Fear and Loathing, a Rat Flu Odyssey

[John_B]

I need someone to talk me off a ledge. I have an email for my supervisor waiting for me to hit send. The jackass has been trying to convince our group for the past three weeks that this ‘covid thing’ is not nearly as bad as the flu and tonight he just put a nail in the coffin. He said he did some ‘statistical modeling’ and has confirmed that there is a much higher risk we will die from the flu. He also said he is excited
to chat tomorrow about our path forward and getting back to normal. At first I laughed and then I remembered this is the asshole that gets to decide my fate in regards to the job. I just couldn’t take it and wrote a pretty frank response to the email and intend to copy in his supervisor. I’m just at my wits end with this kind of bullshit. We have spent a considerable amount of time discussing options how we can adjust to keep a safe, productive work environment. Some of the ideas people have brought forward have been great and are things that will likely continue post covid. It’s clear my supervisor is trying to convince us it’s all groovy and we don’t need to change how we do things. I just can’t comprehend how people can really think this way, and believe it so wholeheartedly that they are willing to put others at risk. I am going to sleep on the email but at this point that enter button is looking more and more tempting.

Here is the really ironic part. I’m a fed employee and work for an agency that in general prides themselves on safety.

Shitty deal. Good luck man. How high up is the direct supervisor? You got a Safety Officer or statewide guidance that your supervisor is disregarding?

[bennymac]

apparently the you tube video posted here easrlier today from the doctors with the largest study on a population in the us to date showing the mortality rate is 0.03 percent has been taken down by google, good thing; do not want to calm anyone down.

hmm, 0.03 about what I had figured but what the hell do I know; i'm a right wing knuckle dragger(that reads astrophysics books for enjoyment)

It doesn’t take a doctor or an astrophysicist to refute the bullshit you post and the bullshit you fall for.

It’s critical thinking at the level of a high school graduate.

How is it that you not only can’t grasp that but that you just ignore each failure and post up more bullshit without any self awareness?

You read astrophysics like Steep reads Nature for fun. You two should get together - would make quite a think tank.

[RockinB]

If you think your employer is not following state or federal corona virus guidelines, file a whistler blower complaint. That process is anonymous (unless Trump and the GOP demand you be outed)

https://www.opm.gov/our-inspector-ge...n-information/

My supervisor keeps bringing up the fact that these are only guidelines. We have received internal guidance, but they are allowing exceptions for certain things. He keeps bringing up the fact we might be able to get an exception if we word things right even though we clearly don’t qualify. I’m just struggling trying to understand that mindset. Why would we purposely try and and skirt this guidance when it’s for our own good. I have already mentioned it to him a few times that I’m confident in our success if we adjust and use our thinking caps. I’m not sure if it’s the change that scares him, or if he has had one too many gulps of Fox News kool-aid and really thinks it’s just a big liberal hoax and it’s all fake news. I’m leaning towards the later. This is the kind of thinking that is going to fuck over our county.

I think I’m going to fire off the email and see where it goes. I’m thankful that I’ll have support and I want my boss to know that I’m not willing to put my ass on the line based off of his excel spreadsheet statistical analysis.

Am I the only one who is getting sick and tired of every jackass that thinks it’s being overblown is all of a sudden a statistical mastermind.

[Lvovsky]

Yeah, also at least 3 big guys on that lift team. In my hospital it would be 2, maybe 3 5ft tall, 100# Philipine nurses on a 300 pound patient, and they'd get it done. Bless Philipine nurses.

So true. Don’t forget Ukrainian nurses too! Wife tells stories sometimes about flipping patients in the OR. They may or may not use word “fluffy” describing someone of a larger stature.

[neufox47]

My supervisor keeps bringing up the fact that these are only guidelines. We have received internal guidance, but they are allowing exceptions for certain things. He keeps bringing up the fact we might be able to get an exception if we word things right even though we clearly don’t qualify. I’m just struggling trying to understand that mindset. Why would we purposely try and and skirt this guidance when it’s for our own good. I have already mentioned it to him a few times that I’m confident in our success if we adjust and use our thinking caps. I’m not sure if it’s the change that scares him, or if he has had one too many gulps of Fox News kool-aid and really thinks it’s just a big liberal hoax and it’s all fake news. I’m leaning towards the later. This is the kind of thinking that is going to fuck over our county.

