Captain's Log #51 - Covid-19 Week 7

April 25 Nothing profound this week. I can say it's nice to work in an office with people during this coronavirus thing (it's not a pandemic here, yet.)  We joke about taking our shots of Lysol, teasing an employee about her 'dry' cough and asking her if she can smell the coffee, chocolate and roses (there is no coffee, etc. to smell.) We share our favorite memes: In 20 years the country's going to be run by people who were home-schooled by day drinkers. Meanwhile, I'm learning the Outside Medical Billing (OMB) process which is a welcome relief from mind-numbing data entry. I sort of pushed my way into the process. Data entry had dried up and I ran out of things to do, but also, the guy who does the OMB has asthma and diabetes. Should he get the virus... we really should have someone as backup.

We've had plenty of time to practice hand washing and mask wearing since the beginning of the Shut Down. In fact, masks have really taken off! The sister-in-law of an office mate has been making fabric masks like mad, selling some but giving many away. My co-worker comes in every morning with a bag of new, colorful masks and hands them out to staff and residents. We're getting people coming in asking for them. I have mixed emotions about this because I'd like to severely limit the number of people who come in our office. Most are already wearing a mask of some sort but I'm all over people who are not complying, "it's supposed to cover your nose!" (I must be annoying. Too bad.) We're lucky we've had getting plenty of time to learn how to use masks, for one, you're not supposed to touch the front, you're supposed to pretend it's infected. That will take some getting used to. And, you really should have a clean one at least once a day, so that's going to impact demand. It's cute how the people at work covet the fun, colorful masks. Alas, we do come closer than 6 feet to admire them (will have to work on that.) Some people collect shoes...

I'm home enjoying the peace and quiet of the neighborhood, except for the cacophony of spring bird songs.

May 2 The newspaper says this is the seventh week of the Shut Down in California and we still don't have the bug at the Vet's Home. The administration is trying to get the members to stay on campus and are now issuing passes with your name (from your ID badge to avoid men giving false names, "Seemore Butts"), their residential building, date, time, etc., and you won't be allowed back in without the pass. Plus, if you're out more than 5 hours you'll be quarantined for 2 weeks. They are serious. So now members are sneaking out through the service roads of the neighboring golf course. Those are being blocked off, and then? I'll let you know.

I mentioned that they have set aside a ward in our hospital to quarantine Covid patients. They are perhaps a little over vigilant. I had to get signatures from a man who was quarantined in that ward. It turns out he had coughed while at his unit and they stuck him in quarantine. This is allergy season. He didn't have a temperature. He can't hear a thing, and I'm wearing a (too hard, too small, too tight) N95 mask, so no lip reading. He could talk just fine! I'm writing to communicate to him that his fee is going to go up to 70% of his income now that he's in the hospital (against his will.) He was having none of it - loudly. I called my supervisor to double check if someone was quarantined would they be required to pay this percentage; yes, they would. He started putting on his jacket and shoes, he was going to go back to his unit. (And that is how the virus will spread at the Vet's Home.) That he didn't want to sign my papers didn't matter to me, I could just write "refused to sign" on the front. One of the nurse assistants said to leave the papers behind and they'd work on it. Another assistant went up to him and said "Mr. W---- this is your new home" (and the guy couldn't hear a word.) I left them to sort it out among themselves, I had to get out of that mask.

We are being offered free virus tests, you know, the swab poked up deep into your sinuses. It's offered through Project Baseline. This will be a drive-through service on campus, I'm getting one tomorrow. I figure I'll probably end up getting tested if I develop symptoms so I should get an idea what it will be like. Theoretically it could catch an asymptomatic spreader, but we don't have it. Our temperatures are taken every morning when we arrive and we're asked specific questions: any coughs, muscle aches, exposure to infected people, changes in taste or smell, foreign travel? Now they're asking "Are you coming from another job?" It turns out some of the nursing assistants and housekeeping staff work two jobs and are assigned to different facilities in the area. (Uh oh.) It is a truly miracle that we don't have it in our population by now.

Traffic on the roads is getting back to normal. I'd say in the beginning we had maybe 10% of the normal number of cars on the road, and everyone in an Audi was doing at least 80 mph. I saw a  lot of the back-ends of Audis, and contractor trucks. I had mapped out, and practiced, every safe place to turn out to let people pass, because once I let them pass I had the whole road to myself. Nice. Last week I'd say we were at 50% of normal numbers and there were enough of us sensible drivers that we kept the pace civilized. Funny how I feel safer with more cars on the road.

Kevin's been doing a great job keeping the house together: shopping, cooking, running the Roomba, working in the yard, fertilizing the roses, which look terrific. He's collecting unemployment because all of his music gigs have been canceled. This will change eventually, but I'm not looking forward to it. I like him at home. When I thanked him for all his efforts he pointed out rather archly, "I had been a bachelor."

Are you watching Andrew Cuomo's daily briefings on C-Span? I'm addicted. He's so rational and thoughtful; he's got a great team. These folks are working the problem. I feel better knowing he's out there, plus he shares stories of his daughters, his dog, one of the daughter's new boyfriend; he likes the boyfriend, the dog does not. I've included a screen shot of what they will be doing to track down cases, test contacts and isolate people who test positive. Yea!  And they're cleaning every bus and subway train and station every 24 hours - wow! What a huge job! 

 With New York state getting just less than 1,000 new admits to their hospitals - each day - (what a staggering thought) collecting this information is going to put an added strain on the facilities. Hire more people? Who knows where the money's going to come from? It is interesting to see how this unfolds. In the meantime --> let me know what you're up to.

Many blessings,

Karla, mom, k.j.