My BIL (who is on immune suppressants) had a false positive on a TB test and now they… just don’t test him.
So I hope our COVID response is better than that at least?
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I am VERY curious about this. And depending on what the data says, it seems like this might be the next step with the strongest evidence for changing mandates for?
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I mean, they already changed it for health care workers 
because we don’t have enough.
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Exactly. And I think that argument could be made for several other sectors in the economy, that the risk is worth having workers. Depending on what the data reflects on the rates of asymptomatic transmission and everything. And when you account for the fact that testing is so unevenly spread across the population, so there’s the argument for the fact that we’re just kind of punishing the people in the sectors that are doing testing. But if asymptomatic transmission is in fact quite low, I could see the argument for making that move in some thing like primary schools as well, where the kids are old enough to be vaccinated and there is a very low complications risk even if they’re not. And there’s a similarly large cost, economically and developmentally, to staffing shortages.
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That’s interesting. I used to get TB skin tested annually and it drove me nuts because I often came back positive because I got the TB vaccine as a kid in Brazil. The procedure was always to do a follow-up x-ray and I didn’t understand why they couldn’t just mark me down as weird and go straight to the x-ray. Now it’s an annual blood test and that doesn’t seem to give the false positive of the skin test.
What worries me about changing the guidelines for what’s worth the risk is that we tend to be talking about jobs that are disproportionately done by lower income and minority folks. Is it fair to put the burden of COVID and its lasting effects on factory workers, bus drivers, grocery clerks, child care workers?
(Edited to make the topic change more understandable)
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The mask mandates seem like the last things we should drop imo. I can see shifting to less lockdowns - I think my province has had some of the most and strictest long lockdowns in the world (lots of places have had much stricter SHORT and local lockdowns which make sense to me). The lockdowns affect mental health, access to important stuff, education and development.
The masks affect comfort. And communication with hearing impaired individuals. Unfortunately as much as I hate singling out a differently abled group, I can’t see a solution other than self identifying and unmasking as necessary. People here are really good at respecting people with exemptions too.
Vaccine mandates are a mess. And should be applied fairly.
Nazis should fuck the fuck off and take their terrorist funding to the same prisons people go to when they fund international terrorists.
I’m being a priveleged bitch in a few weeks and going on vacation. I hope that I am respectful enough of my flight crew and host county’s safety.
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Currently getting training at work in how to administer a RAT test. Work is requiring us to do them every 96h and ensure our team does them as well
Though we may have to do them more frequently in the future
A non negative gets us set to the site nurse for PCR test
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My manager at work tested positive for Covid last Saturday and was symptomatic until ~ thursday last week. He’s now past the government 10 day isolation period/ company policy, but is still testing positive. We’re supposed to have our whole team meeting in the office this Friday (a pretty rare and important occurance as we’re scattered about the country), and he’s asked whether we’re all comfortable with him coming in. I’m not at any particular risk (young, vaxxed, no pre-existing conditions) but I’m for sure not going to spend 7 hours in a room with someone I know is contagious. I’ve been trying to find information about how likely he is to still be contagious but I guess I’m just not using the right search terms. Has anyone got any research to share on contagiousness post-infection if you’re still testing positive?
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Is he positive on self test or PCR?
If it’s PCR, tests can remain positive long after you’ve been infected, as your body is still clearing out the remains of the virus. This is also what you now see at the olympics with some athletes who had covid in Dec/Jan testing borderline positive once every couple days.
If he’s positive on self test I’d be more worried, as it’s less sensitive so means he still has more virus into his body. As far as I’m aware self tests are less likely to pick up dead virus remains as well (but I’m no expert on antigen tests, so don’t pin me down on this). Also, self tests can turn negative rather quick. He may see some fading already?
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Self test (Lateral flow/ rapid antigen test) unfortunately. Yeah, there’s still time for the LFTs to turn negative (in which case I’d probably be fine with it), but I’m trying to decide whether to ask him to stay home if he’s still testing positive on Friday.
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So, based on the eastern side of Australia, vaccines alone aren’t a solution. They’re a big important part, but they’ve got a high rate of vaccination for everyone over 5yo, and they’ve still been completely swamped. They’ve made rules allowing asymptomatic but positive people to go to work in several industries.
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Ok, consensus seems to be that there’s a non-zero change of contagiousness after 10 days, but that if asymptomatic, vaxxed, and not immuno-compromised (AFAIK these all apply) then this is pretty unlikely, and that by 14 days this is even less likely - this would be 13 days after his initial positive test so I think it’s probably ok to risk.
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Realistically, I think asymptomatic people aren’t testing and are carrying on as normal at this point, so it seems moot. There’s basically no more contact tracing, and if you’re vaccinated I don’t think any place requires testing if you’re asymptomatic.
I’d like to see mask requirements in place until it’s actually warm enough to open the windows.
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THIS. Or warm enough to have activities outside.
This is me too. Not immune suppressed, but risk factors, and Boyfriend also has risk factors, and I fear the long-term consequences of covid. I wear an N95 for me and for him, not for some rando I might bump into at the grocery store who is antivax.
I agree there needs to be a middle ground. I don’t know what that is, but it has to exist? Can we just not fling wide the gates again while hospitals are still struggling to provide care?
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A lot of Asymptomatic people are testing because they are in professions with regular testing - which gets back to the, should we let up on routine testing?
In my state, at least workplaces and schools are still doing contact notification for close contacts for positive tests.
So it begs the question, if it is being unequally done, does the science continue to support testing asymptomatic and quarantine
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Speaking of scrapping testing
Pandemic pretty much over in Sweden apparently
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And does anyone else think that we went REALLY quickly, like whiplash-quickly, from “wear a KN95 or N95, cloth is no good” to “No masks at all needed!”
I mean, yes, cases are falling, but Chicago still says “very high transmission.”
This confuses my brain. Nevertheless, looks like IL is ditching masks as of today and Chicago likely will not be far behind. New Orleans is keeping them thru Mardi Gras but I assume after that they’ll ditch them as well - right in time for me to arrive in town.
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“Statewide school mask requirement in Massachusetts to be lifted Feb. 28”
Speaking of mask mandates, just saw this come up in the news.
I wonder about testing especially as I am delivering a baby in March sometime and the hospital I’m going to does the deep nasal swab PCR. My Dr. confirmed “Yeah it’s the worst” I have no problem getting testing and it makes sense as there will be infants in the unit I’ll be in but, can they not get the shallow PCR tests? Also, not crazy about the idea of having to wear a mask while in labor. I kind of need to take deep breaths and I have major sensory issues having my face covered. I’m one of those people that rips the mask off as soon as I’m outside.
Anyway, just my random thoughts no idea what will actually be the policy in 4-5 weeks. 
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My prediction is that this means mask mandates will end in the rural/redder parts of the state, but the urban and suburban districts will keep them going. My guess is that this won’t change things for the vast majority of MA students?
I don’t have a value judgment on it, this is just my reasonably informed school district governance perspective.
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California is lifting its statewide mask mandate, but like you said, some counties (mine - LA county specifically) are not. We’ve had a mask mandate continuously since March 2020 and it was only lifted for ~ two weeks last May.
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