UNC Health Appalachian implements temporary restrictions due to increases in flu, respiratory illnesses
Staff Report news@wataugademocrat.com
SUMMARY:At this time, visitors under 11 years old are not permitted. Children can carry and spread viruses without showing symptoms, and this season’s flu strain has been especially severe among children and teens.
Beginning Jan. 1, all UNC Health Appalachian teammates—including providers and staff—will be required to wear masks when indoors around others.
Patients and visitors are strongly encouraged, but not required, to wear a mask when in shared spaces such as hallways, waiting rooms, or exam rooms.
"As always, please do not visit our facilities if you are experiencing respiratory symptoms, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea," UNC Health Appalachian posted on Facebook. "Thank you for your understanding and for helping us keep our community safe."
LINK:https://www.wataugademocrat.com/news/local/unc-health-appalachian-implements-temporary-restrictions-due-to-increases-in-flu-respiratory-illnesses/article_002efa92-0ce1-4d52-9000-a1da9b643b98.htmlPERSONAL COMMENT VERY PERSONAL: This one hits close to home because it is home for me!
I will apologize for the length of this COMMENT in advance because I got two things going on..
1.) there is a sick baby in my extended family that might not make it through the night that is in an ambulance with RSV and pneumonia on way to a hospital in Gainesville Florida as I type this(of which I will speak about later in this comment)
&
2.), I am taking my loved one who is about to receive surgery to NC Health Appalachian, the hospital featured in this article, ...
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The precautions taken at hospitals mean the difference between life, suffering, or death for ourselves, my loved ones, and yours!...
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I have to be able to control whether I get sick or not this week and next. I have big responsibility and if masking and taking precautions ensure a greater chance of success in staying fit so I am able to care for myself and for loved one who will be dependent upon me, then I have to do it. No problem, I know how to mask!
"Patients and visitors are strongly encouraged, but not required, to wear a mask when in shared spaces such as hallways, waiting rooms, or exam rooms"
..frickin terrifying considering the science behind the fact airborne illness and airborne droplets remain lingering in air of room for hours. It doesn't make any since because the "patients and the visitors" don't have to mask yet are healthy enough too and pose a threat and obviously are there to be in close contact with patients.
Masked Woman is going to this Hospital for surgery this week...Masked Man will be masked with spray bottle of rubbing alcohol amongst these 'maskless' who are not required, to wear a mask when in shared spaces such as hallways, waiting rooms, or exam rooms. I have to sit amongst these 'maskless' vectors' like a sitting duck in the middle of horrendous flu season when I have to escort Masked woman in and out of hospital after her surgery.
See how I am also the weak link.. I am the concerned patient's caregiver and instructed to stay amongst maskless sick people in waiting room for hours while she has surgery.. see how I pose a risk to the patient!? I'll be exposed to illness and I am the one that will be taking Masked Woman home from surgery.. Of course I'm Masking! My clothes and hair are going to be contaminated then I drive loved home in car. We stay masked and throw clothes in washer.. I stick on a disposable N95 Mask and shower with Masked woman and everything after hospital visit. I'm taking all precautions not to infect or be infected by the patient who is my loved one!!!
Personally this is terrifying for Masked Man because Masked Woman's cousin got covid during hospital surgery at a hospital and brought the covid home with him and died of
complications due to covid..There's nothing
complicated about it.. The hospital in West Virginia killed the guy with covid .. that's just the truth. He got infected in hospital. I'm wearing a mask for awhile even around my loved one after I bring her home from gall bladder surgery. I'll shower her off in N95 mask after her surgery.. I'll wear a mask around her because not even I can afford to get sick ..Someone has to stay strong no matter what! I am the caregiver and have to protect myself even from my loved one incase they make her sick..I still have to take care of her!
This is flu season and Ive got to wait in the waiting room in my mask around a bunch of sick maskless people with my cell phone for few hours and then the doctors call me when they are finished with surgery. At least the doctors, nurses, and staff are required to mask..
