Day 254 - Lockdown Update
Nov. 30th, 2020 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatBack to work today. Busy, but frustrated. Work as usual. Did get something done, so there's that. Everything else is waiting on responses from other people - par for the course at work. I'm always nagging people. Former boss calls us professional naggers.
I've spent my life pestering folks for information in various ways.
1. ) Putting on the Ritz, or rather putting up Holiday Lights to cheer myself up.
It's been a gloomy, rainy, cool, Monday, hovering about in the sixties. I've been inside, so I'm in a t-shirt and jeans at the moment, and during the day bamboo yoga pants and a flowery shirt. (I'm working remotely at home. Dressing up is hardly required.)
Anyhow to elevate my gloomy mood, I set up my new snowflake fairy lights. (I'd have gone with purple lights but they were shaped like spides, so no. Went with the white snow flakes instead. They don't overheat, they are batter operated, and insanely easy to string up. Hardest part was untangling them from the package.
I'm waiting to put together the two tiny Christmas trees, and put the decal snowflakes on the windows. Might do that this weekend. Then I'll just leave everything up until March - which is what I did last year. This is going to be a hard month, actually December through March is going to be tough. Tougher than usual. Since those months are always difficult.
[As an aside, is anyone else discovering that they keep writing the wrong word without realizing it in posts? Or skipping over words completely. I looked back over the last few paragraphs, and had to edit a sentence that stated "I'm water to put together" as oppose to "I'm waiting to put together", why I'd put water, I've no clue. I think my brain is tired and wants to take a snooze. Also I'm struggling with motivation lately. I'm finding it hard to care about Christmas. My family completely missed Cybermonday and Black Friday - although to be fair, we've never shopped on those days in our lives. We tend to be more of last minute shoppers than bargain buyers or pre-planners. Actually I'm not sure any of us are planners at all - we just go with the flow.]
2. New York vs. the Corona Virus
The Governor came on again today. We've gone up - we're at 4% now statewide.
And the hospitalizations are going up - but, some good news, the State has a plan in operation now. So it won't be quite as dire as the Spring, when we were caught with our proverbial pants down. This round - they got a plan in place, which shifts as needed. The hospitals will share patients within their groups, and with outlying hospitals as needed. If it looks like they are close to being overwhelmed, they'll distribute patients to other hospitals nearby.
Also in regards to restrictions? They've discovered that the virus is spreading mainly through small indoor gatherings in people's homes. Not so much in gyms, restaurants, bars, businesses, or schools. There's no infection at all on transportation.
Apparently, people decided to socialize at home - and the virus has followed them. Over the weekend the police broke up a 400 person indoor social gathering/party in Manhattan. (The mind boggles.) Kentucky is restricting indoor gatherings to 8 people, NY to ten people. NY's numbers aren't quite as bad as elsewhere.
But the Governor is worried about running out of medical staff - because unlike the Spring, when NY was the only one being overrun with sick patients and desperately needed help, now everywhere is. (Because people are idiots.)
We have 60,000 healthcare workers pop up from out of State, they can't do that now. Also there's burnout, and the virus has also killed a lot of health care workers.
The Governor went on a mini-rant - which ironically echoed the mental rant I've been suppressing all weekend long.
Governor's Friend: I don't see why I can't do what I want to do in my own home. If I want to have people over I should, as many as I want. I should have that right.
Governor: Okay fine. You're right. But if you do that, then if you or anyone in your group or gathering gets ill - you take care of it. It's on you.
Friend: What's that mean?
Governor: You don't call an ambulance, you don't send them to the hospital, you don't risk anyone outside of your gathering or home getting ill. Nor do you risk any healthcare workers getting ill. You get ill - you take care of it on your own.
I laughed, because I'd been struggling with that rant myself. Seriously, people who don't wear masks and insist on having large parties or weddings, etc - and get deathly ill? Should reap what they sow.
BUT. We can't do that. You can't leave people to die regardless of how thoughtless, stupid, and selfish they happen to be. That's not the way. But some days...sigh.
The vaccine is going to be a long time coming unfortunately. I figure I'll be among the last to get it. Mainly because, I'm working remotely and I'm not in contact with anyone. I have yet to get tested.
