When I was in residency a coworker came to work with very mild cold symptoms (just like 8 million other physicians have done) Turns out it was RSV. Two babies in the NICU got it and one ended up on ECMO. What causes sniffles in an adult can be deadly in little ones.

@acweyand While the primary responsibility is your coworker's, let's not give the hospital a pass on its likely pisspoor ventilation/filtration

@acweyand And this is why I’m ok if we mask at the hospital forever…

@acweyand I understand the sentiment of this and maybe the NICU would be different but I have a kid in daycare and one that started kindergarten 6 weeks ago. I have had “very mild cold symptoms” for 6 weeks straight now. My hospital gives me 6 days of PTO per year, idk what else to do

@acweyand My 4yo nephew almost lost his life to RSV over the summer.

@acweyand What causes sniffles in immunocompetent can be deadly in immunocompromised!

@acweyand RSV going around where I work.

@acweyand @_mbdr_ What's RSV?

@acweyand In 2019, coworker didn’t want to use her sick leave (she had like a thousand hours) and that work was too important. It was a cold. My whole department got it and they were better in a few days. Two weeks later I was in the ER with pneumonia. It triggered an autoimmune condition.

@acweyand @dianaberrent Imagine if only there was something a mildly sick person could wear that would prevent their germs from spewing out into the air that other people breathe… something that even an asthmatic like me could wear comfortably…

@acweyand After chemo treatment, with my immune system on the floor.. I caught RSV. It nearly killed me. Wear a well fitting n95 (or similar grade) face mask. This prevents much of infection transmission.. slows epidemics and pandemics alike. Cheap. Simple. Responsible. Respectful. Easy.

@acweyand True for immunocompromised folx too - I can't believe we ever were maskless on oncology units, for example.

@acweyand I went shopping at a large box baby store when 24 weeks pregnant. a few days later I contracted the Human Parvo Virus B19. My baby developed Hydrops. I had been told not to worry about my rash on my face. Tell that to my baby that died during an intrauterine blood transfusion.

@acweyand @amandalhu My eldest got sick with a mild virus short lived fever, sniffle, bounced back. Son got it, it was enteovirus and was hospitalised with viral menegitis, he was only four weeks old. He was so unwell, ok all the drops, it was so scary.

@acweyand My 9-week old November baby was hospitalized with it almost 28 years ago. She is having her own November baby in a month. We have invested in 3 high quality HEPA air purifiers, visitors will wear masks, all precautions taken. She will leave hospital asap for sure.

@acweyand My two year old came down with respiratory symptoms the day we brought our newborn home. They both ended up with RSV and we had to take the infant right back to the hospital for oxygen and monitoring. Both ended up okay, for which we are very thankful.

@acweyand My 5-week old son got RSV in 2002 and ended up on a ventilator. It wasn’t until Covid hit that I truly realised how close we came to losing him. Big thanks to @GreatOrmondSt for their stellar work.

@acweyand I was an RSV baby. I was 8 months old. One of my older siblings brought it home from school and gave it to the whole family. Mom thought it was just a cold but still decided to take me and one of my sisters to the dr because the cough “sounded weird.”

@acweyand It was such commonplace in medicine/EMS for people to come to work sick 1) bc supervisors demanded it and 2) bc we only got 1 week of sick time per YEAR to be around sick people all the time which is woefully inadequate

@acweyand That’s horrifying. When my pre-vaccines-pandemic baby was in the NICU our nurses loudly bragged to each other about their destination weddings, hugging everyone at (mega)church, and about how they would never be vaccinated. People are so selfish.

@acweyand Kids also go to school sick all the time. Schools often penalize kids for missing school and parents don't have child care and have to work.

@acweyand @q_aurelius Breitbrat Men: “pro forced birth but we don’t care if they die afterwards of RSV or JHP (jacketed hollow point bullets)”

@acweyand @amandalhu And so why aren’t masks standard in health care settings regardless of covid.

@acweyand I wear a mask everywhere I go like Target, grocery store etc and every time I’m just one of a few people wearing one. I’m also an RN, if I missed work because of sniffles, I can’t imagine the anger/resentment my coworkers would have. Nobody calls out for that