...Imagine maskless nurses or maskless staff working around the love of my life maskless who will be on anesthesia!? I guess I am grateful its flu season forcing staff to mask around my 77 year old loved one ..sure is a weird thing to be grateful that flu season is forcing hospital workers to mask. Maybe some people died there. Maybe people died of the flu or even died in the hospital ..or maybe there is an outbreak within the hospital itself where staff is already sick that is forcing them to mask even though they should mask anyway.
Maybe flu season is a blessing in disguise that is forcing Doctors, nurses, and staff to wear masks when otherwise they wouldn't bother. It's crazy to handle sick people and not wear a mask. Thank God its flu season I guess. I won't know for sure for a week or two after she recovers from surgery if she got sick while in surgery so I'll be masking through it all! What a weird thing to say but thank God its Flu season because the doctors and nurses are more likely to be masked around my loved one! The truth remains it would be so much better if they masked year around and it wasn't flu season for the sake of the Hippocratic oath and simply for the sake the patient's utmost safety and health.
...when it comes down to it You still can't trust anybody..Ive been masking for six years ..if they aren't used to wearing a mask its going to slip down their nose..that's reality.. there's also surface contamination and a stuffy room that may or may not be sanitized or air purified for air lingering sticky germs. you can only truly trust and protect yourself... Got to respect particles .. microscopic entities that ride on the vapor of breath and stay in air and contaminate surfaces.. truly insidious hunters.. never underestimate what you can't see! It's not a figment of my imagination. These particles exist because an electron microscope can see them .. that's scientific proof. Besides I'll be in a dirty waiting room around sick maskless people..I'll be masked but you can trust the virus more than those around a virus.. I won't trust myself, especially my hands, clothes and hair to be clean after being in the dirty waiting room for few hours...
..equally scary is did the surgeon or assistant who downplays covid as still being a problem go on Christmas vacation to big family and did they mask then and do hospital workers sometimes try to perform while ill with super flu and do they "work thru an illness" like many sports athletes "play through an illness" or like people who go to work sick? I can see it now some asymptomatic doctor or nurse that doesn't even know they are sick working away.
..Does that sound over the top? sound scary? Then good! it will keep me sharp! I might sound like a fanatic.. then I am because I have to be..
I have to be able to control whether I get sick or not this week and next. I have big responsibility and if masking and taking precautions ensure a greater chance of success in staying fit so I am able to care for myself and for loved one who will be dependent upon me then I have to do it. Gotta stay strong no matter what, Can't take chances getting sick even from the one I'm taking care of so I'm masking for a time period even after I bring her home...Maybe I'll mask around her a week and a half.. what's a week and a half of masking just to ensure our safety. A week and a half of masking is a walk in the park compared to how horrible it would be getting sick right when I need to stay strong and in control. I am the
sole caregiver, The caregiver can't risk getting sick.. Wear a Mask,
The Masked Man
P.S.
When I was younger I would hear people say how they would say "this hospital killed my uncle so or that hospital killed my mom so go to the other hospital in the other county with a better reputation".. and I would think "no, they are just paranoid hospitals are good places nurses and doctors don't go around killing people and those folks that passed away were probably just old" .. but nowadays I'm starting to wonder... Its probably because people get infected with contagious illnesses while they are at hospitals that people blame the hospital for their loved one's deaths.
Yea, thou I am about to walk through the darkest valley, the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff and that snake that wraps around that staff on the doctor's emblem symbol that is often portrayed and embroidered on the doctor's sleeve, and especially your MASK, the N95 MASK in particular comforts me.. and that is about all that comforts me is the masking mandate at UNC Health Appalachian this week or for as long as it lasts.
I can't help but notice UNC Health Appalachian's statement:
"At this time, visitors under 11 years old are not permitted. Children can carry and spread viruses without showing symptoms, and this season’s flu strain has been especially severe among children and teens."
