The Covid19 Thread

[Navaja]

I'm in Spain & everyone is being advised (law on Monday) to stay at home except for work, supermarket or chemist, tax & social payments are put on hold for the self employed like me, same as being on the sick. Similar to France, Italy etc

Not everyone will go to work as many places will be closed other than supermarkets, supply chains, medical & infrastructure etc.
The government can take over anything that will help the fight, like hotels as make shift hospitals.

What folks don't seem to be grasping here is isolation is about slowing the spread & not necessarily stopping it, we can assume everyone will be exposed to it at some time or other so the idea is to try & take pressure off the medical services so hopefully people don't have to die simply because there isn't the facilities or staff.

Obviously this will effect the economy, I suppose another way to deal with it would be to put the economy first & forget about the death & suffering & eventually come out ahead, though I can't imagine any government would take that approach.

 

[SaraR]

What folks don't seem to be grasping here is isolation is about slowing the spread & not necessarily stopping it, we can assume everyone will be exposed to it at some time or other so the idea is to try & take pressure off the medical services so hopefully people don't have to die simply because there isn't the facilities or staff.

Exactly!

The news from Italy that they stretched so far that they are forced to have triage plans that basically would mean that anyone over 65 or so would not be prepared to be put on a ventilator (ie they are left to die) are scary. I mean, triage always suck, but if we could prevent it getting that bad by everyone being socially responsible, surely that's worth it?

Also, this is so new that we don't know what the long-term effects of having been infected are. So don't go chasing it to "get it over with".

 

[Broch]

Also, this is so new that we don't know what the long-term effects of having been infected are. So don't go chasing it to "get it over with".

I understand what you're saying but, the majority of us will get it anyway so there's little point in worrying about the long term. 'Getting it over with' so that I can help with the logistics for the rest of the family and friends seems like a worthwhile risk.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Long term effects appear to be consistent with other pneumonia infections. Lost of lung capacity, which could be temporary, with training, possibly lung scarring, which is permanent. Or so I gather.

It seems likely that China will come out ahead. There are advantages to totalitarian governance in situations like this. They locked down hard and I doubt that they will shrink from doing so as needed if there are further outbreaks. They don't need to win popularity contests. They will probably be getting back on track just as everyone in Europe and the US is falling apart.

 

[C_Claycomb]

I understand what you're saying but, the majority of us will get it anyway so there's little point in worrying about the long term. 'Getting it over with' so that I can help with the logistics for the rest of the family and friends seems like a worthwhile risk.

Go to Oxford and start licking door handles and PIN keypads?

 

[santaman2000]

Standard flu medicine (Paracetamol or Codeine) is the best advice as far as I've been able to determine - painkillers (not NSAIDs), lots of fluids and rest. Doctor/hospital if body temperature rises above 39 (38 for children). We used to be told cool showers etc. to keep the temp down but now I believe it is thought that a reasonable rise in temperature helps the body's immune system.

“Standard flu meds” is Tamaflu. But it has no effect on the corona virus.

 

[Broch]

“Standard flu meds” is Tamaflu. But it has no effect on the corona virus.

As far as I can tell it's only given to people at high risk in the UK - and anyway, I don't carry Tamaflu in my medkit

 

[SaraR]

I understand what you're saying but, the majority of us will get it anyway so there's little point in worrying about the long term. 'Getting it over with' so that I can help with the logistics for the rest of the family and friends seems like a worthwhile risk.

Not sure why you'd need to have had it to be able to help friends and family? If you are the youngest/healthiest, then of course you should do that while the ones in a risk group stays out of trouble. But if you take sensible precautions to not pick it up you're less likely to pass it on to them and you can carry on helping out, ratter than leaving them to sort themselves out while you're symptomatic and the extra days/week after that.

 

[Navaja]

'Getting it over with' so that I can help with the logistics for the rest of the family and friends seems like a worthwhile risk.

Good luck with your strategy, seeing as this virus is infecting far far more of the population than any statistics can keep up with I hope you're not one needing life saving treatment when there isn't the facilities (can anyone knock up ventilators in their shed quickly? Lots of money to be made!), it will escalate will very soon, I hope you are not one of those who are unnecessarily going to die (as sadly some are) & ultimately I hope in your quest to become infected you don't actually infect your family & friends, sadly some of you are doing this right now.......

Kids & young have the "I'm alright Jack" altitude as they probably won't develop bad symptoms so think they can carry on as normal, do they realise in doing so they can infect & kill others? Maybe if they were told by visiting Grandad they might kill him.......