Speaking of testing, my brother got niece tested today. Apparently she has a sore throat, a headache, and swollen glands. Also experiencing fatigue. It could be a recurrence of the mono, but one of her classmates tested positive, and niece knows the person and may have had contact. I hope they are okay. So far (fingers crossed) immediate family has avoided the virus as far as we know. Extended not so much. I'm hoping that lucky streak continues, but I'm not taking any chances. (Continuing the social distancing, mask wearing, hand sanitzing, and sticking close to home.)
NY has tested more people per capita in the US, and possibly world-wide than anyone else. (Why? Because we are test happy!) As a result, the NY Department of Health pretty much knows where the virus is in NY State and how it is spreading, even if contact tracing isn't an exact science. A little over 18 million people have gotten a test or more than one test to date (NY doesn't count the same person twice, apparently. You test postive - that is counted once, if you test positive multiple times, that's set up as a separate statistic.) NY State only has 19 million people. I feel kind of left out. My brother and his wife haven't been tested either - just their daughter. It's not that easy to get tested, you kind of have to show you've been exposed and/or have symptoms to get the home test - which then must be sent by FedEX. To do the other testing - it requires a long wait in a long ass line. I've seen the lines - they go for blocks.
Here's the Governor's plan in his words:
The Winter Plan to combat the COVID surge is multi-tiered and puts to good use the hard-won lessons we learned from the spring. First, we will manage hospital capacity to enhance and equalize care. Second, we will increase and balance testing resources and availability. Third, we will keep schools open safely. Fourth, we will try to prevent viral spread that stems from small gatherings. And fifth and finally, we will operationalize an equitable and safe vaccination program. (You can read more about the plan here, but many key aspects of it are included below.)
A vaccine is coming and this crisis will end. But until that happens, we must not overstress our hospital systems so we can save lives.
Read more HERE
It's nice to know he has a plan. Whether it works or not, remains to be seen. I think it will - if people are mindful.
Here's the rest of the Governor's email under the cut detailing what is happening in NY regarding the virus and how NY is battling it.
1. The State Department of Health is implementing new emergency hospital measures to manage capacity. Hospitals are directed to identify retired medical staff, prepare to add 50 percent bed capacity, and confirm they have the mandatory 90-day stockpile of PPE, among other measures.
2. The State will refine the criteria for Yellow, Orange and Red Zones. The refinement will take into account important factors including the rate of hospitalizations, available hospital and ICU beds, and hospital staffing, and is part of our larger strategy of protecting hospital capacity. These changes will be implemented after experts evaluate any "post-Thanksgiving effect" in the COVID numbers.
3. If a hospital system is overwhelmed, we can pull an "Emergency Stop." In addition to the three existing micro-cluster zone levels (Yellow, Orange and Red), New York will add a new "Emergency Stop" level, which will effectively put that area under the NY on PAUSE guidelines from the spring. This new level would be used if a hospital system in that area was at serious risk of becoming overwhelmed.
4. The State will encourage school districts to keep schools open, particularly K-8 schools. Our efforts will be focused on keeping K-8 and Special Education open as long as it can be done safely—using sustainable, ongoing testing. While local school districts are able to close at levels under the State's mandatory closure rule, they are urged to keep K-8 schools open whenever it is safe.
5. Small gatherings have now been identified as the number one spread of COVID-19. At least 65 percent of all cases come from these settings and sixteen states, including New York, have already limited gatherings to no more than 10 people. While the government's ability to monitor small gatherings is limited, public education on the safety concerns of small gatherings is crucial. Help us spread the word on the danger these gatherings pose.
6. It will likely be months before a critical mass of vaccinations becomes available. Even though a vaccine is expected to be released in the coming weeks, we're still a while away from having a vaccine that is widely available. As the State operationalizes vaccine distribution, we continue to base our plan on three pillars: Fairness, Equity and Safety.
Here's what else you need to know tonight:
1. The statewide positivity rate was 4.57 percent yesterday. There were 6,819 positive cases from 148,974 tests reported yesterday. The positivity rate in the micro-cluster focus areas was 6.22 percent. Excluding these areas, it was 4.02 percent.