...Yeah that's probably because at least one child died recently in NC but lemme tell ya adults, and elderly can carry and spread viruses without showing symptoms too! Don't act like adults and elderly people in the waiting room aren't asymptomatic! Anybody can be sick and contagious without knowing it or showing signs for awhile.
I say require the adults visitors and guests (who can be asymptomatic) to wear masks or leave since they are just mere visitors or guest.
Always focus on what is best for the patient (not the guest or visitor)! To me you focus on what's best for the patient. I am the caregiver so I am here officially
on patient's behalf and so I mask to protect patient. Nobody else belongs at a hospital if they aren't there on behalf of the patient to protect the patient. Therefore it is always in the best interest to protect patient from airborne illness or airborne disease by masking when entering a hospital because that is the sole function of hospital which is to focus solely on patient's best interest and to keep patients safe from illness...
...The hospital isn't a beauty contest where just anybody can come in free to cough and sputter on whatever. Its an establishment designed to protect people who are often in a weakened state or ill health seeking care and prevention from all ailments and ills. The hospital is supposed to be a place to heal not suffer more peril from maskless unkempt unprofessionals not savvy to todays apparatus', tools, and techniques to keep one another safe from airborne illness and disease.
And then on top of that they advise people who are sick with respiratory problems, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea not to visit the facilities.. (I am glad children won't be running around and I am glad they are trying to keep sick people away but they should consider just making people mask for sake of the people who can't defend themselves from the maskless)
.."As always, please do not visit our facilities if you are experiencing respiratory symptoms, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea," UNC Health Appalachian posted on Facebook. "Thank you for your understanding and for helping us keep our community safe.".
... you mean sick people actually visit other sick people in hospitals!? And now we are trusting our lives to them that
they will discontinue visiting their loved ones and we are just going to take people's word for it they are not sick if they tell us they are not sick even the asymptomatic ones that don't feel sick?
Wouldn't it just be easier to tell them to all wear a mask for because my loved one is getting gall bladder surgery and because we don't want to pose unnecessary risk to other patients and other caregivers such as myself who will be masked, justifiably scared and concerned and armed with rubbing alcohol praying that disinfecting the dirty upholstery of chair I might have to perch myself upon for a few hours will do the trick?
I really should consider coming in mask dressed as sanitation worker and tape off a section of chairs in waiting room to clean and scrub with very strong chemicals for few hours while loved one gets surgery. I guess I could bring some extra masks with me and simply hand them to people in the waiting room and it wouldn't be an illegal act to say "we prefer you mask for us if that's alright".
Now for the other dose of reality...Currently as I type this, We received an out of state phone call: My loved one's daughter' little baby has RSV and pneumonia, They live in another state..The babies were sick a little before Christmas ..then everybody got sick again on Christmas Now its New years day .all five family members sick since Christmas ... they went to a birthday party and a teenager family member visiting them was either sick or got sick ..now that whole family of five is still sick..
The baby is now in an ambulance ..baby's got a temperature of 103-104 on the way to a Gainesville hospital in Florida an hour away from where they live..They are all sick with
baby in ambulance with RSV & pneumonia speeding to GainesvilleHospital...
...nobody listened to us they went to party anyway and got sick...
I will be sitting with people like that in the hospital in my mask. This is no joke. This is a living nightmare.
baby might DIE!.. people in waiting rooms not being made to mask..think about it! I'm not playing that game..I'm masking! I'm going to try to survive this cruddy hell with or without the people in the waiting room. I ain't going down with them maskless ones.. let me die in honor in my mask if I die at all I aint playing with these diseases that's for sure! that's a baby that might die..I'd be masking around dying babies man! that's all I know to say to the maskless. That's as real as I can get saying the truth straight from the heart.. The maskless must be insane not to mask around dying babies because that's exactly what is happening as I type this.
