Lots of COVID ’round these parts (Broward County):
Interestingly, it doesn’t feel like anyone knows what to do about it anymore.
I am glad that schools remain open (as I strongly believe they should). I am also continuing to see in-person patients when needed, but meetings/gatherings have been converted to virtual — again, I think that’s the right balance. Our office has had so many positives (doctors, nurses, other staff) that we are being encouraged to convert many patients to telehealth, but today I have several patients that really need in-person evaluation/interaction, so they will be ‘live’. We are wearing N95s for all patient encounters.
Because all 5 of us in our nuclear family are out in this extremely COVIDy world, I am assuming we (ie, our family) will have COVID at some point very soon but holding out hope that symptoms will be mild (like they have been in most around here). Best case scenario is that we would all be asymptomatic and not even know it was passing through . . .
We will not be testing unless symptomatic or otherwise instructed to, and for the time being are going to stay away from vulnerable family members. Luckily, this is the season when doing things outside is much more pleasant and feasible. And thankfully the next ‘big’ family holiday for us isn’t until April (Passover)! Things may be very different by then. Hoping, anyway.
I thought this Atlantic article was very interesting and had some good points. COVID tests are getting more and more scarce, yet there are many colleges + private schools “screening” the entire student body twice weekly.
(Not our school.)
((Which I am fine with!))
In other news: kids have actually had a really nice start to the school year so far. C tried track & field yesterday – I was proud of him. They were all relatively excited to see friends + teachers after the break.
Oh and also: OMG, I ordered 5 pairs of shoes!!! One specifically for walking outside at work (these, another shout out to Lani for recommending!) and several to try to replace my (very old and falling apart) work shoes — 3 from Camper because I find them super comfortable and therefore am brand loyal and 1 from new-to-me Arche snagged on sale (thanks to my college bff V who always knows what I will go nuts over). So I am well on my way to meeting that goal, at least. (Definitely NOT planning on keeping them all but wanted to try multiple for comfort assessment/clothing pairing purposes).
Time to get the kids up! This week went by quickly . . .
(PS: I have been Time Tracking! Going to try to continue through Laura’s challenge!)
25 Comments
Ooooh I have two pairs of birdies and love them!! Excellent support and comfort. Hope they (or one of the other options) works for you!
I have a pair of Birdies and they are so comfortable! Just a heads up that they did take quite a while to break in so I wasn’t sold on them for a few months, but now they are my favorite dress shoes by far and I’m planning to invest in a new pair or two soon.
My oldest currently has covid. He was sick enough that he was seen by the pediatrician. Now I am having trouble finding a place to get anyone else in my family tested. I used to think it was absolutely crazy to go to the ER for a covid test if you weren’t super sick, but now I understand why people have. My too young to be vaccinated kids can’t go back to school w/o a test and I have mild symptoms (which could be anything) but I feel like I should stay home from work until I know. Obviously I am not going to the ER.
It is just so frustrating to still be dealing with this two years later.
totally sucks 🙁 🙁
Please do a recap post of what you kept, maybe with pictures? I would love to see what you bought and liked enough to keep! My shoes could use a refresh.
My company pushed back our return to the office indefinitely which I am relieved about. I was going to ask for an exception otherwise since I’m immune compromised. This latest wave has left me feeling especially defeated and as if everyone is going to get it eventually. I am terrified of a quarantine with our kids because working + watching a 1yo (who is now referred to as Mr. Mischief) and an almost 4yo might break me! I mean we’d figure it out, but the 1yo makes it EXTRA challenging. I mean, if you want to know of any areas of weakness in your new home, like a heating vent that isn’t securely screwed into the wall, I could send him your way. Ha. I’m just waiting for an email from daycare about an exposure. I’m truly shocked we haven’t had a case (that we know of) at daycare since last November. Surely it is coming.
Agree would be fun to see a review of the shoes and which you keep!
We need schools open, but it sure is miserable in the public schools right now. We have no subs, so when teachers are out, students are dispersed, classes are combined, or other teachers are forced to give up their lunches and planning to provide coverage. Some classes will have upwards of 35 students packed into a room. When it gets to the point of missing 12 teachers, there is no real learning taking place. It is a mess.
Yay for new shoes, though! Hopefully, something works out.
Ugh ugh ugh. Miserable. Very good point to share that perspective. Kind of like all the doctors and nurses out – makes sense same issues with teachers.
It’s pretty insane. Our school nurse is stretched so thin, she seemed on the verge of tears when we spoke …and we’re lucky enough to be in a town where each school has its own full-time nurse, I know that’s often not the case. More than 1/4 of my kid’s class is out today. We have a mild snow storm predicted that wouldn’t ordinarily be enough to warrant a snow day but between plow driver shortages and the temptation to put a 3 day weekend in and give people some more breathing room, I’m fully expecting no school for tomorrow.
