Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.

[Alamias]

@Derp I almost bought one that was an image of Dark Helmet with "I am surrounded by assholes" text under it.

[Tinuviel]

Adulthood is going from back pain to hip pain to knee pain to neck pain to back pain to hip pain...until you die.

Ugh.

[Crawfish]

When you are 37 years old and still have days where you feel at the mercy of your hormones.

[Sunny]

@SinCerely

Oof I am so sorry. There are few more terrible feelings, combining the hormonal issues themselves with the loss of control they bring. Double helping of suck. You have my sympathy.

[Crawfish]

@Sunny said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@SinCerely

Oof I am so sorry. There are few more terrible feelings, combining the hormonal issues themselves with the loss of control they bring. Double helping of suck. You have my sympathy.

I look forward to the stability of being post-menopausal some day. I hear it's great.

[SuperiorHuron]

I like to fix things. Whether it's disagreements of whatever, so when I can't or I feel like it's just gone all haywire, it sort of festers. I hate unfinished/unsolved problems! And then I feel godawful. I'm an asshole like that.

[Testament]

I spent all night last night experimenting with my various shelf liquors, trying to invent some stuff that would make a good cocktail.

I haven't been hungover or anything, no headache or feeling awful. But generally feeling off. So I'm trying to get in a decent 'awake' headspace for DnD today and I can't nap. Need to wake my head up.

[kk]

Tried to get an antibody test before going to in person cares because I have been intensively exposed to Covid (A while back) and being told at first by a doctor "The antibody test doesn't exist" Then after explaining I looked right at test results being told "Well it does, but you have to go the Mayo Clinic or something, it isn't here yet." Telling the doctor. "I seen results from tests ordered from a clinic nearby" Then the doctor says "Well maybe it does exist and can be done, but we don't know what immunity means yet." Then saying. "I am a nurse dealing with Covid, I understand that it is complicated, not fully understood yet and not an assurance of immunity. but I would still like to know if I had it" Well our lab doesn't do them. Your insurance doesn't cover this test.

Meanwhile a non-working friend of mine who has self quarantined through the whole thing and had no known exposure got an antibody test just because she wanted it. It was negative. And celebrities can get antibody tests. I talked to an ER doctor who told me he wasn't able to get an antibody test either.

It is super frustrating. I complained to my insurance but I will probably need to pay out of pocket and go through a different medical practice to get a test.

(Disclaimer: I would advise anyone who has a positive antibody test to still take every precaution as we don't yet know how long-term and effective immunity to Covid is. There is also some risk of covid exposure when going to a lab or clinic so maybe better done if one needs other blood work anyways rather than making a special trip)

[Jeshin]

@kk

I am shocked your employment doesn't provide access to testing. You can always attempt to contact the CDC directly

[mietze]

I was told the same by my regular care provider. That system will not order a test for the antibodies, period.

Thankfully my health plan is a PPO, there are clinics with providers that will allow their providers to order you a test even if you're not a regular patient, and my company will pay 100 percent for COVID related care no matter what.

I do understand the caution, especially since people are determined to be idiots about this and presume that positive antibody tests means they a) now when they got the infection, b) aren't infectious now, and/or c) are immune.

But yeah, it sucks but it seems a lot of people have to go to an outside clinic/lab than their usual provider/system to get the test. Surprise surprise, it's usually around here the ones where they have to send the test to another competitor to get processed that tell you they won't support it. I hope it's not like that really, but I have my doubts. It might be work a look to see if your employer has any COVID bonus coverage. While our insurance company wouldn't cover a lot as far as testing (and you'd have to meet the deductible anyway), right now my company will reimburse people 100 percent for covid-related care, including copays and deductibles.

[TNP]

I thought insurance companies were waiving all covid related cost share. I know my insurance is (Oxford) though I think it's only up till 5/31. Not certain.

I saw on the news (NY) that urgent care centers were doing covid and antibody testing so I went an hour after I saw the report to get the antibody test since I was exposed twice that I knew of. Negative, alas.

