Coronavirus - COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #24

[FlossyMay]

I'm terribly worried about my husband. He takes an anti-inflammatory for his arthritis, has high blood pressure and asthma. We are a household of 4 and his is our only income. He's a machine mechanic and therefore can't work from home. We live in the country and no cases have been reported here, but he works near Atlanta. Thankfully he has gloves, masks, strong soap and sanitizer available at his workplace, but I know if he gets this it will be bad.

He is my hero, my best friend, the love of my whole life. I just pray we get to grow old (older) together.

 

[gitana1]

They will be different. As more people are tested, the relative death rate will go down since most people are experiencing no/mild/moderate symptoms and almost no one is dying.

People are being tested like mad in Italy and the numbers keep jumping, but mostly centered in one region. The total lockdown may prevent those numbers from increasing elsewhere:


The number of people infected by coronavirus in Italy has risen by around 20% in one day to 21,157. A further 175 have been killed by the airborne Sars-like disease in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s death toll to 1,441. A little more than half of those new cases occurred in the northern region of Lombardy, which has been the worst affected area in Europe.


Read more: Italy coronavirus cases jump by 20% to over 21,000 | Metro News

Twitter: Metro (@MetroUK) | Twitter | Facebook: Metro

That’s a 7% death rate.

If one of the leading epidemiologist pandemic response doctors in our nation stated 40-70% of Americans may get this virus, being conservative that could mean that 11,400,000 Americans could die if this is left unchecked. And that’s if only 40% contracted this at a 3% death rate.

 

[Deleted member 39678]

But you are aware that we aren’t testing in large numbers, right? I mean how on earth can we know when even people who are symptomatic with serious effects aren’t being tested?

As a result, this could explode with ferocity in just a couple weeks.

Because of the testing issue that you are talking about I'm curious to know how it is known that this corona virus has such a high mortality rate vs the flu when we don't even know how many people are infected.

If it's true that there are many people that are infected that have very mild or no symptoms that could make it hard to get a true idea of how deadly this virus is right? JMO

 

[gitana1]

I'm terribly worried about my husband. He takes an anti-inflammatory for his arthritis, has high blood pressure and asthma. We are a household of 4 and his is our only income. He's a machine mechanic and therefore can't work from home. We live in the country and no cases have been reported here, but he works near Atlanta. Thankfully he has gloves, masks, strong soap and sanitizer available at his workplace, but I know if he gets this it will be bad.

He is my hero, my best friend, the love of my whole life. I just pray we get to grow old (older) together.

Aww Flossy! Hugs to you.

 

[Squinchy]

I am new here so I don't want to say the wrong thing. I live in Northern California and we have had 1 positive that has since recovered and 1 new one tonight that is self isolating. I just don't know what to believe. Is this a real thing or is this a media driven panic of the month?

 

[LaborDayRN]

We certainly do need to make sure people know how much we care and will be there to help. Today we heard from our young friend (about your age! ) who is away on a business trip for exactly that reason. He wanted to make sure he could arrange for help here if we need it. We felt loved!

Thank YOU for being here! You bring so much humanity to the thread.

@gregjrichards I want to second what Lilibet said. You bring so much humanity and kindness to all the threads you post on. Thank you for being YOU!

 

[PinkPrincessPoop]

5-hour long lines at O'Hare checking for Coronavirus. Squishing international travelers together immediately after their flights for hours sounds like a great way to spread the virus.

PHOTOS: Long lines greet passengers at O’Hare during travel ban

 

[gregjrichards]

Thailand reported 32 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the total infections in the Southeast Asian country to 114, health officials said.

It was the biggest daily jump in cases in Thailand, which was one of the first countries outside China to report coronavirus infections that has since swept much of the world.

Chile Cruise Ships - Coronavirus

Chile has quarantined more than 1,300 people aboard two cruise ships after an elderly Briton aboard one of them tested positive for the coronavirus, the health ministry announced Saturday.

Both ships are cruising the Chilean fjords in Patagonia.

The 85-year-old man showed symptoms of the virus after getting off the Silver Explorer ship in the far southern port of Caleta Tortel, 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles) from Santiago.

The man was later transferred to a hospital in the city of Coyhaique where he tested positive for the virus.

Chile has taken broad measures against the spread of the virus, banning events of more than 500 people, recommending people work from home, and ordering the quarantine of 2,600 students attending an elite private school in Santiago.

Coronavirus latest updates: all arrivals in Australia must self-isolate for 14 days, says PM

 

[LaborDayRN]

I'm terribly worried about my husband. He takes an anti-inflammatory for his arthritis, has high blood pressure and asthma. We are a household of 4 and his is our only income. He's a machine mechanic and therefore can't work from home. We live in the country and no cases have been reported here, but he works near Atlanta. Thankfully he has gloves, masks, strong soap and sanitizer available at his workplace, but I know if he gets this it will be bad.

