We are in New Orleans at a nursing conference. This is a treat long denied as the conference had to be virtual for 2 years. Alas, I don’t have any PI project to present that I haven’t already done a poster on or any traction on my current project.
I did participate as a panel presenter and spoke about shared governance and its importance for the hospital as a whole. I highlighted some things our council has done, including the covid car.
There are prominent signs everywhere to wear a mask. It is posted at our hotel. It was included in the paperwork from AORN. But virtually no one is masked. At the opening event, less than 30 of us were masked.
I know that these people were just excited to be mask free, especially since the mask mandates in places have started falling. But there are some of us who are not convinced.
It is very difficult to get current data. Any sort of current data. Some states stopped collecting it. Some states stopped submitting it. Some states only submit once a week, which is a different day every week.
I don’t want to be right that this is lull. However, I feel that I am. After all society is staring down at 1 million dead. As of right now the United States is only 34,000 away.
I think the US will hit this very grim marker sooner than later. But we won’t know, will we?
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 