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rebeccmeisterDefinitely in the doldrums right now.
I had that variety of insomnia last night where my brain questioned everything I'm doing with my life. Then I woke up with slightly swollen lymph nodes and some mild sniffles, so I canceled on rowing and tried to sleep some more, with only partial success.
Right now, Covid cases in my county are holding steady, at around 80 new cases per day. That's high enough to keep us in the "high" CDC category where masks are recommended for everyone indoors, regardless of vaccination status. This college opted to NOT do any surveillance testing this fall, so all that we know comes from daily reports of the number of positive Covid cases from students and employees that reached a point where their symptoms warranted a PCR-based Covid test.
It is very frustrating to work in an environment where certain best practices are being ignored. I can require masks in my classroom but they aren't required indoors here.
I would also really like to see more implementation of rapid antibody tests. What needs to happen now is that someone with potential Covid symptoms should go and take a rapid antibody test as soon as they can; by the time a person has symptoms it's already too late, so immediate action is needed. If that comes up positive, isolate as a precautionary measure and then go get a confirmatory PCR test. If the rapid antibody test comes up negative, repeat the test three days later.
When I was worried two weeks ago, it took four days for results to come back from a PCR-based test. By that point, there's almost no point to it all. It can confirm, yup, that was Covid, but that's four extra days where a person has to make decisions about what to do. That's four days of teaching, for anyone who teaches. It is VERY difficult and stressful to make arrangements for missed teaching days.
For this round of sniffles/etc, I've come in to work and I will teach this afternoon. S had the same symptoms on Sunday, and tested negative with his first antibody test. By the way, antibody tests are fun to try and find right now, but that situation is supposed to get better in the near future because of some recent efforts by the US government. The first chain drugstore I checked had a ton of empty shelves and zero antibody tests. I called a second nearby one, and they had plenty in stock.
I had that variety of insomnia last night where my brain questioned everything I'm doing with my life. Then I woke up with slightly swollen lymph nodes and some mild sniffles, so I canceled on rowing and tried to sleep some more, with only partial success.
Right now, Covid cases in my county are holding steady, at around 80 new cases per day. That's high enough to keep us in the "high" CDC category where masks are recommended for everyone indoors, regardless of vaccination status. This college opted to NOT do any surveillance testing this fall, so all that we know comes from daily reports of the number of positive Covid cases from students and employees that reached a point where their symptoms warranted a PCR-based Covid test.
It is very frustrating to work in an environment where certain best practices are being ignored. I can require masks in my classroom but they aren't required indoors here.
I would also really like to see more implementation of rapid antibody tests. What needs to happen now is that someone with potential Covid symptoms should go and take a rapid antibody test as soon as they can; by the time a person has symptoms it's already too late, so immediate action is needed. If that comes up positive, isolate as a precautionary measure and then go get a confirmatory PCR test. If the rapid antibody test comes up negative, repeat the test three days later.
When I was worried two weeks ago, it took four days for results to come back from a PCR-based test. By that point, there's almost no point to it all. It can confirm, yup, that was Covid, but that's four extra days where a person has to make decisions about what to do. That's four days of teaching, for anyone who teaches. It is VERY difficult and stressful to make arrangements for missed teaching days.
For this round of sniffles/etc, I've come in to work and I will teach this afternoon. S had the same symptoms on Sunday, and tested negative with his first antibody test. By the way, antibody tests are fun to try and find right now, but that situation is supposed to get better in the near future because of some recent efforts by the US government. The first chain drugstore I checked had a ton of empty shelves and zero antibody tests. I called a second nearby one, and they had plenty in stock.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-14 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-14 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-15 12:26 am (UTC)This would have saved us from our current situation.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-15 01:37 am (UTC)Recently we've been getting these really unhelpful messages from our administration regarding policies and procedures. For example, Health Services has said, "Yeah....we're getting an increased volume of calls, so if your student feels sick and calls us and it isn't serious, we aren't going to see them and we won't issue a note for them." Which...okay, reasonable, but doesn't tell students how to proceed if they wake up and feel sick. What they literally need is a very direct decision tree:
-Stay home. Do not come to class if you feel sick. Email me to let me know.
-Wait until Health Services opens.
-Call them.
-If they just tell you to stay home and rest, then do that. Email me again to let me know the outcome of the phone call. When you feel better, come to class again.
-If they make you come in, etc, do that, get your documentation, etc etc.
And an extended version of what happens if they test positive for Covid or are a close contact.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-15 02:05 am (UTC)