Nurse clarifies reason for clinic visit, “It says here you’re here today for STD check. Is that right? “
Patient answers, “Yes. I’m here to have my throat check for STD.”
Nurse explains, “Since you wrote you also have sore throat, is it okay if I assess your throat for signs of infection?”
Patient verbalized, “Okay, you may check my throat.”
Nurse after observing pharyngeal redness and bilateral tonsillar redness with swelling and white spots explains, “You can tell the Doctor you want a test for throat STD, but likely the Doctor will also recommend COVID and Strep Throat test as these they also present with sore throat.”
Patient responds, “Okay.”
Nurse about to perform throat swab specimen collection after Doctor evaluation and order. Patient blurted out after a phone notification, “Oops, I have COVID.”
Patient said it so casually without signs of concern that she just exposed the Nurse, the Doctor and everyone she came in direct contact with that day by omitting an important information. Patient said after, “They got me tested for COVID because I work at a COVID testing clinic and got exposed to a Patient.”
Nurse trying to look unbothered proceeded to do the throat swab less than 6 feet distance in a small poorly ventilated room. Nurse quietly said to self, “Thank God I’m wearing N95.”
Next Day result came. Patient’s COVID PCR test confirms positive for COVID. She is also positive for Strep Throat Infection. No STD in throat. Patient given Penicillin prescription for the Strep. No prescription for COVID, just advice to gargle warm water with salt for symptomatic relief.
There will be lots of “Oops I have COVID” exposure and contact moments for everyone. Each Person exposed will react differently from angry, to annoyance, to worry, to laughter to no big deal.
Nowadays, it’s no big deal for Healthcare Workers. That common. Nothing special. No priority treatment for those who will get the next COVID. All sick Patients will be treated equally and fairly. Everyone waits in the E.R. lobby based on Acuity. No more preferential treatment as we are way past crisis mode.
No more free Government Hospital Funding. People will have to pay via their own insurance or out of pocket for Hospitalization Stay and Treatment that can cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, that part is no laughing matter. People will be in deep debt for a very long time. COVID becomes a very serious financial burden and liability.
Endemic means people will be responsible for paying for their own COVID related healthcare because we are passed Emergency Pandemic. Endemic means many testing and immunization clinics will be closed and there will be underreporting of COVID cases that will leave us blind as to how bad our next community outbreak will be.
2022 is the “Year of Whatever” for COVID. The answers to many of our questions will precisely be “Whatever” as well. Next several months will be unforgettable and interesting. Surprise to some, shock to others, no big deal for the rest.
As for me, I’m going for more vacays and nature road trips. After all, life has never been more short with all the events happening in our times. What happens next year, can wait for next year. Today and soon are what matters to me the most that they became a personal preferred lifestyle and mindset. No regrets. Just living in the moment day by day, month per month.
“Did I get COVID? Nope, still COVID Virgin and will remain so for as long as I can. Temptations begone!”
This Man's Journey 
Did you delete one of my comments?
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I don’t delete comments. Can you resend? Thanks.
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My comment resurfaced. Maybe a wordpress “fact checker” was responsible.
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WP does have glitches but rare
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I get that Covid is the new normal, but I wish we remembered common decency! “Oops, I have Covid.” Call me crazy … but shouldn’t that be something you tell a nurse up front or stay home to get better and prevent infecting others. I guess times are just different!!! Yikes!
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Thanks Brian. People have been behaving and acting differently the past year. Common Decency is gone to some people. I sometimes catch possible COVID patients wandering around lobby and pharmacy even if I already told them to avoid possibly infecting other people. Some likely are no longer quarantining or cutting it short doing usual activities like groceries or going back to work. Some have very mild symptoms that it’s hardly noticeable. There’s no contact tracing by public health. It would be no surprise a surge will happen Summer like last year, though I really hope it wouldn’t because it’s time really to travel and see Family and Friends we have not seen since pandemic began.
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Pingback: Oops I Have COVID – Urban Fishing Pole Lifestyle
I hear yah. I feel like we’ve given up a lot these past two years because of COVID. Life is too short. We’re planning on making the most of our vacation days as well by spending time outdoors and just being thankful for what we have.
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Same here. Time has never been more precious and the outdoors valuable.
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It’s the selfish ways people go about COVID that get to me. In 2020, at the end of the year, I was “COVID-ated”. Made me rather sick. And after telling as many people as I could this, and trying to isolate myself, three days later, one of my bosses told me it was nothing, and that I should come to work, because it probably wasn’t COVID. So I had to go to work, because the way my country is, I can’t afford to be without a job. I just kept praying everyday that I wouldn’t infect anyone. So like you, I’m really not surprised anymore by people’s responses to the disease now.
Do enjoy your vacations. It’s best to enjoy life as much as one can. I need to take my own advice, though.
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I can truly relate. Administration has been very lax with infection control and I am in a healthcare system that is suppose to protect and care for people for their health. Two co-workers got COVID, back to work after 10 days, when it used to be 14 days. Our co-workers being our friends too warned us , though really it wasn’t a big deal anymore for us, but managers never told the exposed and those in contact with them the day before they call in sick. Patients also are sitting with COVID patients in the same lobby breathing the same air space. No one tells them they may have been expose due to privacy laws. It’s crazy. But this is what’s happening everywhere,so part of the endemic practice and attitude.
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“Two co-workers got COVID, back to work after 10 days, when it used to be 14 days.”
The covid virus is cleared in healthy people after 8 days. This was known by May 2020.
