How's 'that' situation going now?

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

1. How is the Coronavirus situation where you live? What's closed down? Have you gone out much? Are you (Oh, what's the trendy term now " Self-distancing "?) staying inside as a precaution or actually infected or is anyone else you know? I hope, if so, you're well. Let's...well, exchange comments.
2.   I am now in Portland, Oregon. The Govenor, and then, locally, Portland declared a state of emergency. I saw the comment made that Oregon was the furthest behind on dealing with CV of the 3 West Coast states.
3.   I went out yesterday ( Sun.), I am ill and had sleep to make up to-day (Mon.) and ended up not going out - I may go out across the street to a all-nite grocery tonite-early Tues. I have not heard of a regular medical appointment Tues. being cancelled.

[ClarkKent_DC]

ClarkKent_DC said:

Distribution of tests and masks is kind of iffy. My local-area libraries still offer them, but there are no longer lines around the block to get them like there were five months ago. You do need to be careful about the expiration dates on them.

Richard Willis said:

If you still have rapid test kits with expiration dates that have passed, please check the FDA information for their extended expiration dates. These extended dates are based upon careful study of the stability of these lots. There are lot numbers listed with their original and extended expiration dates.

Do a search for whichever of these apply to your kits and then click on the FDA site:

ihealth covid test expiration
flowflex covid test expiration
binaxnow covid test expiration

One time I picked up some tests from my local library and each box had a sticker on it with the revised expiration date. Another time, I got some from the main library and on the table was a conversion chart, with the dates marked on the boxes in one column and the revised expiration dates in the next column.

[Richard Willis]

Last month I finally had a COVID infection. I had my second booster in April, which I'm sure made it much less severe. One night I was coughing a lot and was very unsteady on my feet. My nose didn't even run. Using a home test that morning I confirmed that I had a COVID infection. My symptoms disappeared quickly and I rapidly felt better. This made me test again on the fifth day. Still infected. I retested on the eleventh day and the test was negative. The new booster only became available when I was already infected. I finally got it two days ago. I may have antibodies from the infection, but I don't know which variation of COVID I had, so the more antibodies the better.

[ClarkKent_DC]

ClarkKent_DC said:

We're back from the wedding, and things went beautifully. The groom was fully recovered, the bride was beautiful (she did have her bridal shower, about two weeks after the original date), and both families were in attendance.

I mention that because the bride's parents are divorcing, and it's not ugly, but it is painful. Also, about three weeks ago, the bride's brother and his wife had a baby, but he was born with a birth defect, one of those bizarro cases you might see on Grey's Anatomy or other medical drama: the aorta and pulmonary artery were switched. Supposedly, this is not that unheard of and is a relatively easy fix, but our newborn was very weak and he needed to wait in the neonatal ICU just to be sure he was strong enough to handle the necessary surgery.

Well, during the ceremony, the minister offered a prayer for those present and for those who couldn't be there because of death or illness ... including a special prayer for the baby, who passed away a few days ago. 

Happy news about the bride and the bride's brother; they and their respective spouses (the newlywed and her husband, the brother and his wife) both had babies in the past few months!

[ClarkKent_DC]

ClarkKent_DC said:

We have a family friend who lives in a nursing home in the Midwest. We're signed up to get phone call alerts about the place's COVID-19 status, and get weekly recorded calls that say they're following county health department guidelines.

A while back the weekly call that told us they had no cases told us there were a few cases among the staff. Following health department guidelines, those workers are not at work and quarantining for 14 days. 

Then we got calls that some of the residents have it. They have been segregated from the rest of the population.

Then the weekly calls changed in frequency to semi-weekly and now daily, as there are more cases among the staff and the residents.

My sister-in-law, who lives nearby, spoke to our friend who lives there, and found out that our friend's roommate got it. So the roommate has been moved out and our friend is basically alone in her room for now. Meals are delivered to her room, and she isn't allowed to the general area for recreation. So far, it seems our friend is safe.

Here's hoping this will pass. 

We still get alerts from the nursing home our family friend resides in, occasionally telling us that a resident or a staff member has come down with COVID. If it's an employee, they are sent home for the required number of quarantine days and not allowed to return to work until they are medically cleared. It's it's a resident, they are kept isolated from others for the duration of the quarantine. Visitors are allowed to the property only in restricted circumstances. I've also mentioned that she has had two roommates who have come down with COVID.

Unfortunately, our friend herself has gotten COVID, once last year, and once this month. As she is rather frail, it is worrisome, but we hope she will pull through. 

Unfortunately, our friend has recently come down with COVID for the second time. 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I hope the best for your friend, CK.