I think I’m going to fire off the email and see where it goes. I’m thankful that I’ll have support and I want my boss to know that I’m not willing to put my ass on the line based off of his excel spreadsheet statistical analysis.

Am I the only one who is getting sick and tired of every jackass that thinks it’s being overblown is all of a sudden a statistical mastermind.

You aren’t out of line at all to send it. But choose your words very carefully. Be prepared to defend them.

[Flyoverland Captive]

Agreed, dumbasses gonna dumbass. Like I tell my wife, if it didn’t suck, they wouldn’t pay you. Pick your battles.

[garyfromterrace]

...after skiing up at Le Arcs and stuff, ...

Les Arcs peasant.

[jgb@etree]

My supervisor keeps bringing up the fact that these are only guidelines. We have received internal guidance, but they are allowing exceptions for certain things. He keeps bringing up the fact we might be able to get an exception if we word things right even though we clearly don’t qualify. I’m just struggling trying to understand that mindset. Why would we purposely try and and skirt this guidance when it’s for our own good. I have already mentioned it to him a few times that I’m confident in our success if we adjust and use our thinking caps. I’m not sure if it’s the change that scares him, or if he has had one too many gulps of Fox News kool-aid and really thinks it’s just a big liberal hoax and it’s all fake news. I’m leaning towards the later. This is the kind of thinking that is going to fuck over our county.

I think I’m going to fire off the email and see where it goes. I’m thankful that I’ll have support and I want my boss to know that I’m not willing to put my ass on the line based off of his excel spreadsheet statistical analysis.

Am I the only one who is getting sick and tired of every jackass that thinks it’s being overblown is all of a sudden a statistical mastermind.

Stop being such a fucking pussy. If you don't want to do your job, quit.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Follow me for more tasty lockdown recipes

[skifishbum]

Been using a bandana and a mask, depending on the occasion.
Wore a cowboy hat with bandana the other day, I think if i was in an open carry state, I'd strap on some six shooters and ride a horse to the bank.

The worst part about wearing a mask is not being able to flash my little boy smile, at the cute milfs, and getting a smile back. That shit brightens my day, I miss it.

bout all I can tell ya is somewhere during a global health pandemic an 8 yo girls gittin gift wrapped skis sticker swag and some hi chews for her b day cause a functional stoner shop rat wage slave
holds such thing that bring purpose to his life as important
id like to see that smile but I wont
but I know the smile and the power the gift of skis can hold

[mcphee]

I’m in favor of re-naming it Total Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Possibly even Really Extreme Total Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

C'mon man. you're better than this

[My Pet Powder Goat]

The Bakotard docs got an official smack down today

Attachment 326701

Linked that to about 3 of my "friends" walls. Lol

Sent from my SM-N960U using TGR Forums mobile app

[Benny Profane]

And you thought wearing a mask was uncomfortable.

https://mobile.twitter.com/chowleen/...90781446410240

[TG]

Stop being such a fucking pussy. If you don't want to do your job, quit.

kill yourself

[ill-advised strategy]

C'mon man. you're better than this

Alright alright, back to adulting.

So much for cheap giggles...I wasn’t, I guess, following along enough to have absorbed the level of ambient harshness in this thread.

Carry on.

[Benny Profane]

Dont feed the troll.

[Svengali]

An organizer of a North Carolina group calling on the state to ease its coronavirus restrictions was unable to attend two rallies because she tested positive for the disease.
https://www.newsweek.com/leader-nort...avirus-1500545

[RockinB]

Stop being such a fucking pussy. If you don't want to do your job, quit.

Go fuck yourself. If that is truly your attitude, I feel sorry for you. I’m still doing my job and have no intention of quitting, but I’d also like to make sure we are making smart decisions related to this. I don’t feel like that is too much to ask for.

[ill-advised strategy]

I think I said it before, but all this got a lot easier for me when I resolved to just do my best with all the ppe and disinfecting and distancing, and also to go with the flow, and die like a good soldier if that’s how it turns out.
It’s a very reminiscent approach to fire and forestry, motorcycling, helicopters, dangerous ski stuff...etc.

Maybe the above is something that has to occur internally, so recommending it is absurd, but I’m just saying it’s helped me with lurching along through my day to day.

