Know anyone with Coronavirus?

[Everskyward]

Do you have the same fear of influenza?

I don't have a particular fear of either, but even before Covid, I know that facilities that cared for the elderly were very careful during flu season; about who was visiting, and about the residents intermingling. That's even after the residents theoretically had gotten flu shots. I think it's pretty obvious by now that Covid is more serious than the flu.

 

[Juliet Hotel]

This is more of a club than a business.

Even clubs have budgets and have to keep an eye on the bottom line. It would be way too costly to climb with the door open. And with the door closed, if one person in the plane is actively shedding virus, everyone in the plane would likely be exposed.

And we haven't even mentioned the fact that drop zones tend to be populated by individuals who are, shall we say, not particularly picky about whom they choose to sleep with. If you're looking to get laid and you don't much care about what STD's might be involved, grab a six pack or two and go hang around a drop zone around sunset. So you mean to tell me someone at a drop zone had covid and then lots of people at that drop zone had covid? Shocking!

 

[wayne]

I know several people who thought they had it, but so far no positive test results. There is one more couple whose symptoms sound like they really did have it, but no tests, just "go home and quarantine". They haven't had the antibody test yet.

 

[scorpio]

I've known several folks what have had it (positive test). I know of 6 kids under 10 that had it and none of them had ANY symptoms at all. Several of the parents are in the 30-40 yr old range, and a few had what they described as a mild cold. One guy had flu like symptoms, but he's a bit of a complainer generally. The rest had absolutely nothing. One acquaintance in his 80's was in very rough shape, but received a transfusion with the anti-bodies and pulled through. That guy is a stubborn old guy that seems like he wouldn't go down without a fight.

The younger folks are family and it must have spread pretty easily.

 

[Ghery]

I changed my vote. Earlier it was "no". Now it's "yes". Two different people on opposite sides of the country. One was found when he went into the hospital to have a broken ankle fixed. No surgery on the ankle and while recovering from the COVID-19 infection he suffered a stroke. He's home now and still hasn't had the ankle fixed. The other is a friend of our daughter's who probably was exposed while activated for the Army National Guard. He's fine now, too.

 

[Palmpilot]

...And we haven't even mentioned the fact that drop zones tend to be populated by individuals who are, shall we say, not particularly picky about whom they choose to sleep with. If you're looking to get laid and you don't much care about what STD's might be involved, grab a six pack or two and go hang around a drop zone around sunset. So you mean to tell me someone at a drop zone had covid and then lots of people at that drop zone had covid? Shocking!

Wow, the things I learn on PoA!

 

[coolbreeze]

Not sure why this popped up in my feed, but I just lost an uncle to this.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[steingar]

What the mortality statistics tend to miss is how many have lasting repercussions after surviving the 'rona. The number is far higher than zero, though I honestly don't know its true extent.

 

[Matthew Rogers]

I have gone 6 months protecting myself, father with cancer, and young son with a mild heart condition from getting Covid and don't want to roll the dice that I may end up with permanent lung damage from catching even a mild case of the disease. What is another 6 months in the grand scheme of life. Lots of activities and things to do that don't involve being in close proximity to groups of people. Plenty of people around me in NY caught it early on in March including several from my flying club. Why the 94 year old smoker lived and the 34 year old died, is anyone's guess.

Maybe the scarring and damage shown on lung scans of infected individuals will clear up in a few months or years, or maybe it will get worse over time. Nobody knows quite yet. What I do know is that I won't feel sorry for or want to take care of anyone that did not take precautions to help stop the spread to others. Unless you are getting tested every week, you may be getting others sick and not know it at all.

 

[EdFred]

Was at a trade show in February where there were a lot of people from Asia and that had recently returned from Asia. About a week later for about 2 days I felt not so great and had a couple of the symptoms. A week later my brother got hit with symptoms HARD. The other two people in our office showed nothing. I haven't been tested, neither has he. Maybe we got it, maybe not. He and I don't care either way.

If I didn't get it previouslyand I do contract it, I still don't care, and won't be headed to the hospital for treatment. I've done enough of my bucket list, and who am I to argue with nature's most recent attempt at population control. I'm either supposed to live, or I'm not. I also have the same view point towards cancer and everything else that's out there that can kill us.

 

[PeterNSteinmetz]

The good news is, survivability numbers are WAY better than predicted.
...
The other bad news: If the math holds and no vaccine occurs (incredibly low probability but there’s minor hope) we’re an incredibly long timeframe away from herd immunity via infections. Even assuming a ton of not yet tested cases. Way into 2021.
...
Buckle up and adapt, kids. That’s the current math.

