Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #105

[BetteDavisEyes]

It is heartbreaking. I remember my college years, parties, dorm living, dances, casual friendships. None of that is really part of campus life now. Sure, live in the dorm, straight to your room with your mask. Don't forget to get tested each week. Do you have your vaccine card?

My daughter had to eat alone, at a table in the cafeteria. Everyone at their own isolated table. No wonder she was done with "college life". Go to your room, alone, hook up to your online class. The whole experience was crushing her. The way she described it at Christmas made it sound more like solitary confinement in a prison.

She is working full-time now, living in an apartment. Maybe she will go back. Or not.

Sorry to hear about your daughter dropping out of college, but I appreciate your sharing her story. Over the past two years, I've often wondered what it's like for students/parents to be paying tuition, room & board, etc. for a college education only to have them spend most of their time in a dorm room or apartment, take classes online instead of in person, unable to reap the benefits of campus life and how it shaped adult lives. Those years are precious, and students miss out on so much when their college campus isn't functioning as it normally would. Sad

 

[Cubby]

I got Covid. The omicron variant. I'm vaxxed and boosted, Pfizer. Was boosted 10-24.

I never had a fever. No loss of taste or smell. It was like a bad head cold/upper respiratory infection.

The only difference between previous upper respiratory infections/bronchitis.... was the sore throat part. No pain in the tonsils or uvela. The area behind my tonsils felt like I was swallowing tiny shards of glass.

I had no follow up treatment after the positive test. There was no monoclonal antibodies or pharmacies that had any product to fill a prescription.

I have done my 5 days of isolation (starting with day zero). I am going back to work tomorrow. According to CDC guidelines. I feel ready to go back today.

 

[Cubby]

My son started college this year. living in the dorm. Everything is normal. In person classes. Students must be vaccinated or test weekly.

He's happy, comfortable. Getting straight A's and had 16 college credits applied from his HS AP classes.

Things are what people make them. Do what you are supposed to do. Mask up, social distance, wash your hands.... All is well.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Explaining ‘flurona’: A simultaneous flu, COVID-19 infection (clickondetroit.com)

Experts say co-infection can be more dangerous

The infection dubbed “flurona” has captured the world’s attention, but many people aren’t exactly sure what it is or if it has anything to do with the “twindemic” that experts have warned about.

The term flurona refers to an infection with both the flu and COVID-19 at the same time -- it is not a new virus or a new COVID variant. In fact, flurona is not really a new thing at all...

 

[indicolite22]

My brother tested positive with a rapid test this morning, after two weeks of coughing and a few negative tests. He had a PCR test appointment later today. This would be his second infection. He first had Covid last May, weeks after the first vaccine shot. He had a second shot in October and was about to get boosted. I hope he doesn't get worse. One of his coworkers' wives, who is pregnant with twins, is currently on a ventilator. She isn't vaccinated.

I'm trying to limit exposure, which isn't always easy. Since the vaccines became available to everyone, many employers don't encourage/allow working from home any more, even when it could be easily done. Quite predictably, cases here are through the roof with 80% increase from last week. Chances are that we're all going to get it if we can't isolate.

 

[weepingangel]

More at link s
Jim Justice: West Virginia governor feels 'extremely unwell' after testing positive for Covid-19 and cancels state legislature address - CNN



Gov. Justice tests positive for COVID-19

“While I was surprised that my test results came back positive, I’m thankful to the Lord above that I’ve been vaccinated, I’ve been boosted, and that I have an incredible support system, especially my loving family,” Gov. Justice said.

“That being said, I feel extremely unwell at this point, and I have no choice but to postpone my State of the State address to the Legislature. I woke up this morning with congestion and a cough. A little while later, I developed a headache and fever, so I decided to get tested right away. The rapid test that I took came back negative, but by the late afternoon, my symptoms were still getting much worse. My blood pressure and heart rate were extremely elevated, and I had a high fever. Finally, my PCR test results this evening confirmed I was positive. Because of all this, I began receiving my antibody treatment and I hope this will lessen these symptoms.

