Conavirus......

[SteveinMN]

From footage I've seen neither those living in nursing homes or prisoners are being made to wear masks all day, although they can't social distance

MiL's assisted living has restricted residents to their rooms. Their meals and even their mail are brought to them. There is no social distancing since there is no congregating. The entire staff wears masks.

[iris lilies]

You are NOT the only one that is angry about the way this has played out, specifically with how it is affecting care for the elderly, both medical and the more human aspects of human contact. As in my 92 and 93 year old parents seem to have been put in a solitary confinement, in what is possibly a life time sentence. I am furious and frightened and sick about it.

I think it is terrible that your mother has had to wait to have a cancerous tumor removed. I hope all goes well this week, and I am glad she is finally able to see someone.

So you are not alone in your feelings, at all.

How would you like to have seen your parents’ situation handled?

[Tybee]

Thanks for reading my post, IL. I'm not in a place where I am ready to discuss this; the grief and fear is too strong right now. I'm sure you can understand how family members would feel under these circumstances.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I can't even tell if my feeling a tiny bit dizzy after the supermarket is due to mask or due to the fear and anxiety caused by going to the supermarket! I really suspect it's anxiety, fear will do that.

[JaneV2.0]

I am thankful governors on the West Coast are standing strong and slowly phasing activities in, personally. I'm fine wearing a mask and would stay far away from anyone not wearing one at this point.

[Teacher Terry]

I have a n95 mask and can only wear it for short periods of time due to asthma and allergies. The homemade ones I can wear much longer. They aren’t mandatory here but I think they should be.

[Geila]

I'm wondering... are family members able to discharge patients from nursing homes and take them home to live with them and take care of them themselves? It seems this would alleviate a lot of the stress and fear that people are having over their inability to visit family members. And it might be a safer place for elderly people to be as it would expose them to much fewer germs. And for those who do succumb to the virus at least it would give the family a chance to say goodbye and be with their loved ones in their last moments.

When my father passed away, his whole family was able to be there with him. He was VERY lucky. I think if he was in one now I would try to get him out and get him home if possible.

[bae]

I have a n95 mask and can only wear it for short periods of time due to asthma and allergies. The homemade ones I can wear much longer. They aren’t mandatory here but I think they should be.

A properly-fitted N95 mask is objectively harder to breath in, and without proper technique provides quite a bit less air exchange, causing CO2 buildup inside the mask and fatigue. I had to keep a co-worker from keeling over the other day during a strenuous task.

"The results showed a mean increment of 126 and 122% in inspiratory and expiratory flow resistances, respectively, with the use of N95 respirators. There was also an average reduction of 37% in air exchange volume with the use of N95 respirators."

https://academic.oup.com/annweh/article/55/8/917/265317

[SteveinMN]

I'm wondering... are family members able to discharge patients from nursing homes and take them home to live with them and take care of them themselves?

My understanding is that it's possible to do in Minnesota.

However, most folks are in nursing homes and assisted living facilities because they pretty much ought to be there. The homes of the children/siblings in which they would end up may not be adapted at all for a patient's particular disability, whether it's being unable to manage stairs, problems with balance, dementia, etc. Bringing them "home" also presumes somewhat knowledgeable people around to prepare (or even feed) meals, help toilet and bathe, help stand up or sit down, deal with dementia-related behaviors, etc.; not all of which would apply, of course).

Not to say it couldn't be done -- it's what people used to do before all these facilities existed. But for folks in assisted living or nursing homes, the home of a family member may be freer of germs but not necessarily freer of hazards.

[Yppej]

Another steep drop in daily covid deaths, from 158 to 86, and all other indices are down too - fewer cases despite more testing, fewer hospitalizations, etc yet my governor continues to fearmonger. Our latest extension of draconian measures is set to expire 5/18 and now the line from the administration is not phased opening then, but just that a paper from a commission outlining phases for reopening with no timeline will be released. I bet if the number of deaths fell to zero the governor would still be saying, "Be afraid, be very afraid, the sky is falling." The idea of setting up a committee to study something is a classic stalling technique.

On a positive note a coworker gave me a cloth mask his wife made that I do okay with when I walk out into the public areas of the building. Wearing it is not mandatory but I do it because if we make customers wear masks I think we should also when around them. We have 5 managers and 2 managers in training and none of them wear masks even when around customers, but some of the rest of us are.