He is my hero, my best friend, the love of my whole life. I just pray we get to grow old (older) together.

Hugs and love to you and your family FlossyMay!

 

[Lilibet]

Is anyone else being more aware of prepping? I've never really prepped before in my life. And I do *not* want to confuse it with all-out hoarding! But I do now want to be more conscious of having a two-week supply of essentials on-hand at any given time in case of emergency. I've never had to think about it before as I've been privileged to live on this Earth so far without being caught in a natural disaster (or pandemic!).

I’m neither a prepper (for “the end”) nor a hoarder, but yes, we have prepared for years for disasters. We live in wildfire and earthquake country and our town is near an interstate highway and it flooded 20+ years ago, so we have “go-bags” in the house and the car, as well as supplies for “sheltering in place.” Every couple of years I go through everything to replace what is outdated and make sure the clothes in the go-bags still fit! We’ve never needed any of this...yet...but our town could easily go up in flames in a wildfire, so I feel better being prepared to flee.

 

[Wyle_E_Coyote]

They are. The wife of a friend’s co-worker works at a health clinic and says that the usual number of flu cases is down by more than 50% due to all the handwashing.

That's really good news, every little bit will help with hospital capacity.

 

[gitana1]

Because of the testing issue that you are talking about I'm curious to know how it is known that this corona virus has such a high mortality rate vs the flu when we don't even know how many people are infected.

If it's true that there are many people that are infected that have very mild or no symptoms that could make it hard to get a true idea of how deadly this virus is right? JMO

We know because OTHER countries are testing like mad. And we know what their death rates are.

Surely the rates are lower as not everyone seeks testing. However, if left unabated, this can be a Holocaust, regardless.

Numbers aren’t higher in China and Europe due to strict measures employed.

Listen, the world isn’t shutting down and closing shop and telling people #quedateencasa (hashtag popular in Spain at the moment that says “stay at home”) because they’re hysterical.

Frankly I think fear is fueling denial as much as it is fueling panic.

That and good ol’ American bravado and arrogance.

Just a week ago my family in Spain was crowded shoulder to shoulder in the streets to watch the processions during Holy Week. Now they’re huddling in their homes and only going out for necessary items.

Of course Spain now has the fifth highest number of cases (that we know of) and climbing. Mostly concentrated in one city- Madrid.

France and Spain to Follow Italy Into Lockdown as Coronavirus Cases Soar

Now they’re taking it seriously. Spain is going on lockdown.

 

[Lilibet]

I'm terribly worried about my husband. He takes an anti-inflammatory for his arthritis, has high blood pressure and asthma. We are a household of 4 and his is our only income. He's a machine mechanic and therefore can't work from home. We live in the country and no cases have been reported here, but he works near Atlanta. Thankfully he has gloves, masks, strong soap and sanitizer available at his workplace, but I know if he gets this it will be bad.

He is my hero, my best friend, the love of my whole life. I just pray we get to grow old (older) together.

{{{{{{@FlossyMay}}}}}}

 

[Amonet]

So my question is this....I see the numbers for CV compared to the flu, up thread. The seasonal flu seems to have lots of cases. How come it does not overwhelm the health system like CV is feared to do? ( I have had trouble posting, double posts and missing links so this post has no link in terms of actual numbers) I am asking a general question.

Seasonal flu has been around for so long that there are readily available average year figures that governments and health services can use to prepare, so that they know they will need an average of x number of beds in that season, and x amount of oxygen available for that season. Some seasons have higher than average numbers of cases and hospitals in some places do struggle.

With the flu vaccine, and so many higher risk groups having good uptake of the vaccine, and now also pneumonia vaccines, many hospitals have fewer beds than they used to need for an average flu season.

We don't yet know what the peak number will be for Covid-19, but even if it's the same as for the average flu season...if it were to coincide with the peak of flu season, then you'd need twice as many hospital beds, oxygen, ecmo units as normal....and in most places that isn't doable.

This isn't instead of the flu season, this is on top of it.

In the UK, non-emergency operations are often delayed during flu season, then they try to catch up when they get over flu season. This year, instead of being able to catch up outside flu season, they're going to be very concerned about having ICU beds open for Covid-19 pneumonia patients, so instead of using the summer to catch up on non-emergency operations, they might have to put off those operations again in order to treat Covid-19 patients.

And if the peak number of Covid-19 patients is higher than the average flu peak....they won't be able to cope, because they can barely cope now at peak of flu season. That's what Italy is seeing now.