 

[MimosaMornings]

My brother tested positive with a rapid test this morning, after two weeks of coughing and a few negative tests. He had a PCR test appointment later today. This would be his second infection. He first had Covid last May, weeks after the first vaccine shot. He had a second shot in October and was about to get boosted. I hope he doesn't get worse. One of his coworkers' wives, who is pregnant with twins, is currently on a ventilator. She isn't vaccinated.

I'm trying to limit exposure, which isn't always easy. Since the vaccines became available to everyone, many employers don't encourage/allow working from home any more, even when it could be easily done. Quite predictably, cases here are through the roof with 80% increase from last week. Chances are that we're all going to get it if we can't isolate.

Oh my goodness, he’s had Covid twice in 6 months? I hope he feels better soon.
Cases have exploded here also.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Oh my goodness, he’s had Covid twice in 6 months? I hope he feels better soon.
Cases have exploded here also.

My son’s friend has just tested positive again after having it at the end of October, about 10 weeks gap. Possibly two different variants?

 

[WichitaFalls]

My son’s friend had just tested positive again after having it at the end of October, about 10 weeks gap. Possibly two different variants?

There are others here more qualified to answer as to variants but . . . my grown son had Alpha six months into COVID and around Christmas of this year he got Omicron. He did well with both variants but did have very different symptoms with both cases.

 

[Sundog]

Omicron is not the most common virus spreading in Colorado schools: 'Equally as serious'

Doctors advising parents not to let their guard down if their children test negative for Covid but show the symptoms, they could have respiratory syncital virus which is very dangerous, according to this head of hospital system in Colorado.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Omicron variant and bad weather further hurt the supply chain leading to empty shelves (nbcnews.com)

The Covid omicron variant's rapid spread among workers and a bad stretch of winter weather have made a challenging supply chain situation worse.

The recent spread of the omicron variant among supply chain workers, sour weather and even a recall of bagged salads and vegetables have caused Americans to once again find barren shelves at supermarkets or retail stores.

While industry leaders hope this latest supply chain foul-up will be a short-term frustration, it comes amid the ongoing challenges they’ve faced during the pandemic: shipping delays, congestion at ports, labor shortages and more...

 

[Cool Cats]

When I was a teenager, a friend of mine broke her leg. At the hospital it was discovered that she had bone cancer and I think that's what led to her leg breaking easily. It also saved her life. Her leg was amputated but she survived.

So, should she have been listed as an orthopedic patient or a cancer patient?

IMO if someone comes to the hospital for something else, but is discovered to have Covid, then they have Covid and SHOULD count in those statistics.


Unlike my friend's bone cancer, Covid is infectious. This is not new news. Anyone with Covid, regardless of why they went to the hospital, has to be handled with all the protocols required, and that becomes an enormous stressor in every way for all patients and hospital staff.

The silver lining is yes, perhaps they didn't feel deathly ill due to their Covid and something else brought them to seek hospital care. IMO that does not mitigate the fact that they are highly contagious anyway and have to be treated as such. They can and do spread it and that affects nurses, etc. who then end up needing to isolate, leading to shortage of care for all. Also, of course, other vulnerable patients could get Covid from the patient and for them, it may turn into serious illness or death.

My sister's sister-in-law died yesterday. She'd just turned 61. She was an RN in charge of lung cancer clinical trials at a world-renowned hospital in Manhattan. As a nurse she was working all the time since Covid---all hands on deck. She did not do the simple thing she knew to do, which was to have a colonoscopy. She was just too exhausted to bother and was needed at the hospital. So three months ago she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Her hospital, her place of business, pulled out all the stops for her but it was too late.

She did not have Covid, but yet the prevalence of Covid led her to be too overwhelmed to take the measures she'd normally take. To our everlasting regret.

Sorry to hear this.

Yes everything should be counted that your in the hospital for.

If your sick with Covid and sick with cancer you should be counted as being in the hospital for both.

If your positive with Covid but not sick with Covid and go to the hospital for a broken leg then you should be counted as being in the hospital for a broken leg only.

