Coronavirus in Massachusetts (going out of business, home, tenant)

[lrfox]

My fiancee was in NYC with some friends Friday-Sunday and we were out to a few breweries and a restaurant in Boston on Monday. She tested positive yesterday, I tested negative. I have another test scheduled for tomorrow and I'd be fairly surprised if it didn't come back positive. She's asymptomatic apart from some sniffles which she's had for the better part of a month. I'm fine too.

Silver lining (assuming we both test positive, anyway) is that we're traveling out of the country in 3 weeks and the country we're visiting has a negative test before entry requirement, regardless of COVID status. So the timing is fine (we canceled this weekend's plans which I'm not mad about). We should also be able to get an exemption for the negative test requirement for our return to the U.S. which will save us about $50-100 and a good chunk of time on our trip.

[bizcuit]

I just heard that my 90 year old father just tested positive (he's in NM). I haven't spoken to him yet, so don't have too many details, but apparently feels fine at the moment.

[porterhouse]

Fingers crossed your father continues to feel fine.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by bizcuit

I just heard that my 90 year old father just tested positive (he's in NM). I haven't spoken to him yet, so don't have too many details, but apparently feels fine at the moment.

Best of luck, I'm glad he's asymptomatic at the moment.

[msRB311]

I feel like articles like this are keeping the fear alive:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/01/...tate-pandemic/

It's a bit surprising to me that an ER dr would go to her kids school at lunch to take him out to eat lunch in her car. She must work nights or doesn't work much...it sends a bad message to other parents who maybe don't have the option of going to their kids school at lunch and probably just makes others nervous in general as this woman is an ER doctor.

She obviously wants others to know what she is doing with her kid as she agreed to be in the globe. The kids are school for 8 hours a day as well....

[BostonMike7]

At this point, among my circle of peers, it's a question of who hasn't had Covid?

Seems like every family I know has had one case. Sometimes it spreads within the household, sometimes it doesn't. My entire extended family had it last week. Coworkers had/have it. Fortunately not one person has had it seriously, but most of my peers are under 45.

My immediate household actually has not had it yet (or at least knew we had it). Feel like it's more luck than anything we are doing. Still going out to dinner, on mini-trips, having peer playdates and I've been socializing at work with going out to lunch.

I honestly don't care either way at this point. Obviously i don't want to get it due to the interruption it would cause in daily life, but I'm not really taking any measures to prevent it at this point. If masks weren't required, i wouldn't wear one. I'm not going to make a big deal about that though.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

At this point, among my circle of peers, it's a question of who hasn't had Covid?

Seems like every family I know has had one case. Sometimes it spreads within the household, sometimes it doesn't. My entire extended family had it last week. Coworkers had/have it. Fortunately not one person has had it seriously, but most of my peers are under 45.

My immediate household actually has not had it yet (or at least knew we had it). Feel like it's more luck than anything we are doing. Still going out to dinner, on mini-trips, having peer playdates and I've been socializing at work with going out to lunch.

I honestly don't care either way at this point. Obviously i don't want to get it due to the interruption it would cause in daily life, but I'm not really taking any measures to prevent it at this point. If masks weren't required, i wouldn't wear one. I'm not going to make a big deal about that though.

This is about the same for us too, I know more people who have had it than haven't. We've been operating under the assumption that we'll get it at some point. It seems like that point has arrived (I was tested this AM). Up until now, we have been doing the basics (we've boosted/vaxxed, regularly testing, wearing masks where required, etc.) but generally continuing to live our lives - seeing friends, going skiing, going out to bars, restaurants, breweries, traveling, etc. Now that my fiancee is positive, we're obviously isolating at home (I technically don't have to since I haven't tested positive and I'm vaxxed/boosted, but I am working from home all week and have canceled weekend plans). She has sniffles, I have no symptoms, and as soon as we're both able, we'll continue living our lives again.

