A friend's kids (4 and almost 1) have also just had it. Looks like the eldest brought it home from preschool. All mild, fortunately.
It's not over. Rates in my area are now down to where they were at the end of July. Still going down a bit, which is good, but still fairly present. (I also suspect there are a lot more unreported cases now than in July, because there are a lot more home tests around now, so fewer people are getting "official" tests.)
More testing= more cases?
In total nine choir members have tested positive, so rehearsal was cancelled this week.
The idea behind looking at the test positivity rate was as a way of helping to answer the question "how many cases are we missing", although I think your thought process changes a bit depending on whether your tests are mostly people who think they might be sick, or are mostly people taking routine screening tests.
It also depends a bit on the lifestyle of the people you know. I wouldn't be surprised to find a bigger uptick in the set of people who have been fairly good at following instructions to mask & distance, but are now going back to their old habits as the rules have been removed.
In NZ it's definitely not over. There were 21,015 new cases today, and there are845 people in hospital. It seems that Auckland (the largest city) has reached it's peak while the rest of the country is a week or so behind.
It's not over. Rates in my area are now down to where they were at the end of July. Still going down a bit, which is good, but still fairly present. (I also suspect there are a lot more unreported cases now than in July, because there are a lot more home tests around now, so fewer people are getting "official" tests.)
But, here the home tests should also be reported. Though it would surprise me if everyone reported their negative tests.
I don't think the health authorities here have a facility to accept reports from home tests. I'm completely certain that what happens in practice is that someone gets a positive test, and calls in to their employer / school saying "I just got a positive Covid test" and then quarantines for a bit, and they never become a statistic. (Our local schools do keep records of the number of pupils off with Covid, but don't report cases to anywhere else.)
At-home tests have been much less of a thing in the US - they haven't been very available, and until recently, schools and employers all wanted a PCR to confirm Covid, so everyone was getting an "official" test and getting in the system.
Probably the most useful thing would be weekly surveillance of the municipal sewer system in cities scattered around the country, because it's hard to bias that.
Probably the most useful thing would be weekly surveillance of the municipal sewer system in cities scattered around the country, because it's hard to bias that.
That is one oft the measures used here, but people are expected to report both negative and positive RATs here.
Never thought that we'd be saying how great wee cuppies are. We're continuing with them and Madame and I hope that's the position for some time. The Catholic church has cut out the cup for all save the celebrant, and doesn't approve of wee cuppies.
It's interesting to see that while masks are no longer compulsory when out of the house, almost everyone around where we live still uses them when near other people. When we're out walking, we wear them around our necks so we can quickly cover our mouths and noses when we see others approaching. The class of those less likely to wear them are the late-teens, -early 20's (they're naturally immune as you'd understand).
I always report my LFTs - I sort of assumed that was part of the point.
Yes, and the big statement across at least some of the boxes of the things saying "Always report your results on the NHS app" (or, something like that) strongly suggest that.
But, I'm also a scientist and I can see the value in having as much data as possible, and the proportion of tests that are positive is an important metric. Which does require reporting of all results so that that data is available, my guess (ie: what I'd do) is to have developed a robust method to account for under-reporting of negative tests. If I could be bothered, I could probably find a body of literature on methods to do that.
I have always reported my twice-weekly LFTs here in Engerland.
Right throughout the pandemic they have ben -ve. Until a fortnight ago, when they weren't and it was confirmed by PCR.
My OH had it the week before me - he didn't really know he was ill, just had a bit more of a cough than usual.
I, OTOH, got the lot. And my LFT was still showing a very faint positive line on Day 10.
It isn't a cold, people...neither is it flu...
It is best avoided, in hy opinion.
Our church does not yet use the common cup, just communion in one kind, but our vicar has just tested positive( again). Church choir practice has been cancelled as a precaution. That’s as well as my local choir, cancelled after nine cases. I am due to sing in a concert ( with yet another choir) next week, but I may well withdraw. I want to try to stay safe.
At one point I was doing tests quite often, but now charges are looming I'm only doing them when I'm off to visit my mother in her care home. Those I do report, I didn't report a few of the others, though I would have done if they had been positive.
I hope you start to feel better soon @St Everild .
It's interesting to see that while masks are no longer compulsory when out of the house, almost everyone around where we live still uses them when near other people. When we're out walking, we wear them around our necks so we can quickly cover our mouths and noses when we see others approaching. The class of those less likely to wear them are the late-teens, -early 20's (they're naturally immune as you'd understand).
