Do you know anyone on the front lines?

I do not know anyone, frontline or otherwise.

My niece is a nurse at a University hospital.We are are in a “hotspot”.
She called yesterday to tell me about her pregnancy and did not seem even remotely panicked about Covid.

Southern CT here.
My next door neighbor is a nurse in a hospital in a larger town nearby. She is exhausted, despairing, and is absolute about everyone staying home and wearing a mask if they go out. She is horrified that the federal government is undermining the efforts of states to get PPE supplies for their frontline workers. She is angry that she and her colleagues are relying on, actually RELYING ON , well meaning citizens to make masks to help protect health care workers. She is perplexed by people who compare this to the regular flu, by those who are so proud of themselves for not succumbing to the pressure to look after themselves and others, she is terrified that some jackass will infect her family because they are too cool to care.

This woman is one of the most even-tempered and sensible people I have ever known, and to see her this sad/angry/upset breaks my heart.

My wife is a nurse/lactation consultant at a large hospital in Boston. Since this is maternity, it’s not like what ER nurses and doctors have to deal with. However, she does have Covid-positive patients.

There was a delay in PPE distribution and requirements, but for the past couple of weeks everyone is wearing masks and plastic shields. They have specific rooms/areas for patients who are positive, and they limit the nursing staff who can visit these patients.

Two of her coworkers, who she works with daily and shares an office with, have tested positive, and my wife’s convinced that she must be a carrier without symptoms.

Daughter: Works for a medical cardiology practice affiliated with a major hospital in Atlanta. She’s seeing patients (although reduced patient load because people are afraid to come into the doctor even though they have chest pains).

Son in law: Sergeant in county police department. Many more domestic violence calls. More burglaries at closed businesses. Fewer armed robberies. Occasional swat calls.

Two nurses that I know who are working currently, one in Westchester County NY and one in NJ at a large medical center, are both stressed out, busy, hustling. Posting occasional photos of themselves on FB all donned up with the gowns and masks.

Friend’s husband is a cop, another friend’s son is a CO at a state prison. My friend with the CO son is stressed out he’s going to bring the virus home into the house on his clothes and she is trying to stay away from him and she’s constantly sterilizing things (she’s a nurse but doesn’t work as a nurse). I think she has anxiety and the family thinks she is a little too nuts about it.

My friend’s husband, the one that’s a cop, says that a lot of things are suspended for the time being like if your car inspection is expired, they’re not ticketing for it. My guess is that cops realize the more they’re in contact with people, the greater the chance they will get the virus so their department’s current, temporary policy is to let a lot of things go.

Another friend works in a busy supermarket and she said a lot of people are nasty, which I don’t doubt. I see a lot of people on FB shaming each other about supermarket behavior, who has a mask on, who did this, who didn’t do that. So nasty. It’s like MYOB and GTFO, and don’t worry about the next guy. You can’t control others, you can only control yourself.

My wife, temporarily laid off work as she is, started working as a deep cleaning operative at one of our local truck manufacturing plants.
She was given a card marking her out as a “key worker” being a locksmith, that made me giggle.

I am proud of her for not seeing that kind of work as beneath her & is helping out where she can.

My cousin is a brave, strong woman of 50 and an experienced nurse. Her reports from NY are also full of despair and sadness.
Here’s her direct quote from this morning “Thanks honey. It is horrible here. This healthcare system is unbelievable. They are killing people more than the virus.”
Not sure what exactly she means, but for her, that’s a very strong statement.

(Please don’t question me or demean her statement as I have no further information.)

Not “front line” but related and interesting, my wife works in HR for a major medical multispecialty group. Nobody is really going to regular doctor visits so “regular docs” are not seeing many patients if at all and their staff is being furloughed. This may be surprising but in hindsight it makes sense.

I work in power, we are minimum staffing to keep the lights on and are just working what is mandatory. The rest of us were sent home and put on call for when we are needed. We are taking old flame retardant clothing and making flame retardant masks which we are required to wear now. Manufacturers of FR clothing are shifting production to make FR masks but there is a big time lag and the entire industry is asking for all they can get all at once.

At least NY has rescinded the DNR issue, that was apparently really hard on the workers.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/new-york-cancels-unhippocratic-do-not-resuscitate-order/1815818

@KNOWITALL Veru likely she means that so many are not seeking treatment because they have no coverage. That is a huge concern here, especially with so many laid off. I am very close to NYC, the problems there are unbelievable. Your cousin deserves all the praise for going there at this time.

@canidmajor Oh wow, I had no idea what she meant, but that makes sense. I’ve never seen her this upset since her beloved grandmother passed away, even through a divorce.

She’s there 21 days and this is just the first 7 days. The care package took 5 bus days days to get to her so we’re doing what we can to help keep her sane. Since you’re up there,do you happen to know of any local companies still delivering? We’d like to find a more local business that we can order from that may get to her and her teammates faster. PM me if you have any ideas please.

@KNOWITALL, I’m sorry, I really don’t know who does stuff there. I will ask a friend who lives in the Village if she can recommend any service or business.

@KNOWITALL: You’re looking for restaurants to deliver food? Or some other type of delivery, like packages? I can look into it with a better idea of what you want to send.

My girlfriend (who I have not seen in person in almost 6 weeks) is the assistant executive director of an eldercare facility.

Yesterday they tested all 35 residents, results expected Saturday. So far, no one has been sick, but the retirement home next door to her work has had ten positives and five deaths. Every one is anxious.

@jca2 More like gift baskets, flowers, things to brighten her day when she finally is off shift. I won’t do FedEx again, as it took so long due to local restrictions. I figured perhaps locals have a way to get to Times Square without delay? It’s not a huge deal, but we just want to help keep her spirits up for the next few weeks until she gets back home.
We sent her a basket with snacks and variety of bourbons she just got yesterday, looking for things like that I suppose.
Do you think it would be best to check with the hotel? Like maybe pay for a 100 tab at the bar or something like that? Any ideas are welcome, since we aren’t familiar with the area or anything about NY.

This question popped up on my right hand side as I was answering my other question.
It’s now December 22 in California. It is a shit show here.

@Caravan I hear it’s worse there than hear and we’re still at 200 plus daily.
What’s happening there to make it so bad? Covid fatigue?

@KNOWITALL Too much of California opened up more than was prudent. Restaurants were allowed to have indoor seating in November, bars began to open with little restriction. And people began to travel to different parts of the state. Combine that with mask fatigue, and it has gotten pretty bad, the hospitals are full.

@zenvelo I get it. We still dont have mandatory masking here in most rural areas. Sorry to hear that.

@KNOWITALL Exponential growth in patients in the hospital.