How long should the lock down last?

[MHYDE]

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Members do not see this ad.

I don't think it's insane that teachers and other workers are concerned about their health in areas where percent positive cases are 20-50%. Health experts recommend that percent positive rates should be under 5%. Why not focus on lowering the community spread and then schools will be fine to open. I don't think the schools that opened in most of europe were during periods while the percent positive cases were at 50%.

My county is sitting at 3%, we’ve ranged 1-4% since mid-May. We average 2-12 new cases per day for the last two months. Our teachers union has said they will not return for ANY in-person instruction until there has been 14 consecutive days of zero cases. Not declining cases. Zero. Even with a theoretical vaccine that will not happen this year. This is extortion. We have pulled our kids out to go to private school, all of which are open 5 days a week and will only close if ordered to do so. My kids won’t suffer for lack of education, so I guess all is good.

 

[AMEHigh]

My county is sitting at 3%, we’ve ranged 1-4% since mid-May. We average 2-12 new cases per day for the last two months. Our teachers union has said they will not return for ANY in-person instruction until there has been 14 consecutive days of zero cases. Not declining cases. Zero. Even with a theoretical vaccine that will not happen this year. This is extortion. We have pulled our kids out to go to private school, all of which are open 5 days a week and will only close if ordered to do so. My kids won’t suffer for lack of education, so I guess all is good.

Yep agree that’s unrealistic. I’d love to know where you’re located! They’ll never go back to in-person teaching. Has the school district provided any other guidance or push-back? Under 5% seems to be the epidemiological standard for things being ok with this novel virus.

I still don’t think it’s because teachers want to sit at home and do nothing though. Is your school system not planning to offer remote learning?

 

[Rekt]

Yep agree that’s unrealistic. I’d love to know where you’re located! They’ll never go back to in-person teaching. Has the school district provided any other guidance or push-back? Under 5% seems to be the epidemiological standard for things being ok with this novel virus.

I still don’t think it’s because teachers want to sit at home and do nothing though. Is your school system not planning to offer remote learning?

You're missing that they'll be paid. Anyone would love to sit at home at be paid.

It should be very simple. If kids go to school normally, they get paid normally.

If they do 30 minutes of zoom work then teachers get paid for 30 minutes plus maybe 30 minute prep.

If nothing happens they deserve no money.

 

[GeneralVeers]

I don't think it's insane that teachers and other workers are concerned about their health in areas where percent positive cases are 20-50%. Health experts recommend that percent positive rates should be under 5%. Why not focus on lowering the community spread and then schools will be fine to open. I don't think the schools that opened in most of europe were during periods while the percent positive cases were at 50%.

It's not insane, just stupid or greedy. I can be concerned about meteor strikes, but the chance of it happening is so low as to not change anything I do.
Likewise the teachers can be "concerned" but at the end of the day, their concern doesn't outweigh actual facts and evidence. They need to get back to work, or quit.

 

[GeneralVeers]

Even worse a certain presidential candidate has said: "Charter schools are gone!" if he's elected. That leaves a lot of low-income parents with zero choice as the teacher's union will have a monopoly on not teaching.

 

[MHYDE]

Yep agree that’s unrealistic. I’d love to know where you’re located! They’ll never go back to in-person teaching. Has the school district provided any other guidance or push-back? Under 5% seems to be the epidemiological standard for things being ok with this novel virus.

I still don’t think it’s because teachers want to sit at home and do nothing though. Is your school system not planning to offer remote learning?

I’m in Southeast Michigan. Some say the concern is that our positive rate has gone from 1.8% to 3.2%. But they cancelled all summer school programming even when we were at our nadir. Yeah of course they’re offering remote “learning”, but a larger problem is that I have lost all my trust and faith in them after that “14 days of zero cases” ridiculousness. It’s either a demand made in bad faith or it’s deeply stupid. Either way they’re not “teaching” my kids another second.

 

[Rekt]

I’m in Southeast Michigan. Some say the concern is that our positive rate has gone from 1.8% to 3.2%. But they cancelled all summer school programming even when we were at our nadir. Yeah of course they’re offering remote “learning”, but a larger problem is that I have lost all my trust and faith in them after that “14 days of zero cases” ridiculousness. It’s either a demand made in bad faith or it’s deeply stupid. Either way they’re not “teaching” my kids another second.