Went to a high school choir concert last night. The audience (fairly well spaced out) was about 50% masked and 50% not. Of the choirs, about 80% of the girls wore masks, about 20% of the boys wore masks. Apparently this gender split is fairly reflective of the school as a whole - it must be manly to infect other people with your virus or something.
Went to a high school choir concert last night. The audience (fairly well spaced out) was about 50% masked and 50% not. Of the choirs, about 80% of the girls wore masks, about 20% of the boys wore masks. Apparently this gender split is fairly reflective of the school as a whole - it must be manly to infect other people with your virus or something.
We're in the lucky place between Dlet's school concert years, and those of any children he may have. I'd suspect that any audience here (and by "here" I mean our part of our city, can't speak of elsewhere) would be close on 100% masked, with the same proportion triple-vaccinated. Not noticed any gender split in wearing at any age.
My husband has a home health care person who comes once a week. She goes to a nursing home the day before her visit and she was always tested there. She wore a mask while in our house. She told us last week that they are no longer testing her at the nursing home, and yesterday we received a letter saying that home health aids will no longer be required to wear a mask. I feel fairly alright with this, as there have been no new cases reported in our area for the last 3 days. I still plan to mask up when I go out. I also think I will be skipping the common cup at communion as well. With my health issues and Mr. Image not well, I do not even want the common cold.
Let the matrimonial war between me *flings windows wide open, extols ventilation* and my husband *complains about draughts, goes round closing windows* commence!!
Isolate him in one room and leave him to it! Food at the door etc. Seriously, sorry you have to cope with this. So glad you got the wedding over first.
Let the matrimonial war between me *flings windows wide open, extols ventilation* and my husband *complains about draughts, goes round closing windows* commence!!
When him indoors was positive, just like Cathscart said, we put him on one room on his own and left him to it.
With occasional cups of tea and food on a tray, we never starved him....
So sorry to hear that, NEQ - are there any other casualties after the wedding?
One of my nephews and one of my nieces (and two of the littlies - his son and her daughter) have just tested positive - my nephew reckons his son (the Adorable Archie) probably brought it home from nursery.
I understand the kids haven't got it too badly, but my nephew has felt like he'd been hit by a bus.
So sorry to hear that, NEQ - are there any other casualties after the wedding?
Alas, yes. All guests were asked to do a LFT on the morning of the wedding, but one guest came up the night before and had forgotten to pack one. Tested positive once back home. We are pretty sure that's who smit the NE Man, as he was chatting to Guest Zero over breakfast the next day. Three others at the same table have also tested positive since (one is the partner of Guest Zero, so would probably have got it from Guest Zero even if they hadn't been at the wedding.)
Another guest has since tested positive, but she wasn't in direct contact with Guest Zero. It's more likely that she caught it at work, or from commuting.
Main problem for me yesterday was that Guest Zero is feeling guilty and constantly messaging. But there's no guarantee that a LFT on the morning of the wedding would have been positive anyway. We are certainly not holding it against Guest Zero. It helps that everyone so far is just experiencing it as a nasty cold.
Yes, and and there may well have been other guests with covid at the time, despite negative lfts; some might have been too early in the cycle or have false negatives. I, personally, would assume any reasonably large social gathering would have some covid positive attendees and that routine testing is just mitigation.
Two of the choirs I sing with have cancelled rehearsals because of Covid cases, so it is over two weeks since I have been inside anywhere with other people, apart from the supermarket. My other choir has a concert tomorrow and I am just hoping that I avoid any Covid- affected people. If I don’t go, I might as well withdraw from all social life and that is too much to ask. Most of the population are carrying on as normal, it seems.
I currently have post-pandemic anxiety and depression, exacerbated by war breaking out at the same time my depression kicked in (I have bipolar disorder so am vulnerable to these sort of disturbances to routine life). Whilst I wear a mask where it is socially expected (I would on a bus, for instance) I have otherwise returned to my normal activities to protect my mental health. I am about to start a course of treatment (CBT) for my bipolar disorder for the first time in over 20 years and that is entirely due to the pandemic.
I've had a routine retinal scan postponed due to staff being needed elsewhere. Actually I'm quite relieved as I would have needed two buses to get there and I'm trying to limit my exposure to people as Christchurch case numbers are growing here.
Auckland, NZ's largest city seems to have reached peak number of cases, hospital numbers have yet to do so.
My first day out with mask requirements lifted. Went to the lab for blood draws, the mask was required, but rather than waiting outside as in the past, they had 6 feet apart seating inside. Next to the bank, no mask required but tellers still with masks and behind shields. Next to the drug store, no masks are required, staff in the pharmacy still wearing them. Last to appliance store no customers or staff masked, except for me. So it is a very mixed bag, in the new normal. I am guessing I will be masking up for sometime now.
