Seattle Forrest

I'd love a second opinion on what mine told me. These places are drastically reducing their capacity for social distancing and extra disinfecting work, so it will be challenging. With that in mind, I'll be grateful for a sanity check...

canklecat

Any sort of health/medical related work inherently involves proximity to patients. I worked for years in health care, including with dialysis patients where hepatitis, HIV and other bloodborne pathogens are common, and who often have compromised immune systems so there are concerns about airborne pathogens.

We took normal precautions for that era, including wearing ordinary surgical masks when appropriate. Most transmission of flu and corona viruses is from droplets -- sneezing and coughing -- and surgical masks are effective for both parties in reducing the risk.

Ditto, handwashing, gloves where appropriate, lots of disinfecting workstations between patients. We typically used bleach in water. Works fine. The main reason some folks prefer other disinfectants is the unpleasant odor of bleach.

In years of health care work I never caught any cooties from patients or co-workers. But within a year of leaving the service (as a Navy Hospital Corpsman) and finally quitting my last job in dialysis and switching to journalism, I ended up with Hepatitis A. Got it from my toddler age kids, who got it at daycare. They were fine within a few days. I was sick for months.

Seems like my auto-immune system went haywire after that. But for all I know it could have been triggered by the zillions of vaccinations we received in the military, with delayed onset of symptoms. No way of knowing now.

Good reminder that often our greatest health and safety risks are at home.

Because I was a caregiver for various older family members for years, up until 2018 when my mom died, I always kept a decent stock of medical supplies, including masks. So I already had a box of 25 surgical masks when the coronavirus scare began. I wore one on the bus the other day en route to a medical appointment. There was one guy on the bus hacking and coughing, then rubbing snot on his clothes. Sitting right up front where everyone had to pass him. I'd seen him on the bus before and he seems mentally disabled, so it's hard to get angry with someone who just can't help the way they are. The city bus employees were disinfecting buses several times a day, wiping down most surfaces passengers would tough, and steam cleaning the outside areas.

I hadn't planned to isolate myself this soon -- we don't really have much of an outbreak here... yet. But after that bus ride and medical appointment, I decided to avoid friends and group cycling events for now, just in case I've picked up the Super Cooties.

August West

I'm going to stay away from any health care facilities if I can at all avoid it until we are on the other side this crisis (unless I contract COVID-19 and manage to recover). I have dental appt. in May and Eye Exam + Physical scheduled in June. Just yesterday I added reminders to my calendar for 1 week before each appt. reminding me to call and cancel each one if we are still in the middle of the pandemic which looks to be about a 99% certainty. Since none of them are critical to my immediate well being putting them off a few months or even a year seems prudent. Even if they do take precautions it isn't a chance I'm going to take. This really doesn't address your question but just my 2¢ worth.

TakingMyTime

I actually went in for an eye exam and new glasses 3 days ago. They were asking questions about my health and possible exposure to the virus, they were wiping down everything right in front of me before I used any of the equipment. Other than the general anxiety regarding this virus issue,.. I felt safe

DrIsotope

My wife works for a health care provider. They've instructed in-plan vision providers to stop doing routine exams/check-ups for the time being.

WhyFi

Sure - I like to think of myself as a "the glass is half-full" kind of guy.