Jesus. 3.2% is like a unicorn goal for the rest of the country. Even during our lull we were like 5-10%.

 

[Birdstrike]

I don't think it's insane that teachers and other workers are concerned about their health in areas where percent positive cases are 20-50%.

Translation: "Everyone else is back to work. Many never stopped. But teachers are special."

 

[Birdstrike]

I’m in Southeast Michigan. Some say the concern is that our positive rate has gone from 1.8% to 3.2%. But they cancelled all summer school programming even when we were at our nadir. Yeah of course they’re offering remote “learning”, but a larger problem is that I have lost all my trust and faith in them after that “14 days of zero cases” ridiculousness. It’s either a demand made in bad faith or it’s deeply stupid. Either way they’re not “teaching” my kids another second.

% positive in my state and county is 20%. Despite that, everyone else is back to work and wants their kids back in school despite a virus that sucks for everyone. The Governor is mandating 5-day per week school (with a parental opt-out remote learning option). Everyone wants to go back, except teachers who want special treatment, and a special-zero/virus-zero risk only for them. I say give it to them. Fire them and replace them with teacher-less remote learning. Be careful what you wish for.

 

[Birdstrike]

It’s either a demand made in bad faith or it’s deeply stupid. Either way they’re not “teaching” my kids another second.

That's exactly what it is. It's tantamount to extortion during a time of crisis. They're not stupid. They know exactly what they're doing. Just follow a few teachers in your town on facebook. See how many are locked up in their bedrooms shaking in fear "until 14 days with no cases." And compare that to how many are bee-boppin' around town with family, friends, kids and living life as fully as they can. I guarantee you those moving on with life outnumber those hiding in fear hoping for "zero risk" 100 to 1. They're trying to pull a fast one on you as they are everywhere else in the country. Your Governor needs to tell them, "Work or be fired and replaced with teacher-less remote learning." But as a Democrat, your Governor (MI) is exceedingly unlikely to do that, because they're in bed with the teachers unions, which is part of the Dem party platform.

Ask yourself, how many other workers in Michigan get a "zero virus" guarantee attached to their paycheck? Do you? Do the workers at Walmart who risked virus to sell goods to those teachers, at minimum wage, during the height of the pandemic and continue to? Where's their guarantee?

 

[Nobutyesbutno]

Oh, I concur. I was just giving some perspective. As for the political question...

Thanks for the link. I was only vaguely aware of that particular stipulation as per the separation of powers...

A bit of perspective never hurts... from charter of the forest, magna carta, the articles of confederation to the constitution as long as we don't go back to the Hammurabi code... imo


dunno.... Im lucky where I am this never became a huge political football... the opposition broadly supported the government while providing some constructive criticism. Even at the height of lockdown schools stayed available to children of people working in health. Full days on line with specialist software with the whole class in attendance was the norm and one of the biggest challenges for teachers was that the kids were all on mobile phones to each other during lessons. With all the technical challenges into the bargain i'd day the teachers earned their money.

What price freedom huh...

 

[yeasports]

I am being completely serious here: did you see the notice pop up for the modification of the "Visions and Values"? This is the salient point:

"Members support the scientific method and evidence-based medicine. Claims or statements about disease processes should reference widely accepted scientific resources. Theoretical medical speculation is encouraged as part of the overall scientific process. However, unscientific statements that promote unfounded ideological positions or agendas may be removed. For example, a post stating that ‘HIV was created by the CIA’ or ‘mask use is ineffective at reducing the spread of COVID-19’ will be removed."

That is #10. Politics have invaded. I think that it is somewhat telling that one of the examples is a timely reference to masks. At the same time, though, what is now "unfounded" may just as yet only be "undiscovered" - I mean, "The US government is infecting black folks with syphilis!" That can't be true! Oh, wait... Or, infiltrating political groups. Or, "the CIA doesn't drug or poison US citizens!"

Wow. This is a slippery slope. I always believed that sdn was about discussing and possibly debunking unscientific statements. It could be tough to prove that it was the original content that ended the discussion and not the direction the discussion was going.

 

[Birdstrike]

Wow. This is a slippery slope. I always believed that sdn was about discussing and possibly debunking unscientific statements. It could be tough to prove that it was the original content that ended the discussion and not the direction the discussion was going.

