Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the poster who suggested a separate thread for “regular” parenting during COVID woes rather than the specific difficulties faced by those in the medical community. So here’s mine:

1. Daycare closed all week this week because there’s an outbreak in the teaching staff. I am thisclose to a promotion this is not the moment I wanted to take Yet Another week off.
2. My niece and nephew (vaccinated) have COVID right now and my SIL is incredibly blasé about exposing her parents when it comes to free childcare, which means another month without grandparents for my unvaccinated toddler.
3. We weren’t comfortable with swim lessons this weekend— a rainy weekend where we really wanted to get her out and some exercise.
4. We are looking at a third year running of cancelling my husband’s birthday in March… which just sucks.

I'm an April birthday (who turned 40 in 2020 and had to cancel that planned party) and I couldn't even list not having a birthday party for three years on my list of woes. Seriously. Also, why isn't your husband taking a week off to take care of your kids? Is it because he's too sad about his birthday?

Op has to be a younger millennial. I mean who gives a flying fig about ADULT birthdays??? Have a party? I mean it’s a decent excuse to have a party, but would rank 999 out of 1000 list of worries.

Masks

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the poster who suggested a separate thread for “regular” parenting during COVID woes rather than the specific difficulties faced by those in the medical community. So here’s mine:

1. Daycare closed all week this week because there’s an outbreak in the teaching staff. I am thisclose to a promotion this is not the moment I wanted to take Yet Another week off.
2. My niece and nephew (vaccinated) have COVID right now and my SIL is incredibly blasé about exposing her parents when it comes to free childcare, which means another month without grandparents for my unvaccinated toddler.
3. We weren’t comfortable with swim lessons this weekend— a rainy weekend where we really wanted to get her out and some exercise.
4. We are looking at a third year running of cancelling my husband’s birthday in March… which just sucks.

why can’t DH take a week this time?

Because he took off *last* Weds-Fri when the *first* teacher got sick and he has less sick leave than I do.

She only has two more teachers this can only happen twice more?!!?!

i m confused because you implied that you took a week in your OP. “Yet another week”- so in reality it was two days.

No, it’s other weeks from the fall (stayed home with a cold that wasn’t covid) and the spring (stayed home for five days in order to visit a relative with cancer) not just this event. I took this week and my husband took last, just bad timing for me to be taking another week.

With all due respect, that was a choice.

It was a choice. A choice I made when rates were very low, and vaccines were rolling out, and we had no reason to think come January we’d be back to this. But it was a choice and I recognize that. I would make the same choice, though, because not quarantining and potentially killing a family member would also have been a choice…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the poster who suggested a separate thread for “regular” parenting during COVID woes rather than the specific difficulties faced by those in the medical community. So here’s mine:

1. Daycare closed all week this week because there’s an outbreak in the teaching staff. I am thisclose to a promotion this is not the moment I wanted to take Yet Another week off.
2. My niece and nephew (vaccinated) have COVID right now and my SIL is incredibly blasé about exposing her parents when it comes to free childcare, which means another month without grandparents for my unvaccinated toddler.
3. We weren’t comfortable with swim lessons this weekend— a rainy weekend where we really wanted to get her out and some exercise.
4. We are looking at a third year running of cancelling my husband’s birthday in March… which just sucks.

why can’t DH take a week this time?

Because he took off *last* Weds-Fri when the *first* teacher got sick and he has less sick leave than I do.

She only has two more teachers this can only happen twice more?!!?!

i m confused because you implied that you took a week in your OP. “Yet another week”- so in reality it was two days.

No, it’s other weeks from the fall (stayed home with a cold that wasn’t covid) and the spring (stayed home for five days in order to visit a relative with cancer) not just this event. I took this week and my husband took last, just bad timing for me to be taking another week.

With all due respect, that was a choice.

oh, well, if PP got to exercise any element of choice in the decision, she definitely does not get to have misgivings or regret or frustration about it. Great point. /s

You're using the word "respect" and I think you have lost all track of what "respect" is. People are full human beings. We have lives that include many factors. Recognizing that is respectful. Barking that someone made a choice (therefore does not get to observe any negative impacts of that choice?) is not respectful.

Why the hell is DCUM like this?

It’s not. DCUM, it’s the US in general.

People cling to any semblance of control in late stage capitalist decline. So, choosing to visit a relative with cancer is your “choice” that’s going to derail your career. The idea that these choices equals any sense of autonomy is a way to cling to control in an environment where childcare is uncertain, the health care system is crumbling and parental leave is nonexistent. Really, none of us have any autonomy but people like PP love to pretend that we do and that the US is the greatest place on earth. “Choice” is the opiate of the American masses. It’s sad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's only in DC area and a few other places that people are such covid loons. Everyone else decided to get on with life a loooooong time ago.

