Be careful out there. While #COVID19 in US wastewater is at the 2nd-highest level of the pandemic nationally, it's quite variable. Things had been worse in the Northeast and Midwest, but the NWSS dashboard shows the South and West caught up rapidly in just a week or two. But, some areas are even worse. Here in #Wisconsin, the South Shore wastewater plant has the highest average reading of the entire pandemic (and just recorded the 4th worst single reading ever.)
#Covid has driven a wedge between me and most of the people I used to consider friends. How could my wife and I possibly enjoy a Christmas visit and dinner with someone who refuses our request that they wear an #N95 mask at work for a few days beforehand, even if they test first? The damn tests hardly seem to work now. We were planning on using the Metrix home molecular tests but I find it so hard to trust people on the smallest things anymore, like whether they actually did the test right.
The alleged problem:
“...there is a confluence of factors that are driving physicians out of hospitals, and this is negatively affecting Albertans’ access to timely, acute care.”
The proposed solution:
“Match alternative relationship plan rates to current fee-for-service billing in Alberta; Incent after-hours care; Provide competitive rates for physician availability; Address and remove further compensation reductions.”
• How long have we been sounding the alarm that this was the inevitable outcome of LetErRip™?
• Is there so much denial even among physicians/hospitalists in Alberta that they may be swayed by the promise of money rather than a safe workplace?
#MaskUp with an #N95 or better, get whatever booster shots you're due for, and avoid crowds wherever you can because #COVID19 is experiencing a big surge right now, especially in the Midwest and Northeast USA.
@trendless
My sister works as a CO in minimum security women's prison in WI. The policy is if staff gets covid, they are home 5 days. Sick or not they come back to work and wear a mask for another 5. Any mask.
Covid goes round and round there.
Don't ask about maximum security prisons.
In East coast public health systems they all think they are protected wearing level 3 surgical masks.
I don't understand why CDC is hung up on #N95 masks. What the hell is the problem?
Two days ago, I went to an especially dangerous place, with an #Elastomeric#N95 and special prescription glasses designed to keep surrounding air out of my eyes. I snorted not one but two different kinds of nasal sprays immediately after, and gargled with CPC mouthwash.
There I wound up closer to an unmasked person who had obviously been sick than I’d been since 2020. Sniffles and throat clearing, and standing right next to me.
After she weighed me and measured my height and we headed toward the exam room, I said, “Would you mind putting on some sort of a mask?”
I still can’t decide if she was being sarcastic or not when she said she’d be happy to. But I’m beyond caring what people think. They all suck. She put on a decent-looking surgical mask and then got right next to me to measure my blood pressure etc. My #N95 stayed on the entire time. I shaved off the parts of my beard that touch it before this visit, because…
You know who still wears an #N95 in December 2023 while giving a lecture? Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, whose peer-reviewed published research showed that #vaccination only modestly reduces the risk of #LongCovid. Two years ago, thanks in large part to his work, I knew something our #CDC still never talks about, that I still had half the risk of developing a miserable and <see self-reply with CW> health condition from an #infection that’s nearly unavoidable if you’re indoors unmasked around other people.
This winter's #SARSCOV2 surge is worsening faster than models had predicted.
1in 38 of the population you encounter in your daily life are now likely to be infected. Likely 1 in 26 infected by #NYE. Daily cases will be up 50% by then.
N95s are a must now if you are relying only on self-protection rather than have a community united to protect each other from #COVID, & we must consider who's been in the same room earlier that day, not just who is there simultaneously.
More studies this week show the SC2 virus accelerates aging, including the kidney. Shortens telomeres, etc.
It's time to exercise #MaskCare, wear an #N95, & reduce contacts drastically. I will not be doing holiday gatherings indoors. We will gather with one tested family.