I am being completely serious here: did you see the notice pop up for the modification of the "Visions and Values"? This is the salient point:

"Members support the scientific method and evidence-based medicine. Claims or statements about disease processes should reference widely accepted scientific resources. Theoretical medical speculation is encouraged as part of the overall scientific process. However, unscientific statements that promote unfounded ideological positions or agendas may be removed. For example, a post stating that ‘HIV was created by the CIA’ or ‘mask use is ineffective at reducing the spread of COVID-19’ will be removed."

That is #10. Politics have invaded. I think that it is somewhat telling that one of the examples is a timely reference to masks. At the same time, though, what is now "unfounded" may just as yet only be "undiscovered" - I mean, "The US government is infecting black folks with syphilis!" That can't be true! Oh, wait... Or, infiltrating political groups. Or, "the CIA doesn't drug or poison US citizens!"

Hmm...Thought control and suppression of free thought and free speech. The communist party would be very proud.

 

[Birdstrike]

Wow. I’d imagine a lot of those kids were of low socioeconomic status and don’t have access to a computer.

They were all given access to tablet computers. Still, many never logged on a single time.

 

[Birdstrike]

It would be interesting to know then what happened that so many students never logged in. Did they have the tablets but no internet access? Did their parents not care? Did their parents realize how terrible the “education” would be and decide not to waste their time? Were both parents working and having to leave the kids at home alone during the day? Something else? Combination of these factors?

I don't know what happened to those kids. No one does. Our state Department of Health has announced that reports of child abuse and neglect have been down dramatically from baseline during the school shut-down. They think that's because the abuse occurring, but going unreported and unabatted due to the school shutdown, since so many of that is detected and reported in schools.

 

[Birdstrike]

DON'T EFF WITH THE MOMMA BEARS

In response to State and local governments refusing to fulfill their duty of educating children by caving to extortion by teachers' unions, well-to-do parents are banding together, arranging to get teachers and their children together in the same room and making their own 'schools.' Will Governments attempt to shut this down too, in the era of COVID, because it doesn't meet their specifications?

 

[miacomet]

So, I have a question. When school reopens, whether that's in August or January, what happens to kids and teachers who have cough/fever/URI symptoms? Do they go home? Do they get a swab? Do they stay in class?

Seems like in much of the country half the kids are sick from November to March, along with many of the teachers.

What are schools planning?

 

[Birdstrike]

So, I have a question. When school reopens, whether that's in August or January, what happens to kids and teachers who have cough/fever/URI symptoms? Do they go home? Do they get a swab? Do they stay in class?

If a child or teacher gets fever, cough or shortness of breath, they do the same thing we’ve been doing in our office the past 4 months. They go home, get tested for COVID and stay out until negative, or if positive, return after asymptomatic and 14 days have passed.

There’s no need to make this more complicated than it needs to be, or to reinvent the wheel here. This is what everyone else, including medical facilities and businesses have been doing for 4 months as advised by state health departments and the CDC.

 

[DoctwoB]

I’m liberal in most respects. I firmly believe the government should make masking mandatory and enforceable. Your rights do not give you the right to recklessly endanger others.

That said we need to open schools. If you’re a liberal who believes inequality is a major issue as I do, then you know that our schools, flawed as they are, are the one chance to level the playing field that disadvantaged kids get. Education is the best means of social mobility we have. Shutting down schools will hurt everyone, but rich kids will be fine between tutors, private school, etc. Poor kids may never catch up.

Please keep in mind though that teachers demanding safety procedures is not the same as demanding to shut down school. Most doctors I know were more then happy to keep working during the epidemic. We understand some risk comes with the job. But where we were enraged was when our hospitals/employers didn’t have our back when it comes to PPE, safety, so on. Teachers know this. They know their job carries risk of exposure (any new teacher spends half their first few years sick). Teachers demanding PPE or policies to reduce risk is reasonable. Demanding no risk obviously is not. Don’t conflate the two.

 

[miacomet]

If a child or teacher gets fever, cough or shortness of breath, they do the same thing we’ve been doing in our office the past 4 months. They go home, get tested for COVID and stay out until negative, or if positive, return after asymptomatic and 14 days have passed.

There’s no need to make this more complicated than it needs to be, or to reinvent the wheel here. This is what everyone else, including medical facilities and businesses have been doing for 4 months as advised by state health departments and the CDC.

Lol kids and teachers will miss half the school year.