“It was observed that SARS-CoV-2 was detected up to 20 days after onset of symptoms by PCR in infected patients but that the virus could not be isolated after day 8 in spite of ongoing high viral loads of approximately 105 RNA copies/mL of sample, using the RT-PCR system used in the present study”
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10096-020-03913-9
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8 days sounds better. Never easy to stay at home when sick and I understand many workers don’t get sick pay. No work , no pay.
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You take care nicely 🌷🙏♥️ the pandemic still in the air and stay alone and monitor health 👏😷
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It is. Sad part, our leaders will just announce out of the blue that it’s back to restrictions because hospitals are overwhelmed and more are dying. In U.S. 1,000 COVID daily death is the normal endemic . It’s not . A life is a life.
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I had COVID twice and it floored me each and every time. I will continue to be careful for a while longer, I need to be, I am immune compromised. As for you, go on with your life and if someone like me asks you to wear a mask, please consider it. Have a great vacation!
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Will do. I do wear mask still in public. I only remove it at home or eating in restaurants or outdoors with nature. Work, still on mask 7 hours per shift. Yes, people need to mindful of the immunocompromised , the too young and old, those with co-morbidities. And now that many will be without mask, Flu will have big comeback after being quiet for more than 2 years. Stay safe my Friend.
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Are you taking D3? If so, how much?
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I take D3 every day because I have RA. 5000 UI
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Thanks. Your immune system is better for it. It’s hard to imagine you getting many infections.
Do you also take K2? I wonder how many people know that K2 and D3 should both be supplemented. K2 routes calcium to bones instead of arterial walls.
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The are often sold together and most doctors’ make patients aware of it. Also, there is always Dr. Google. 🙂
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Are you able to keep your vitamin D level at 50 ng/ml or higher?
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I have RA so it’s normally around 30 -40 in the wintertime.
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🙏
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Haven’t done my Physicals yet. Hopefully this April.
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Thanks
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No, no K2. Other than more vitamin D, it’s just my usual vitamins now. I still have these elderberries that is suppose to increase immunity I bought 2020 but stopped using. Best immunity really is good sleep, less stress and just living healthier. Thanks.
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2,000 units , sometimes more.
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Trying to avoid coronaviruses is silly. Might as well try to avoid mold and bacteria.
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Exactly.
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I find the non-chalant attitude very annoying, especially for those who do their best to keep each other and themselves safe.
Hospitalizations in our area is going up again – shock of the century!
It is very nice that things are opening up once again and people are out and enjoying their lives again. I am thankful for those who continue to take precautions such as mask wearing. And for those that don’t, well, they can only have themselves to blame when things lock up again in a few months!
Hope you are taking care. Family vacations and nature trips right around the corner! 🙏
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Thanks Ab. Do stay safe and strong and hoping the same for your entire Family. “Non-chalant” is the right word for many so insensitive to the concerns of other people around them. I have not stop wearing mask in crowded public places, except restaurants when eating. If BA.2 is 50% more infectious than Omicron, that means 1 infected can easily 18 people more. It will only take 2-3 weeks to infect most in a community without mandates. Yes, we enjoy now what we can with mask in mind. Summer will be COVID hot!
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Our mask mandates lifted on Monday and hospitalizations are going up again. We are doing our part to live life and have fun while doing so in a way that respects our own safety and the safety of others. For those that continue to shout about invasion of freedom need to look to what’s going on in Ukraine and see what a real invasion of freedom looks like!
Anyway, rant over. 😆😆😆 Hope you have a good rest of your weekend. I am thankful things are opening up again and despite the continued presence of COVID, I am optimistic it will be a wonderful Spring and Summer of family and friend fun regardless.
Stay safe!!!
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Thanks Ab. To Rant is freedom of speech, so we rant for as much and as long as we can. And it is a rant that is true, caring and honest. There are rants out there that are destructive and dangerous, like the Liars and Extremist of COVID, Politics, and now, the Ukraine invasion of Russia. Even the apple news needs to be filtered well because there are lies in between the thoughts and messages of their articles. Stay safe too and just enjoy life the best we know how.
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Thank you. And to you as well! 😊🙏
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🙏
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At this point, we are exposed to covid continually.
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Yes we are. COVID won after first 3 months of lockdown, people just refuse to acknowledge it. It is a virus created to outlive Humans in their lifetime, just like influenza, measles, chicken pox, HIV.
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Yip, I say let’s go on vacation. Live life the best we can. Never has tomorrow been more uncertain (in my lifetime). 🌴🥥🌞
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Totally , totally agree. When see death, when see it’s possibility at any given time, when become connected to the events around us and the World, what life should be has never been more clear. Longevity sounds nice but Living minute by minute Alive is even better, so much better. So yes, we take vacations if we can and live life the best we can in the present. Thanks Lisa. Well said. Love it.
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“After all, life has never been more short with all the events happening in our times.” – that’s pretty accurate description of these times.
as in regards to that patient, who doesn’t care that she gets other people sick, I can not understand. This is basically, like sneazing without covering your mouth. It would be considered rude and inconsiderate. Unfortunately, I’ve heard similar stories from friends in healthcare, so that’s not isolated incident.
Enjoy your road trips and vacations!
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Thanks Jo. I appreciate the kind thoughts and positive share. Sometimes, the only way to not feel angry or upset of people’s actions and attitude is to turn it into humor. 3 years in the pandemic, nothing surprises me anymore, and I learned to not take things personally, otherwise, everyday , it only takes one super determined negative trigger to mess up our day.
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