Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #105

[SouthAussie]

It's true, they're not saying. I would assume it's like the regular flu or cold, they'll tell you to go home and rest even if you feel like death warmed over, the key is if your oxygen levels have dropped too low: then the risk is quickly developing pneumonia or causing serious damage to other organs if you have health issues.

ETA, most people don't get the virus in their lungs, it's when it invades the lungs that the symptoms are life threatening.

Studies Suggest Why Omicron Is Less Severe: It Spares the Lungs

JMO

I wish oximeters cost less here. They are significantly more expensive than in the US.
I have been looking at getting one ... and I think I will anyway. To me, an oximeter seems like the best tool a person can have to monitor thenselves for those crucial oxygen levels.

Mind you, my state health dept says it will deliver a 'tool kit' to covid positive people so they can be monitored at home. The tool kit includes an oximeter (to be returned to them, presumably, when no longer needed).

My issue with this is oxygen levels can be dropping seriously as a person is standing in the testing line waiting for a positive PCR test that will make them eligible for a health dept tool kit, and before a tool kit can reach their home.

imo

 

[CharlestonGal]

I wish physicians would tell us which Omicron variant symptoms are causing people to require hospitalization. Or is it leftover Delta variant cases? The numbers from daily positive tests really don't tell us anything.

I think it's still the same - pneumonia and hypoxia.

"Patients with a mild clinical presentation (absence of viral pneumonia and hypoxia) may not initially require hospitalization, and most patients will be able to manage their illness at home. The decision to monitor a patient in the inpatient or outpatient setting should be made on a case-by-case basis. This decision will depend on the clinical presentation, requirement for supportive care, potential risk factors for severe disease, and the ability of the patient to self-isolate at home. Patients with risk factors for severe illness (see People Who Are at an Increased Risk for Severe Illness) should be monitored closely given the possible risk of progression to severe illness, especially in the second week after symptom onset.(5,6,35)"

Healthcare Workers

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Good to hear everything is ok!

Thank you. I cancelled the appointment with the nephrologist because my labs were fine. She would probably wonder why I was there to see her when she recommended a return visit in March for monitoring. The less time spent in medical facilities, the better.

 

[CharlestonGal]

Mayo Clinic dropping 700 workers for lacking COVID-19 vaccination

About 700 workers are losing their jobs at Mayo Clinic for failing to comply with a vaccine mandate policy at the Rochester-based health system.

Employees had until Monday to either receive their first shots or obtain an exemption for medical or religious reasons. Mayo said it granted the majority of exemption requests.

Mayo Clinic is Minnesota's largest employer. It also operates hospitals and clinics in Arizona, Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin.

The clinic required non-exempt workers by Jan. 3 to receive at least one dose of vaccine and not be overdue for a second shot, if they were receiving a two-dose vaccine. Staff continued to get first doses through Monday in order to be compliant, Mayo said.

"While Mayo Clinic is saddened to lose valuable employees, we need to take all steps necessary to keep our patients, workforce, visitors and communities safe," the clinic said in a statement. "If individuals released from employment choose to get vaccinated at a later date, the opportunity exists for them to apply and return to Mayo Clinic for future job openings."

 

[Cool Cats]

And, to a larger extent, the way people have adapted (or not.) @CharlestonGal raised an excellent point that behaviors none of us could have foreseen, two years ago, may become the norm.

Yup!

Verbally abused, Being beaten up, or even gunned down for tying to enforce the mask policy.

Behaviors none of us could have imagined 2 years ago.

Violence against workers enforcing a mask mandate is becoming the norm. On planes, restaurants, stores etc....

Michigan shooting: 3 charged in Family Dollar security guard killing - CNN

 

[pocketaccent]

What is 'Flurona'? Developing 2 separate infections a new health risk, experts say

Israel's first known case of a person infected with COVID-19 and the flu has been detected, the country's Ministry of Health confirmed to CNN on Tuesday, raising questions over how the two viruses might impact someone who contracts them at the same time.
...
What COVID-19 and the flu together could do

"Flurona" is a term coined to describe the condition of being infected with COVID-19 and the flu simultaneously.

Nadav Davidovitch, director of the School of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, told CNN on Tuesday that because "there is now both very high influenza activity and very high COVID activity, there is the option that someone will be infected with both."

...(read more about it in the article if interested. Having difficult time copy- pasting on my tablet)

 

[katydid23]

What worries me the most, is that for our elderly loved ones this could be how they spend their last years. I cant bear that thought.

That is how I feel about my 92 yr old Mom. She is in a retirement community that has been locked down a few times. So I have only seen her two times in past 2 years....we speak on the phone all the time....but she does say that she worries she will never see her great grand babies again...

 

[mickey2942]

That is how I feel about my 92 yr old Mom. She is in a retirement community that has been locked down a few times. So I have only seen her two times in past 2 years....we speak on the phone all the time....but she does say that she worries she will never see her great grand babies again...

Which is why, it becomes a personal choice, how to move forward in our new reality. My husband and I are pretty much done isolating. We are 3x vaxxed. We wear masks. And we are moving forward with our life now.

 

[LaborDayRN]

That is how I feel about my 92 yr old Mom. She is in a retirement community that has been locked down a few times. So I have only seen her two times in past 2 years....we speak on the phone all the time....but she does say that she worries she will never see her great grand babies again...

