Healthcare workers - what are you seeing now?

[doberbrat]

If people stop getting pcr tests either because the pcr tests are so hard to come by (long lines etc) or because they now have a rapid test that showed positive, does that make it seem like the numbers are going down faster than they really are?

[MSWR0319]

I am very concerned that although the numbers are starting to trend down in the first hit urban areas, they are going up in more rural areas. It will be a disaster if it's not already. I saw pictures of a certain rally in Arizona with people filing in, all unmasked. I lot of people were older, some were clearly not in the best health with their gait and appearance. People were making fun of them, and I was just so sad because I see them bringing Covid back home and infecting whole families. I'm just watching a group of people that I feel 1 out of every 100 will die a horrible death and there will be many more that have long term consequences.

Yep! We're rural. Our "low" here lately has been no less than 653 cases per 100K and this was before omicron. Omicron has clearly hit, as about 4 days ago our cases started jumping from about 25 cases per day (small county) to 110 cases yesterday. I'll be curious to see what today's numbers are. We'll be well over 3000k cases per 100,000K by the next report. We are going to see so much sadness here soon. Our local, small hospital reported 6 ventilators were in use last week, with 4 of those coming from the emergency stash. We only have 17 covid beds. I'm so nervous about what's to come, especially for our workers who are so clearly burnt out.

[gatorsmom]

I am very concerned that although the numbers are starting to trend down in the first hit urban areas, they are going up in more rural areas. It will be a disaster if it's not already. I saw pictures of a certain rally in Arizona with people filing in, all unmasked. I lot of people were older, some were clearly not in the best health with their gait and appearance. People were making fun of them, and I was just so sad because I see them bringing Covid back home and infecting whole families. I'm just watching a group of people that I feel 1 out of every 100 will die a horrible death and there will be many more that have long term consequences.

Im in a rural area probably like the ones you are seeing. My friend is a contact tracer seeing 500+ cases per day. Lots of COVID deniers and skeptics here. Many who absolutely refuse to wear masks (though have a hard time logically explaining why) and refuse to get vaccinated. I think I’m a pretty compassionate person but in my opinion, everyone knows what’s at stake. It has been drilled hard in the news and billboards that vaccines will save lives. There have been well-known members of our communities that have died or suffered horribly from COVID19. Everyone is talking about it. It’s everywhere. The people in those rural communities know the risks they are taking by not wearing masks and not getting vaxxed. They know the risks to their elderly loved ones. At this point they know death and suffering are real possibilities. On their own heads be it.

The people who are the real victims and unsung heroes are our healthcare workers. They are worn out. They get the whining, complaining unvaxxed skeptic nuts and struggle to care for them. They are destroying our healthcare system. Whoever here suggested a separate unit for unvaxxed COVID19 victims had a great idea. The healthy unvaxxed should be ashamed of themselves.

Some small bit of good news is that our little area here in rural Wisconsin is seeing a surge of cases and starting to see the light. I’ve recently learned that some anti-vaxxer friends are now vaccinated. People I thought didn’t believe in the “Scamdemic” offered our family extra rapid tests when they heard we were out. Other friends who were annoyingly skeptical are now scared. They are taking this seriously now. But when they catch the virus this week from their kids who bring it home from unmasked school friends, it will be too late. And they will head to the hospital, unvaxxed and very sick. And again, the HCW will help and get more work down.

To all HCW, I’m so sorry.

[jgenie]

I feel for the children. The children who are unvaccinated because they are too young and the children who have parents who chose not to vaccinate them. I worry for them and the needless suffering. I hope the majority of children continue to be unaffected but feel for those children who will feel the full force of Covid through no choice of their own.

[niccig]

I feel for the children. The children who are unvaccinated because they are too young and the children who have parents who chose not to vaccinate them. I worry for them and the needless suffering. I hope the majority of children continue to be unaffected but feel for those children who will feel the full force of Covid through no choice of their own.

I work part time inpatient pediatric rehab. We’ve had children who were old enough to be vaccinated come through with affects of Covid. It’s heart breaking as it could’ve been avoided and now they’ll have life long consequences. It’s same as when get a child not restrained in a car accident. Senseless and so frustrating


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[essnce629]

I feel for the children. The children who are unvaccinated because they are too young and the children who have parents who chose not to vaccinate them. I worry for them and the needless suffering. I hope the majority of children continue to be unaffected but feel for those children who will feel the full force of Covid through no choice of their own.

A mom just joined my Covid Loss Facebook group whose 13 year old son died of Covid this month while she was also hospitalized and fighting her own Covid battle. So sad.

Speaking of small towns getting hit now, my DS1 just returned to college yesterday and the town he's in now has a Covid positivity rate of 58% and case rate of 1,774 per 100,000. The positivity rate was 15% less than 2 weeks ago!

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[Snow mom]

If people stop getting pcr tests either because the pcr tests are so hard to come by (long lines etc) or because they now have a rapid test that showed positive, does that make it seem like the numbers are going down faster than they really are?

A mom just joined my Covid Loss Facebook group whose 13 year old son died of Covid this month while she was also hospitalized and fighting her own Covid battle. So sad.

Speaking of small towns getting hit now, my DS1 just returned to college yesterday and the town he's in now has a Covid positivity rate of 58% and case rate of 1,774 per 100,000. The positivity rate was 15% less than 2 weeks ago!

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One effect the rapid tests are having (where you can get a PCR) is driving up the positivity rate. People are going for confirmatory PCRs knowing full well that they have COVID. These testing rates are interesting and a bit revealing, but testing has never been a random sample here as people are testing because of symptoms, exposure, need to know for travel, positive antigen test for themselves of a household member, etc. There are also those that know they are positive but don’t want to end up on the official record as such. To really estimate what % of the population is positive at any given moment we’d need to not have people self selecting for testing.

[StantonHyde]

A mom just joined my Covid Loss Facebook group whose 13 year old son died of Covid this month while she was also hospitalized and fighting her own Covid battle. So sad.

Speaking of small towns getting hit now, my DS1 just returned to college yesterday and the town he's in now has a Covid positivity rate of 58% and case rate of 1,774 per 100,000. The positivity rate was 15% less than 2 weeks ago!

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Yep, that's where our state is--we increased over 50% in the last 7 days and now rank 4th in the nation. And that's ok with our legislature. sigh....

[marinkitty]

Our high school's number of covid cases dropped 80% from the first week back at school after break to last week. We will see this week if it is a sustained drop or not. DS2's middle school has had a similar trend (though less overall positives than the massive high school). Omicron swept through our area like wildfire mid-December through New Year so perhaps this is the beginning of the decline. That said, I know new people every day testing positive. DS1's hockey team has a new positive every few days. More than half the boys have had it now since Thanksgiving. Somehow DS has not yet gotten it (or if he did was totally asymptomatic and didn't get caught by the test we took on the way back from vacation or at school the first week back). He was exposed again at his game Saturday night - line mate tested positive Sunday and he was next to him on the bench unmasked for two hours. Almost every day is day 0 from known exposure here. Just a matter of time, but this wave does seem to have hit hard and fast so maybe there is already a light at the end of the tunnel?