And, no, my job does not let anyone return with just a negative test; minimum 10 days out, 14 if positive. So you are incorrect in stating that is what everyone else is doing.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Lol kids and teachers will miss half the school year.

And, no, my job does not let anyone return with just a negative test; minimum 10 days out, 14 if positive. So you are incorrect in stating that is what everyone else is doing.

That's ridiculous and not inline with current CDC recommendations:

 

[Birdstrike]

Teachers demanding PPE or policies to reduce risk is reasonable.

I couldn't agree more. Districts need to order up masks and sanitizer. They got boatloads of money in the Cares Act to do so. Time to start writing some checks.

 

[Birdstrike]

Lol kids and teachers will miss half the school year.

What are you worried about, there won't be school?

 

[Birdstrike]

And, no, my job does not let anyone return with just a negative test; minimum 10 days out

Just think about how little sense that policy makes.

"If you have a negative COVID test, it means nothing, you can't return."

Since the most common "symptoms" of COVID are no symptoms at all, and if a negative test means nothing to them, they really shouldn't return, ever. Even with a negative test. Do your bosses not realize "No symptoms and a negative COVID test" could apply to all 7.7 Billion people on Earth? Why let them back in 10 days? They still have "no symptoms and a negative test." Therefore, no one is safe to return to work, ever.

 

[thegenius]

Just think about how little sense that policy makes.

"If you have a negative COVID test, it means nothing, you can't return."

Since the most common "symptoms" of COVID are no symptoms at all, and if a negative test means nothing to them, they really shouldn't return, ever. Even with a negative test. Do your bosses not realize "No symptoms and a negative COVID test" could apply to all 7.7 Billion people on Earth? Why let them back in 10 days? They still have "no symptoms and a negative test." Therefore, no one is safe to return to work, ever.

It is admittedly difficult to explain to patients what to do with they have some symptoms of COVID-19, yet their PCR nasopharyngeal swab comes back negative.

The main reason is that most doctors are not used to telling patients "if you have a fever, stay home no matter what". Most of these viral syndrome diagnoses really pose no public health threat at all. Just some minor inconvenience of aches and pains, maybe a cough to the patient. It's the reason why I've never worn a mask routinely in the ER until COVID-19 came around. Even during flu season.

 

[GeneralVeers]

Just think about how little sense that policy makes.

"If you have a negative COVID test, it means nothing, you can't return."

Since the most common "symptoms" of COVID are no symptoms at all, and if a negative test means nothing to them, they really shouldn't return, ever. Even with a negative test. Do your bosses not realize "No symptoms and a negative COVID test" could apply to all 7.7 Billion people on Earth? Why let them back in 10 days? They still have "no symptoms and a negative test." Therefore, no one is safe to return to work, ever.

Some of our colleagues are idiots too...especially the ones getting national media attention. A couple days ago on CNN they had this ED physician from MA talking about testing. She said: "We need to make sure we have enough tests for the asymptomatic people too!". I'm not quite sure what she was meaning to say, but her implication is that people with NO SYMPTOMS should all rush down and get testing, so we can find those mythical asymptomatic spreaders.

 

[Birdstrike]

It is admittedly difficult to explain to patients what to do with they have some symptoms of COVID-19, yet their PCR nasopharyngeal swab comes back negative.

Never order a test the results of which you're going to ignore.

 

[Birdstrike]

Some of our colleagues are idiots too...especially the ones getting national media attention. A couple days ago on CNN they had this ED physician from MA talking about testing. She said: "We need to make sure we have enough tests for the asymptomatic people too!". I'm not quite sure what she was meaning to say, but her implication is that people with NO SYMPTOMS should all rush down and get testing, so we can find those mythical asymptomatic spreaders.

Yes. All asymptomatic people should rush to get tested so we can ignore all negative results and assume all 7 billion people on Earth who haven't tested positive and don't have symptoms, must have COVID-19 anyways. ****ing brilliant.

 

[GeneralVeers]

Yes. All asymptomatic people should rush to get tested so we can ignore all negative results and assume all 7 billion people on Earth who haven't tested positive and don't have symptoms, must have COVID-19 anyways. ****ing brilliant.

I tried to find the clip but couldn't. I think maybe she meant we need to test asymptomatic contacts of known positive patients but she didn't say that. The average cable news viewer doesn't have the intelligence to understand this.

