Currently and Covid-19
I’ve told people, every other female in our family is a nurse: my grandmother and my mom were, my great-aunt who is my grandmother’s sister still is, two of mom’s cousins one of whom is now a nursing instructor, my sister, and now another sister is in nursing school. I and a few other female family members have had a least a temp job in some part of the medical world. So, right now, a lot of the family is immersed in covid-19 land without really knowing many/any people who’ve tested positive.
I’m working at a newspaper office (the company owns multiple small local county papers and a few in various other states) in the accounting department. Fully DONE with the hysteria. I was half-crazy with it earlier. Then just disgusted with the irresponsibility and half-truths and absolute falsehoods and the hatred. Unable to understand why people choose to half-read distorted media reports rather than, oh, I don’t know go directly to the Center for Disease and Control, you know that massive organization of disease experts who are working to understand this disease? (Because where are the journalist getting their oh, so scientific info that is SO much better than a group devoted to the study of infectious disease? A special revelation from God?!!) And maybe a history book and maybe a book on vaccination. I feel like I was losing a grip on reality in listening to them. I can fact check all day, but crazy emotions feed crazy emotions. It was hard to reset my brain. Rant over.
Sister 1. Biostatistics master working as temp under the university research department gathering data. Research switched to covid-19. Mentioned hearing throat test was equal in efficacy to those brain poking ones. Telling us that people who test positive are tested again and that 2nd test is counted, meaning they are double counted. Antibody tests of uncertain usefulness, not sure if that has improved.
Sister 2. Hospital nurse. High levels of patient seriousness (I can’t remember term), hospital thinks its because they wait so long to come in out of covid-fear.
Sister 4. Freshman nursing major. Started job administering tests for Sister 1’s research department. She has to wear a full surgical suit, n-95, and that shield helmet thing. Working downtown, fill in details.
8 Comments
Davida Chazan
Wow… my sister-in-law is a nurse and her mother was a doctor, but all those medical genes skipped our side of the family, it seems.
Livia Rose
Yeah, I didn’t get the nurse genes, but I was looking to possibly go into epidemiology before this whole covid-19 situation threw me off my confidence and nuked my interest for the time being.
Skye
The hysteria is driving me nuts too.
Livia Rose
It was bothering me more earlier, but now, I think I’m more used to it/it is being exposed for the hysteria it is.
Ivy Spargur
My sister is a nurse, my brother was an ER nurse and my younger brother went to nursing school. Plus I have a sister who teaches biology and Anatomy and Physiology and my mother has a degree in hospital science. So, science is pretty big in my family.
Livia Rose
Yes, my family too besides the nursing (except me and my history microbiology/epidemiology was my main/only scientific interest/possibility), my dad and brother are chemical engineers. The sister working at the university has a math with a biostatistics masters. And my 4th sister is in environmental science.
Elizabeth
It’s really nice to get a confirmation against the hysteria from someone who’s close to people that work with it. This was really helpful.
Livia Rose
Well, its more my opinion of looking at the numbers, reading the CDC, and my previous class on microbiology and my recent years reading on vaccination, epidemiology, etc. I had been planning to possibly go into epidemiology, but then I felt guilty because I was saying the flu thing at first too, and then I was annoyed with everyone acting like they understood something. The other thing, is our state isn’t as affected as say the locations of major newspapers like The New York Times, a city where everyone is packed liked sardines and uses public transport is always going to have any disease worse no matter what they do.