Mr Nen and I were away at the weekend and it seemed to be the local ethos not to wear masks. In the supermarket, for example, there were only a few people who were masking; one of them was me. The last time I went to our nearest supermarket, I'd say around two thirds of people were masked, although that may be changing. Virtually no one in the place we were staying wore one. But for the two day course we were on we had been asked to take lateral flows before coming, and as we were the only people using the building the windows and doors of the room we were in were kept open. Mr Nen's of the opinion that we have to accept we're all going to get it at some point and I don't know what to think about that.
I just think of the number of booked appointments that have to be cancelled/ rescheduled if this old trout falls over ( bugger the sick leave ; 300+ hrs accumulated🙀)
My neighbours are still in turmoil over it, as dad and 3 kids have had covid, but mum has had to move out, as immunosuppressed. I feel enraged when people say it's over, and mask wearing is dropping in all the shops.
Today is Day 4 for me. I'm had both jabs, plus got the booster last December. My health is good, I have no underlying conditions.
I've been in bed for four days, totally wiped out for the first three, and mostly wiped out today . This morning I had my first shower since Saturday, and the effort of going upstairs to the shower brought on such a fit of coughing I had to stop twice to catch my breath.
I'm in a bit of a quandary. Covid cases in my state are on the increase. Yesterday the disaster recovery centre was given the rule that everyone working there was to wear masks. The centre director said it would not be enforced and maybe less than half the workers there wore masks. I'm double vaccinated plus a single booster, but in the older age group and have had quadruple bypass surgery.
However, wearing a mask interferes with chaplaincy communication and so I rarely wear a mask. In any case, for my protection its more the other person who should wear a mask, and people calling for help at the centre rarely wear masks.
One good practice, especially with men, but I am also doing so with women, is to sit beside them rather than facing them.
I respect and value what you are doing @LatchKeyKid, but be aware that anyone with impaired hearing may need to see your lips and facial expression in order to understand what you are saying.
I wasn't looking for sympathy, but trying to express surprise at how much this has hit me.
I've been masking, using hand san etc etc mainly as a good citizen trying to protect the more vulnerable. Given that I'm surprisingly healthy for a fat (or as I prefer "well-nourished") middle aged woman, and I'm tripled jabbed, I expected Covid to be "like a nasty cold."
I expected it to be unpleasant, but with compensations such as snuggling up with hot chocolate and a good book, or finally getting round to watching "Inventing Anna" in my PJs and dressing gown.
Reader, the pages of my book swam in front of me, and sitting up made me cough.
I'm continuing to improve. This morning I went upstairs to the shower without coughing and washed my hair till it squeaked. Back in bed now.
I'm in a bit of a quandary. Covid cases in my state are on the increase. Yesterday the disaster recovery centre was given the rule that everyone working there was to wear masks. The centre director said it would not be enforced and maybe less than half the workers there wore masks. I'm double vaccinated plus a single booster, but in the older age group and have had quadruple bypass surgery.
However, wearing a mask interferes with chaplaincy communication and so I rarely wear a mask. In any case, for my protection its more the other person who should wear a mask, and people calling for help at the centre rarely wear masks.
One good practice, especially with men, but I am also doing so with women, is to sit beside them rather than facing them.
Have you considered a clear visor - you can get transparent face masks but they tend to mist up, so I think a visor is a better bet people you are supporting who have a hearing impairment.
Have you considered a clear visor - you can get transparent face masks but they tend to mist up, so I think a visor is a better bet people you are supporting who have a hearing impairment.
Probably not as good as a well fit mask, but better than nothing at all.
We regularly visit a relation in a nursing home. Masks are compulsory, of course, but you cannot wear one of your own - they must be those the home hands out (they look identical but the staff know that they're new rather than worn out by prior usage). We also have to wear a clear face mask, slightly longer than our faces. The masks fit closely to your forehead with a strip of foam. They do fog up but you quickly get used to it. It does make walking feel odd to start with, your feet aren't quite where you think they are.
Loss of hearing in one ear has caused chaos with communication, but we live in a small village and I ‘ve got the hang of listening to loud farmers now. Plus our roads are not busy.
Away for a week in a nearby town, lots of mask-wearing and I have got Not A Clue what folk are saying. Plus roads are v busy.
Becoming (very) hard of hearing during Covid is proving to be no fun & occasionally very dangerous.
I'm in a bit of a quandary. Covid cases in my state are on the increase. Yesterday the disaster recovery centre was given the rule that everyone working there was to wear masks. The centre director said it would not be enforced and maybe less than half the workers there wore masks. I'm double vaccinated plus a single booster, but in the older age group and have had quadruple bypass surgery.
