Quote:
Originally Posted by pz619
How has Covid-19 changed the way you conduct your business? Also, any additional personal protection?
Quick anecdote. Was driving down the 101 in Carlsbad over the weekend (solo). There was a mobile traffic sign that said "Practice Social Distancing - Beach Closed" and I kid you not there were about 20 people next to the sign and hundreds of people on the beach. There was one lone officer trying to wrangle in the masses of morons. Really felt bad for that guy. It was like the movie 300.
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We have some personal protective equipment (..
namely N95 masks and latex gloves; the latter we've always kept with us anyway). The truth of the matter is that being a first responder means that we put ourselves in the line of fire because we're dealing with HIV/AIDS/Hep ABC/etc. infected members of the non-homeless/homeless population. As far as the COVID flu is concerned, we are being less proactive and we aren't really making many obs arrests. The warrant amount that we will arrest for jumped up to $50k (...
$75k if we want to book at the main jail rather than the station jail). I came into contact with COVID flu in the jails in January and I didn't get sick. I figure it was a combination of my natural immune system (...
I rarely get sick and I haven't had the flu ever since I was about 8 years old), built up immunity (...
from working in nasty ass jails for a few years), my level of fitness (...
which builds immunity) and the multitude of immunizations I've had more recently (..
common flu, Hep A/B, diphtheria, acellular pertussis, etc.).
I have partners who have contracted it and were fine after a z-pack and 5-6 days of antibiotics. Conversely, two nurses who work in one of our facilities died in the last couple of days. I'm not sure what their level of health was prior to contracting COVID nor if they had any underlying condition(s) that worsened the situation for them.
I'm not practicing social distancing much. For me personally it is rather pointless since my job doesn't allow for quarantining (...
right up there with fire fighters, etc.). I still date and hang out with friends. I'm not overly worried about it personally. The large majority who contract this flu strain recover. I do, however, think before visiting my mother and her husband since they are both in their late 60's and are at a significantly higher risk of a problematic recovery should they contract it.
Although this flu bug is running rampant, the response has been horribly overblown. The normal influenza -
which is also a coronavirus with the same age/risk factors, and the same symptomatic M.O. - kills on average 4,000 people a week; many, many thousands a year. People are oblivious to the stats or just don't care, yet they act like the world is going to end over this. The media won't tell you about the large majority who recover. They only cite deaths which add to the hysteria of society's lemmings.