Yes, if you are in a vulnerable category, best to plan on fairly severe isolation until about mid 2021 (2 seasons). Have visitors wear masks like N95 or full face respirators.

If vaccines work, could shorten that, and there are some promising candidates. At least in the 21st century you can have most things delivered and there are plenty of forms of entertainment available.

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

I had dinner with my niece, ER charge nurse for JHU Bayview in Baltimore. They see hundreds of patients daily. She says COVID things have cooled off a bit and are seeing fewer folks with COVID symptoms daily....most are not admitted. A hand full are admitted. Hardly no intubations. That's an old protocol that's not as required as once thought. Said she had a 90 yo lady the other day....no intubation. Under the old protocol she would have been intubated immediately. Then in a week or two passed....they have tweaked the protocols and are seeing good results with lots of other oxygen respiration therapies that are more effective.

The most interesting thing, or tid bit, from our conversation was that 100% get tested (rapid test...not sure which one) when entering the ER.....and roughly 90% of the COVID positive patients are not there for COVID. They are presenting with other issues.....like fractures, cuts, or other non-COVID ER issues. So there are a ton of folks walking around positive with no symptoms.

 

[Salty]

I have gone 6 months protecting myself, father with cancer, and young son with a mild heart condition from getting Covid and don't want to roll the dice that I may end up with permanent lung damage from catching even a mild case of the disease. What is another 6 months in the grand scheme of life. Lots of activities and things to do that don't involve being in close proximity to groups of people. Plenty of people around me in NY caught it early on in March including several from my flying club. Why the 94 year old smoker lived and the 34 year old died, is anyone's guess.

Maybe the scarring and damage shown on lung scans of infected individuals will clear up in a few months or years, or maybe it will get worse over time. Nobody knows quite yet. What I do know is that I won't feel sorry for or want to take care of anyone that did not take precautions to help stop the spread to others. Unless you are getting tested every week, you may be getting others sick and not know it at all.

Good luck with the never catching a virus thing. Let me know how that works out for ya.

 

[tspear]

The most interesting thing, or tid bit, from our conversation was that 100% get tested (rapid test...not sure which one) when entering the ER.....and roughly 90% of the COVID positive patients are not there for COVID. They are presenting with other issues.....like fractures, cuts, or other non-COVID ER issues. So there are a ton of folks walking around positive with no symptoms.

Wow, not sure if scary or just amazing or ....

Tim

 

[Bob Noel]

Wow, not sure if scary or just amazing or ....

Tim

otoh - in Maskachusetts, the mostly targeted testing* is returning less than 2% positive results... it's been that way for many weeks.

*testing people with symptoms, close contacts of cases, people at risk such as healthcare workers. iow - a baised sample set.

 

[EdFred]

Wow, not sure if scary or just amazing or ....

Tim

I'm going with "or..." Corroborates what I stated in previous thread.

 

[AKiss20]

he mostly targeted testing* is returning less than 2% positive results...

There is specifically targeted testing going on but the under 2% daily positivity rate is for all reported testing, not just targeted testing. I was part of the MIT campus wide study that got tested every 2 weeks for a few months and those tests were part of the daily count afaik. Looking at the MA COVID-19 dashboard (https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-response-reporting) I don't see positivity rates called out for targeted testing programs specifically, just daily new cases and daily total tests. That being said, I agree that it is impressive that we didn't see a general increase in overall positivity rate after the targeted testing programs began. We also saw no spike from July 4th weekend. MA has been doing very well for the past month or so.

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

otoh - in Maskachusetts, the mostly targeted testing* is returning less than 2% positive results... it's been that way for many weeks.

*testing people with symptoms, close contacts of cases, people at risk such as healthcare workers. iow - a baised sample set.

Also, the niece said all ER staff were tested for antibodies....over +150 medical ER staff......none had antibodies at JHU Bayview ER in Baltimore. She would have sworn she had it earlier in the year.....

 

[weilke]

Also, the niece said all ER staff were tested for antibodies....over +150 medical ER staff......none had antibodies at JHU Bayview ER in Baltimore. She would have sworn she had it earlier in the year.....

When PPE is available and patient load is not at a level to strain resources (covid patients in hallways rather than isolation rooms), transmission to healthcare workers is uncommon.