Yup, we’re in the same boat here. Our superintendent is very committed to keeping schools open (and has thus far) but the staff shortages are a real problem. Our daycare provider’s daughter teaches at an elementary school and half of her “pod” is out sick AND all their subs are sick! I am totally on board with keeping schools open but absolutely feel for the administrators trying to figure out what to do if they have no staff. I heard this morning that the positive rate in our area is 27%, which I totally believe based on the fact that almost everyone we know either has COVID or has a recent exposure! I just assume we’re all going to get it within the next month and am just hopeful we are mild/asymptomatic.
Honestly – it’s miserable everywhere. I have employees crying on the phone with me because they’re expected to maintain full productivity through this even with large numbers of their staff out.
I so feel for teachers right now. We keep getting emails about additional early dismissal days trying to let the teachers catch up from all the planning times they couldn’t have to keep up with staff shortages. At least they’re trying to help them, but this has to be so exhausting.
I’m home with our 4 year old whose daycare class was quarantined on Tuesday. I have a very understanding boss and although I really need to be in the office a few days a week, I’m mostly home now because my husband, who is an engineer, has a boss that has decided he MUST be at work. Because no childcare is no longer a reasonable excuse, apparently. Everyone is over it (including me), but I feel like we’ve reached some sort of all-time low where people’s frustration with the situation has translated into lashing out at people put into difficult situations. Hopefully the whole ‘it’s always darkest right before the dawn’ idea holds true.
The best part about keeping schools open is Dr. Hart-Unger’s job security is ensured from all the kids getting Covid and then developing diabetes https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7102e2.htm?s_cid=mm7102e2_w
Pediatric endocrinology is sadly an unpopular career choice, so just for the record, I have no job security concerns. But we also saw a spike in type 2 diabetes with the schools closed so . . .
Ugh, it is horrific! Our nursery is open…for now. I think they won’t close b/c of positive cases but will close if there is insufficient staff to meet their ratios. But also there are loads of other bugs around as well – chickenpox! I’ll start teaching on the 24th but online for the first week and then who knows after that.
Chickenpox?!?!? Omg! Are kids in the UK vaccinated at ages 1 and 4 like they are here?
No, the chickenpox vaccination isn’t on the standard NHS schedule in the UK. It’s available privately (and not hugely expensive, about £65 a shot), but I don’t think that’s well known. I’ve had both of my kid vaccinated but I’m definitely in the minority among my friends.
Oh very interesting!
Yes, I’m definitely the outlier getting my son vaccinated. I did it at Superdrug and get lots of shampoo with my points. My husbands niece has permanent and quit severe scarring from chickenpox so we weren’t messing around.
Thanks for pointing out the Atlantic article. My kids are in a wealthy school district that’s doing voluntary scrrening testing of asymptomatic individuals twice weekly. I just sent the article to the superintendent asking if we would consider suspending it and only using tests for symptomatic individuals and/or test-to-stay.
I agree about only testing if symptomatic. Our school offers routine testing to all students but we did not enroll in the program. If my kids are sick I won’t hesitate to test them, but not otherwise.
Our schools are online for at least the first week of classes – I have to go get all the gear today. They extended the Christmas Break until Monday, so the kids have already been home for three weeks straight.
I’m exhausted. The kids hated online learning and it’s all just such a drag.
When I went to the bank yesterday they had to shut down several times because so many staff are out with COVID. Yesterday out of a normal 10 workers at the branch, they had 3.
Ugh, ugh, ugh.
No one knows what to do about it in Australia either- we finally opened our borders for the first time just as Omicron hit and cases are sky high, staff shortages are a huge issue, supermarket shelves are empty because everyone up the supply chain have covid, it’s really hard to get rapid antigen tests or a PCR test as labs are overwhelmed. Yet we are determined not to lock down again. So every activity is a question of “Is this worth getting covid over?”. Sometimes the answer has been yes (long-awaited girls trip with two best friends), sometimes no (bbq with a few local families), but it definitely feels like a strange situation with this more contagious but less severe variant. So far our childcare is open but bracing for many closures this year.
Interesting article. I’m a little disappointed that it didn’t mention the pending requirement for all employers with over 100 workers to require weekly testing of any non-vaccinated employees. From what I’ve heard from reliable sources, lots of large critical industry employers with high percentages of employees who refuse to vaccinate bought millions of tests so they have them when the mandate goes into place. You couple that with the demand surge due to increased infections, supply chain disruptions, and decisions by the test manufacturers to cut back production last year due to low demand, and we’ve found ourselves in a perfect storm.
My husband lost his job over the shot. It’s unfortunate. I wonder how many more teachers we will lose when the mandate enters the schools. It’s awful.