This is real people, treat it that way.



I am a Brit, I have friends & family in the UK & I'm concerned at the lack of seriousness.

 

[Broch]

Yeh, there's two way (more) of looking at it and no right answer. my logic is that if I get it now then I'd be fit when the rest get it and can help them; if we all get it at the same time it will be tough to look after the grandchildren when they get it - but you're right, who knows what the best policy is.

 

[TLM]

Leonidas facing certain death: "Our arrows will fill the sky and shadow the sun"- good, then we can kill you in the shade.

Soldiers facing death often do not take it all that seriously, some do some don't. I see nothing different here.

 

[Woody girl]

I saw this comming back end of January so being in the "at risk group" I prepared as best I could. I got several bottles of hand gel and detoll and plenty of detoll wipes. I also upped my food store, though I keep a large supply of tinned stuff in anyway as I don't do a big shop every week ,.
Unfortunately I pretty much missed the mask window though I did manage an n95 reusable particle mask but only one filter. I have only 3 medical masks with 44%efficacy. I noticed the mask I bought has gone up from the £3.99 I paid for it to nearly £30!
I don't have anyone to look after me if I get ill so im pretty used to looking after myself and being prepared for things to go pear shaped and being able to cope.
Tomorrow I will have been socialy distanced for two weeks already and I havnt found it hard. There is plenty of spring cleaning. The garden to sort out. Craft work to do. Good books to read and study . I'm learning the medical uses of herbs and wild herbage.
All I can say is use this time wisely to further your knowledge and skills or hobbys. Stay positive and be responsible in your actions around others.
Catching this bug now so that you can help when the kids are ill is not a good idea in my mind as you will be spreading it to many more that may be at risk while you are asymatic.
A commendable idea but realy not practical. If you are at risk I'd self isolate now. You can still get out but just go to the woods and hills where others are not around. Do some bushcraft and have some fun too. I wish everyone a good outcome and hope we are all still here this time next year!
Remember a positive mental attitude helps immensely.

 

[sunndog]

The more I find out the less I worry

 

[TLM]

One explanation, I have no idea how they handled Brexit but the discussion section might give an idea about the UK Government plan for Wuhan Virus.

 

[Navaja]

I don't understand why the Government is desperately seeking hospital ventilators as they admit the 5000 currently in the UK are nowhere near enough ("we need many times more"), so they know it's going to get bad yet it seems they are doing very little to limit the spread/infection.?
I just hope they know something that other countries that are slightly more advanced with infection don't know.

 

[GuestD]

Yeh, there's two way (more) of looking at it and no right answer. my logic is that if I get it now then I'd be fit when the rest get it and can help them; if we all get it at the same time it will be tough to look after the grandchildren when they get it - but you're right, who knows what the best policy is.

Has anyone said that you can only get it once ?

 

[Woody girl]

I don't understand why the Government is desperately seeking hospital ventilators as they admit the 5000 currently in the UK are nowhere near enough ("we need many times more"), so they know it's going to get bad yet it seems they are doing very little to limit the spread/infection.?
I just hope they know something that other countries that are slightly more advanced with infection don't know.

The idea according to BoJo is to create herd immunity.
The fact that it will certainly mutate as it seems to have done already with reports of the s and l strains detected will mean that it won't be an effective strategy seems to have passed him by.
I don't feel convinced by the British strategy and I think they were so consumed with brexit and infighting amongst themselves they took their eye off the ball here. Now they have to appear in calm control and consequently are not making rational decisions. It's all about saving face. Think there will be egg on face though .
I've never had a lot of faith in government for the last 30 years and shifted for myself as much as I can. Hence being prepared for lock down, though I have to admit my main concern was food price rises which I see as inevertable after all the weather problems we have had of late. So I started to buy in extra stuff before Christmas. In case I got snowed in. That hasn't happened but I'm glad my natural caution kicked in for sure!

 

[TeeDee]

WHO map of Global Infection.

Experience

experience.arcgis.com

 

[Broch]

Has anyone said that you can only get it once ?

No, not that I have heard but if there is a chance you could I wouldn't be in a worse position. And as for me passing it on to others (if I caught it on purpose) we live in an isolated position with zero social interaction unless we choose it - so no problem at all.

 

[Navaja]

And as for me passing it on to others (if I caught it on purpose) we live in an isolated position with zero social interaction unless we choose it - so no problem at all.

Except, when do you know you've got it? Do you know you are not infected right now?