We have no idea as I type this if my loved one's grand baby will live to see the day of light all because they went to a stupid party and nobody is taking precautions. He turned one year old yesterday. will he live through the night? Who wants to live like that powerless to protect one another?..I don't... I'm Masking! We knew this was going to happen.That's what hospitals bring in..they bring in babies with pneumonia...They are bringing in my loved one's grandbaby that might die of pneumonia ... Nothing personal but I don't wanna catch that ..I don't wanna catch RSV & pneumonia. .. I don't wish that on anybody I fear for our lives and my own which is good enough reason to mask..especially where sick babies are.. my uncle just died from pneumonia.. I don't wanna die which is why I use mask.
I apologize for the length of this Comment but I just can't think of a better argument for masking at a hospital considering at any given moment an ambulance might rush in with a very sick loved one possibly a baby with pneumonia and those of you that are maskless yourselves might catch pneumonia and die or spread it more so you better mask while at hospitals...
...My extended family of five who are all sick and exposed to RSV and pneumonia with a baby that might not make it through the night might be sitting next to you in the waiting room at the hospital ..That's why we should mask!I, Masked Man loving caretaker, who has never caught covid never even been sick in six years because of my careful lifestyle and masking will now be exposed to whatever is in a dirty hospital waiting room and be testing out my mask for hours in a waiting room during the season of what they call the Super Flu! I guess some luck is involved so wish me luck or let us pray my mask is really as good as they say!
P.S. Just recieved another phone call the baby will
probably be okay but all five member are still sick.. who wants to play with that and risk long term repercussions or suffer like that? I'm not messing with that ..can't even afford it much less do I have the time.. Just Mask up and don't do parties or gathering that are just frivolous anyway ..use your brain..perfect the spot you are in if you have to perfect some area do stuff online that is meaningful, creative or intellectual with others... What is wrong with people?
Just mask at the hospital incase my extended family of five sick ones sit down next to you! They aren't out of the woods yet..people assure us everybody is alright but They are still miserably sick and who knows when they will get better and or what long term repercussions and if they have more than just RSV which sounds serious enough to me considering the baby is in hospital right now for pneumonia.
I think
its fair for me to say I'm sick of my own stupid sick extended family.. it's upsetting and nerve-wracking people just letting viruses get them and that's not for me. Wear a mask and chose a smarter safer lifestyle so you don't have to deal with all that! Imagine what it's like those of us who mask. We have to deal with sick peopler still reluctant to mask in the hospital waiting room!? That's
not fair to those of us who mask to get punished by the maskless when they get sick.
(Update: Masked Woman's Gall Bladder Surgery postponed due to insurance possibly not covering it...she will probably be fine and we will get her surgery done in a couple months most likely.. medical treatment and being safe can be a terrifying completely stressful rollercoaster ride and makes me appreciate what other readers are probably going through and facing as well..
.. Right now CDC is encouraging mask use in US..it’s Super Flu season ..where I live, very few people mask like me but very few people haven't caught any airborne illness in 6 years straight like I haven't caught. So it must be hard for anybody to criticize my success story or advice about masking.
I have my own ways of doing stuff. I like sticking close to home. I don't go inside a place unless its a medical building .. For me the mask is hope and self defense. The mask is but a set of indiscpensable gills for surviving this cruel world that is practically in a continual state of demolition and while human's are under continual threat and burdened by microscopic entities at play..
Most of us agree upon is that Seeking treatment and being a caretaker and patient can be hardest work in the world and has its ups and downs.. now I get mask on, get on my bicycle and ride the stress away.. I can barely handle this stuff man and my heart goes out to those that can handle all this work within the healthcare world.
This is all unnecessary stress for a guy impervious to infectious illness for the most part because I wear a mask and don't get sick! I Survived the night of worrying about others..
soon I put on mask and do my 6 mile circuit on bicycle.. while I spin the
pedals the world spins under me at my own pace! I am relieved for now.
Just mask in public so ya don't get sick in the first place and create extra stress for all of us!)
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