I sure hope that wasn't a mistake

[dreamshark]

After dithering about it for months I finally ended up going into my local clinic for no really urgent reason at the absolute height of the coronavirus infection in Minnesota. *sigh*  I certainly would have been fine without those annual labs, but I finally gave in and scheduled them to coincide with the flu shot. But it was so fucking hard to get a flu shot scheduled that in the 3 weeks that I had to wait for an open slot the infection rate in Minnesota literally doubled. If it hadn't been so difficult to get the appointment in the first place I would have cancelled. They couldn't even guarantee that they would have the high-dose vaccine that my doctor ordered.

Despite having the shot scheduled for a very specific time I had to wait a full half hour in the waiting room, which made me very unhappy. It was not crowded, but not empty either. At least a dozen people came through that waiting room while I was sitting there (and it was not a high-ceilinged room like a supermarket with a huge air volume). Everybody was masked and distanced and nobody seemed sick, but it still made me nervous. 

At least they DID have the high-dose flu shot in stock. I would've been really annoyed if I had to jump through all those hoops to get the same one I could have gotten with much less fanfare at any old pharmacy. And the procedures themselves were quick and painless; the lab tech drawing blood hit the vein on the first try, which does not always happen, and the shot didn't hurt at all.  

Comments

[quadong]

It might not be the absolute peak right now, unfortunately.

[dreamshark]

Well, yes, I suppose there is that little ray of comfort.

[lydy]

Please, you two, if I'm down, don't try to cheer me up. I think you don't quite have the knack.

Massachusetts is headed for a huge spike, too. It's just...it's pretty terrible.

[dreamshark]

Oh, please. Massachusetts is whining because their infection rate has "shot up" from 8 per 100K all the way to 13. I remember when Minnesota was holding steady at about 13 (what, a month ago?). Those were the days!

Minnesota is now at 24 and aiming for the stars. Meanwhile, our dunderheaded neighboring states are, proceeding clockwise from Wisconsin, at 83, 40, 96, and (for the TOP SPOT IN THE US!) North Dakota at a jaw dropping 105. I have no tears to shed for Massachusetts.

[spiderplanet]

My dentists' office has everyone wait in their car, and then calls on the phone when it's time to be seen. It's a good system. The vet does something similar except that I don't go inside at all, I call when I arrive, wait in my car and they call me when it's time to bring the carrier to the door.

I has sort of assumed that all medicalish offices were doing the same thing. That's a bummer to hear that they're not.

[dreamshark]

It would probably slow things down too much. A lot more people circulate through a general medical clinic in an hour than through a small dentist's office.

To be fair, the appointment system worked pretty well in the basement lab, where I only had to wait for 5 minutes in a room with two other patients. Then I had to go up to the first floor for the flu shot, which was running behind.

[maruad]

I am jealous of the single jab for the drawing of the blood. It has reached the point where they just go for the veins on my hands.