 

[Birdstrike]

I tried to find the clip but couldn't. I think maybe she meant we need to test asymptomatic contacts of known positive patients but she didn't say that. The average cable news viewer doesn't have the intelligence to understand this.

My state reopened in May. Cases went up. People freaked out. This is COVID cases in my county through July 4th.

Graph A

The Governor did basically nothing. Cases went down by 50%.

Graph B

 

[Birdstrike]

"No known case of teacher catching coronavirus from pupils, says scientist" - The Times, U.K.

 

[thegenius]

Never order a test the results of which you're going to ignore.

even you know that’s silly.

testing just increases or decreases the probability of disease.

it’s never binary. It’s not have the disease or you don’t have the disease.

 

[thegenius]

Yes. All asymptomatic people should rush to get tested so we can ignore all negative results and assume all 7 billion people on Earth who haven't tested positive and don't have symptoms, must have COVID-19 anyways. ****ing brilliant.

jeez! You have a lot of time on your hands these days.

my unproven inclination is you are posting at least a dozen times a day.

 

[Birdstrike]

my unproven inclination is you are posting at least a dozen times a day.

I'm more of an SDN nerd that you today. You don't have to be jealous.

 

[Birdstrike]

it’s never binary. It’s not have the disease or you don’t have the disease.

I never said results are "binary" or have 100% sensitivity or specificity. I said, don't order a test the results of which you're going to ignore. That's different now.


(You just made me go to 14 posts in a day and I'm over my limit of 12. Can I have 5 more, please? I promise I'll be good.)

 

[AMEHigh]

Some of our colleagues are idiots too...especially the ones getting national media attention. A couple days ago on CNN they had this ED physician from MA talking about testing. She said: "We need to make sure we have enough tests for the asymptomatic people too!". I'm not quite sure what she was meaning to say, but her implication is that people with NO SYMPTOMS should all rush down and get testing, so we can find those mythical asymptomatic spreaders.

Just as an fyi my city's health department and public hospital system is encouraging asymptomatic people to get tested.
I don't watch cnn, but I have an inclining of which doctor you're talking about, but yeah they didn't just get that advice out of nowhere.
I'm not arguing about whether it's a good or bad policy idea, just that that doctor didn't get that recommendation out of nowhere, the health department is giving out this recommendation.

 

[GeneralVeers]

Just as an fyi my city's health department and public hospital system is encouraging asymptomatic people to get tested.
I don't watch cnn, but I have an inclining of which doctor you're talking about, but yeah they didn't just get that advice out of nowhere.
I'm not arguing about whether it's a good or bad policy idea, just that that doctor didn't get that recommendation out of nowhere, the health department is giving out this recommendation.

Doesn't seem to make much sense. Testing asymptomatic people wouldn't be helpful unless you test them every single day. In my state it's taking 4-5 days for the tests to come back. That wait would get longer by overwhelming labs with tests which aren't needed.

 

[MHYDE]

Redirect Notice

Are they even trying to make sense? Maryland’s increase in cases really is (unlike other states) a function of increased testing, as you can see the number of daily tests has doubled while the positive rate dropped and stayed low. Montgomery County’s positive rate has dropped faster and lower than the state as a whole. But no school until FEBRUARY, at least, which means never. If they won’t open, who will???

 

[turkeyjerky]

Just think about how little sense that policy makes.

"If you have a negative COVID test, it means nothing, you can't return."

Since the most common "symptoms" of COVID are no symptoms at all, and if a negative test means nothing to them, they really shouldn't return, ever. Even with a negative test. Do your bosses not realize "No symptoms and a negative COVID test" could apply to all 7.7 Billion people on Earth? Why let them back in 10 days? They still have "no symptoms and a negative test." Therefore, no one is safe to return to work, ever.

I think they're referring to the (pretty standard) policy of holding workers out when they've had a high risk expsoure (eg 15 min w/in 6 feet of pt w/o a mask on or household contact). But I actually think it's a ridiculous policy to keep asymptomatic or mildly ill HCWs out of work in the midst of a pandemic. I thought this is why I have to wear a mask when I'm at my workstation. CYA corporate medicine at its finest.

Some of our colleagues are idiots too...especially the ones getting national media attention. A couple days ago on CNN they had this ED physician from MA talking about testing. She said: "We need to make sure we have enough tests for the asymptomatic people too!". I'm not quite sure what she was meaning to say, but her implication is that people with NO SYMPTOMS should all rush down and get testing, so we can find those mythical asymptomatic spreaders.

