idiot whined about having to clock in and live with it daily as an essential worker - who never got it. And she hasn't exactly been posting on it. This is one post. I didn't know she had it.
Honestly, why are people selfish assholes?
I'm lucky - I can ignore the assholes that support the thing in the white house. They aren't close to me. Most are co-workers that I've little to do with - also by mutual agreement no one discusses politics with people at work - unless you know that you are in agreement.
Boss made fun of the debate at staff meeting - but he also knew everyone, or most everyone at staff meeting thought ill of the thing in the white house.
In our continuing coverage of New York vs. the Corona Virus...
We continue to aggressively track clusters with a particular focus on the 20 ZIP codes with the highest infection rates. Within these 20 "hotspot" ZIP codes, the average infection rate is 5.5 percent. The rate of infection for the rest of New York State, excluding those 20 ZIP codes, is 0.82 percent. While these 20 ZIP codes accounted for almost a quarter of yesterday's positive cases, they represent only 6 percent of the state's population.
Areas with high positivity rates now have access to rapid testing machines that the State has made available. If you live or work in one of the following ZIP codes please get a test:
Rockland County (10952, 10977), Brooklyn (11230, 11204, 11219, 11223, 11229, 11210, 11234), the Bronx (10465, 10462), Manhattan (10040), Queens (11374), Staten Island (10306, 10304), Suffolk County (11717, 11746) and Nassau County (11580).
I told you that NY was test happy, right? Our erstwhile governor is convinced that if he can test and figure out where the infection is, and how many are infected - he can stop it. And NY Department of Health has gotten good at testing. Considering they started at only being able to test 20-30 people, now they can test over 100,000 a day. Also they've developed rapid testing now - so they can test and get the results back instantly. If they had their way - they'd test every single person in NY once a day.
Oh I got my flu shot yesterday. It stopped itching. Also told my bosses that after consultation with doctor, I'm working from home - mainly due to high blood pressure. Also, heard back from workplace's medical center - they agree - I'm better off working remotely from home. Unfortunately the union's collective bargaining agreement may override any reasonable accommodation request - even if it is under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. I'm going to check with the US Labor Dept tomorrow.
My company and union are trying to kill me. I won't let them.
What else is NY doing?
New York's COVID positive test rate is hovering at just over one percent. Yesterday, there were 605 total hospitalizations. Of the 97,960 tests reported yesterday, 1,000, or 1.02 percent, were positive. Sadly, we lost nine New Yorkers to the virus. [ Talked to the head of the medical center at work - and she agrees with me - we're going under lockdown again in about a month. We're currently taking bets to see how quickly it happens. Plus the Governor's trying to do too much at the same time - you can't send everyone back to the office, transform the MTA (aka merge it), send everyone back to school, restructure the police, all during a pandemic - while you've no money. Not to mention during an election year. A pandemic during a horrible election year is a recipe for disaster all by itself. But no we have to add all these other things on top of it. The Governor stated he understood people's anxiety and unwillingness to send their kids back to school. I thought, no you really don't. You are over-estimating the city and local government's ability to enforce your mask mandate. Also, you can't tell everyone the virus is everywhere - and then turn around and say, but it's perfectly safe to send your kids via public transportation to indoor schools where social distancing is hard to maintain. I wonder if they realize they are contradicting themselves?]
2. Cost should not be a barrier for essential workers to access mental health services. The State Department of Financial Services is extending its emergency regulation requiring NY health insurers to waive out-of-pocket costs, including cost-sharing, deductibles, copays and coinsurance, for in-network mental health services for New York's frontline essential workers until November 27. [So does this mean you'll force the stupid insurance companies to cover virtual health into 2021?]
3. The state is working with Orthodox Jewish community leaders to develop an action plan encouraging community members to follow Coronavirus guidelines. I had a productive meeting with leaders of the community today to discuss how we can all work together to contain the spread of COVID that we're starting to see in some religious communities across the state. We will develop an action plan to protect the health and safety of these New Yorkers. [Which would also protect the rest of us. My patience for the Hassadaic/Orthodox Jewish Community has become very strained - actually it is gone.]
4. The State has issued updated guidance for taxis, for-hire vehicles and other transportation services. Drivers are encouraged to transport passengers with the windows down to increase ventilation, and to implement physical barriers between rider and driver, in addition to the mandatory mask wearing requirement for both drivers and passengers. [ Oh, I wondered. To be fair - taxi's kind of already have plastic or glass partitions between themselves and passengers. The days of sitting up front with a taxi driver are long gone. But Lyft and Uber didn't. That could be an issue. Not that I plan on taking this type of transportation for the foreseeable future.]
5. National Governors Association Vice Chair Asa Hutchinson and I called on Congress to prioritize state and local aid. The pandemic is a national problem, affecting all states, and it demands a bipartisan and national solution. Read our joint statement. [This feels a bit like my futile attempts to get rid of the 10% reduction.]
Boss made fun of the debate at Staff Meeting From Doom today. It wasn't that bad. No news for once. Also, most of us have chosen not to discuss telework from home issues with boss - since boss is kind of useless.
Family
Niece is volunteering with a "get out the vote" group - that is attempting to swing various NY zip codes to progressive candidates. My area is not really affected. She asked if I could help. I had to tell her the same thing I told my church - I can't. Canvassing via telephone or other means will elevate my blood pressure - and send my anxiety sky-rocketing. I couldn't protest for the Black Lives Matter Movement for same reason - which is why I didn't.
My blood pressure has been high since February. We're trying to lower it. I've changed meds twice now. And we've determined it's anxiety related.
My blood pressure puts me in the high risk category for COVID. So, I have to watch all this activism from the sidelines, and give money when I can. Can't now - due to the 10% reduction and fears of lay-offs.