2. Total hospitalizations rose to 3,532. There were 681 patients in ICU yesterday, up 14 from the previous day. Of them, 325 are intubated. Sadly, we lost 54 New Yorkers to the virus.
3. Elective surgeries in Erie County will be temporarily halted on Friday. Currently, the region has the most critical hospital situation in the state. Stopping elective surgeries will free up hospital beds. Elective surgeries consist of surgeries that are scheduled in advance.
4. Contact tracers allow people to know if they've been exposed. This is important for the safety of the individual and the greater community. If you are contacted by a NYS contact tracer, please pick up the phone—if you have caller ID, it will read "NYS Contact Tracing." Help them do their jobs and keep all of us safer. "
3. Feed the Hungry in New York
Meanwhile, folks around the city are finding various ways of feeding the City's hungry. A friend that I met at church (she's going to a synagogue now - my church is weird, a lot of liberal Jews attend - and it doesn't really want to be called a church so much as a society). Anyhow, according to her instagram/FB page - she's cooking meals for the hungry with her son, Naz. There's a program in NYC where you can volunteer to cook meals for those in need, and they match you up with folks. If you have transportation - you can deliver it to them in person, via curbside, or you can arrange for someone to deliver it for you.
Another means - is financial support (which I've been doing) - via community groups (which I like best), church, Foodbank of NY, Robin Hood Foundation, God Loves We Deliver, and City Harvest.
According to the Governor's email - "Iron Chef winner Peter Kelly cooked up gourmet Thanksgiving meals for seniors living in public housing in Yonkers, NY. On Thanksgiving, Chef Kelly delivered 300 to-go meals, full of Thanksgiving favorites, to residents who were homebound and unable to see their families over the holidays. Chef Kelly, who owns the restaurant X2O in Yonkers, wanted to give back to the community where his culinary journey began. "
I wish I could cook or bake for them. But I'm not good at cooking in that style or for families. I'm used to cooking for one person. Also don't have the kitchen space or the supplies for it. I'm grateful my friend is doing it though - she lives in Midwood, and works for the same agency that I do, just different sections of it. She's transit, I'm railroad.
4. Anyhow it's getting late and I'm tired. Slept horribly last night.
Have another picture from my walk yesterday..
I've spent my life pestering folks for information in various ways.
1. ) Putting on the Ritz, or rather putting up Holiday Lights to cheer myself up.
It's been a gloomy, rainy, cool, Monday, hovering about in the sixties. I've been inside, so I'm in a t-shirt and jeans at the moment, and during the day bamboo yoga pants and a flowery shirt. (I'm working remotely at home. Dressing up is hardly required.)
Anyhow to elevate my gloomy mood, I set up my new snowflake fairy lights. (I'd have gone with purple lights but they were shaped like spides, so no. Went with the white snow flakes instead. They don't overheat, they are batter operated, and insanely easy to string up. Hardest part was untangling them from the package.
I'm waiting to put together the two tiny Christmas trees, and put the decal snowflakes on the windows. Might do that this weekend. Then I'll just leave everything up until March - which is what I did last year. This is going to be a hard month, actually December through March is going to be tough. Tougher than usual. Since those months are always difficult.
[As an aside, is anyone else discovering that they keep writing the wrong word without realizing it in posts? Or skipping over words completely. I looked back over the last few paragraphs, and had to edit a sentence that stated "I'm water to put together" as oppose to "I'm waiting to put together", why I'd put water, I've no clue. I think my brain is tired and wants to take a snooze. Also I'm struggling with motivation lately. I'm finding it hard to care about Christmas. My family completely missed Cybermonday and Black Friday - although to be fair, we've never shopped on those days in our lives. We tend to be more of last minute shoppers than bargain buyers or pre-planners. Actually I'm not sure any of us are planners at all - we just go with the flow.]
2. New York vs. the Corona Virus
The Governor came on again today. We've gone up - we're at 4% now statewide.
And the hospitalizations are going up - but, some good news, the State has a plan in operation now. So it won't be quite as dire as the Spring, when we were caught with our proverbial pants down. This round - they got a plan in place, which shifts as needed. The hospitals will share patients within their groups, and with outlying hospitals as needed. If it looks like they are close to being overwhelmed, they'll distribute patients to other hospitals nearby.
