COVID has again begun running amok at work. In less than a week, we went from no COVID patients to about 100. Even worse, this variant seems to be more contagious to younger people than the previous versions, so many hospital employees are getting it.

We still have about 100 COVID patients admitted, enough for an entire wing of one floor. So far, that is less than what we had back in August and September with the Delta variant. We had one COVID patient die on Sunday, and none on Monday that I am aware of. Our hardest hit patients are the elderly. Nearly every seriously ill patient is over the age of 80. Most have serious underlying conditions like COPD or end stage renal disease. The one who died on Sunday was 92 years old and had COPD.

This Omicron variant seems to be a lot milder than previous strains, but MUCH more contagious. There are over 100 hospital employees out with COVID as we speak, but the symptoms appear to be somewhat similar to a bad cold for most people.

The problem for me is that I have two employees out with it, one of whom had to be sent home an hour into her shift. She had mild symptoms (cough, fatigue, runny nose) but there is no way she can stay at work with a positive test, so I went in to cover part of her shift on Sunday and on Monday. That means I worked my normal 12 hour shift plus four hours of hers. Two days in a row.

Hence, blogging had to take a back burner. Don’t feel too bad. I get a weekend shift differential plus a cash bonus to work extra shifts. Plus, as soon as I hit 40 hours, I get time and a half. It’s only the second day of the week, and I already have over 35 hours on the clock. It will be a good paycheck, at least.

Categories: COVID

2 Comments

joe · January 11, 2022 at 10:24 am

there is that sweet spot with OT where you actually get a bigger check… after that you are only working to send it to dc…I think half the people at my job are sick… my allergies have been making my life hell for 2 months now so I’m not sure if I had it yet or will get it… joy

ChuckInBama · January 11, 2022 at 10:41 am

Take care of the sick old folks, and yourself. We’ll entertain ourselves somehow. And we’ll be back.

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