 

[Bob Noel]

There is specifically targeted testing going on but the under 2% daily positivity rate is for all reported testing, not just targeted testing. I was part of the MIT campus wide study that got tested every 2 weeks for a few months and those tests were part of the daily count afaik. Looking at the MA COVID-19 dashboard (https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-response-reporting) I don't see positivity rates called out for targeted testing programs specifically, just daily new cases and daily total tests. That being said, I agree that it is impressive that we didn't see a general increase in overall positivity rate after the targeted testing programs began. We also saw no spike from July 4th weekend. MA has been doing very well for the past month or so.

I fully understand that the <2% is for all tests (molecular) (note that I said "mostly targeted"). I'm pretty sure you realize that here in Maskachusetts most (nearly all) of testing is paid for by insurance. And the criteria for insurance to pay for the test is typically people with symptoms, close contacts of cases, people at risk such as healthcare workers. Yes, there are some people that pay for the test ... an example is my sister, because she was going to Maine and she didn't meet the criteria for the insurance to pay.

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

When PPE is available and patient load is not at a level to strain resources (covid patients in hallways rather than isolation rooms), transmission to healthcare workers is uncommon.

They were very diligent with the PPE and full don pressure suits in the beginning. What they have learned....it ain't as transmissible as once thought. So, they loosened up the PPE protocols in some areas....cause it was not needed.

 

[weilke]

They were very diligent with the PPE and full don pressure suits in the beginning. What they have learned....it ain't as transmissible as once thought. So, they loosened up the PPE protocols in some areas....cause it was not needed.

There are a few procedures that create aerosols where the full-up hazmat outfit with the positive pressure respirator is warranted. Bronchoscopy (putting an endoscope down someones trachea) and a few others. Other than that, it is not any more infectious than other stuff we deal with in the hospital. Most hospitals have different levels of PPE required for different levels of contact, for most situations, a N95, goggles and a gown are what is required. Also, based on the knowledge that many HCWs got exposed in the PPE changing area, care has to be taken that the change in and out of PPE can be done in separate 'clean' and 'dirty' changing rooms (typically with a 'monitor' to assist the staff in and out of their gear). The singapore health system made those recommendations based on their experience with the 2004 SARS. They made it through their epidemic in February without a single HCW converting. The experience has been similar in many of the US hospitals that were well managed enough to not run out of PPE and personnel.

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

The bigger reason for the ease up in PPE....they aren't doing as many intubations requiring the full don Juan getup pressure suits.

There are a few procedures that create aerosols where the full-up hazmat outfit with the positive pressure respirator is warranted. Bronchoscopy (putting an endoscope down someones trachea) and a few others. Other than that, it is not any more infectious than other stuff we deal with in the hospital. Most hospitals have different levels of PPE required for different levels of contact, for most situations, a N95, goggles and a gown are what is required. Also, based on the knowledge that many HCWs got exposed in the PPE changing area, care has to be taken that the change in and out of PPE can be done in separate 'clean' and 'dirty' changing rooms (typically with a 'monitor' to assist the staff in and out of their gear). The singapore health system made those recommendations based on their experience with the 2004 SARS. They made it through their epidemic in February without a single HCW converting. The experience has been similar in many of the US hospitals that were well managed enough to not run out of PPE and personnel.

 

[denverpilot]

Yes, if you are in a vulnerable category, best to plan on fairly severe isolation until about mid 2021 (2 seasons). Have visitors wear masks like N95 or full face respirators.

If vaccines work, could shorten that, and there are some promising candidates. At least in the 21st century you can have most things delivered and there are plenty of forms of entertainment available.

Yeah no. The household nurse and I figure she’s bringing it home eventually and we’re taking some reasonable measures, but “severe isolation” ain’t one of them.

Plus the docs truly have no frakking idea if I’m more or less vulnerable at this time anyway, and there’s other medical reasons to be out, like spinal cord imagery for those things.

Unless you were just meaning high risk people in general.

But no. We aren’t going full blown “pre-transplant patient” type protocols here.

Frankly I’d prefer to catch it in good weather and get it over with, however it goes.

And the math is awful for a vaccine. Hell, most folk are avoiding the super likely topic of mutations, let alone being real about betting on a vaccine isn’t a good idea in Vegas...

Happy if it happens. Not surprised in the slightest if it doesn’t or is a partial effect or has to be changed like others every year for new strains... or... or... or...

There are a few procedures that create aerosols where the full-up hazmat outfit with the positive pressure respirator is warranted. Bronchoscopy (putting an endoscope down someones trachea) and a few others.

