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Sep. 25th, 2023 09:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. I got a diagnosis! It is shingles. [I'd schedule a tele-health virtual doctor's visit with my primary health care provider, and sent them pictures. They diagnosed it as shingles right off the bat. And have prescribed an antiviral that I will pick up this afternoon. I finally have a diagnosis! I really feel for my sister-in-law, she has recurring rashes that itch and hurt on her body and still can't get an accurate diagnosis. She's had them since April of 2022. And they may or may not be related to the COVID vaccine. And also, when she got shingles - which was near her eye - the stupid urgent care told her that she was a hypochrondiac and to take sudaphed.]
So, my doctor proscribed the anti-viral. I'm not getting the steroid - it raises blood sugar as a side effect, and we want to avoid that.
Anyhow stayed home from work today - to get the diagnosis, and to get the anti-viral. Also to ensure I was taking the correct precautions to avoid giving unwitting co-workers chicken pox. I can't be held accountable for last week - people mislead me.
Getting an accurate medical diagnosis is a lot harder than it should be. However, I did learn a lesson? Don't do urgent care or race to a doctor. Do a virtual visit with primary care organization. Much easier, faster, and effective. Although it did require a lot of work to take the picture - since my right hand shakes more than my left, and wouldn't stay steady for the picture.
2. Masks in NYC
Okay, a couple of things? I live in a city with over 12 million. It's a global transportation hub. People are entering and leaving it daily. For work? I commute in and out of a major transportation hub - which is a combination of train, subway, bus, and "air train" to and from JFK airport.
It's open 24/7. There are homeless people camped out around it. At the height of the pandemic - they were camped out inside the facility. It's actually a little better now than it was last year.
Up until April of 2020 - no one wore masks. The virus hit NYC most likely in November or December 2019, and we didn't know it.
What's interesting about the trains...is after a certain point in 2020, no one coughed, sneezed or blew their noses on the trains. (I always feel exposed if I do - due to an allergy, and put on a mask now). Also don't see it much if at all at work. People now call in sick.
There are folks who still wear masks, but sparingly. I'd say maybe less than 1% of the population does? I rarely see anyone exit the Air Train building with them on, or for that matter on the commuter trains, subways or buses. (You are in closer proximity on subways and buses than planes.)
All of these vehicles have state of the art air purification systems. So does my workplace.
In 2021-2022, work place was also spraying cleanser, and we all for the most part wore masks. And worked remotely on a hybrid schedule, or full time.
My work place lost over 169 people to COVID between 2020-2022. We had masks. We had sanitizers. We have cleansers. We had vaccines. Not only that? We got paid for taking the vaccine.
I live in a 77 unit apartment complex with over 500 people. We use the same laundry room, and mail area. Most of the residents wore masks in 2020-2022, they pretty much stopped after 2022.
My church had a strict policy of wearing masks, and sanitizing.
My co-workers santized everything, wore masks most of the time in late 2020 through 2022.
I wore a mask from late 2020 to May 2023, still wore on the train until around June or July.
Guess what? We all got COVID.
I got it at work in 2022. My brother and his wife got it in Montreal in 2023. My niece got it in London in 2022 (Spring) and later in the Fall of 2022. My mother got it in the Fall of 2022. My coworkers got it in 2021 and 2022. Two of the co-workers who got it were obsessive about wearing masks and cleaning. One had a reasonable accommodation to work remotely until it was rescinded, and drove and took the commuter train not the subway.
Most of my coworkers who were Black had family members die from it or get seriously ill. One coworker had everyone get it, but her. She took care of them all, but never got it herself. She didn't wear a mask and never has.
The problem with the big mask debate - is an illogical syllogism.
People aren't reading the small print regarding the science of this.
Science: Masks will most likely reduce your risk of getting an airborn virus, but nothing is definite. The better the mask the less the risk of course.
People: Oh so if I wear a mask, I won't get it?
Science: Uhm no, it will reduce your risk. Also it depends on the type of mask and it's not really reduced unless both people are -
People: So, if we both just wear masks we won't get it!
Science: No, it just reduces the risk, doesn't mean you won't get it. It doesn't prevent you from getting the virus, it just might reduce the risk of possibly getting. But it depends on the situation and the viral load and...
People: If everyone just wore masks, we won't get it!
Science: Not exactly. You might not get it. It's not definite.
See? Illogical syllogism is at work. Also people don't like to take the time to read the fine print or listen for that matter. To be fair - the fine print is tiny, and we all just want to feel safe.
What I figured out - and how my workplace is handling it - is if you get COVID, you stay home for five-seven days. Then wear a mask for five days at work. That's the rule. Kind of similar with shingles - stay home, and come back if you can cover the wound. If you can't - stay home.
Which is basically what you should do for the flu, chicken pox, shingles, the common cold.
Oh, I should add - without exception all of my family members had three to four vaccinations for COVID prior to getting the virus. I had three shots before I got it. My sister-in-law - four. My brother - four. My niece - three. My mother - three.
We are all (except possibly my sisterinlaw who has broken out in an insane rash that won't go away since the last one, and my brother and niece) getting the fifth one.
