Andrew ZonenbergMar 9

It's 5 in the morning. No idea what time i finally fell asleep but it was probably after midnight since i remember hearing the click of the Christmas light timer we never unplugged that was set for 11pm standard time.

My nostrils are completely clogged if I'm in any position other than standing, even sleeping on the couch in a half sitting position they were pretty stuffed.

And now my left eye is itchy and goopy because right when I was over the fever and the sore throat was almost gone, something had to take its place so why not pinkeye?

Kids, man. Whatever she took home from school this time is a doozie.

Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 9
So now I'm nuking frozen Korean street pancakes because it's the only thing in the house that looked remotely appetizing to me in this state
Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 9

And of course the kiddo responsible for my misery has been a fully recovered ball of energy the last couple days who wants to play and can't wait to go back to school today.

Dreading what the next plague she'll catch is. Can she wait until I'm over this one please?

Show threadchrisgj198Mar 12
@azonenberg I've been really surprised how effective wearing a N95 (that passes a fit test) is - I've only had 2 colds since 2019 and last time I checked, still negative for antibodies to covid nucleocapsid. It is hard to avoid if you have a family though. If you can get the school to improve ventilation that helps a lot. If the kid is up for it, Trident P2 XS respirators fit many young kids. Great info here: https://www.covidsafetyforschools.org/
COVID Safety For Schools

Resources to help schools keep students and staff safe

COVID Safety For Schools
Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 12

@chrisgj198 We wear N95s any time we're out in public around other people, and successfully avoided COVID until the little one took it home from play group circa 2023. I knew the minute my wife got pregnant that our novid streak would come to an end and the little one would be responsible, just not exactly how or when.

This bug isn't COVID, we checked, but it's the sickest I've been since last time we had it (we've got it twice in six years which while not great is better than most people).

We almost never got sick until she started preschool, since then we've been sick to some extent basically once a month.

The school is really good with hygiene in general, pushing handwashing constantly and has multiple HEPA air cleaners. From what the teachers say they get sick a lot less often than other preschools, but no amount of filtration will overcome the tendency of preschoolers to get in each others faces and cough/sneeze all over each other, wiping boogers on random things, etc.

We've found some KN95s that were well reviewed by masknerd that fit her, and she wears them when we're shopping or traveling, but we haven't got her to keep them on at school when we're not around to remind her.

Show threadchrisgj198Mar 12
@azonenberg Glad you already know - I wasn't sure as the public health messaging has been very poor. Yes it is extremely hard for kids and their families. I hope you feel well soon and that she manages to avoid the bugs somehow.
Show threadAndrew Zonenberg

@chrisgj198 We were absolutely on top of the whole covid situation. I was mailing overstock disposable N95s left over from our home renovation to friends in Shenzhen in December 2019.

When it hit the Seattle area we went into submarine mode. I'd go out shopping wearing a 3M 6900 full face respirator with P100 cartridges, disposable gloves, and long sleeved clothes (surface transmission hadn't been ruled out in the early stages).

I'd buy like three carts of groceries, and change gloves when switching from the hot zone (grocery store) to warm zone (car) to head home.

When I got back, I'd bring all the bags into the cold zone (house), then strip naked at the front door, disinfect the exterior plastic surfaces of the respirator, put all clothing I had been wearing directly in the washer, and shower to avoid potentially contaminating the rest of the house.

Then we wouldn't leave the house for a long time, after a bit of experimenting to figure out more shelf-stable menus we got it up to six weeks. First we'd run out of fresh bread, then fresh fruits and vegetables.

Milk would last a long time as long as we got the higher-temp-pasteurized boxes (not full UHT, but Darigold has a several week shelf life for unopened half gallon cartons), with the UHT quart boxes for the very end before a resupply run.

After a while the fridge would be empty of everything but like cheese and sausages and we'd work our way through the freezer (we'd usually freeze a few loaves of bread we had bought fresh, and also get a few of the canned explodey-dough biscuit things so we still had bread this far out).

By the end, we'd be down to dry pasta and canned goods.

Mar 12 at 11:14amWeb
Show threadchrisgj198Mar 12
@azonenberg Wow, you had it figured out early. I was lucky, here in Australia we managed to eliminate it (several times, the politicians kept letting it back in) and we were pretty safe until I learned from Twitter that respirators do work, so I was mostly ready when they reopened the borders. Kept kid home until we had found a decent KF94 for them, though that didn't quite pass testing with 3M FT-32 and nebuliser. Trident P2 XS does pass testing, but it is hard being the only kid wearing one
Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 12

@chrisgj198 We had literally just finished renovating a house full of everything from asbestos to 30 years of tobacco residue to mold.

So our respiratory protection practices, including hot/warm/cold zone procedures, were top notch and well practiced. I was fully prepared to go to a full Tyvek level C hazmat suit if it came to that (I had a case of the disposable ones), but they ruled out surface transmission before I ever wore one out in public.

Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 12

@chrisgj198 we actually donated a lot of disposable gloves and respirators to local hospitals during the early stage shortages, keeping the high end 3M cartridge masks for ourselves (the hospitals didn't want them anyway since they didn't have masks to go with the filters).

Just because of how much we had leftover from friends helping us on the house