That’s why Mayo intubated me back in March to go get that lymph node biopsy. Protecting their people from me. Normally outpatient and awake, they had my butt knocked out about five minutes from OR entry and never let me breathe into the room. Wasn’t expecting that but happened quick since it put the OR almost four hours behind that day. They temporarily cancelled all procedures like mine the day after, so I’m pretty happy they did it. Would have been weeks or months to prove my diagnosis if I hadn’t literally hit the last day they did them that month.

I still have my silly paper post-op mask as a souvenir. It’s a tad dirty though. Got forced to use it to mow a strip of the property when masks were difficult to find of any sort.


....

And we are up to nine. Another online acquaintance I volunteer for some work with.

I don’t even count the number in the threads in private support groups for the neurological thing nor the Sarcoid groups. Piles of people in both and both originally considered “high risk”, but it’s behaving like the healthy folks so far in those groups. No reported deaths, one reported ventilator and long term admission, vast folks just feeling like crap for inordinate lengths of time. A handful had added O2 at home — mainly the sarcoid group subset who already had severe lung involvement. None reporting new lung damage, yet.

Hundreds of responses on “anybody had it?” type threads. Of course there could be more who truly are hammered who aren’t exactly hanging out on social media platforms from their hospital beds but most folk have a spouse or friend posting for them if they’re ill into the closed/private groups.

Summary: A pain in the ass for anybody with worse going on, mostly, with a pinch of random death. LOL.

We are still ahead of Covid on cancelled or modified funerals for people not killed by Covid since it started, anecdotally. Family and friends. 3-4 depending on how we count family and friends. The 4th is fairly extended. 1 Covid death also significantly extended away.

Again anecdotally, cancer and strokes are still in the lead! LOL. Efff cancer.

 

[Juliet Hotel]

Hell, most folk are avoiding the super likely topic of mutations, let alone being real about betting on a vaccine isn’t a good idea in Vegas...

Are they avoiding it? From what I've been able to find, there isn't much discussion of mutations is because so far its shown no signs of mutating. If its not mutating, what discussion about it mutating do you think we should be having? Yes it could mutate, that's been clearly established and everyone is aware of it. No one knows when mutation will happen nor what effect that will have on treatment and prevention. So what else about mutations should we be discussing?

 

[Bob Noel]

Are they avoiding it? From what I've been able to find, there isn't much discussion of mutations is because so far its shown no signs of mutating. If its not mutating, what discussion about it mutating do you think we should be having? Yes it could mutate, that's been clearly established and everyone is aware of it. No one knows when mutation will happen nor what effect that will have on treatment and prevention. So what else about mutations should we be discussing?

just an fyi...

https://biodesign.asu.edu/news/asu-scientific-team-finds-new-unique-mutation-coronavirus-study

 

[denverpilot]

Are they avoiding it? From what I've been able to find, there isn't much discussion of mutations is because so far its shown no signs of mutating. If its not mutating, what discussion about it mutating do you think we should be having? Yes it could mutate, that's been clearly established and everyone is aware of it. No one knows when mutation will happen nor what effect that will have on treatment and prevention. So what else about mutations should we be discussing?

Well mostly that every coronavirus we know of, has done so... unless I’m reading the old research stuff wrong.

This one is just one of many and is “novel”.

Something that seems to have gotten lost in the overall discussion like it’s a stand-alone little booger.

It’s turning out to be just an outlier version, with higher transmissibility and less than 1% more deadly.

Which makes for some awful numbers in total but relatively “makes sense” for what it is.

Remote root exploit vs bog standard malware stealing credit card data. Haha. No long term fix for either sort of problem as long as the human OS they’re attacking isn’t secured.

Which... it won’t be. We might find a patch and the next one will come along shortly. Or in another hundred years. Shrug.

 

[DavidWhite]

One of my coworkers who has been very vocal about his belief that the coronavirus is fake just had his wife test positive this morning with a 103 fever.

 

[FORANE]

Yes, if you are in a vulnerable category, best to plan on fairly severe isolation until about mid 2021 (2 seasons). Have visitors wear masks like N95 or full face respirators.

If vaccines work, could shorten that, and there are some promising candidates. At least in the 21st century you can have most things delivered and there are plenty of forms of entertainment available.

Many full face respirators are designed to protect the wearer from others, not others from the wearer. The N100 respirators we have been given have no filter on exhaled gas of the wearer. As a result, we put another mask over the exhalation valve.

 

[Bob Noel]

Many full face respirators are designed to protect the wearer from others, not others from the wearer. The N100 respirators we have been given have no filter on exhaled gas of the wearer. As a result, we put another mask over the exhalation valve.