I'm so sorry @katydid23 This must be difficult for you as well as being hard for your Mom and the grandkids.

 

[CrimeAway]

I'm sure most realize by now it's permanent. Like measles. HIV. Flu. And dozens of other viruses that plague humanity. Nothing is going to change that.

Some will choose to adapt and overcome. Others will kick and scream and long for the good ole days until the end of time. Change is hard for humans and that's a lot of what we're seeing now. Humans attempting en masse to deal with change, some more successfully than others. jmo

I think that you've elucidated on an interesting point. Some people still seem to be stuck at a child-like stage of emotional, social, and intellectual development. I'm not talking about those who raise reasonable questions about the pros and cons of various strategies to deal with the pandemic, but those who seem to defiantly refuse to partake in evidence-based measures to minimize the morbidity and mortality of Sars-coV-2, and act with complete indifference to those around them. Sadly, there seem to be more of these people than I could have ever envisioned.

 

[Grouse]

New Covid-19 variant identified in France has '46 mutations' from original virus

Another new variant identified in France, possibly originated in Africa. Here's hoping it will not too different to the current Omicron, and with luck maybe it will be even milder?

 

[Grouse]

I wish physicians would tell us which Omicron variant symptoms are causing people to require hospitalization. Or is it leftover Delta variant cases? The numbers from daily positive tests really don't tell us anything.

My understanding of the situation in the UK is that, while hospitalisations are on the rise, the numbers in ICU are not. So (JMO) it would seem that it is possibly not the kind of symptoms we associate with previous waves. Also due to the sheer number of people getting infected now there are a number of people in hospital who have covid but were actually admitted for other reasons.

Some more info on this here --> Omicron stats are huge, but look beyond them

 

[Grouse]

50-second Covid test designed for schools and airports submitted to UK regulator for approval

"A 50-second Covid-19 test that has been designed for use in schools, airports and at entertainment events has been submitted to the UK’s medicines regulator for approval, i has learned.

The testing device, which is portable and around the size of a desktop-computer, is able to detect Covid infected particles in saliva samples in under a minute, according to creator Kidod Science and Technology.

The firm claims it can provide results comparable to a PCR test and that it could be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) within weeks."

 

[CSIDreamer]

That is how I feel about my 92 yr old Mom. She is in a retirement community that has been locked down a few times. So I have only seen her two times in past 2 years....we speak on the phone all the time....but she does say that she worries she will never see her great grand babies again...

That's heartbreaking.

My mom is 95. We made the decision to move forward and visit with her. She's having some complications that have zero to do with Covid and everything to with her age and related issues. I'm not being heartless regarding her health, just realistic. Her chances of dying from Covid are far less than other things.

She sees me, my husband, her granddaughter, 2 great grands every week. There is a little blessing due this coming June. My prayer is she hangs on long enough to see this 3rd great grandchild. If not? At least the oldest great may possibly remember her. And we have pictures of them with her.

 

[LaborDayRN]

That's heartbreaking.

My mom is 95. We made the decision to move forward and visit with her. She's having some complications that have zero to do with Covid and everything to with her age and related issues. I'm not being heartless regarding her health, just realistic. Her chances of dying from Covid are far less than other things.

She sees me, my husband, her granddaughter, 2 great grands every week. There is a little blessing due this coming June. My prayer is she hangs on long enough to see this 3rd great grandchild. If not? At least the oldest great may possibly remember her. And we have pictures of them with her.

We have also been visiting my husbands 96 year old father. We don't go often (he's 3+ hours away) but make the trip one a month or so. He is in an assisted living facility. It's his wish that people visit. He's vaccinated as are we.

 

[EGirl]

I keep seeing headlines that say ‘with covid’. Fauci admitted that meant they were in the hospital and tested positive but that wasn’t the cause of their hospitalization. 99% survival rate. I choose to live.

 

[EGirl]

We have also been visiting my husbands 96 year old father. We don't go often (he's 3+ hours away) but make the trip one a month or so. He is in an assisted living facility. It's his wish that people visit. He's vaccinated as are we.

Visit him.... love on him.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

I wish oximeters cost less here. They are significantly more expensive than in the US.
I have been looking at getting one ... and I think I will anyway. To me, an oximeter seems like the best tool a person can have to monitor thenselves for those crucial oxygen levels.

Mind you, my state health dept says it will deliver a 'tool kit' to covid positive people so they can be monitored at home. The tool kit includes an oximeter (to be returned to them, presumably, when no longer needed).

My issue with this is oxygen levels can be dropping seriously as a person is standing in the testing line waiting for a positive PCR test that will make them eligible for a health dept tool kit, and before a tool kit can reach their home.

imo

I got mine so cheaply that when I loaned it out I just went on and purchased another rather than taking a chance of not having one here if I got sick.

 

[Cool Cats]

I got mine so cheaply that when I loaned it out I just went on and purchased another rather than taking a chance of not having one here if I got sick.

Never occurred to me to have one (oximeter) on hand. Live and learn in 2022. Thanks.

 

[mickey2942]

Never occurred to me to have one (oximeter) on hand. Live and learn in 2022. Thanks.

We bought one, and a thermometer in March, 2020. Dark days. That was when we wrote our wills, "living" wills, and followed up with hospice on information about their "Covid" procedures.

I look back on that, fully sure that we were going to be one of those "percentages". Two years later, still healthy. It has been a journey.