Masks forever? | Imamother

amother

Phlox

Wed, May 17 2023, 3:47 pm

amother Milk wrote:

In the NY hospital I work in, they are not required any longer on most floors, unless you're going into a room that has a patient on contact precautions. (They're still required in the ED, ICU, surgery etc).
I will say that vast majority of nurses still wear them.
I sometimes do and sometimes don't.

That was always. We’ve had many admissions prior to Covid where anyone walking into our PICU rm had to mask and gown up bec dc had rhino entero virus (common cold). Not even talking about rsv or flu.

Eta wasn’t required across the board and not required anymore unless a patient is on contact precautions or neutropenic.
Obviously you work in a different hospital than the one we are residents in Wink

amother

Ultramarine

Wed, May 17 2023, 3:51 pm

amother Candycane wrote:

Please try to be kind - as I've been saying for quite a while now, I'm happy for those of you who get to be done with Covid, but for me and my house this is an ongoing situation. Same for those dealing with immune issues or serious medical issues.

The point is, not everyone is simply "choosing" to be cautious - some people may be acting this way because they need to for health reasons, either their own or those of their loved ones. I'd love to be done with Covid! I'm sure others who can't would love to be too. But, since we can't, please at least don't make us feel worse than we already may/do.

It’s no longer dangerous even to you. Did you see the new articles that said most deaths were from the respirators?

amother

Lemon

Wed, May 17 2023, 3:52 pm

amother Candycane wrote:

It's not about being done with covid. It's the fact that masks never worked, never will and there's finally research to substantiate what common sense knew back in the beginning.

amother

Candycane

Wed, May 17 2023, 3:59 pm

amother Ultramarine wrote:

It’s no longer dangerous even to you. Did you see the new articles that said most deaths were from the respirators?

Oh, I know it's not dangerous to me - annoying, yes, but not dangerous at this point (yes, I'm vaccinated, plus I've had it, plus the variation going around right now is mild). However, the same isn't true for my family member - it's not that it's fatal to him either B"H, but things hit him harder/differently. When I had Covid at the same time he caught it (after keeping him Covid free for nearly three years - ugh), I had a bit of a fever and was tired. He ran 103.5, was exhausted, and was at higher risk for seizures (he has epilepsy, and illness for him is a trigger).

So yes, for him we have to be more careful.

amother

Candycane

Wed, May 17 2023, 4:02 pm

amother Lemon wrote:

It's not about being done with covid. It's the fact that masks never worked, never will and there's finally research to substantiate what common sense knew back in the beginning.

I'm not sure what research you are referring to (feel free to post links), but I have to assume they do something, otherwise, why have hospitals been using them for years (I mean pre-Covid)? Clearly they offer some protection from illness, or the staff wouldn't wear them. And they must prevent transmission, again, at least to some degree, otherwise why would hospitals have you put on a mask if you have something that might be contagious?

amother

Milk

Wed, May 17 2023, 4:12 pm

amother Candycane wrote:

It's been proven that most masks do nothing.
N95s are the only masks that actually help prevent spread.
Look it up.
And since the covid of 2020 is not the covid of 2023, yes I think you are incorrect to think that it is a risk to your family at this point.
Viruses have always and will always be around and we can't live in a bubble.

GLUE

Wed, May 17 2023, 4:20 pm

amother Candycane wrote:

What hospitals? What parts?

Pre Covid the only part of the hospitals that I know off that used mask were surgery,infectious diseases, I was once in the PICU and they did not make me, a visitor were one.

amother

Candycane

Wed, May 17 2023, 4:22 pm

amother Burntblack wrote:

I’m really curious. What makes it an ongoing situation more than any other virus that may be around? Really asking genuinely.

Ok - so short (or not so short) version, though I have posted stuff about him before, so you may find more details on other threads...

Yes, other stuff is challenging for him also. One of the things he deals with is epilepsy, which we knew for years could be set off by illness (think fevers, etc). One of the only things that used to set him off (meaning having a breakthrough seizure) is strep, but we'd give him antibiotics to deal with the strep, and he usually wouldn't have a second one.

Keep in mind that you normally don't have everyone catching and passing around the same bug at the same time. So, maybe in a classroom you'd catch strep from another kid, or a teacher might catch it from a student, but how often are you going to catch it from grabbing lunch with a friend? Flu might give you more trouble, because it does go around a neighborhood and everyone seems to catch it at once, but there he can get the flu shot ahead of time and there's tamiflu if he does catch it.

With Covid - it has at times spread like mad, and there really hasn't been medicine to knock it out fast. It doesn't help that with the flu you'll feel lousy right away, so probably stay home or at least try not to get others sick, but with Covid, you could be walking around, thinking you just have the sniffles at most, and keep passing it around.

Add in to the mix that he has autism (hello to any family on here who now knows who I am, LOL), which in his case means he's not great at social distancing or hygiene, and he's just more likely to catch Covid. So yes, we take extra precautions with him - masks, social distancing, etc., etc, etc. This was even more true in the earliest days when everyone was still learning about Covid and there were no vaccines available.

To add to the "fun", his seizures used to be really well managed - he had maybe one a year at most. For the past few years that hasn't been the case (we are working to get to the bottom of that), so almost any bug/fever triggers a seizure (thankfully a cold doesn't seem to do it, but catching a random virus and running a low fever will).

So - short short version - it's not that Covid (right now) is worse than other things, it's all these other pieces along with it that makes it more challenging for him.

amother

Candycane

Wed, May 17 2023, 4:27 pm

amother Milk wrote:

Two points =

1 - I'm just following his doctors' (plural) advice as to what's best for him
2 - You're right that it's not much of a risk to adults who don't have health issues. Unfortunately this family member doesn't fit into that category. (The rest of the family is living their lives as they did pre-Covid, not counting what their jobs may require).

Ema of 5

Wed, May 17 2023, 4:33 pm

amother Ruby wrote:

I live in ny and am in doctors offices and hospital pretty often. Almost all will ask me to put on a mask.

Where in NY? I’ve been to offices in Long Beach, New Hyde Park, cedarhurst, Lawrence….none of them required masks. My ob hasn’t required masks since before my baby was born in November. I don’t remember when he stopped requiring it, but I was so excited!! South Nassau Hospital, where I delivered, doesn’t require either, except maybe in specific departments. Trains, buses, taxis, ubers…..no one required masks anymore, for a while already.

amother

Offwhite

Wed, May 17 2023, 5:01 pm

amother Candycane wrote:

Strep definitely spreads as does the flu.
Every single winter there is a point where my kids tell me that their class is a third empty and the kids that are out keep rotating every few days.
You are simply seeing what you want to see, that big, bad Covid is extra scary. Bottom line, the same way when I got strep it took 4 days of meds to get over it and I had a high fever and agonizing pain that neither Tylenol nor Motrin helped but my sister who had strep just had a little bit of pain, or one kid will get the flu without fever and another kid will have 105, Covid can hit different people differently at different times.
This has been the reality of all viruses and all bacteria since the beginning of time.