mistressofmuses | (no subject)

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: my apartment
Current Music: Obsession: Dark Desires - show on Hulu

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health,
work

(no subject)

Weird stupid vibes day.

Just lots of weird things at work that all hit at the same time. People angry about test results, other centers forwarding people to us to schedule (after taking credit for the sale, then claiming "welp, couldn't find anything on the schedule, they're upset, your problem now!"), parents freaking out about cancelled appointments because their kid cancelled it, other random nonsense. All while rescheduling a couple months worth of appointments for someone who got a new full time job. (He's still staying with us, thankfully, just reduced hours.)

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Found out this morning that my step-mom has Covid again. :( She also had it last year. My dad says the symptoms have been mild so far. Frustrating, because she had just had an antibody test a couple weeks ago and was told that basically she was "super-immune" because she's had all three shots + an actual case. And yet!

So my dad was planning to come visit CO in a few weeks, but that's on hold now.

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Speaking of Covid, my company released their new masking policy... which is that there isn't one. They will no longer be required at all, regardless of vaccination status. Including no longer being required for students, even in the classrooms that they've started wildly overcrowding. And the signage that they asked us to post is of course not "masks encouraged" or even "masks are optional" or anything, it's "masks are NOT REQUIRED".

Also, if you've been exposed to Covid but have no symptoms, you're asked to "voluntarily choose to" wear a mask for three days.
If you test positive, then you're asked to stay home until symptom-free, but if you have no symptoms, you can return, again only masking for three days to be "courteous of your coworkers."

I'm frustrated. I seem to be the only one unhappy about it; manager and most coworkers seem thrilled.

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That's frustrating. And asking people to voluntarily mask if they think they've been exposed is a minefield. It can lead to people who are actually careful treated like they are toxic, and the uncareful not.

Right? Even if they didn't want to go with "encouraged but not required", even the true-neutral "optional" would mitigate some of that. But instead it's basically "only wear a mask if you're ~contaminated~, and even then only if you want everyone to know it" and that's... exactly like you said.

Ugh. Your company is fucking stupid, and they're going to be the cause of people getting sick because the general public doesn't give a fuck anymore. Not that they ever really did. Humans are fucking stupid, inconsiderate, selfish cunts.

Even though all three of us have been thrice vaxxed, we still wear masks when we go out, we still don't let strangers crowd up on us, and we still use hand sanitizer after going into any store. Hell, we mask up and use hand sanitizer after just being at the water/ice filling station we go to.

Right? Exactly. People are GOING to get sick and pass it around. Just statistically, we ARE going to be at fault for someone getting sick. I guess at this point, since no one is doing any real contact tracing anymore, they figure it doesn't matter because we won't be liable for anything.
Humans are the worst.

I'll still be masking when we go out, and in the office when I'm not at my desk. But with the "only wear a mask if you've been ~contaminated~ and want everyone to know it" policy, that's likely to be frustrating.
I hate that I don't have a choice but to interact with as many people as I have to in a day, and I like even less that there's functionally zero option to mitigate risk. Yes, I'm vaxxed, and I can wear a mask... but masks better protect other people, not yourself. It's unlikely that I'll get hospital-level sick, being triple-vaxxed, but data is still lacking on how likely cases of long covid can be from even mild cases, and that's something that concerns me. I just hate the whole situation.

I genuinely hope your step-mom and dad are alright and this round of COVID passes without issue.

As for work and your company's new masking policy, that's enraging... I know states and counties are (in my opinion, rather stupidly so) relaxing mask mandates, I agree with the replies above that this wording in particular is downright awful and places anyone intending to continue wearing a mask in a seriously nasty position with unfair implications. I honestly wish I knew what to say beyond I am so sorry you're in that position and that humanity is this astonishingly stupid. As always, I truly hope you're staying safe and healthy despite everything.

Thank you, me too. He's also triple-vaxxed, and somehow avoided it the last time, so fingers crossed he can dodge it again. And I hope her symptoms remain mild and are over quickly.

It's completely enraging. And I agree - I think it's a super premature idea to relax/remove mandates entirely.
I wish humanity was less astonishingly stupid. If only.
Doing my best to stay safe and healthy, and I hope the same for you. (How's recovery from your bout of sick going? Done with, I hope!)

From my anecdotal experience and from everyone I've talked to, cohabitants avoiding COVID somehow is totally a thing so I'm genuinely hoping he's in the clear and that she'll recover asap as well.

I'm genuinely glad and relieved you're doing what you can to stay safe and healthy, I'm just sorry your workplace and it seems humanity in general has opted to add a helluvalot of stress in the process.

In summary, I'm okay-ish? I had a very mild case of COVID minus a recurring fever at night for a few days. Problem is, now, I have developed ITS or Inappropriate Tachycardia Syndrome. My heart basically has no throttle control now and races with the slightest exertion, which itself causes chest pressure/exhaustion. Had three separate doctor's appointments for it this week to weed out secondary pneumonia and other conditions, and now I'm kind of just in a waiting/healing pattern to see if it resolves of its own accord, or if it'll end up being cardiologist time.

