Okay, I know the virus has actually been out there a while. And yes, I am monitoring the bird flu situation in a professional capacity.
While the vaccine currently out there is not perfect, it is better than the alternative to getting vaccinated: nothing. I urge you — both personally and professionally — keep your hands clean, get vaccinated, and stay home if you are sick. Remember that year we did a lot of things to keep from getting COVID? The flu rate sure was low that year!
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.
