Coronavirus Concerns

I went to the beach Monday it was beautiful out. Place wasn’t to packed. But we headed out around 2 when it was starting to get busy anyway.

That one worked. Thanks.
Yup that sucks. It happens with every virus. It’s a gamble.

 

There have been studies of mask use, in case people were interested:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7191274/

Cliffs notes version:

 

Went to lunch today.
This was outside the restaurant.

 

If interested and now might be a good time. Amazon has lifted it restrictions on most reusable respirators. I don’t know what the price was before, but def seems like a reasonable price to me.
Managed to get 2x respirator, reusable filter plate covers, reusable filter plate and port caps for under $70.

Considering I’ve seen prices such as $10 for 2-3 KN95 masks. The reusable respirators don’t seem so bad..

Break down:

Respirator $20 x2 = $40
Reusable filter cover pair $10
Reusable filter base pair $10
Filter port cap $5 x2 = $10

The reusable filter pieces come in pairs so you can split them to 2x masks. You can use disposable masks cut or folded in half In place of the “factory” filters. For the n95 specific mask the most disposable n95 masks can be cut in half and used as the filter.

If you are looking for additional protection, a Canister set can be bought for around $13. You then use the same reusable filter cover and place a disposable filter piece on top of the canister and use the cover to hold in place.

*** While these ideas are outside of normal manufactures recommendations, if you really dig into the “emergency use authorizations and guidance” from the manufactures websites they are showing similar setups. The biggest difference in my use is the single canister/ filter setup. Multiple reasons to use only one including resource conservation, enabling check welds, etc. All things to look into IMO ***

 

Anything new in the Forum Covid world?

 

In Southeast Missouri, we are still having multiple admissions of COVID-19 cases at the hospital I work at. It seems to be trending down and we are administering many doses of vaccines (Phizer and Moderna) to the staff and public. Mask wearing is surprisingly compliant in public for the stubbornest area of the Show-Me state. Hopefully on the way of getting things more under control. November and December were definitely crisis mode at our hospital and the hospital across town, with so many positive cases and staff coming down with that crud too. Many deaths, but many more recoveries. Got my first vaccine dose last week with no issues except for a sore arm for a couple of days. Glad to see things getting better, I think!

 

It seems all my friends and relatives that are nurses have had it. Most near my age seems to have a hard time with it. My youngest in his twenties did not even notice it other than losing sense of smell.
Wife is getting her first shot today because of a health issue. I am not yet 65 with no issues so will be further down the line. She is pretty paranoid about it.

 

I got the rona a few weeks ago. It sucked...and still kinda sucks.

bright side I should be able to go get an antibody test and possibly donate some plasma to the cause.

 

Yeah 3 weeks past testing positive and no taste or smell back. Still have the shortness of breath and some headaches as well.

 

it definitely came as a surprise. I consider myself in decent health too. Maybe a couple lbs to lose but 4 days a week in the gym, miles of walking and hiking regularly, decent jogging pace. Now I'm stuck having to sit down and take a few deep breaths just walking up the stairs.

 

It really hits some people pretty hard.

 

Our area has been interesting. Cases have been rising steadily along with deaths. However, very few people wear mask or even social distance. I’d say no more than 2 in 10 wear masks in public. I’ve had several occasions where people got visibly irritated because I stepped back to distance myself. It’s been a study in human nature. Few indications there’s a pandemic. I’ve known several people personally who have died recently. Even know people with immediate family who have died but they haven’t changed any behavior and are adamant they won’t.

 

I still haven't been to work due to covid, for 3 months now. Went and got x-rays of my lungs 3 weeks ago, and the doc called and said the right lung looked good, but the left lung still had patches that hadn't healed yet. Told me to come back and get x-rayed again in 3 weeks. That was yesterday, which I did do, and was hoping for a call from the doc today to tell me the results, but I never got the call. Have to worry until Monday I guess.

 

I’m staying out of the office until death rate per day falls significantly in the state.

Cases have been dropping so I figure in a couple weeks deaths will drop also.
If cases aren’t spiking up again with the new variants at the time I’ll go to the office more.