That is lucky. DS’s classes were hybrids- the worst of all possible worlds. So he would have to go- for a second class education? And out-of-state tuition (although he has a scholarship which helps).
As with the k-12s- pick one or the other. This is really hard on everyone involved.
I think this is a big divide between clinicians and general population.
Except for fever and trouble breathing, every early covid symptom my company lists is something somewhat normal that wouldn’t get a second thought for me. Sore throat? Runny nose? Headache? Feeling tired? That’s a normal Tuesday 
If I end up getting corona, it might well be the case that for a week or so what I thought was nothing special would be considered a symptom by someone in hindsight. I am lucky enough to be able to act as if I could be positive all the time - live alone, work from home, a million of outdoor activities. But in general it is not very useful to distinguish purely pre-symptomatic to “didn’t notice there were symptoms”. As @ryan1 said in the earlier thread, anyone with allergies would have potential symptoms all the time.
That brings to mind a 70 yo lady who came in for a checkup, but also had a bad backache of new onset. I asked her if she’d done anything unusual, and she said “No”. So after her checkup, I set her up for a CT of the spine. As we were saying good-bye, I asked if she had any plans for the day and she said “Yes, we have to go to the butcher’s to pick up the moose we shot & carried out of the woods last week.”
I canceled the CT and asked her to pick up some Aleve at the store.
What is normal to some folks is not to others.
This kind of reminds me of myself just before leaving for our trip. I started to develop lower back pain in the area of the kidneys. After a few days, I started to worry I had developed kidney stones. After all, I had been working outside in the hot sun sweating for over a week, and I knew dehydration could cause stones. Fortunately, the pain remained tolerable. It wasn’t until several days later it hit me. All those days sweating in the sun? I’d been re-leveling our brick patio. I had picked up and moved every single brick in the patio. So, duh. Of course, my lower back hurt. Sure enough, about a week later, I was feeling back to normal again. 
I’m pretty good at diagnosing myself- but I also feel every little twinge.
When I go to the doctor, I always say, “I may be a Princess and The Pea, but if I come in, there’s a pea.”
So far, I’ve not been wrong. I think that’s what’s kept me ticking all these years. Like Dr. Suess said, “I’m in pretty good shape for the shape that I’m in.” 
I am pretty convinced, by I don’t know how many texts, both that masks work and that being outside is much safer than being inside.
Sanitizing everything and physical distance are still in the ‘maybe’ bucket. But both are definitely useful against the flu, so I would like to keep the habit.
No one has mentioned that a possible reason for this could be the increased likelihood of a false negative from testing too early and then going about your business like you are in the clear.
A friend of mine was exposed on a Friday (wearing a mask in a car driving her then likely positive uncle to the hospital - clear exposure), tested negative on Monday, positive on Wednesday, light symptoms on Thursday, followed by full out sick on Friday.
Most people who test negative on Monday aren’t going to go back on Wednesday. If you are truely asymptomatic you probably aren’t spreading it. If you are presymptomatic, that window in which you can get a positive test before showing symptoms is so small.
This is a good point. If you test negative, when you start to develop symptoms, you might be convinced it isn’t actually COVID and go about carrying on unsafely, increasing risk of spread. When you aren’t SURE if it could be or not, I think, GENERALLY speaking, you might be more cautious. But a negative test? It is like a license to spread!
Plus, there is the problem of the time it takes for results. Even if it comes back positive, you might end up going several days before you are sure. I’d LIKE to think in such cases, people would self-isolate.
Yes, this definitely might be part of it. Was your friend staying home under quarantine? If so, as @adusca that should prevent early transmission, so the test isn’t necessary from that standpoint as a negative wouldn’t have gotten her out of quarantine anyway. She still has to put in her 14 days.
They’re supposed to. Anyone who has risk/symptoms enough to get a test, should be in quarantine. Unless it’s just random surveillance.
Indoor dining being high risk would be a gigantic problem, but also something that governments could tackle if the problem is fully acknowledged.
First, opening windows, air filters, using fans instead of ACs. Do those help? How much? Someone needs to actually finance and study this.
Can you create more outside dining opportunities? A food court in a park? Changing permits or traffic regulations to allow for tables on the sidewalk? Fans, heaters, water mists, shade to make it more comfortable?
Can you make delivery and take out more common? Create a special container that allows for carrying mixed drinks? A city-sponsored app for delivery/take out?