Sure. And most of them ended up "fine." But a good number ended up dead or disabled. The ones who did aren't getting on with life, so they can't talk about how little an impact had on their lives and how everyone else is a loon.

I never want to hear someone somberly intone about the lost lives on 9/11 again. That was a rounding error compared to what we're dealing with from COVID. If you want to say terrorism is bad or that we should mourn the lost property of that day, then fine. But clearly the loss of life was never all that big a deal.

I'm just fed up that even though we've done everything right- vaccinated, boostered, masks - we live our lives without covid rules and restrictions.

Anonymous wrote:It's only in DC area and a few other places that people are such covid loons. Everyone else decided to get on with life a loooooong time ago.

Sure. And most of them ended up "fine." But a good number ended up dead or disabled. The ones who did aren't getting on with life, so they can't talk about how little an impact had on their lives and how everyone else is a loon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's only in DC area and a few other places that people are such covid loons. Everyone else decided to get on with life a loooooong time ago.

Very dangerous misinformation.

1. Hospitals around entire US are overwhelmed by unvaxxed patients. Until we control the new cases everyone is at risk due to lack of medical resources.
2. New variant is hybrid of omicron and delta - highly transmissible and stronger symptoms than omicron alone
3. 20% of hospital medical staff have quit due to ongoing stress/ frustration with large numbers continuing to be unvaxxed and more than half of nurses are considering quitting. Only 1% quit due to opposition to get vaxxed - in contrast to nonsense spouted in Fox News etc.
4. Combination of promoting boosters and good masks (n95 or kn95) needed to contain this tsunami.

I generally agree that the PP is spreading misinformation by saying that DC peoeple are being "loons" about this, and there is no problem at all... But also, let's not feed into news headline scare cycles. The new "deltacron" variant is perhaps a possible threat, but doesn't seem to be real, and if it is, it is not spreading globally. Let's not get worked up about this. (In contrast, when Omicron was noted as a variant of interest, all the reputable sources I check in with were reporting on it, with very similar information.)

N95s, boosters, and vaccinations as we muddle through this wave.

An apparent coronavirus strain that combines mutations from both the Omicron and Delta variants is likely to be the result of laboratory contamination, scientists have said.

Reported in the UK Independent 2 hours ago

Anonymous wrote:I'm sick of the people who feel restaurants, bars, other public venues should be closed during this wave. I work in a service oriented industry. We all have to work. Not everyone can WFH.

I'll speak for myself, but I only want them closed with federal or state $$$ paid to employees to stay home.

1) The push-pull of pandemic parenting an under 5 child sucks. I took my kid to school this morning for the first time in almost a month and one the one hand was thrilled for her (and me) that she got to go back, and on the other hand spent the entire morning wondering if I'm doing the right thing and worrying about whether her mask is good enough, and scared she'll catch Covid and wind up back at home with us anyway, only with a virus we've successfully avoided for 2 full years. It sucks. There are no good choices.

2) So tired of my house and having everyone in it all the time. I just need to be somewhere else for a while. We've done little vacations around the region but nothing that feels like a real getaway since 2019. My brain just needs an escape. It's a combination of Covid and this stage of parenting. When you put them together, it's hard not to feel trapped. I feel like all I do is work and clean and make sure my child is fed/clothed/exercised. And feed the cat. I've been trying to read more, to give myself time to work on crafts or just do anything that doesn't feel like a chore and it's so hard. I feel like I'm very deep in a rut with few options for steering out of it.

3) To echo OP, there is something about facing year 3 of canceling or curtailing birthday/anniversary plans. I'm not a birthday party person so not cancelling a party or anything. But we had started to talk about being able to just do something normal for my birthday in March this year, like get a sitter, go out to dinner, and catch a show. And I guess maybe that's still possible. We're vaccinated and boosted. But Omicron has made it feel less likely or wrong somehow. It was something I'd started to look forward to, and people need to be able to look forward to things! It sucks never having something on the horizon to be genuinely excited about. There's a damper on everything.

I know some of this is time of year, made worse by the weather this last week. But there's also this foreboding that even when spring comes, nothing changes. That's the hard part -- that sense of zero progress, zero horizon, zero movement. And I think I get more of that than the average person because as a parent of a small person, certain things in your life are always moving forward and progressing as your kid grows up! But when everything else around her feels stagnant and crappy, that feels scary instead of exciting. I want more for her. And for me.