Of course, there is a little bit of a heads up for us with Covid-19, unlike for Hubei. And we will have a few more weeks than Italy had to prepare. So our government is planning to bring healthcare staff out of retirement, or those who've left their healthcare jobs for other careers, they're going to be asked to come back to working in the hospitals for the duration of the outbreak, in the hope that that will help them have enough staff to care for the patients....and unlike flu, the doctors and nurses haven't had vaccinations for Covid-19, and they're going to be treating Covid-19 patients, including those who come in for other reasons, not diagnosed before they come in....and if an undiagnosed case comes in for an appendectomy, then the nursing staff won't be wearing the full hazmat-type protective suits and are at risk of coming down with Covid-19. Whereas if that patient had flu, the staff would have been vaccinated and it wouldn't be as much of a problem.

Hubei was able to bring in doctors and nurses from outside Hubei to help them cope with all the extra patients. I presume they also brought in other items like oxygen and ecmo from outside Hubei. If it takes off in another country in all the counties/provinces/states/major cities at one time....there's no less-affected 'outside' to bring those staff and items from.

 

[gitana1]

That's really good news, every little bit will help with hospital capacity.

Isn’t it! I’m trying to grasp on the positive. We all need to. And to take long breaks from the thread and the news to retain sanity.

 

[PingTheRouter]

I’m neither a prepper (for “the end”) nor a hoarder, but yes, we have prepared for years for disasters. We live in wildfire and earthquake country and our town is near an interstate highway and it flooded 20+ years ago, so we have “go-bags” in the house and the car, as well as supplies for “sheltering in place.” Every couple of years I go through everything to replace what is outdated and make sure the clothes in the go-bags still fit! We’ve never needed any of this...yet...but our town could easily go up in flames in a wildfire, so I feel better being prepared to flee.

its very smart thing to do, with what happened in Paradise and how fast that fire moved i mean any seconds you can buy yourself could save your life

to the people also keep quoting numbers, to me this isn't about numbers its about what could happen, you get 1 person out in the wild and they infect 5 and those 5 don't find out for a week and they have visited and had contact with 100 people, out of that 100 people you get 25 infected and they visited 100 people each now you are at 250 and then next is 2500 and then 25,000 within a couple of week. it moves quickly and that is what we are trying to avoid

 

[Deleted member 39678]

Is anyone else being more aware of prepping? I've never really prepped before in my life. And I do *not* want to confuse it with all-out hoarding! But I do now want to be more conscious of having a two-week supply of essentials on-hand at any given time in case of emergency. I've never had to think about it before as I've been privileged to live on this Earth so far without being caught in a natural disaster (or pandemic!).

I live in Sacramento California and I've been prepping for a awhile. I have to be prepared to evacuate because of flooding or to shelter in place because of an earthquake.

I have a bug out bag sitting here under my desk and a get home bag that I keep in my truck.

There's a lot to do to be prepared. Basic's like food,water, first aid are basics. Their is much more than those basic's that people need to have to survive if the SHTF.

 

[PinkPrincessPoop]

I’m neither a prepper (for “the end”) nor a hoarder, but yes, we have prepared for years for disasters. We live in wildfire and earthquake country and our town is near an interstate highway and it flooded 20+ years ago, so we have “go-bags” in the house and the car, as well as supplies for “sheltering in place.” Every couple of years I go through everything to replace what is outdated and make sure the clothes in the go-bags still fit! We’ve never needed any of this...yet...but our town could easily go up in flames in a wildfire, so I feel better being prepared to flee.

That's fantastic! I live in tornado country, so I *should* be prepared for that but I'm not. It looks like I'll have a new project once things calm down a bit.

 

[gregjrichards]

Coronavirus crisis as just 58 intensive care beds available in NHS Scotland

There are fears Scotland’s NHS could buckle under the pressure of a tsunami of critically-ill patients as hospitals struggle to cope.

Coronavirus crisis as just 58 intensive care beds available in NHS Scotland

This is terrifying and an absolute disgrace.

 

[Deleted member 39678]

We know because OTHER countries are testing like mad. And we know what their death rates are.

Surely the rates are lower as not everyone seeks testing. However, if left unabated, this can be a Holocaust, regardless.

Numbers aren’t higher in China and Europe due to strict measures employed.

Listen, the world isn’t shutting down and closing shop and telling people #quedateencasa (hashtag popular in Spain at the moment that says “stay at home”) because they’re hysterical.

Frankly I think fear is fueling denial as much as it is fueling panic.

That and good ol’ American bravado and arrogance.

Just a week ago my family in Spain was crowded shoulder to shoulder in the streets to watch the processions during Holy Week. Now they’re huddling in their homes and only going out for necessary items.

Of course Spain now has the fifth highest number of cases (that we know of) and climbing. Mostly concentrated in one city- Madrid.

France and Spain to Follow Italy Into Lockdown as Coronavirus Cases Soar

Now they’re taking it seriously. Spain is going on lockdown.

Are you going to self quarantine and if so for how long?