Some N95 masks also have a valve.

 

[GaryM]

One of my coworkers who has been very vocal about his belief that the coronavirus is fake just had his wife test positive this morning with a 103 fever.

Sorry to hear about the wife's diagnosis. I assume your coworker now believes she is in on the conspiracy.

 

[GaryM]

Are they avoiding it? From what I've been able to find, there isn't much discussion of mutations is because so far its shown no signs of mutating. If its not mutating, what discussion about it mutating do you think we should be having? Yes it could mutate, that's been clearly established and everyone is aware of it. No one knows when mutation will happen nor what effect that will have on treatment and prevention. So what else about mutations should we be discussing?

It's mutating, everything does. Mutations are random, but successful ones tend to make a virus less deadly to the host, but more infectious. That means 'success' for the virus.

There has been a lot of effort put into studying the mutations, and the good news is that the spike proteins-which would be the target for almost any vaccine developed against the virus-aren't mutating very rapidly or dramatically. That means the possibility of a successful vaccine conferring lasting immunity is really quite good.

 

[Juliet Hotel]

It's mutating, everything does. Mutations are random, but successful ones tend to make a virus less deadly to the host, but more infectious. That means 'success' for the virus.

There has been a lot of effort put into studying the mutations, and the good news is that the spike proteins-which would be the target for almost any vaccine developed against the virus-aren't mutating very rapidly or dramatically. That means the possibility of a successful vaccine conferring lasting immunity is really quite good.

Which was my understanding as well but you described it much better than I did. Still the point remains the same, it is that everyone is avoiding the discussion as was claimed or is it that there really isn't much of discussion to have about it right now?

 

[GaryM]

Still the point remains the same, it is that everyone is avoiding the discussion as was claimed or is it that there really isn't much of discussion to have about it right now?

I'm not sure...I'm not really following the primary literature--I only read a few articles on mutation rates and where in the genome they were occurring back in May. I suspect the discussion and research continues in the scientific community, but it's too down-in-the-weeds for the popular press to pick up, though if any really alarming mutations have cropped up, we'd have heard about it. I don't think we're yet sure if the common viral evolution pattern of 'less deadly but more infectious' is being seen here, or what the public health implications might be.

The general public is much more interested in infection rates and spread and possible treatments and the progress of the vaccine clinical trials, so those are getting more attention in the press--at least, when they can compete for time with the political arguments.

 

[Arnold]

When you first posted this, that number for me was zero. In the past two weeks that number has risen to 3, though thankfully not serious. It will unfortunately keep rising. Remember folks, science trumps politics. If the scientists don't have an answer then the politicians certainly don't.

 

[Doug Reid]

I really feel bad for anyone who has lost a family member or friend to corona virus. What bothers me is the corruption going on with numbers of new cases. Locally, a friend of ours went to get tested with her spouse...after waiting a long time, they left before being tested..they did complete the necessary paperwork before leaving...two days later they received notice they both were positive for corona virus, even though they never received the test.

 

[ElPaso Pilot]

One of my coworkers who has been very vocal about his belief that the coronavirus is fake just had his wife test positive this morning with a 103 fever.

Yea. As fake as Michigan losing 13 nuns in one convent, 12 of them in one month.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/13-sisters-michigan-convent-die-coronavirus-n1234591

 

[EdFred]

Yea. As fake as Michigan losing 13 nuns in one convent, 12 of them in one month.

So the takeaway here is that an active sex life will help prevent death due to C-19.

 

[denverpilot]

Yea. As fake as Michigan losing 13 nuns in one convent, 12 of them in one month.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/13-sisters-michigan-convent-die-coronavirus-n1234591

We keep seeing a repetitive pattern that locking old people in infected buildings kills massively... and yet we keep using that tactic.

Time of contact. It’s huge.

In this particular one, I’m sure they stayed willingly but it’s the same pattern.

Old people plus infected building means EVACUATE you freaking policy morons. If that same thing were killing children there’d be a line of vehicles around the block to get the kids out and a plan to individually isolate them until seen if they caught it.

We are complete asses to our elderly as a society. Seriously.

 

[bnt83]

Yes, a few. The scariest one is a guy who is younger and in better shape than I am with no underlying health conditions that ended up in the hospital for several days.

I've tested twice - The active and the antibody - And was negative both times.

There are definitely extremes on both ends, a 90+ year old woman was hospitalized for several days, no vent needed, and discharged and doing well.