Coronavirus **personal experiences** thread

Thanks!

Can you do that with my checking account too please :slight_smile:

Yes, since fall I have had a upper respiratory thing going on. A cold that won’t completely go away. Lots of people were complaining of the same.

I keep reading from many posters that this is no worse than the flu based upon the fact that so many Americans die of the flu each year. There are a couple of differences. We don’t really know a lot about the CV-19 because it has only been around for a short period of time. It seems to be transmitted more easily than the flu which means eventually we will have a lot of cases. We have a yearly immunization for flu and at least some treatments (Tamiflu) to lessen the severity. We have NO immunization and no proven ways to mitigate the effects in serious cases. In some cases the symptoms are so slight that people just think they have a cold or a mild case of the flu. All the while they remain just like a 2020 version of Typhoid Mary. Until this country gets a handle on testing so we know with some certainty that it is safe to go back to normal activities I will remain at home. In the meantime we are clueless about the real extent of the pandemic.

I haven’t become a hermit because of this but I only shop once a week now. It’s rare to find my local Kroger type store completely out of anything but a few items like hand sanitizer (didn’t look last visit). It’s not fun to stop doing all of the things I would normally do with groups of people. I have a feeling there might be a lot more candidates for the Darwin award in 2020 than in previous years.

:+1:

Hitting us pretty hard on Long Island, Suffolk county. Checking the maps on weather.com, Suffolk is turning into one of the hardest hit counties in the country. My daughter's boyfriend was exposed - worked with a guy who got sick, tested positive. hearing of more cases - friend's relatives, etc. Still some bad cases of people getting refused testing from doctors, takes weeks in some cases we've been hearing. Signs from direct experience of friends, the homeless population appears to be getting hit hard and they are reluctant to get help, so many unreported cases here.

I myself had a bad case of bronchitis which got scary one morning with breathing, but got the antibiotics and steroid pack (diagnosed from a FaceTime appt), so doing much better now. But at the time when I had breathing troubles, was real scary, think'n I had it. I don't get sick often so just a strange coincidence I guess.

Basically it seems like we can't see docs anymore, unless you want to stand on the outdoor lines for an ER...

As of last night, 2700 reported cases, 20 deaths in the county, out of about 1.5 million population.

15.5% of those tested in USA, are positive
iow, 1 out of 7 people tested are infected.

So far, only 0.2% of the USA population has been tested
iow only 1 out of every 50,000 people in USA has been tested.

IF the ratio of positive to tested was applied to the entire USA population, that would be over 50 MILLION people in USA infected.

That would be more people than the entire population of New York and Texas combined.

according to this site

USA now has the most confirmed cases of any country, (5% more cases than China).

The curve in each country:

fwiw, the Total population of China is more than 4 times larger than the USA

It kills mostly people of the ages where they have already reproduced or are unlikely to and largely doesn’t kill the young before they reproduce, or have their main chances to, so Darwin Awards don’t really figure in to this.

Here is an article published yesterday March 26, by Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., H. Clifford Lane, M.D., and Robert R. Redfield, M.D.

Covid-19 — Navigating the Uncharted
New England Journal of Medicine

Excerpt: “” If one assumes that the number of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic cases is several times as high as the number of reported cases, the case fatality rate may be considerably less than 1. This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively.“”

The part that you cite is well known for a while now. No it is not SARS or MERS.
A small detail is: do you let a disease that is 10 times as deadly as flu (mind that flu is a huge killer every year, it is not the common cold) become even more deadly, 30 times the flu, by allowing everybody to get it at the same time so that hospital treatment becomes impossible?

My wife is a nurse practitioner working at a NY city hospital . Back in July she had an elevator accident where it fell from the 8th floor to
the basement . She is still at home recovering
As bad as that has been I am sort of relieved she is not back at work yet.

It seems Covid-19 can cause severe long-term damage to one's lungs. Here's an interesting arcticle the shows the virus impact on the lungs via virtual reality technology.

https://www.gwhospital.com/resources/podcasts/covid19-vr-technology

" [...] Dr. Mortman is especially concerned with the possibility of enduring damage to the lungs of those who survive COVID-19. “When that inflammation does not subside with time, then it becomes essentially scarring in the lungs, creating long-term damage,” he said. “It could impact somebody’s ability to breathe in the long term. [...]"

I haven’t heard of flu victims overtaxing the healthcare systems across the world as this has. The flu should not even be in the same conversation as this. These deaths and potential deaths are in addition to, not in place of flu deaths. It serves no purpose to downplay this except to encourage reckless behaviour. If it turns out to be overhyped then consider ourselves lucky.

Whew. Thought at first you said big NUN. That brings back some nightmares… :open_mouth:

Anyway, there are ways of “getting around” that. Eg, a patient who’s circling the drain and is only looking forward to a few more days (or hours) of pain, can be dosed with enough morphine to kill, but it’s officially done only with the intent to ease pain’n’suffering.

Ie, no jury would look too closely at the motive. Someone with a good chance of recovery, sure, but someone who’s already terminal, zero chance of recovery, nope.

Yeah, that’s one of those situations where an “anonymous tip” to the right agency would be warranted. Followed by the not-so-implicit threat that if nothing’s done by the next day, your next call is to the press to swarm the place, “out” it, and point out official inaction/incompetence.

True dat, but I’d guess the majority of those tested are those who are already feeling sick/coldy/fluey, not those who are asymptomatic and get tested just for fun.

Killjoy…

Here in the USA, when there has been a flu outbreak, people wouldn’t change their lives at all. Meaning, for most people, they wouldn’t exercise any public hygiene restrictions. No mask wearing. No sanitary wipes. No gloves. No distancing. After the highly virulent #COVID19 pandemic, I expect that for the next flu, there will be more caution. Knowing us Americans and our relatively “short memories,” that caution will subside. BUT… I expect in Europe, the change will be sustained much longer.

Yikes, that is a pretty scary accident. I’m glad to hear she is recovering.

Yeah, watching NY hospitals going through the same thing that happened in northern Italy I can’t imagine the thought process of someone still stuck on “but but the flu!”.

There are 5 requirements for awarding the Darwin Award: Darwin Awards: History and Rules
Reproduction
Out of the gene pool: dead or sterile.
Excellence
Astounding misapplication of judgment.
Self-Selection
Cause one’s own demise.
Maturity
Capable of sound judgment.
Veracity
The event must be true.

I’m not sure if no women past the age of menopause are ineligible for the award. |That’s not entirely clear. However most men are capable of reproducing well into old age. Maybe the “Maturity” part would eliminate many of the folks who flocked to the beaches in Florida for Spring break.

This is but one context. And there is one other factor not considered — “asymptomatic cases or minimally symptomatic cases” that remain as such. There are people who have been asymptomatic for up to nearly 30 days, then started showing symptoms. The symptomatic cycle appears to be about 2 weeks.

I watched an interview that Trevor Noah did with Dr. Fauci, which was excellent. So far the fatality rate looks higher compared to a severe seasonal influenza…

Citing the total deaths of a previous influenza season and comparing it to the #COVID19 pandemic at this point is out of context. :rage: We haven’t seen the final tally yet. And considering the exponential factor proving out with more testing, it’s even much more dynamic. The death count in the USA will be higher than it could have been, had there been more proactive action taken and some “high visibility” people not peddling false information.