Also in regards to restrictions? They've discovered that the virus is spreading mainly through small indoor gatherings in people's homes. Not so much in gyms, restaurants, bars, businesses, or schools. There's no infection at all on transportation.
Apparently, people decided to socialize at home - and the virus has followed them. Over the weekend the police broke up a 400 person indoor social gathering/party in Manhattan. (The mind boggles.) Kentucky is restricting indoor gatherings to 8 people, NY to ten people. NY's numbers aren't quite as bad as elsewhere.
But the Governor is worried about running out of medical staff - because unlike the Spring, when NY was the only one being overrun with sick patients and desperately needed help, now everywhere is. (Because people are idiots.)
We have 60,000 healthcare workers pop up from out of State, they can't do that now. Also there's burnout, and the virus has also killed a lot of health care workers.
The Governor went on a mini-rant - which ironically echoed the mental rant I've been suppressing all weekend long.
Governor's Friend: I don't see why I can't do what I want to do in my own home. If I want to have people over I should, as many as I want. I should have that right.
Governor: Okay fine. You're right. But if you do that, then if you or anyone in your group or gathering gets ill - you take care of it. It's on you.
Friend: What's that mean?
Governor: You don't call an ambulance, you don't send them to the hospital, you don't risk anyone outside of your gathering or home getting ill. Nor do you risk any healthcare workers getting ill. You get ill - you take care of it on your own.
I laughed, because I'd been struggling with that rant myself. Seriously, people who don't wear masks and insist on having large parties or weddings, etc - and get deathly ill? Should reap what they sow.
BUT. We can't do that. You can't leave people to die regardless of how thoughtless, stupid, and selfish they happen to be. That's not the way. But some days...sigh.
The vaccine is going to be a long time coming unfortunately. I figure I'll be among the last to get it. Mainly because, I'm working remotely and I'm not in contact with anyone. I have yet to get tested.
Speaking of testing, my brother got niece tested today. Apparently she has a sore throat, a headache, and swollen glands. Also experiencing fatigue. It could be a recurrence of the mono, but one of her classmates tested positive, and niece knows the person and may have had contact. I hope they are okay. So far (fingers crossed) immediate family has avoided the virus as far as we know. Extended not so much. I'm hoping that lucky streak continues, but I'm not taking any chances. (Continuing the social distancing, mask wearing, hand sanitzing, and sticking close to home.)
NY has tested more people per capita in the US, and possibly world-wide than anyone else. (Why? Because we are test happy!) As a result, the NY Department of Health pretty much knows where the virus is in NY State and how it is spreading, even if contact tracing isn't an exact science. A little over 18 million people have gotten a test or more than one test to date (NY doesn't count the same person twice, apparently. You test postive - that is counted once, if you test positive multiple times, that's set up as a separate statistic.) NY State only has 19 million people. I feel kind of left out. My brother and his wife haven't been tested either - just their daughter. It's not that easy to get tested, you kind of have to show you've been exposed and/or have symptoms to get the home test - which then must be sent by FedEX. To do the other testing - it requires a long wait in a long ass line. I've seen the lines - they go for blocks.
Here's the Governor's plan in his words:
The Winter Plan to combat the COVID surge is multi-tiered and puts to good use the hard-won lessons we learned from the spring. First, we will manage hospital capacity to enhance and equalize care. Second, we will increase and balance testing resources and availability. Third, we will keep schools open safely. Fourth, we will try to prevent viral spread that stems from small gatherings. And fifth and finally, we will operationalize an equitable and safe vaccination program. (You can read more about the plan here, but many key aspects of it are included below.)
A vaccine is coming and this crisis will end. But until that happens, we must not overstress our hospital systems so we can save lives.
Read more HERE
It's nice to know he has a plan. Whether it works or not, remains to be seen. I think it will - if people are mindful.
Here's the rest of the Governor's email under the cut detailing what is happening in NY regarding the virus and how NY is battling it.
1. The State Department of Health is implementing new emergency hospital measures to manage capacity. Hospitals are directed to identify retired medical staff, prepare to add 50 percent bed capacity, and confirm they have the mandatory 90-day stockpile of PPE, among other measures.
