kirkj wrote:Probably not what anyone wants to hear, but it's not going away. Things are never going back to a time without COVID. Like colds and flu, it is going to be part of life. The good news is that for most people the vaccines and/or previous infection prevent severe illness and death. This is not the case for people with multiple comorbidities, but those people need to be concerned about all illnesses, not just COVID.
To avoid ever getting COVID will require constant vigilance, forever avoiding crowds, airplanes etc., and wearing an N95 or KN95 mask when venturing into those situations. Even then, there are no guarantees.
As I mentioned in another post, my husband has leukemia and kidney failure and had been hospitalized for various other problems, too, and between hospitalizations he's been in a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) short-stay rehab unit. Every time he has a discharge date lined up something else happens to him to necessitate another trip to the hospital and prolonging his stay in the SNF afterwards. He hasn't been home since Labor Day weekend.
Everywhere he goes, there's a mask mandate, and in some of these places, like the leukemia unit in the hospital, the protocol is for everyone, even visitors, entering the room they have to wear not only a mask but also gloves, the yellow disposable paper gowns, and many people also choose to wear the face shield, too. In the nursing center it's masks and gloves, gowns when in quarantine, and in dialysis it's mask for clients, mask and gloves for nursing staff. At the cancer center, everyone is masked, with the staff wearing those KN95 or N95 masks, and many of them wear at least one of the disposable masks over that. And hand sanitizer dispensers are located outside of ever door and every few feet in hallways in all these places, and everyone uses them freely and frequently. Most of the nurses wear little bottles of them on a lanyard or clipped to their pockets. You can't even register at the cancer center's reception desk without a mask and lathering up.
Not only did my husband test positive for 2 different strains of Influenza A in early December, but 10 days ago tested positive for covid. He's been in a private room in the hospital and the care center since September 1st, staff has always been covered up according to that facility's protocols, and as a leukemia patient, strict protocols are always followed when staff is near him. The germs are just in the air, on everyday objects. They're unavoidable.
To be honest, he only knew he had covid because of the weekly testing done on everyone in the rehab center. He finally started getting his strength back from the debilitating flu that sapped every ounce of energy he had for a month, and was finally getting his appetite back. His legs are stronger and he's walking again with a walker and assistance. Before the flu he was already walking and doing stairs without even a cane. He was going
home in 2 days! Aside from the lousy cough that's lingering, he feels better than he had in over a month. He laughed when they told him he was positive for covid, because he feels so much better now. He's so frustrated because he's missing out on badly needed strenuous physical therapy that will allow him to walk by himself again, to climb stairs, to care for himself. They've just been doing gentle exercises in the bedroom.
He can't wait until quarantine is over so he can get back to the gym and working out on the bike, weights, and doing the stairs again. He wants to finally get out of that place! At least once he's in a private home again he'll be less exposed to those nasties floating around the air and hopefully get through the rest of the winter without any more communicable diseases, especially during chemo rounds.
