Montreal City Weblog

Kate 14:38 on 2022-12-07 Permalink Reply  

• Blork 18:35 on 2022-12-07 Permalink

  Interesting that reported cases are up too, but not as drastically. I wonder if that’s because fewer people are testing and reporting. RSV and flu are running wild right now, and I know people who have gotten sick and haven’t even bothered testing for COVID, thinking “OK, I’m sick, I’ll be sick for a few days, then I’ll be fine, so who cares if it’s COVID, flu, or RSV?”

  Total side note here, to illustrate part of the reason we’re still in this: someone I know recently had a f2f meeting at work with a client. Client shows up, blows her nose, and says “I’ve got some sniffles, so I’ll put on this mask.” Client wears the mask as they walk to the meeting room THEN TAKES OFF THE MASK and sits through the meeting maskless. This is what we’re dealing with.

• Kevin 19:21 on 2022-12-07 Permalink

  Last time I checked (3 weeks ago today) the Quebec covid site and others were full of busted links for reporting test results

  Here is the only functional link I could find. https://covid19.quebec.ca/autodeclaration/accueil

• Chris 22:40 on 2022-12-07 Permalink

  >“OK, I’m sick, I’ll be sick for a few days, then I’ll be fine, so who cares if it’s COVID, flu, or RSV?”

  Indeed, why would you bother testing? 90% of the time treatment is the same: rest, kleenex, tylenol, etc. Sure, it’d be nice to have stats for all these things, but testing cost money, and money is finite.

• Kate 23:10 on 2022-12-07 Permalink

  Chris, Covid is not like flu or a cold, and it really is worth knowing which you’ve got. Covid doesn’t have the familiar pattern of feeling certain symptoms, having them develop in a predictable way, then fade out. It’s a different disease and many people report being startled by how the symptoms come and go, and how often they feel better for a day or so, then get knocked out by it again for another period of time.

  If you know you have Covid, you will look out for this and make sure you take enough time off to allow for it. Also, you will take better care not to pass it around.

  Yes, you will brush off what I say as anecdotal, but it’s gathered from a lot of reports, media, friends who’ve had it. The experience is different from cold or flu.

• Chris 00:47 on 2022-12-08 Permalink

  >Covid is not like flu or a cold … Covid doesn’t have the familiar pattern of feeling certain symptoms, having them develop in a predictable way, then fade out

  It very often does. For 85% of the dozens of people I know that have had it, including myself, and people in their 80s, it’s been a regular cold. I don’t know a single person that needed a hospital visit. A handful were on their ass, but were fine at home. They were all vaccinated mind you. All bets are off for the unvaccinated fools. Obviously symptoms vary wildly, from literally nothing, to literally death. But for the kinds of people Blork seemed to be describing, that have basic cold-like symptoms, it could easily be RSV, flu, or covid. 5 years ago, you would not have cared to get tested to know if it was RSV or flu, and it’s just as pointless today, 90% of the time. Now, sure, if you have severe symptoms, then a test could be useful to determine better treatment, but if you’ve merely got the sniffles, it doesn’t much matter why.

  >If you know you have Covid…you will take better care not to pass it around.

  No doubt some would, but that’s idiotic. If you have flu or RSV you should stay home too.

• MarcG 10:30 on 2022-12-08 Permalink

  When you visit a doctor now they often ask “Have you had Covid?”. It’s a significant disease which can have long lasting and important effects on many different parts of the body so it’s important to know if you’ve had it or not.

• Kate 10:37 on 2022-12-08 Permalink

  > that’s idiotic

  Thanks, Chris.

• jeather 11:09 on 2022-12-08 Permalink

  Wastewater data link: provinical, federal. I don’t know why they don’t match up.

• Uatu 11:20 on 2022-12-08 Permalink

  If you’re a hospital employee you get tested so that you can be eligible for your salary insurance for your quarantine.

• Kevin 12:19 on 2022-12-08 Permalink

  Chris
  I know anecdotes are not data, but I’ve heard of plenty of people who had Covid and felt reasonably well until 2 or 4 or 6 weeks later and they suddenly collapsed with *something* whether it was walking pneumonia or debilitating fatigue.

  It sounds kinda like a mononucleosis relapse

• CE 14:30 on 2022-12-08 Permalink

  Now that there are no more benefits for people who have to miss work due to quarantine, many people might want to be willingly ignorant about their condition so they can go into work and not miss a week of pay. Especially if their symptoms are mild.

• Tee Owe 15:44 on 2022-12-08 Permalink

  Kevin – spot on re mononucleosis – I had mono 50 years ago and Covid this year – very similar after-effects, broadly, post-viral or chronic fatigue syndrome, as it was known then

• Tee Owe 15:59 on 2022-12-08 Permalink

  Further to that, reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the cause of mono, has been seen in a number of Covid patients. Most of us have been infected with EBV, whether or not we had mono – it may be similar for Covid, eventually

• Kate 21:35 on 2022-12-08 Permalink

  Oh that’s nasty, Tee Owe. What about the herpes virus that we all harbour if we’ve had chickenpox? Any sign that Covid can provoke shingles?

• MarcG 09:23 on 2022-12-09 Permalink

  Covid can do it all, Kate!

• Kate 20:56 on 2022-12-09 Permalink

  Oh fucking yikes, MarcG!

• Chris 09:49 on 2022-12-15 Permalink

  >> that’s idiotic
  >Thanks, Chris.

  In case it wasn’t clear: what I was saying is idiotic is to take care to not pass covid around (by staying home) BUT NOT taking the same care for flu or RSV. You should stay home for all three.