My own health rant aside, it's things like this that I wish I could implore people to take COVID more seriously over. Having COVID legitimately felt like a super mild cold initially, yes, but this? I've never experienced anything like this and I keep talking to so, so many other people who have had COVID who've also been the picture of health going through these same eerie symptoms after the fact. Between the clearly NOT a fucking flu death toll, the exhausted, imploring medical workers, patient testimonials, variant emergence, etc., why society at large hasn't deemed it worth treating with the utmost caution astonishes me. We simply do not know enough to be this flippant.

Yeah, I've known a couple other people that managed that one, too! Surprisingly, when living together. Fingers crossed they can manage that again, and that it runs its course quickly.

I'm glad your case was mild, but the ITS is scary! The potential lingering or long-haul symptoms are honestly what worry me the most about it. I do know that I've done what I can in terms of vaxxing, and that it's unlikely I would wind up hospitalized or anything. But there are so many longer-term complications that just aren't well-understood yet. I very much hope the ITS doesn't wind up being a long-term thing, and that it does resolve (and quickly!).

It's exhausting and miserable that people just... refuse to take it seriously. Even the ones who don't go on unhinged rants about 5G still just seem to... not care. Flippant is exactly the word for it, and I think that could be a very serious mistake.

Adding my *fingers crossed* as well for sure!

That's what I'm afraid so, so many people fail to realize with COVID and the "0.1% low statistical chance of dying" or whatever number is cited incorrectly. (Not to mention, bloody hell, that's awful regardless.) The potential for long-haul symptoms also warrant concern and precaution, but who cares about quality of life in perpetual YOLO/FOMO mode? I genuinely thank you though and for that matter, I'm already scheming how to rehab myself haha. I'm determined to get back into running again soon (within reason of course).

Illness of some form or another is an inevitability in life, yes, but why people are willingly fucking around with a novel disease is beyond me. And who isn't tired of the pandemic for one reason or another? I agree wholeheartedly though, this really could be a very serious mistake indeed.

Thank you. Sounds like she's feeling better, and my dad was still testing negative as of yesterday!

Yeah, that low fatality rate is SUPER misleading if it's the only metric being looked at. (And even WITH low mortality... with a high enough infection rate, that is a LOT of people. The idea that we've reached a point where 900,000 fatalities in our country alone is brushed off with a shrug is... extremely depressing.)
But even if the mortality rate is low, not dying isn't the only measure that matters. There are people who get severely sick and wind up with immediate severe organ damage. There are people with months of recovery to get back to "barely functional." There are people with minor initial symptoms that are going on six months to multiple years of long-haul symptoms. This is an illness that is leading to millions of people who now have long-term disability. Sometimes including children, who could be facing a lifetime of complications.
Preaching to the choir, as they say, lol. But the idea that none of that matters to so many people is... mind-boggling, even if it maybe shouldn't be. The YOLO/FOMO mentality is a big part of it. And agreed, who the hell ISN'T sick of this shit? But keeping up masking or distancing requirements seems like a reasonable minimum amount of caution to leave in place, even as people want to go *do things*. I'd rather do things and wear a mask than get wiped out by the next variant that spreads unchecked because it has such a large pool of infections to mutate in.

I am glad you've got some ideas on rehabbing if the tachycardia issues persist. (Though I still hope they don't!)

That's wonderful news and I'm genuinely glad to hear it!

I agree wholeheartedly with all of the above (you're very much preaching to the choir in turn.) I agree entirely with your point that death is by no means the only measure that matters, and add that I don't think death is necessarily even worst outcome of COVID. Rather, it's the fallout from losing loved ones, becoming disabled, the trauma of treating countless dying patients in an ICU who until their last breath deny COVID exists, "essential workers" being shamelessly exploited and discarded, and meemaw being tossed up on the Wall Street altar for sacrifice so we can "keep the economy going" that's going to challenge an already horrifying death toll for additional horrors. If anything, I wonder what runs through the minds of those who can justify not caring anymore and what, if anything, could remedy that. This degree of selfishness and stupidity is anything but sustainable in any case. And I also agree with your point that at the absolute minimum, avoiding infection and taking continued precaution at least slows the virus' opportunity to mutate by providing less hosts...

...And yet, as with your workplace, my university has discovered as of this Monday that COVID somehow magically respects hallways, corridors, dining tables, and study areas indoors and that we only need to mask in classrooms. *facepalms*

I genuinely thank you though! Time will tell.

That's a super important point, too. It's not just the person who gets sick and dies, or becomes disabled... it's the people they're connected to. In the case of a fatality, how many people are coping with the trauma of losing a spouse? A parent? A sibling? A child? The main source of income for their family? In the case of disability, how many people have the new expectation or requirement of becoming full-time caregivers to the above?

And the abuse that healthcare workers are facing, the tragedy and burnout of dealing with this day after day, when too many people refuse to take those basic precautions. Essential workers being consistently abused and mistreated, then treated as disposable. Teachers, too.

Honestly, just having to live with the knowledge of just how many people DO think others are disposable. That their deaths could be a "necessary sacrifice". Or even just that their deaths are... unremarkable. Nearly a million dead, and it doesn't eve seem to *matter*, and knowing that is a horrible feeling.

Ugh, I'm sorry your university is taking Bad Planning pills, too. Isn't it amazing how the virus is only contagious in certain crowded areas and not others? Wow. *eyeroll*

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