However, wearing a mask interferes with chaplaincy communication and so I rarely wear a mask. In any case, for my protection its more the other person who should wear a mask, and people calling for help at the centre rarely wear masks.
One good practice, especially with men, but I am also doing so with women, is to sit beside them rather than facing them.
Hi LatchKeyKid,
Ventilation might be an alternative/additional way of making things safer - have you considered getting a CO2 monitor - more about that here from the UK Health and Safety executive -
Loss of hearing in one ear has caused chaos with communication, but we live in a small village and I ‘ve got the hang of listening to loud farmers now. Plus our roads are not busy.
Away for a week in a nearby town, lots of mask-wearing and I have got Not A Clue what folk are saying. Plus roads are v busy.
Becoming (very) hard of hearing during Covid is proving to be no fun & occasionally very dangerous.
In solidarity Ethne Alba. I lost a hearing aid, then had weeks while I waited for a replacement then further weeks waiting for a better earmold. Now I'm waiting for a better earmold for the other ear.
It takes 6 weeks because they come from Australia and Covid has made shipping more difficult than than in the past.
We have a busy couple of weeks ahead and I'm very anxious about it all from a virus point of view. Tomorrow we are going to a wedding blessing which involves an evening buffet meal. Next week we are heading north to attend Nenlet2's graduation and that will be the biggest indoor crowd of people I've been part of since well before lockdown. After that we are heading back south and taking in a conference on the way home. The following weekend is Nenlet1's wedding anniversary party. These are all great things to be doing. What keeps me awake at night is the knowledge that the virus could strike one or both of us at any point and scupper things. First world problems, I know.
Comments
It's not over. Rates in my area are now down to where they were at the end of July. Still going down a bit, which is good, but still fairly present. (I also suspect there are a lot more unreported cases now than in July, because there are a lot more home tests around now, so fewer people are getting "official" tests.)
In total nine choir members have tested positive, so rehearsal was cancelled this week.
The idea behind looking at the test positivity rate was as a way of helping to answer the question "how many cases are we missing", although I think your thought process changes a bit depending on whether your tests are mostly people who think they might be sick, or are mostly people taking routine screening tests.
It also depends a bit on the lifestyle of the people you know. I wouldn't be surprised to find a bigger uptick in the set of people who have been fairly good at following instructions to mask & distance, but are now going back to their old habits as the rules have been removed.
At-home tests have been much less of a thing in the US - they haven't been very available, and until recently, schools and employers all wanted a PCR to confirm Covid, so everyone was getting an "official" test and getting in the system.
Probably the most useful thing would be weekly surveillance of the municipal sewer system in cities scattered around the country, because it's hard to bias that.
That is one oft the measures used here, but people are expected to report both negative and positive RATs here.
I’d be very worried personally - I wouldn’t partake for a while yet sadly.
It's interesting to see that while masks are no longer compulsory when out of the house, almost everyone around where we live still uses them when near other people. When we're out walking, we wear them around our necks so we can quickly cover our mouths and noses when we see others approaching. The class of those less likely to wear them are the late-teens, -early 20's (they're naturally immune as you'd understand).
But, I'm also a scientist and I can see the value in having as much data as possible, and the proportion of tests that are positive is an important metric. Which does require reporting of all results so that that data is available, my guess (ie: what I'd do) is to have developed a robust method to account for under-reporting of negative tests. If I could be bothered, I could probably find a body of literature on methods to do that.
Right throughout the pandemic they have ben -ve. Until a fortnight ago, when they weren't and it was confirmed by PCR.
My OH had it the week before me - he didn't really know he was ill, just had a bit more of a cough than usual.
I, OTOH, got the lot. And my LFT was still showing a very faint positive line on Day 10.
It isn't a cold, people...neither is it flu...
It is best avoided, in hy opinion.
I hope you start to feel better soon @St Everild .
Went to a high school choir concert last night. The audience (fairly well spaced out) was about 50% masked and 50% not. Of the choirs, about 80% of the girls wore masks, about 20% of the boys wore masks. Apparently this gender split is fairly reflective of the school as a whole - it must be manly to infect other people with your virus or something.
We're in the lucky place between Dlet's school concert years, and those of any children he may have. I'd suspect that any audience here (and by "here" I mean our part of our city, can't speak of elsewhere) would be close on 100% masked, with the same proportion triple-vaccinated. Not noticed any gender split in wearing at any age.
Let the matrimonial war between me *flings windows wide open, extols ventilation* and my husband *complains about draughts, goes round closing windows* commence!!