Must be referring to asymptomatic (or presymptomatic )contacts. I mean she's right, if the goal is a test-trace-quarantine strategy in order to keep the caseload to a minimum. But people who think that's actually possible with our current level of caseload across most of the country are in looney-toon land. We'd need a nationwide (enforced) stay-at-home order again to get there. We've defaulted into a mitigation-based response to the pandemic, I really don't understand why so many people keep pretending otherwise.

 

[Nobutyesbutno]

the he goal is a test-trace-quarantine strategy in order to keep the caseload to a minimum. But people who think that's actually possible with our current level of caseload

I prefer a test isolate trace strategy or for short TITS...

Just to hear Trump on the news saying under me we have the best TITS... greatly tremendously enormous.... no one knows more about TITS than me..

 

[thegenius]

I never said results are "binary" or have 100% sensitivity or specificity. I said, don't order a test the results of which you're going to ignore. That's different now.


(You just made me go to 14 posts in a day and I'm over my limit of 12. Can I have 5 more, please? I promise I'll be good.)

what made you think i ignored a test though?

 

[thegenius]

Doesn't seem to make much sense. Testing asymptomatic people wouldn't be helpful unless you test them every single day. In my state it's taking 4-5 days for the tests to come back. That wait would get longer by overwhelming labs with tests which aren't needed.

It would only make sense if all Americans were willing to do a little sacrifice and stay at home if positive or do other very simple things to mitigate spread of the virus, like what’s being done everywhere else in the world with success. It’s sad that we are not capable though, with some exceptions.

 

[deleted1005514]

So, I have a question. When school reopens, whether that's in August or January, what happens to kids and teachers who have cough/fever/URI symptoms? Do they go home? Do they get a swab? Do they stay in class?

Seems like in much of the country half the kids are sick from November to March, along with many of the teachers.

What are schools planning?

School systems employ “at home” teachers for students who physically cannot come to school but are well enough to do schoolwork (recovering from chemotherapy or surgery, bad car accident, etc). This program has been running for 20+ years, although most people don’t know about it unless they needed it.

Thanks to modern technology & the Internet, these programs now don’t necessarily need in person teachers, so anyone who pops up covid positive can just stay home 14 days. If social distancing and small groups are maintained in the schools, and seats on buses are assigned, the exposure would be much more limited than you average trip to the grocery store.

 

[Birdstrike]

what made you think i ignored a test though?

Not you, it was someone else

 

[yeasports]

Experts say the virus is now running rampant within American communities.

Not surprised. This is also the media hyping a headline though. Believing lockdowns and m***s will prevent widespread transmission is somewhat naive. The point I have made to many is that the rapid broad spread of this virus is fairly inevitable. We want to have a sense of control and people feel m***s and lockdowns gives us that. I don’t have a problem with m***s and they do probably offer an unknown degree of individual protection. I would bet on the fact though that an infectious respiratory virus has the ability to spread predominantly indiscriminately uncontained over the idea that if everyone wears m***s and hides in their homes for as long as possible that the virus will disappear. We know people inherently don’t all follow the rules. Especially when it becomes political.

now thats funny I don't care who you are

 

[Apollyon]

School systems employ “at home” teachers for students who physically cannot come to school but are well enough to do schoolwork (recovering from chemotherapy or surgery, bad car accident, etc). This program has been running for 20+ years, although most people don’t know about it unless they needed it.

The only kids I knew of doing it were discipline problems. /anecdote

 

[Birdstrike]

I had a patient come in last week and tell me something I thought sounded very hoaxy. She said, "A friend up North [New York] went to get tested for COVID at one of the drive-through testing places. She registered, waited, and waited to get swabbed but it was 'taking forever,' so she left and never got tested. Then 3 days later they called her and told her she had tested positive, even though she never gave a sample."

I responded with, "Uh-huh, uh-huh" and just listened while we did her procedure, thinking, yeah, whatever, sounds like one of those irrelevant random and unreliable things patients sometimes say, ignore. Then two days later, another patient who I consider somewhat more reliable, tells me the same exact thing happened to a family member she considers reliable, not out of state, but here locally (not Florida). Then I'm thinking, okay, that's weird. Is this a viral internet hoax going around, or is there something to this? Nah...likely hoax.