We had a nice chat via text-messaging. She wants to talk soon - she said she misses me. She's such a sweetie.
Mother is hanging in there but has diabetes, and isn't controlling it. They've upped her Metroformin. I'm on it now too. Mine is much lower than hers.
Mother: So, remember that I didn't fast..
Me: Yes
Mother: They tested my blood sugar levels - which were at 185
Me: But you didn't fast - how can that be accurate?
Mother: They said there was another test they could perform.
Me: Okay.
Coworker has 500 sugar level - and 12.6. I'm amazed he's alive. So are his doctors.
I rec'd The Go Wrong Show and Teen Wolf to Niece via Amazon Prime. Both are fun, and enjoyable. Also they don't require too much thought.
________
After work, I wandered around Greenwood Cemetery. About an hour and a half walk, home well before sunset. It was a lovely afternoon for a walk - sunny, and in the 60s.
I find the cemetery to be relaxing - there's not that many people walking around it, and you can easily walk for about thirty minutes or more without seeing a soul. Hard thing to accomplish in a city.
So I can take off the mask and breath outdoors - another hard thing to do in a city.
I'm wearing the new KN-95 masks that I bought from Vida - got a ten pack. They are easier to breath with than the cloth or surgical ones - give more space for air, I think. They aren't the N-95 which are medical use only, they are one step below that. So you don't take anything away from essential workers.
I hid a comment on a friend's FB page - it's a friend from church, I just found out she had COVID - long-haul COVID. And some of the comments - made my heart bleed for her. I hid them. They were nasty. And self-involved. She had COVID, and some idiot whined about having to clock in and live with it daily as an essential worker - who never got it. And she hasn't exactly been posting on it. This is one post. I didn't know she had it.
Honestly, why are people selfish assholes?
I'm lucky - I can ignore the assholes that support the thing in the white house. They aren't close to me. Most are co-workers that I've little to do with - also by mutual agreement no one discusses politics with people at work - unless you know that you are in agreement.
Boss made fun of the debate at staff meeting - but he also knew everyone, or most everyone at staff meeting thought ill of the thing in the white house.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-01 07:04 am (UTC)Also good they're focusing rapid testing on those particular zips, especially given how important it is with this pandemic to find those superspreaders given the variance in how contagious people are.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-02 01:26 am (UTC)They are doing some interesting things with tracing and testing. An App just came out - that will tell you if you are in close proximity to anyone who tested positive for COVID. Assuming of course they can convince everyone to get the app, and put in their test results and symptoms. China is a way ahead of us on this - but they are also a dictatorship and can make people do whatever they want. It's a lot easier to control a pandemic in a dictatorship...apparently. (See China, North Korea (okay we have no idea how North Korea is faring , since they refuse to tell us)). Also the Asian countries are doing better - possibly because their culture has no issues with masks and social distancing guidelines?
Their new process with rapid testing is in part "pool testing" which is testing a large random sampling and if one is positive, taking a closer look. I don't understand it, but that's what they are doing with schools. And they got the saliva test to work finally - so employing that - which is the faster test.
NY State Department of Health is kind of leading the nation on the whole testing initiative. In a way - the CDC's screwup on testing with NY back in Feb - helped us in the long run, because it forced NY to step up and do it themselves. Now, they are also putting together a task force to review and administer any vaccines across the state when they become available. And they are pushing for everyone to get the flu vaccine. I got mine this week. My workplace is also making them available. I have a feeling they'll be free this year from all sources - because they've discovered it not only prevents the flu but also helps combat COVID. Those who got it last year - had either mild cases or no symptoms when they caught COVID.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-01 09:23 pm (UTC)The cemetery is a pretty place to walk. I always enjoy your photos.
The Facebook crowd is just sad. Those folks depress me.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-02 01:15 am (UTC)Still feel guilty. I have a bit of a savior's complex. SMH.
That cemetery is keeping me sane - even if I can only walk there a few times a week, I'll be okay. I might venture into other neighborhoods or try the park again - if it closes after work. Although it's getting dark and the world isn't exactly safe at the moment - so possibly not.
FB...I don't have that many folks friended - which is actually key about FB. I'm careful. Also I got rid of the people who well...are just sad. Unfortunately, it's still problematic just because of how it is set up. But I'm in a lot of groups, and can ignore a lot of it.
It's kind of like Twitter in that respect, if you know how to manipulate it - it works fine, if you don't not so much. I can't figure out twitter at all. FB, though, I got somewhat of a handle on..
no subject
Date: 2020-10-01 10:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-02 01:09 am (UTC)I currently have every possible brand of mask. The ones with the strap behind the head (not crazy about - harder to take on and off). The blue/white surgical - comfortable and easier to breath through than cloth. Cloth - two layers. Neck warmer buffers (a bit too thin for my taste - don't see them protecting me). Thin one layer over the ears.
Bandanas. Paper filter mask. Filter cloth masks. Two layered cloth over the ear masks.
What will we do with all these masks when this is over?
Yeah, my heart goes out to the long-haul group. It's why I'm being careful. The last thing I need is to be fighting some weird thing attacking my body for six-to-eight months. I remember that nasty respiratory virus everyone at work got last year - I was hacking my lungs out for three months - I wondered if I had bronchitis. It was hell - and did not stop until March. Not to doing that again if I can avoid it.
Also, this thing is worse than the flue or respiratory viruses - it attacks blood vessels. People have had to get lung transplants with it. I think I'll do whatever it takes to stay safe.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-02 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-03 01:13 am (UTC)I know you can recycle some of them. The blue and white surgical ones are problematic because they can only be used once and you can't recycle. (I do reuse, but I'm not really going anywhere or indoors with them for extended periods - except when I was going to the office, which I'm not at the moment.)