[lrfox]

According to the state’s new data, about half of the current hospitalized cases are “incidental,” or hospitalized for something other than COVID and just happened to also test positive. The article is behind a paywall: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/01/...ate-data-show/

Here are a few key takeaways:

• 51 percent of COVID hospitalizations in Massachusetts on Tuesday were patients who were seriously ill from the virus, while 49 percent of patients were admitted for other reasons but happened to test positive upon admission.
• To identify patients admitted for COVID-19, the Baker administration is using the drug dexamethasone as a proxy.
• State epidemiologist Dr. Catherine Brown told the Globe dexamethasone is the current standard treatment for the illness and is given to at least 90 percent of patients seriously sickened by the virus.
• The state is considering patients as being hospitalized for COVID-19 if they tested positive and were also treated with dexamethasone. Those who test positive but do not receive dexamethasone will be counted as incidental.
• But some hospital officials said COVID-positive patients who are not receiving dexamethasone are still acutely ill with other issues, and even those whose symptoms are not acute but test positive may still require significant care, especially those with psychiatric issues who may not understand why they are being isolated for infection control.

[rach5]

Originally Posted by lrfox

According to the state’s new data, about half of the current hospitalized cases are “incidental,” or hospitalized for something other than COVID and just happened to also test positive. The article is behind a paywall: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/01/...ate-data-show/

Here are a few key takeaways:

• 51 percent of COVID hospitalizations in Massachusetts on Tuesday were patients who were seriously ill from the virus, while 49 percent of patients were admitted for other reasons but happened to test positive upon admission.
• To identify patients admitted for COVID-19, the Baker administration is using the drug dexamethasone as a proxy.
• State epidemiologist Dr. Catherine Brown told the Globe dexamethasone is the current standard treatment for the illness and is given to at least 90 percent of patients seriously sickened by the virus.
• The state is considering patients as being hospitalized for COVID-19 if they tested positive and were also treated with dexamethasone. Those who test positive but do not receive dexamethasone will be counted as incidental.
• But some hospital officials said COVID-positive patients who are not receiving dexamethasone are still acutely ill with other issues, and even those whose symptoms are not acute but test positive may still require significant care, especially those with psychiatric issues who may not understand why they are being isolated for infection control.

To the extent that covid (and perhaps especially Omicron!) may be a vascular disease, this new classification is misleading. So if you have a PE or stroke due to covid, it would be classified as incidental. If you end up in kidney failure due to covid, you'll be classified as incidental. This new with vs for is meant to deal with the fact that hospitalizations (and deaths!) have been so incredibly high yet again that it just doesn't "look good" for those who have been saying for months that cases don't matter, only hospitalizations and deaths matter, in order to keep the economy wide open. They are massaging the data to fit the message.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by rach5

To the extent that covid (and perhaps especially Omicron!) may be a vascular disease, this new classification is misleading. So if you have a PE or stroke due to covid, it would be classified as incidental. If you end up in kidney failure due to covid, you'll be classified as incidental. This new with vs for is meant to deal with the fact that hospitalizations (and deaths!) have been so incredibly high yet again that it just doesn't "look good" for those who have been saying for months that cases don't matter, only hospitalizations and deaths matter, in order to keep the economy wide open. They are massaging the data to fit the message.

I don't know that it's an effort to massage the data to fit the message. The criteria makes it pretty clear that the classification is imperfect. It's right there in the numbers - people treated with dexamethasone are placed in the "from" category. That's the only criteria. However, since "at least 90% of seriously sickened individuals" are treated with dexamethasone, that leaves room for up to 10% of "seriously sickened individuals" to be categorized as being hospitalized "with," even if COVID was the primary reason for the hospitalization. That's a pretty significant number and the state is transparent about it. Regarding the PE, kidney failure, or stroke from COVID examples, I'd be curious to see numbers on how many of those are out there and whether or not they would significantly change the from/with data. Furthermore, are we certain that they wouldn't also be treated with dexamethasone assuming they're COVID positive when they arrive (and thus categorized as "with")?

Even if the margin of error is as high as 15%, it's still pretty clear that a very significant number of people who are COVID positive and hospitalized are not hospitalized for COVID related reasons. It's also pretty clear that the even with "mild" Omicron, COVID is placing an outsized strain on hospitals.