Our governor is on television right now. Our COVID-19 cases in Louisiana are surging. What’s going on in your area?

Surging here, too. The governor made it very clear we all need to stay home except for very essential trips...and then he went to dinner at The French Laundry.

Same goes for San Francisco. The mayor is about to announce more stringent lockdowns there. (Did I mention she went to The French Laundry the night after the governor?)

Here in Southern California, they've closed down all the restaurants in Los Angeles County after one of the members of the Board of Supervisors said eating in a restaurant -- even outside -- is one of the most dangerous things you can do. She was spotted later that evening dining at her favorite restaurant. She claims she went to apologize to the owners for having to vote to lock down their business, but since the lockdown didn't take effect for two more days, she had dinner there.

I live in Orange County where we aren't locked down quite as tightly as L.A., but I'm sure it's coming. No one I know personally has had COVID, except for my brother-in-law who had it last March and 10 residents in my mother's nursing home back in June.

I'm not a denier, but I'm getting mighty sick of all this and the mixed messages all the folks in charge are giving. I'd also like to hear from just one person why there's a surge right now. No one seems to have an answer to that.

MJ,

Funny that you mentioned that because I just saw a clip of a politician that ordered his community to ‘stay home’ and it was later discovered that he went on vacation! He was traveling in an airplane.

I bet a lot goes on behind the scenes that we don’t know about.

Our governor is doing afternoon conferences and the one he did before Thanksgiving he asked for us to only have immediate family at dinner.

He said normally they have about 90 people at the Governor’s mansion for Thanksgiving dinner but this year was immediate family only.

I agree that they should practice what they preach.

We got the mandatory OT order today, starts next week. Our numbers are up but not as many on ventilators.. It seems they are just being proactive, which I understand if it surges worse in the next few months. Better to have too many RTs than not enough, and let some go home if not needed that day.

That was Denver's mayor. As he is tweeting for all to stay home, he is at the airport readying to board a plane to Houston, then a jump to Mississippi. He is now on quarantine at home for 14 days. He felt very good about that part.

One of my assistants went to her parents for Thanksgiving, she has 15 siblings. How many were at the gathering, I don't know. Her husband works at a hospital. He went to work sick on Monday, they tested him and sent him home. Low and behold, he came back positive. Assistant also has symptoms so went for a test yesterday, still waiting for that result. But, regardless, she is now on 14 day quarantine.

And my whine, I have been short one assistant all year!

Glad,

It is sad. I think the vaccine is our ticket out of this mess but look at how many people that have said that they don’t want to take the vaccine.

Let’s hope enough people take it so our nation can reach herd immunity through the vaccine.

Pam,

I agree it is better to be prepared. Here some hospitals are not doing any elective surgeries until after Covid is under control. Only essential surgeries are being done. They don’t want our hospitals to have full occupancy and run out of beds.

I bet there are Covid cases in just about all hospitals.

Night before last I took my husband to the ER. He was in severe pain.

The nurse that attended to him in triage asked me to wait outside in the waiting area, saying there were active cases of Covid and not to remove my mask at any time.

They placed my husband in a room. Then did a scan and discovered kidney stones.

It’s uncomfortable being in a hospital these days knowing that there are active cases in the building.

Some of you know that my daughter moved to Denver.

She had applied for a credit analyst position that she really wanted and found out today that she has the job!

All interviews were done online.

She will be working remotely. The company is sending a laptop and duel monitors to her apartment.

Not sure how long she will be working from home but the banking industry has been adapting to online financial services long before Covid.

Her position won’t be dealing with any customers directly.

The company that hired her owns several banks. She will be doing the credit analysis to see if small businesses will qualify for a loan. The loan officers deal with the customers.

Many jobs can be done remotely very successfully.

Companies are changing and not investing in real estate to house employees.

I think we are going to see more changes in business due to Covid. Some for the better.

Pam,

Aren’t there positions in the hospital that are or can be done remotely, such as a radiologist?

Congrats to daughter, NHWM! I agree that the way companies do business will forever change.

Thanks, Glad. I am very proud of her. She worked very hard and had goals.

Her ambition paid off.

There is a growing outbreak in our regional hospital, they have had to close to all but emergency surgery and admissions and are masking even the patients there. Not good that they can't seem to get it under control.


On a positive note all of this working from home has been an unexpected bonus for many people, it has allowed my nephew's GF to join him in AB while keeping her job in ON. (dealing with the time difference sucks though)

3,100 deaths yesterday in the United States. The Hospitals are bursting with Covid cases. And the Thanksgiving bump still not here. Thanks goodness the vaccine is on the way. Will be available to our health workers and seniors in facilities first, as should be the case.

Alva,

Our governor holds his press conferences in the afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon he announced his concerns over Thanksgiving travelers that entered our city to visit family and friends.

He was saying that many people traveled to New Orleans for Thanksgiving.

He gave the latest stats but said that he fully expected the numbers to rise because people ignored his requests of only having immediate family present for Thanksgiving dinner.

I realize that people are experiencing Covid fatigue. We are all tired of this situation.

That doesn’t mean that we can become lazy and not follow recommended guidelines.

Our governor is telling us that we can help by doing our part to keep each other safe and get the vaccine in order to achieve herd immunity.

Wear a mask and adhere to social distancing rules.

My daughter recently told me that she knows of someone that refused to wear a mask.

He was exposed to Covid while traveling and for some reason felt that he wouldn’t get It.

He called his wife and told his wife about his exposure.

His wife refused to allow him inside their home until he got tested. They argued and he agreed to get tested.

He argued with the doctor saying that he felt fine and that he knew for certain that he did not have Covid.

He said he was only being tested because of an argument with his wife.

Guess what the results were? The doctor said, “Sir, you have tested positive. I am glad that you decided to listen to your wife and be tested. Just because there are no symptoms present doesn’t mean that you are ‘fine’ and you can spread it to others, so please quarantine for 14 days.”

NHWM, I am sure many non patient care jobs are being done from home,, our hospital is huge and the parking garages are much emptier. But our radiology techs help get the pt on the table, or the bedside scans. The equipment is in the hospital as are the Pts. Some Drs who read them may be able to be at home doing this.. but so many of us need to be "hands on" . Our admitted Covid number was down by 10 pts today, to 50. I am part of a study on the antibodies, had my second blood draw yesterday. So far only a few employees in the study have come up with antibodies. ( 4000 in the study) We are seeing data that some people had the antibodies, and a few months later they did not. Does this mean we will need repeated shots of the vacine? No one really seems to know.
As for us RTs, we have to be there.. hard to manage your vent or implement your treatment plan that we come up with from home!! But we are all trying to stay safe and keep you safe as well!

I just heard of a woman in this are, probably about 50, contracted covid a second time. She participated in the antibody study after the first time. Hoping that the vaccine is effective.

Assistant tested positive.

NHWM, good for that wife not allowing hubs in house! More people need to be as strong as her!

Glad,

Cases are rising all over!

I hope it teaches her husband a lesson! People think that they have to have symptoms to test positive. Not so!