2. The State will refine the criteria for Yellow, Orange and Red Zones. The refinement will take into account important factors including the rate of hospitalizations, available hospital and ICU beds, and hospital staffing, and is part of our larger strategy of protecting hospital capacity. These changes will be implemented after experts evaluate any "post-Thanksgiving effect" in the COVID numbers.
3. If a hospital system is overwhelmed, we can pull an "Emergency Stop." In addition to the three existing micro-cluster zone levels (Yellow, Orange and Red), New York will add a new "Emergency Stop" level, which will effectively put that area under the NY on PAUSE guidelines from the spring. This new level would be used if a hospital system in that area was at serious risk of becoming overwhelmed.
4. The State will encourage school districts to keep schools open, particularly K-8 schools. Our efforts will be focused on keeping K-8 and Special Education open as long as it can be done safely—using sustainable, ongoing testing. While local school districts are able to close at levels under the State's mandatory closure rule, they are urged to keep K-8 schools open whenever it is safe.
5. Small gatherings have now been identified as the number one spread of COVID-19. At least 65 percent of all cases come from these settings and sixteen states, including New York, have already limited gatherings to no more than 10 people. While the government's ability to monitor small gatherings is limited, public education on the safety concerns of small gatherings is crucial. Help us spread the word on the danger these gatherings pose.
6. It will likely be months before a critical mass of vaccinations becomes available. Even though a vaccine is expected to be released in the coming weeks, we're still a while away from having a vaccine that is widely available. As the State operationalizes vaccine distribution, we continue to base our plan on three pillars: Fairness, Equity and Safety.
Here's what else you need to know tonight:
1. The statewide positivity rate was 4.57 percent yesterday. There were 6,819 positive cases from 148,974 tests reported yesterday. The positivity rate in the micro-cluster focus areas was 6.22 percent. Excluding these areas, it was 4.02 percent.
2. Total hospitalizations rose to 3,532. There were 681 patients in ICU yesterday, up 14 from the previous day. Of them, 325 are intubated. Sadly, we lost 54 New Yorkers to the virus.
3. Elective surgeries in Erie County will be temporarily halted on Friday. Currently, the region has the most critical hospital situation in the state. Stopping elective surgeries will free up hospital beds. Elective surgeries consist of surgeries that are scheduled in advance.
4. Contact tracers allow people to know if they've been exposed. This is important for the safety of the individual and the greater community. If you are contacted by a NYS contact tracer, please pick up the phone—if you have caller ID, it will read "NYS Contact Tracing." Help them do their jobs and keep all of us safer. "
3. Feed the Hungry in New York
Meanwhile, folks around the city are finding various ways of feeding the City's hungry. A friend that I met at church (she's going to a synagogue now - my church is weird, a lot of liberal Jews attend - and it doesn't really want to be called a church so much as a society). Anyhow, according to her instagram/FB page - she's cooking meals for the hungry with her son, Naz. There's a program in NYC where you can volunteer to cook meals for those in need, and they match you up with folks. If you have transportation - you can deliver it to them in person, via curbside, or you can arrange for someone to deliver it for you.
Another means - is financial support (which I've been doing) - via community groups (which I like best), church, Foodbank of NY, Robin Hood Foundation, God Loves We Deliver, and City Harvest.
According to the Governor's email - "Iron Chef winner Peter Kelly cooked up gourmet Thanksgiving meals for seniors living in public housing in Yonkers, NY. On Thanksgiving, Chef Kelly delivered 300 to-go meals, full of Thanksgiving favorites, to residents who were homebound and unable to see their families over the holidays. Chef Kelly, who owns the restaurant X2O in Yonkers, wanted to give back to the community where his culinary journey began. "
I wish I could cook or bake for them. But I'm not good at cooking in that style or for families. I'm used to cooking for one person. Also don't have the kitchen space or the supplies for it. I'm grateful my friend is doing it though - she lives in Midwood, and works for the same agency that I do, just different sections of it. She's transit, I'm railroad.
4. Anyhow it's getting late and I'm tired. Slept horribly last night.
Have another picture from my walk yesterday..