[ill-advised strategy]

Go fuck yourself. If that is truly your attitude, I feel sorry for you. I’m still doing my job and have no intention of quitting, but I’d also like to make sure we are making smart decisions related to this. I don’t feel like that is too much to ask for.

Yeah buddy!

The world needs exactly this! It’s not too much to ask for. Be smart for your team and for yourself. You’re on the right side here, stay strong.

[riser4]

kill yourself

And there's today's KYS post. Nice. I understand the motivation for the post but can't agree with the instruction. Perhaps jgb@etree should be instructed to go lick doorknobs and toilet seats instead.

[old goat]

The kind of contact tracing that we could have using smartphones is so invasive that it would make KGB from the Cold War days wet their pants in glee. I'm not surprised that both the right and left see this as a slippery slope. Not sure how we could possibly create this surveillance apparatus, trust that it will be used responsibly, and retired when it's no longer needed.

There was a segment on PBS last night about a bipartisan plan for returning to work/play--former heads of CMS, FDA among others wrote it. One of the points was that contact tracing would be voluntary. Most people would want to have the people who they've been in close contact with warned. Of course you might want to hide your close contacts if they were someone despicable like for example Vladimir Putin.

Yes. N95 and cartridge respirators with exaltation ports do not function as source control. Proning increases dorsal alveolar recruitment and vq matching. We did this for intubate ards patients usually paralyzed +sedated helped avoid ecmo. It's very labor intensive and involves increased risk of pressure injury aa d complexities in assessment and nursing care. With covid we are pronimg early including encouraging patients to self prone while they are just on high flow o2 (not vented) proning awake patients

They are often having to use mattresses for pregnant women to prone the fat people.

I need someone to talk me off a ledge. I have an email for my supervisor waiting for me to hit send. The jackass has been trying to convince our group for the past three weeks that this ‘covid thing’ is not nearly as bad as the flu and tonight he just put a nail in the coffin. He said he did some ‘statistical modeling’ and has confirmed that there is a much higher risk we will die from the flu. He also said he is excited
to chat tomorrow about our path forward and getting back to normal. At first I laughed and then I remembered this is the asshole that gets to decide my fate in regards to the job. I just couldn’t take it and wrote a pretty frank response to the email and intend to copy in his supervisor. I’m just at my wits end with this kind of bullshit. We have spent a considerable amount of time discussing options how we can adjust to keep a safe, productive work environment. Some of the ideas people have brought forward have been great and are things that will likely continue post covid. It’s clear my supervisor is trying to convince us it’s all groovy and we don’t need to change how we do things. I just can’t comprehend how people can really think this way, and believe it so wholeheartedly that they are willing to put others at risk. I am going to sleep on the email but at this point that enter button is looking more and more tempting.

Here is the really ironic part. I’m a fed employee and work for an agency that in general prides themselves on safety.

Union? Would it be any help in this? I'm guessing you are an exempt employee or you would have contacted union first thing.

[old goat]

I have a wild theory. While mortality from everything besides trauma and OD's rises with age, the age-related mortality risk is much more dramatic and starts at an earlier age than we would expect to see compared to other conditions. Perhaps the reason is that the older you are the more coronavirus-caused colds you've had and as a result the more coronavirus antibodies you have. If there is cross reactivity with SARS-CV2 the age-related mortality effect could be explained by antibody-dependent enhancement of the virus. Alternatively, the preexisting CV antibodies could be triggering the cytokine storm many are blaming for the severe cases.

A similar factor could also explain the wildly different response to infection seen among people of similar age--some may have been exposed to more coronaviruses than others.

Perhaps some of our resident virologists would consider my hypothesis worthy of comment.

[ill-advised strategy]

The biggest thing ime about whistleblowing is that if you’re in a workplace where it’s known you oppose danger or corruption or abuse, the “anonymous” complaint is obviously you.
They can’t just jerk you into an office and terminate you because you filed a complaint, sure, or do nasty overt things to retaliate, but they also know who you are and they won’t forget and as long as you have that chain of command in place there will be subtle pressure to make it uncomfortable for you there.

It sucks working in a job where the subtext is “you’re only here because we can’t fire you yet”

[skaredshtles]

I think I said it before, but all this got a lot easier for me when I resolved to just do my best with all the ppe and disinfecting and distancing, and also to go with the flow, and die like a good soldier if that’s how it turns out.