But apparently it's a thing, and multiple news reports came up on a Google search. I suppose it could still be fake news, but there's this from an ABC News affiliate in Sarasota, FL, with a surprisingly plausible sounding explanation from an "expert":

Concerns arise as some receive positive COVID-19 results but never got tested

"'This is part of the testing mechanism problem. People are sitting in their cars, sometimes for hours, or standing in line, six feet apart sometimes for hours. You’re registered though, you’re number 15 in line, and you are Jay Wolfson. If Jay Wolfson says he can’t wait any longer and he leaves, it will get number 15 and now get Rebecca Fernandez, who was standing behind him, and she tests positive, and then everyone from then on gets the wrong results. There has to be a better way to do this,' explained Dr. Jay Wolfson, Public Health & Medicine Professor for the University of South Florida."

That makes 3 states: Mine, New York and Florida.

 

[Nobutyesbutno]

I had a patient come in last week and tell me something I thought sounded very hoaxy. She said, "A friend up North [New York] went to get tested for COVID at one of the drive-through testing places. She registered, waited, and waited to get swabbed but it was 'taking forever,' so she left and never got tested. Then 3 days later they called her and told her she had tested positive, even though she never gave a sample."

I responded with, "Uh-huh, uh-huh" and just listened while we did her procedure, thinking, yeah, whatever, sounds like one of those irrelevant random and unreliable things patients sometimes say, ignore. Then two days later, another patient who I consider somewhat more reliable, tells me the same exact thing happened to a family member she considers reliable, not out of state, but here locally (not Florida). Then I'm thinking, okay, that's weird. Is this a viral internet hoax going around, or is there something to this? Nah...likely hoax.

But apparently it's a thing, and multiple news reports came up on a Google search. I suppose it could still be fake news, but there's this from an ABC News affiliate in Sarasota, FL, with a surprisingly plausible sounding explanation from an "expert":

Concerns arise as some receive positive COVID-19 results but never got tested

"This is part of the testing mechanism problem. People are sitting in their cars, sometimes for hours, or standing in line, six feet apart sometimes for hours. You’re registered though, you’re number 15 in line, and you are Jay Wolfson. If Jay Wolfson says he can’t wait any longer and he leaves, it will get number 15 and now get Rebecca Fernandez, who was standing behind him, and she tests positive, and then everyone from then on gets the wrong results. There has to be a better way to do this,” explained Dr. Jay Wolfson, Public Health & Medicine Professor for the University of South Florida.

Interesting how you met the less credible source first and then the credible story teller later. .. Spooky

... and let's face it nice touch

 

[thegenius]

Not you, it was someone else

Ok now I’m confused because you quoted me? Hmm. I’m just going to move on.

Next argument please!

 

[thegenius]

I had a patient come in last week and tell me something I thought sounded very hoaxy. She said, "A friend up North [New York] went to get tested for COVID at one of the drive-through testing places. She registered, waited, and waited to get swabbed but it was 'taking forever,' so she left and never got tested. Then 3 days later they called her and told her she had tested positive, even though she never gave a sample."

I responded with, "Uh-huh, uh-huh" and just listened while we did her procedure, thinking, yeah, whatever, sounds like one of those irrelevant random and unreliable things patients sometimes say, ignore. Then two days later, another patient who I consider somewhat more reliable, tells me the same exact thing happened to a family member she considers reliable, not out of state, but here locally (not Florida). Then I'm thinking, okay, that's weird. Is this a viral internet hoax going around, or is there something to this? Nah...likely hoax.

But apparently it's a thing, and multiple news reports came up on a Google search. I suppose it could still be fake news, but there's this from an ABC News affiliate in Sarasota, FL, with a surprisingly plausible sounding explanation from an "expert":

Concerns arise as some receive positive COVID-19 results but never got tested

"'This is part of the testing mechanism problem. People are sitting in their cars, sometimes for hours, or standing in line, six feet apart sometimes for hours. You’re registered though, you’re number 15 in line, and you are Jay Wolfson. If Jay Wolfson says he can’t wait any longer and he leaves, it will get number 15 and now get Rebecca Fernandez, who was standing behind him, and she tests positive, and then everyone from then on gets the wrong results. There has to be a better way to do this,' explained Dr. Jay Wolfson, Public Health & Medicine Professor for the University of South Florida."

That makes 3 states: Mine, New York and Florida.

What ****ing idiots!!!