I am fed up with anti vaxxers and COVID minimizers despite all the overwhelming evidence that we need to take this seriously.

Pediatricians are reporting young people developing pulmonary emboli following mild cases of COVID. There is new data suggesting higher incidence of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus after COVID infection. There are concerning neurologic impacts being investigated, and long-term pulmonary complications (Omicron seems to be more sparing of lungs but there is a new variant hybrid of delta and omicron). Medical doctors report that approx. 20% of their COVID patients develop long haul COVID and they are mostly unvaccinated.

Over 800 k dead in US and 98-99% of deaths are unvaccinated. Sadly one of those figures includes my DD’s 12 year old friend who was unvaccinated.

Please stop complaining and just get yourself and your children 5 and over vaccinated, and put on masks, until we get this beast under control.

The best way to support local businesses and restaurants is to get vaccinated and boosted so that you can safely patronize them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's only in DC area and a few other places that people are such covid loons. Everyone else decided to get on with life a loooooong time ago.

Very dangerous misinformation.

1. Hospitals around entire US are overwhelmed by unvaxxed patients. Until we control the new cases everyone is at risk due to lack of medical resources.
2. New variant is hybrid of omicron and delta - highly transmissible and stronger symptoms than omicron alone
3. 20% of hospital medical staff have quit due to ongoing stress/ frustration with large numbers continuing to be unvaxxed and more than half of nurses are considering quitting. Only 1% quit due to opposition to get vaxxed - in contrast to nonsense spouted in Fox News etc.
4. Combination of promoting boosters and good masks (n95 or kn95) needed to contain this tsunami.

I generally agree that the PP is spreading misinformation by saying that DC peoeple are being "loons" about this, and there is no problem at all... But also, let's not feed into news headline scare cycles. The new "deltacron" variant is perhaps a possible threat, but doesn't seem to be real, and if it is, it is not spreading globally. Let's not get worked up about this. (In contrast, when Omicron was noted as a variant of interest, all the reputable sources I check in with were reporting on it, with very similar information.)

N95s, boosters, and vaccinations as we muddle through this wave.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sick of the people who feel restaurants, bars, other public venues should be closed during this wave. I work in a service oriented industry. We all have to work. Not everyone can WFH.

I'm sorry, PP. What some governments have done is distribute hefty subsidies for people like you. The USA is not very good at that, compared to the more socialist-leaning European countries.
Saving lives is more important than a temporary hiatus in jobs or education - but clearly a lot of US states don't believe that. I try not to think about it too long, because it gets depressing, but sadly this pandemic has shown that people have no sense of civic duty, no feeling towards their fellow human, and just push ahead with whatever they feel like doing.

Are there countries doing this for Omicron, or really any wave now that we have vaccinations? I'm pretty pro-socialist policies in general, and this absolutely was an approach I wished we were taking in March/April 2020, and the government actually did do something for a lot of workers via unemployment (increasing it, increasing eligibility to cover self empllyed). But I'm not sure that is the right answer now. I don't really see the end game.

Anonymous wrote:It's only in DC area and a few other places that people are such covid loons. Everyone else decided to get on with life a loooooong time ago.

Yeah, and getting on with life is shortening the lives of others. But most are too selfish (or dead) to realize that.

I love living in fear of one of my parents falling or having a cardiac episode. So freeing, woo!

My coworker in another state nearly lost a relative to a burst appendix. But instead of going to the ER, getting quickly taken back, and sent to surgery... they sat in the waiting room for 10 hours, then sat waiting to be seen by a doctor for another 2 hours, then got rushed into emergency surgery when his appendix burst. And then he spent 6 days in the ER recovering from the surgery and infection. So a relatively simple procedure turned into a complex procedure + hospital stay all because others "got on with life" and got covid and clogged up the hospitals.

Anonymous wrote:It's only in DC area and a few other places that people are such covid loons. Everyone else decided to get on with life a loooooong time ago.

Very dangerous misinformation.

1. Hospitals around entire US are overwhelmed by unvaxxed patients. Until we control the new cases everyone is at risk due to lack of medical resources.
2. New variant is hybrid of omicron and delta - highly transmissible and stronger symptoms than omicron alone
3. 20% of hospital medical staff have quit due to ongoing stress/ frustration with large numbers continuing to be unvaxxed and more than half of nurses are considering quitting. Only 1% quit due to opposition to get vaxxed - in contrast to nonsense spouted in Fox News etc.
4. Combination of promoting boosters and good masks (n95 or kn95) needed to contain this tsunami.