You don't count everything a person has when their in the hospital if they are not sick with it.

You could be hospitalized for appendicitis but also have diabetes and high blood pressure but your just counted as being in the hospital for your appendicitis.

You don't say 500 people are admitted to the hospital with high blood pressure when that is not why they are there. Hospitals take blood pressure, find it high, but don't say that is why your in the hospital. Ridiculous.

Misleading. Scares people.

 

[acutename]

But it's not just the amount of hospitalized patients who happen to have covid that increases cyclically. It's the drastically increased rate in hospitalized patients. Do people honestly think that a couple of weeks into each new wave of covid cases the hospitals just happen to have increased rates of hospitalized patients who incidentally have covid on top of some other reason for hospitalization? Increased rates of patients in the ICU who just happen to have covid? Hospitals massaging the stats to make it look bad? How is that not a conspiracy theory?

This is exactly the theory repeatedly put out by people who downplay covid for the last 2 years. "Eh, people aren't there because of covid. They just happen to have covid."

I follow some pages locally for my state and have for nearly 2 years now. I know when the cases start to go up just from looking at how busy the hospitals start to become. It's this insane and consistent pattern of the hospitals suddenly being overwhelmed and needing to divert for almost everything. Last week it was hands down the worst I had ever seen it. 5 straight pages of hospitals listed in red and on various diversions. What exactly is going on then that suddenly loads of sick people (but not because of covid) need to start packing the hospitals coincidentally in each wave?
Georgia Coordinating Center

pretty sure that the academics compare "excess hospitalizations" and "excess deaths" with same time a few years ago to try to gauge the COVID contribution IMO

 

[acutename]

I feel like as a mother of a large family I've had to practically take on an extra part time job the past 2 years of predicting and planning ahead for needs for my family due to shortages. But I keep at it and have never regretted it. I'd have so much anxiety if I was constantly waiting last minute to see if the store had what we needed. No panic buying here.

Our local Walmart is constantly out of things. I never know what I will get in my order. I basically always buy a little extra of something though. An extra bottle of Dawn, another bag of cat food etc. I also tend to order two varieties of an item from them since if I order just one they rarely replace it with another variety when they inevitably cancel it on me.

I knew when we would be traveling and bought covid tests ahead of time. I pick up extra things I know we'll need for holiday meals ahead of time. My husband wanted pineapple upside down cake for his birthday. So I bought 2 jars of maraschino cherries instead of just the one I needed. I am buying clothes and shoes ahead for the next season. I was done Christmas shopping and had almost all presents wrapped by Thanksgiving. I buy my garden seeds months ahead of time and almost always in bulk now. I get a better price on it all that way. And if the seed companies start limiting sales this spring like they did the last two springs I'll be fine. No worries. No delays in starting my plants on time.

This summer I almost wondered if I was being foolish to even buy any more masks. Would we even be wearing masks now that we were all vaccinated? That seems so silly now. This week the company I've been buying from canceled our next shipment. And I noticed on the website they had suspended all orders temporarily due to being so overwhelmed. (most all of the masks are out of stock) But phew. I still have masks in stock and bought them before the prices were all jacked up online.

We had gotten into the bad habit of waiting till the last minute for everything and always only buying what we needed at the time. But we all spent years assuming whatever we were going to need would be on the shelves at a local store or 2 days shipping from Amazon. That is not the case now and it's not predicted to return to normal any time soon even.

So instead of just keeping money in the bank I now keep planning ahead of time. If I know I or my children or my parents are going to need it in the near future I don't consider it hoarding. I'm hedging my bets against inflation this way as well. We are almost guaranteed everything is going to continue to go up in price. I buy it early and at a cheaper price. And I'm really really thankful we can afford to do this at this time in our lives. My elderly parents can not. So I buy things for them too I know they will need. My mother was asking me about masks yesterday and I felt really good knowing I'd bought her masks she could use that were in the style comfortable to her. (Ear loops if you were wondering. lol She won't wear the N95 because she doesn't like the straps going around her head.)

sadly, the "upside" of omicron is that I can still use my mask supply... I remember people happily discarding masks after a vax, but I never felt comfortable enough to do that

 

[acutename]

I don't care why our hospitals are full - if it's full of patients there with or for covid. The situation of hospitals being full/overwhelmed still boils down to "no room at the inn." So God help you if you are in a car accident or have a heart attack and need a room.