Talked to Gabe the other day and she agreed. Wearing a mask was an all or nothing proposition. Either every human wears it whenever they are in contact with any human being (regardless of their relationship to them) or not at all. Because most folks get it from the people they are living with or close to, and they give it to everyone else. Also there's no guarantee they will give it to you. It's a weirdly random virus.
Masks is something we can't discuss online, along with politics, religion, abortion, and the death penalty. People have strong opinions on these five topics.
So, my doctor proscribed the anti-viral. I'm not getting the steroid - it raises blood sugar as a side effect, and we want to avoid that.
Anyhow stayed home from work today - to get the diagnosis, and to get the anti-viral. Also to ensure I was taking the correct precautions to avoid giving unwitting co-workers chicken pox. I can't be held accountable for last week - people mislead me.
Getting an accurate medical diagnosis is a lot harder than it should be. However, I did learn a lesson? Don't do urgent care or race to a doctor. Do a virtual visit with primary care organization. Much easier, faster, and effective. Although it did require a lot of work to take the picture - since my right hand shakes more than my left, and wouldn't stay steady for the picture.
2. Masks in NYC
Okay, a couple of things? I live in a city with over 12 million. It's a global transportation hub. People are entering and leaving it daily. For work? I commute in and out of a major transportation hub - which is a combination of train, subway, bus, and "air train" to and from JFK airport.
It's open 24/7. There are homeless people camped out around it. At the height of the pandemic - they were camped out inside the facility. It's actually a little better now than it was last year.
Up until April of 2020 - no one wore masks. The virus hit NYC most likely in November or December 2019, and we didn't know it.
What's interesting about the trains...is after a certain point in 2020, no one coughed, sneezed or blew their noses on the trains. (I always feel exposed if I do - due to an allergy, and put on a mask now). Also don't see it much if at all at work. People now call in sick.
There are folks who still wear masks, but sparingly. I'd say maybe less than 1% of the population does? I rarely see anyone exit the Air Train building with them on, or for that matter on the commuter trains, subways or buses. (You are in closer proximity on subways and buses than planes.)
All of these vehicles have state of the art air purification systems. So does my workplace.
In 2021-2022, work place was also spraying cleanser, and we all for the most part wore masks. And worked remotely on a hybrid schedule, or full time.
My work place lost over 169 people to COVID between 2020-2022. We had masks. We had sanitizers. We have cleansers. We had vaccines. Not only that? We got paid for taking the vaccine.
I live in a 77 unit apartment complex with over 500 people. We use the same laundry room, and mail area. Most of the residents wore masks in 2020-2022, they pretty much stopped after 2022.
My church had a strict policy of wearing masks, and sanitizing.
My co-workers santized everything, wore masks most of the time in late 2020 through 2022.
I wore a mask from late 2020 to May 2023, still wore on the train until around June or July.
Guess what? We all got COVID.
I got it at work in 2022. My brother and his wife got it in Montreal in 2023. My niece got it in London in 2022 (Spring) and later in the Fall of 2022. My mother got it in the Fall of 2022. My coworkers got it in 2021 and 2022. Two of the co-workers who got it were obsessive about wearing masks and cleaning. One had a reasonable accommodation to work remotely until it was rescinded, and drove and took the commuter train not the subway.
Most of my coworkers who were Black had family members die from it or get seriously ill. One coworker had everyone get it, but her. She took care of them all, but never got it herself. She didn't wear a mask and never has.
The problem with the big mask debate - is an illogical syllogism.
People aren't reading the small print regarding the science of this.
Science: Masks will most likely reduce your risk of getting an airborn virus, but nothing is definite. The better the mask the less the risk of course.
People: Oh so if I wear a mask, I won't get it?
Science: Uhm no, it will reduce your risk. Also it depends on the type of mask and it's not really reduced unless both people are -
People: So, if we both just wear masks we won't get it!
Science: No, it just reduces the risk, doesn't mean you won't get it. It doesn't prevent you from getting the virus, it just might reduce the risk of possibly getting. But it depends on the situation and the viral load and...
People: If everyone just wore masks, we won't get it!
Science: Not exactly. You might not get it. It's not definite.
See? Illogical syllogism is at work. Also people don't like to take the time to read the fine print or listen for that matter. To be fair - the fine print is tiny, and we all just want to feel safe.
What I figured out - and how my workplace is handling it - is if you get COVID, you stay home for five-seven days. Then wear a mask for five days at work. That's the rule. Kind of similar with shingles - stay home, and come back if you can cover the wound. If you can't - stay home.
Which is basically what you should do for the flu, chicken pox, shingles, the common cold.
Oh, I should add - without exception all of my family members had three to four vaccinations for COVID prior to getting the virus. I had three shots before I got it. My sister-in-law - four. My brother - four. My niece - three. My mother - three.
We are all (except possibly my sisterinlaw who has broken out in an insane rash that won't go away since the last one, and my brother and niece) getting the fifth one.
Talked to Gabe the other day and she agreed. Wearing a mask was an all or nothing proposition. Either every human wears it whenever they are in contact with any human being (regardless of their relationship to them) or not at all. Because most folks get it from the people they are living with or close to, and they give it to everyone else. Also there's no guarantee they will give it to you. It's a weirdly random virus.
Masks is something we can't discuss online, along with politics, religion, abortion, and the death penalty. People have strong opinions on these five topics.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-25 09:57 pm (UTC)