It is a hard problem, and it would need a complicated solution. But it is still seems like it is a problem that should be tackled. Step one would be realizing the problem exists.
Agree 100%. But it completely depends on how willing government/public health is to work with the establishments, and that’s so variable. Also, there is a place for them to be shielded from liability, if they are in compliance. I don’t see that talked about nearly enough.
Poor thing has been in quarantine for three weeks at this point, since she is still feeling sick. Because of the nature of her exposure, she was very careful to quarantine from the time she returned from dropping him off at the hospital.
But I feel like most people aren’t in a situation where the immediately know they were exposed.
Yup! Ha! DD4 woke up in the middle of the night last Friday with a runny nose. I kept her home from school on Monday for what is likely a mild cold. Her only symptoms is congestion. After a call to my pedi Monday afternoon I decided to send her today. We’ll see if I get a call this afternoon…
But totally agree with you. With four kids under 10 in my house someone is bound to have a runny nose from now until March.
My DD26 is still in quarantine. She visited home (MT) for a wedding, then flew back to her place in NY. MT was on the quarantine list at that time, but I told her the trend was down and soon we’d be off of it. And now we are.
But she’s still in quarantine because when she left here, we weren’t.
If she had only stayed longer, she’d be free. Kinda ironic, huh?
At Disney and Universal, they left the doors wide open to ensure there is constant fresh air. A side bonus to this was that if you passed by from the outside, the air felt suddenly much cooler due to the A/C blasting to keep up. I can only imagine the electric bill! (Although, I believe Disney generates all its own electricity, so it probably isn’t an issue for them.)
I think the biggest problems with restaurants is forthcoming. We currently have outdoor dining in our area. But come October/November, it’s going to start to get too cold to eat outside. They need to do more research on air filters for businesses. Keeping the doors and windows open in the winter is going to be an issue.
We’ll have to be like the Scandinavians and eat outside all year around, with blankets, fires and heat lamps. We did that in Sweden, and DH was extremely skeptical until he tried it- it was pretty cozy. Though not what one is used to, for sure. I’m sure our health authorities would have a fit about the blankets, too.
Good morning and welcome to the new thread! Can we promise not to get to 10,000 posts here?
Just saw this study:
Outdoors and mask wearing is safer than indoors without. Obviously. But also talking / yelling / speaking matters.
Well, I have written and deleted this a few times. We’ll see if this one actually gets sent! As some of you may know, we took a last minute trip to the World August 12-19. We were generally pretty careful, but we did fly and eat in restaurants a few times. Oh, and visit a theme park!
We got home late Wednesday and I had to work the next morning. I was exhausted. We’re go-go-go people when it comes to vacationing in general, but Disney specifically. But then I started getting a scratchy throat that I think is due to sinus drainage. Now normally I wouldn’t think anything of it. Maybe allergies. Maybe a slight cold. No big deal. But we’re in a pandemic. I tend to be very susceptible to the power of suggestion. Do I have a headache? Well, now that you mention it, my head does hurt a little bit. Do I feel nauseous? Well, now that you mention it, maybe I am a little nauseous. And so on. So I am now over-reacting to every little thing and I’m freaking out at this point.
I’m getting a test today. I do not feel “sick”. I would never consider staying home from work or going to the doctor based on how I feel. I feel fine! Just a little scratchy throat is all. But this is the age of corona. All of the guidelines I’m seeing talk about “known exposure.” I do not have a known exposure. I qualified for a test because I have one symptom and recently traveled to a place with community spread. But there aren’t guidelines for full-on quarantining if you haven’t had a known exposure. So what to do?
Well, I’ve been coming to work, but I work in an office by myself. If you define an exposure as being within 6 feet for 15 minutes or more, I’ve only exposed one person (other than my kids who were with me in Florida). That was a finance guy at a car dealership when we were buying a car on Saturday. It definitely took more than 15 minutes. We were both wearing masks and there was a plexi-glass divider.
This is my worst nightmare. Not getting sick. But potentially exposing other people. It just has brought home to me how vague these guidelines can seem when it is you and your symptom(s) seem so minor. And I hate to think that I might be the one that took the risk of going to WDW and ended up with COVID! 
Of course, it could be just me over-reacting.
I am not sure any thread has ever reached that 10K max before! That’s kind of cool.