[Quinn]

I had an antibody test thanks to my town doing random sampling. However, it was just a finger prick and I have a friend who actively works testing the tests (her lab has done about 40 of them because they do clinical trials and need to be absolutely sure their subjects have or have not had it) and she says that those ones are really unreliable. That the only ones that don't give false results most of the time are the ones that involve an honest to god blood draw.

Of the over 600 people in my town they tested I think only 40 showed up with antibodies. So either we've been really good at social distancing in a state that's been hit pretty hard, or those tests weren't great.

[KDraygo]

I have a feeling that's why they haven't really been advertising antibody tests for the time being because there are tests out there but are currently unreliable.

[SuperiorHuron]

I too recently had this testing done, in thanks to my work offering it to its employee. Mine was more than a finger prick however(I wish it was--I hate needles)My understanding is that these tests aren't 100% reliable, so I'm not sure how much stock to place in them...

[Auspice]

@KDraygo said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

I have a feeling that's why they haven't really been advertising antibody tests for the time being because there are tests out there but are currently unreliable.

This.

If I were getting an antibody test, I'd be pestering the lab to find out the origins of it so I could see if it's one of the ones the FDA greenlit. There's a lot out there that had no go ahead from the FDA and little to no testing.
I understand the desire to have more/better testing, but..... unreliable tests only hurt us.

[kk]

Yeah, I just read in the news the antibodies tests are wrong half the time. And I did pester my insurance further and a got rather formal response that the FDA has not approved the test for determining who has had Covid or not, but only for research.

Still if I got the test and had antibodies, it would have been a comforting reassurance to have. Then again false reassurances can be dangerous. I would have been still very careful about infection control, but it is habit for me, even before Covid.

I think I will give up on the test for now and revisit the antibody test later.

Than you all for the thoughtful input. MSB is a deep thinking and intelligent group.

[Aria]

Dear Professor -

Writing business memos is not "fun". I'm not sure what your concept of fun is, but analyzing the super dodgy revenue model of Uber isn't it, even if you present it as getting to write a pretend memo to their CEO.

May I suggest picking up a hobby?

Sincerely,
Me

[faraday]

@Auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

I understand the desire to have more/better testing, but..... unreliable tests only hurt us.

I think it's important to keep in mind the intended purpose of the antibody tests. They are relevant on a population level, not an individual level. They give you a yardstick for how much the disease has spread asymptomatically throughout a city. It doesn't take a perfect test to do that. They were never intended to give a specific count of cases, and certainly not to be a green light for "you've had it so you're safe."

No antibody test can give you a green light at this stage, even the FDA-approved ones, because nobody knows if antibodies prevent reinfection at all, or at what thresholds they might do so.

So at this point, there's no reason to get an antibody test unless you're part of a more widespread organized study (like this one.)

[Auspice]

Bands are doing live stream concerts. In some cases, this is pretty great! Dropkick Murphys are doing a free one tonight (6pm EST, FYI).

Some bands are doing paid livestreams and this isn't bad either.... except for the price point. I get that smaller bands need the money, but they're charging what they would at a venue. $20+ for a livestream concert just isn't something I'd pay, sorry. Part of why I go to concerts is the experience. I'd pay $5, even $10 for a band I'm really into. Anything over that? It's too much for a livestream.

I'm sure part of the justification is 'well if there's multiple people in the household' but during covid, that's not highly likely. I'm not gonna have a viewing party. And you aren't gonna have a lot of situations where an entire family is into the same indie band.

If they charged just $5, for example, I'd also have an easier time convincing friends to check them out. 'Hey this band I really like is doing a concert, it's only $5-' is a lot easier of a sell than 'This band I really like is doing a concert, but it's $20'

[surreality]

If you got access to, say, a download of the concert stream to keep when it was complete? That'd be more in the 'worth it' category, and selling those after the fact would be an additional income stream for them, which would ideally allow them to drop the price a bit as well.