Loath as I am to validate anything from certain quarters, overconfidence that cannot really be distinguished from...
Loath as I am to validate anything from certain quarters, overconfidence that cannot really be distinguished from arrogance has popped up. I am sorry for the doctor in question, but I am very sorry for anyone associated with him, most especially his girlfriend.
If you knew enough not to go back to working in a hospital or seeing patients, and you thought you should be taking your temp twice a day, how does that logically reconcile with taking the subway and going to a bowling alley? Yes, factually the risk of anyone catching anything from you is very low, but how does it make sense?
Obviously, no one is capable of being relied on to actually isolate themselves. I mean, technically, there was no reason for him to have done so. However, he didn't think that feeling not so great prior to the fever showing up was a reason not to go out that night? How low does your threshold have to be? I mean, the fever is like hitting somebody with a brickbat. Surely, it might have occurred to you that feeling a little meh was still a reason to stay home for a few days, just in case?
NYC public health is on top of this, and Bellevue is an excellent hospital, so I'm not worried about that. They don't have to evacuate his apartment building (one of many rumors), although a little bleach rub down of the place wouldn't be unreasonable. I really hope he had sense enough not to have sex with his girlfriend when he got back, but I don't know. One news source said she had also been put into hospital isolation already, but that is also unconfirmed. Quarantine at home for 21 days is bad enough; isolation in a hospital would suck. No computer, no television, no books, constant noise, constant light. Not to mention hospital food. Ugh.
He wasn't actively sick on the subway, so that's super low risk, which is fortunate. How do you disinfect a large chunk of the subway system? At least, without essentially shutting down several lines for several days? Not reasonable, so yay for not barfing on the subway.
Who's betting there are going to officially be new rules for anyone who goes to West Africa, starting with you are under a legally enforceable quarantine for 21 days after you get back.
If you knew enough not to go back to working in a hospital or seeing patients, and you thought you should be taking your temp twice a day, how does that logically reconcile with taking the subway and going to a bowling alley? Yes, factually the risk of anyone catching anything from you is very low, but how does it make sense?
Obviously, no one is capable of being relied on to actually isolate themselves. I mean, technically, there was no reason for him to have done so. However, he didn't think that feeling not so great prior to the fever showing up was a reason not to go out that night? How low does your threshold have to be? I mean, the fever is like hitting somebody with a brickbat. Surely, it might have occurred to you that feeling a little meh was still a reason to stay home for a few days, just in case?
NYC public health is on top of this, and Bellevue is an excellent hospital, so I'm not worried about that. They don't have to evacuate his apartment building (one of many rumors), although a little bleach rub down of the place wouldn't be unreasonable. I really hope he had sense enough not to have sex with his girlfriend when he got back, but I don't know. One news source said she had also been put into hospital isolation already, but that is also unconfirmed. Quarantine at home for 21 days is bad enough; isolation in a hospital would suck. No computer, no television, no books, constant noise, constant light. Not to mention hospital food. Ugh.
He wasn't actively sick on the subway, so that's super low risk, which is fortunate. How do you disinfect a large chunk of the subway system? At least, without essentially shutting down several lines for several days? Not reasonable, so yay for not barfing on the subway.
Who's betting there are going to officially be new rules for anyone who goes to West Africa, starting with you are under a legally enforceable quarantine for 21 days after you get back.
Oh, no. You aren't disallowed from having contact. It's that the equipment to do it might not be accessible.
ReplyDeleteMost hospitals only have the handful of channels they carry on the TV, and if you are truly put into isolation, anything that goes into that room either has to be autoclavable, or it gets incinerated. If you brought your own computer, you might not be able to take it back because how do you sterilize a computer?
They would probably try to set something up for you, but it's possible it wouldn't be your stuff. If you had netflix and things like that, as long as the connections worked well enough, you could access it if you had a computer.
There is internet, but it's usually whatever the hospital makes available so it may have some limitations, or not work well, especially in an isolation area that's all surrounded with walls. You might get lucky and get a window, but real isolation areas don't have one. You would have a phone in the room, and you can certainly talk to people. I don't remember anyone's phone number anymore, though; they're all on my cell phone, which I suppose is ok if you just wipe it down with bleach? Books would be ok, but might end up incinerated later.
If you have really awesome friends on the outside, they could probably get permission to bring you real food and have the nurses bring it into the room.
Some of these places may have set up the isolation rooms to have entertainment and so forth, but they're meant for actively sick people. I don't think I'd like it even then, but I really don't think I'd like it if I was, in fact, well and just being watched. I'd go stir crazy.
The one caveat I will mention about this is that the pediatric wards seemed to have a more sensible set up intended to keep kids busy and entertained, even when ill, with gaming systems and so forth that belonged to the hospital. But adults aren't supposed to need entertaining.
Compared to what it costs to be in the hospital for 21 days, I'd think a cheap tablet or Chromebook that you don't even plan to take away afterward would be an insignificant expense.
ReplyDeleteAs long as you've got someone on the outside to pick one up for you! I also imagine the girlfriend is kind of in shock. Hi, honey, I'm home. Oh, I'm so glad to see you! Guess what I got you! Oops.
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