You can get a two-pack at CVS of the BinaxNOW tests for $13. I think they're $23, but you get $10 off if you something something CVS care
I went to Walgreens and got both the quickvue (two back for $29) and the flowflex (one for $10). With the more expensive one, you’re supposed to test twice, 24-36 hours apart in order to make it as accurate as possible. I got 4 of each, just because fuck it I wanna be stocked. Glad they have these available though. Alternative is going to an urgent care for a free rapid test, but that’s a pain, literally, for my boys. It’s walk in appointments everywhere around here for the rapid tests though
Went to four different CVS/Walgreens. All sold out. Thankfully the wife's work stocked up on them so we're going to "borrow" a few and then replenish the stash when they're more readily available. We have family coming in from a few different parts of the state so everyone is taking tests.
A good step, but given that it has to be administered pretty early in the progression of the infection, it's not going to do much for the "it's just the flu, testing is for pussies, I'm not even going to take a sick day until my kid has to wheel me into the ER when my O2 drops through the floor" crowd.
After reading the initial reports on the testing, 10 people died in the tests because they were given a placebo. Man... that's got to suck. You're dying, and you're given the placebo.
Yeah, they stopped the trial early when initial results were so good. I don't how you get good data without well conducted RCT, but dying on a placebo would suck hard.
The Wall Street Journal was saying that Paxlovid could be on the shelves next week and that government has already ordered hundreds of thousands of doses. Crazy.
i wonder if the families were told it was placebo or if it was kept anonymous? I volunteered for clinical trials during my long covid but unfortunately none they contacted me about were near me. It wasn’t so much out of a hope of fixing it, but rather a feeling of civic duty of like “I’m experiencing this, and this is still fairly early, might as well use me so hopefully others won’t experience the same.” I’d like to think others had the same approach, and given that the medicine is only for those with severe Covid I’m sure the thinking was “well I either die, or maybe they try this experimental stuff on me and I’m saved” but you never know their mindset unless the families reveal it I guess.
Since previous post, my mental fog has worsened, labored breathing has increased, and heart rate has taken a nose dive. At home tests are negative, though I’ve read that not all of them register the omicron variant. Have a dr appt in about an hour where they’ll see me at the car, test, and therapeutics if needed. this shit is fucking horrible and I hope no one gets it. Except all the assholes who are refusing shots and keeping us in this mess — I hope they suffer through every last labored breath I’m taking right now. Cunts.
I don't remember if I mentioned it in a previous post, but my wife ran into a friend at the hospital where she works. Friend is also a nurse, and her father is in for Covid. She shared the pics of her Dad's x-rays pre and post infection and holy shit, it's night and day. He's on nasal o2 at 5liters a minute and will likely need to stay on it. I should see if she'd let me show the films here, it's friggin scary. At dinner last night with some former co-workers, a couple of them who still think it's all BS. I told them about those xrays and it shut them up, at least for a bit.
Once I get back from the dr and have the energy to get on the computer, if I remember, I’ll look up my liver counts and share those. If I had been drinking before, it would have certainly killed me. i just did an antibody test and it shows I still have some, so I’m optimistic this will be an easier ride. Still fucking sucks though. Every breath is conscious and take effort. But at least I have reason for a lot of optimism that I won’t die this time
Here's a scenario that just popped up for me: There's a large city project that's being tendered right now and is expected to be executed throughout the next year, done by 2023. The labour market - particularly in construction - is SUPER tight. No one has staff and there's only a handful of any particular subtrade that is actually qualified to do the work proposed. I sent out our tender request, and a subtrade (who happens to be the only one I know of that does this particular activity at this level) read the City's Covid policy and flatly declined to bid the work. He wasn't going to subject his guys to that level of scrutiny, and probably they would quit on him if he tried. What's the solution? It's super easy to say, "Fuck that company, find someone else!" Except you can't. Good companies that do specialized work are rare. Do you get some guy from Toronto that you've never heard of and hope to god he doesn't shit the bed? Do you cobble together suppliers and random trades who might kind of be able to do the work, but who knows? The GC would be fully on the hook for whomever they carried, and the City has both a fixed budget and a fixed deadline. All this, it goes without saying, is on the taxpayer's back because it's a civic project. Are we willing to pay double the cost of a build to the taxpayer and hire people from way out of town who are probably going to either fuck up or disappear? It's a fine line between a reasonable policy that protects people and pushing it so far that people reject it. This goes in line with the mantra of, "Make it so you can't even buy gas unless you comply." That might work for a few weeks, but what do you do when a big chunk of qualified people eventually say, "Fuck it" and revoke their services?
To who? In a situation like this, Contractor A looks at it and says: listen, I won't risk my money or reputation on a project where I can't guarantee qualified subtrades. I'll pass. Contractor B says: I'll find anyone who's willing to close it! So what happens, in a hypothetical situation like this, is that the contractors who DO submit bids have a way higher chance of carrying materials or subtrades that are unreliable. We just had it happen in this city two years ago; the project got tendered to the lowest bidder, who could not in any way handle it, and the school wound up being over budget by millions and almost two years, and shit still isn't done correctly. Everyone who looks at it says, "They should have picked a local person and paid more money." But that's not how this works. And the industry winds up looking bad.
Look at it this way: you're a homeowner and you want new kitchen cabinets. Contractor A, who's been in business locally for +30 years, says, "I'll do your project and it will cost you $50,000.00 but I'm not following your covid rules. I'll follow my own." Contractor B, who's been in business at a nearby town for +10 years, says, "I'll do this project and abide by your rules. It'll be $75,000." Contractor C, who you've never heard of and is based three hours away, says, "I'll take this project, follow your rules, and it'll be $30,000." Which one are you going to pick?
doing the job properly entails following the Covid protocols. If they won’t, then they won’t do the job properly by definition. And hopefully they’ll be out of work soon. find someone who will do the job properly and completely
Except there isn't anyone, in my example. The one guy locally who supplies that particular item is the one who declined.