When him indoors was positive, just like Cathscart said, we put him on one room on his own and left him to it.
With occasional cups of tea and food on a tray, we never starved him....
One of my nephews and one of my nieces (and two of the littlies - his son and her daughter) have just tested positive - my nephew reckons his son (the Adorable Archie) probably brought it home from nursery.
I understand the kids haven't got it too badly, but my nephew has felt like he'd been hit by a bus.
Alas, yes. All guests were asked to do a LFT on the morning of the wedding, but one guest came up the night before and had forgotten to pack one. Tested positive once back home. We are pretty sure that's who smit the NE Man, as he was chatting to Guest Zero over breakfast the next day. Three others at the same table have also tested positive since (one is the partner of Guest Zero, so would probably have got it from Guest Zero even if they hadn't been at the wedding.)
Another guest has since tested positive, but she wasn't in direct contact with Guest Zero. It's more likely that she caught it at work, or from commuting.
Main problem for me yesterday was that Guest Zero is feeling guilty and constantly messaging. But there's no guarantee that a LFT on the morning of the wedding would have been positive anyway. We are certainly not holding it against Guest Zero. It helps that everyone so far is just experiencing it as a nasty cold.
I've had a routine retinal scan postponed due to staff being needed elsewhere. Actually I'm quite relieved as I would have needed two buses to get there and I'm trying to limit my exposure to people as Christchurch case numbers are growing here.
Auckland, NZ's largest city seems to have reached peak number of cases, hospital numbers have yet to do so.
Mr Nen and I were away at the weekend and it seemed to be the local ethos not to wear masks. In the supermarket, for example, there were only a few people who were masking; one of them was me. The last time I went to our nearest supermarket, I'd say around two thirds of people were masked, although that may be changing. Virtually no one in the place we were staying wore one. But for the two day course we were on we had been asked to take lateral flows before coming, and as we were the only people using the building the windows and doors of the room we were in were kept open. Mr Nen's of the opinion that we have to accept we're all going to get it at some point and I don't know what to think about that.
It's all over, aye right.
I've been in bed for four days, totally wiped out for the first three, and mostly wiped out today . This morning I had my first shower since Saturday, and the effort of going upstairs to the shower brought on such a fit of coughing I had to stop twice to catch my breath.
However, wearing a mask interferes with chaplaincy communication and so I rarely wear a mask. In any case, for my protection its more the other person who should wear a mask, and people calling for help at the centre rarely wear masks.
One good practice, especially with men, but I am also doing so with women, is to sit beside them rather than facing them.
I wasn't looking for sympathy, but trying to express surprise at how much this has hit me.
I've been masking, using hand san etc etc mainly as a good citizen trying to protect the more vulnerable. Given that I'm surprisingly healthy for a fat (or as I prefer "well-nourished") middle aged woman, and I'm tripled jabbed, I expected Covid to be "like a nasty cold."
I expected it to be unpleasant, but with compensations such as snuggling up with hot chocolate and a good book, or finally getting round to watching "Inventing Anna" in my PJs and dressing gown.
Reader, the pages of my book swam in front of me, and sitting up made me cough.
I'm continuing to improve. This morning I went upstairs to the shower without coughing and washed my hair till it squeaked. Back in bed now.
Have you considered a clear visor - you can get transparent face masks but they tend to mist up, so I think a visor is a better bet people you are supporting who have a hearing impairment.
This sort of thing or perhaps this
Probably not as good as a well fit mask, but better than nothing at all.
We regularly visit a relation in a nursing home. Masks are compulsory, of course, but you cannot wear one of your own - they must be those the home hands out (they look identical but the staff know that they're new rather than worn out by prior usage). We also have to wear a clear face mask, slightly longer than our faces. The masks fit closely to your forehead with a strip of foam. They do fog up but you quickly get used to it. It does make walking feel odd to start with, your feet aren't quite where you think they are.
Away for a week in a nearby town, lots of mask-wearing and I have got Not A Clue what folk are saying. Plus roads are v busy.
Becoming (very) hard of hearing during Covid is proving to be no fun & occasionally very dangerous.
Hi LatchKeyKid,
Ventilation might be an alternative/additional way of making things safer - have you considered getting a CO2 monitor - more about that here from the UK Health and Safety executive -
Ventilation during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
If they're suitable, they're not that expensive
In solidarity Ethne Alba. I lost a hearing aid, then had weeks while I waited for a replacement then further weeks waiting for a better earmold. Now I'm waiting for a better earmold for the other ear.
It takes 6 weeks because they come from Australia and Covid has made shipping more difficult than than in the past.