And so we drag over the two year mark with COVID. More variants, more sickness, more cases. And things will “likely get worse” according to experts. I have seem greater numbers in my facility, and “surprise” cases (we test on admit, thankfully). Objectively, we have more cases now than when we tried to lock down! Notice I said tried, because obviously it didn’t work out as planned.
Nevertheless, the CDC has changed guidelines to make it easier for people to get back to work. Or if you’re more cynical, to make it easier for companies to force people to get back to work. Nurses — both union and not — came out against. Other unions, including flight attendants, came out against. Will that change anything? Not known.
For the record, my company has a policy saying don’t come to work of you have a fever, productive cough, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized rash, conjunctivitis, or have been instructed to quarantine. People who are sick should stay home, period. Don’t try to soldier through, because you’ll both do a halfway job and potentially make other sick. I encourage everyone to follow this sane advice even outside a pandemic.
There is good news, however. The influenza rate is sharply down over the pre-panda era. In my area, we’ve had less than two dozen hospitalizations and (so far, knock on wood) no deaths. In fact, one line of influenza may be extinct!
Keep your hands clean and your masks on, folks. The mask goes over the nose, by the way.