With or for, who cares? We know that if not for COVID, hospitals all over the country would not be in this predicament.

And those truths are not sensationalism but just the terrible facts. I've never seen anything like this in my lifetime, so yeah, COVID is the reason some people cannot get the health care they need. That should scare people

also, if you have a car accident or a heart attack, do you want to go to a hospital where you risk exposure to COVID? you are by definition in a weakened state, trying to recover, so who needs an extra possibly debilitating virus? ... and that is if there is space for you and the staff is not too stressed to deal with you and not out sick themselves.

 

[tabitha111]

oh vey! My parents have decided that the KN95 masks my sister sent to them are too uncomfortable and "they can't breathe in them" so they are not going to wear them- Mine are the same ones and super comfortable....I give up. I only wish they did not have so much control over my little sister that is disabled that lives with them, because what they do, she does. Out to eat, not wearing good enough masks, goes with my mother everywhere - beauty shop, drs appts, etc. She really has no choice.

 

[Lilibet]

When I was a teenager, a friend of mine broke her leg. At the hospital it was discovered that she had bone cancer and I think that's what led to her leg breaking easily. It also saved her life. Her leg was amputated but she survived.

So, should she have been listed as an orthopedic patient or a cancer patient?

IMO if someone comes to the hospital for something else, but is discovered to have Covid, then they have Covid and SHOULD count in those statistics.


Unlike my friend's bone cancer, Covid is infectious. This is not new news. Anyone with Covid, regardless of why they went to the hospital, has to be handled with all the protocols required, and that becomes an enormous stressor in every way for all patients and hospital staff.

The silver lining is yes, perhaps they didn't feel deathly ill due to their Covid and something else brought them to seek hospital care. IMO that does not mitigate the fact that they are highly contagious anyway and have to be treated as such. They can and do spread it and that affects nurses, etc. who then end up needing to isolate, leading to shortage of care for all. Also, of course, other vulnerable patients could get Covid from the patient and for them, it may turn into serious illness or death.

My sister's sister-in-law died yesterday. She'd just turned 61. She was an RN in charge of lung cancer clinical trials at a world-renowned hospital in Manhattan. As a nurse she was working all the time since Covid---all hands on deck. She did not do the simple thing she knew to do, which was to have a colonoscopy. She was just too exhausted to bother and was needed at the hospital. So three months ago she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Her hospital, her place of business, pulled out all the stops for her but it was too late.

She did not have Covid, but yet the prevalence of Covid led her to be too overwhelmed to take the measures she'd normally take. To our everlasting regret.

I’m so sorry for the loss of your sister’s sil. So tragic after all her sacrifice. This pandemic has really turned our normal life and precautions upside down.

Thank you for your logical response regarding covid hospitalization stats. Your illustration about your friend with the broken leg and bone cancer makes the point so well.

 

[acutename]

"It means that if I’m meeting friends for lunch in a pub today, the primary [risk] is likely to be me transmitting it to my friends, or my friends transmitting it to me, rather than it being transmitted from someone on the other side of the room,” said Reid. This highlights the importance of wearing a mask in situations where people cannot physically distance, he added.
...

Ok, but if you are meeting up w/friends in a pub, how can you stay masked? I mean why bother being in the pub if you aren't drinking or eating?

they told us last year no eating and singing but people like doing those things.....

 

[LadyL]

things are getting real in Quebec

Quebec judge suspends unvaccinated man's visitation rights with child

 

[x_files]

things are getting real in Quebec

Quebec judge suspends unvaccinated man's visitation rights with child

Shocked it took so long. This should have been immediately after vaccinations were available.