Coronavirus: what your country is doing, how you feel & general discussion

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Mick

Senior Member
Messages
141
ljimbo423 said:
I'm going to wait a couple more days before I go out in public. I'm following the CDC guidelines for leaving isolation after Covid infection. Got to have food soon though, that's not optional!:D:lol::)
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I know nothing about the CDS guidelines but logically...
shouldn't it be rather 7 days at least, preferably 10 to 14 days, considering that the virus is detected in patients many days after apparent recovery of these patients?

So, leaving too early may mean spreading the virus.
But it may also mean that there will be a relapse. Or you will catch another infection (viral or bacterial).

After going through an infection I can't get rid of it for a long time and get different other infections... but that's me...

I assume (and hope) that you can get somebody to get you some food?
 
Wolfcub

Wolfcub

Senior Member
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7,089
Location
SW UK
rainbowbluebells said:
...and there’s no rules yet on how to reduce crowding in supermarkets/ on the tubes. Although I’m hoping now measures will be taken.
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Yes, they tell us all the hopefully helpful social distancing restrictions, and this thing about going out for exercise once a day, but it seems there are no measures to prevent being much too close to people in a crowded supermarket! Or in a queue for the checkout, which so I have heard, can extend right round the store!

Two people I know told me they had to wait one hour in a queue to check out, and they went when the store opened at 7:30 am.

It just seems like illogical craziness to me. A supermarket checkout queue was always regarded -by me at least -as the prime opportunity to catch any bug going.
 
Wolfcub

Wolfcub

Senior Member
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7,089
Location
SW UK
@ljimbo423 I hope you are feeling somewhat better. And I hope that continues. Wishing you the best :thumbsup:

Normally I would recommend on line grocery deliveries.....but as we know, in the past week delivery slots are now in the mists of history, or the land of fable.
Any booked a week or two ago will still come, and speaking from experience the order is not disappointing, so it shows there are still stocks....somewhere in the chain.

But if you could get someone to shop for you that would be a good answer.
Alternatively -have you got a face mask? Apparently those work much better for preventing spread from someone who may have COVID or is just recovering, than they work for those who don't want to catch it.
And if you wore gloves too?
 
ljimbo423

ljimbo423

Senior Member
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4,705
Location
United States, New Hampshire
Mick said:
I know nothing about the CDS guidelines but logically...
shouldn't it be rather 7 days at least, preferably 10 to 14 days, considering that the virus is detected in patients many days after apparent recovery of these patients?
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This is from the Center for Disease Control here in the U.S.-

CDC When to end home isolation (staying home)

People with COVID-19 who have stayed home (are home isolated) can stop home isolation under the following conditions:
If they will not have a test to determine if they are still contagious, they can leave home after these three things have happened:
They have had no fever for at least 72 hours (that is three full days of no fever without the use medicine that reduces fevers)
AND
other symptoms have improved (for example, when their cough or shortness of breath have improved)
AND
at least 7 days have passed since their symptoms first appeared
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I already meet all 3 criteria but am staying home for 2 more days, just to be extra cautious not to pass this on to someone else.
 
M

Mick

Senior Member
Messages
141
Wolfcub said:
It just seems like illogical craziness to me. A supermarket checkout queue was always regarded -by me at least -as the prime opportunity to catch any bug going.
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Yup, supermarkets are bad in that respect.
One strategy to make it a little safer is to buy as much as you can. Would you be able and willing to buy in advance for one week? Two weeks? I have prepared myself in advance and I have a large freezer so I have one month's worth of foods stored. Possibly even more.
I also bought myself a real gas mask, so the only possibility for me to catch coronavirus is through eyes or hands (I use hand sanitizer after leaving the supermarket).

So, that's another important issue: using hand sanitizer after you leave the supermarket.

Also, shops here allow only the elderly to enter (there are special hours allotted for them). I don't know if you qualify but it's just an idea.

If I could eat pancakes, I'd surely eat them for 2 weeks (I had such a long run in the past when I was a teenager) but unfortunately I developed gluten deficiency so it's out of the question... Bummer...
And you can buy a lot of flour in advance... :)

EDIT: yeah, but eating only pancakes (though with many additions) is not very good for you. Mineral and vitamin deficiencies are inevitable. When I was younger I never felt any such deficiency but now... I can literally feel when something is deficient though most of the time I don't know what it is until I find out.
Last time (just a few days ago) it was folic acid - even though I ingest a lot of green vegetables. So, there is a lot of caveats in everything you do...

EDIT 2: It may seem that I brag about being so prepared. Yeah, I did quite OK this time, I'd usually just lie down (because of the severity of the symptoms) and wonder (because I wasn't able to do it earlier) - will I be able to survive without any countermeasures.

But the point here is that you should still get prepared if you can. You should still get more food if you can. Because the situation will get much much worse. Even if the shops are not closed, there will be more people contagious walking around so it'd be better not to go to any store at all.

As a sidenote. I did not prepare myself financially as well as I could have. I wasn't able to predict how the situation develops. It was too difficult for me to think (brain fog) but also the way the situation developed was quite surprising. I thought that this virus would never reach Europe or cause too many problems. Just as it was with SARS or MERS. I know, the situation was tough in other parts of the world but here we didn't have any problems at all. And no countermeasures were implemented then. And now this happens... Dang, what a ridiculous surprise. Now, all I do is to think what to do next... how to stay afloat... actually... nothing new for me...
 
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E

ellie84

Senior Member
Messages
120
Location
Italy
Actually stocking up on food is the worst thing to do, because it messes up the logistics and supermarkets badly. Here in Italy they're hiring supermarket employees like crazy, because they can't keep up with replenishing the shelves at the same rate people is buying. The same goes for the logistics aspect. Luckily the measures, like fixing a limited number of people that can go inside the supermarket, have been working pretty good in this regard. Here they put tape on the ground delimiting the right distances for the queues, but honestly people are so scared to catch something that they stay even further.
The best thing would be to get groceries worth 7-10 days, so that everyone one has the chance to get something and the workers can keep up with everything (although I hear they're doing crazy workshifts anyway).
 
M

Mick

Senior Member
Messages
141
ellie84 said:
Actually stocking up on food is the worst thing to do,
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Indeed, stocking up on food is not good in this situation now. But that depends on how you look at that. If you have CFS you have to be prepared for the worst which may be worse than in the case of other people. And if these other people don't care about the food supply chain and buy everything out without thinking twice? Then you'd have to take the same action. And that's sad but what's a CFSer gotta do?

I froze all of my food long before the craziness started - but I thought about it only because I have such capabilities, ie. the freezer was empty and I tend to fill it anyway in case my condition gets much worse. Then I can stay at home and wait for the condition to improve. Which will eventually happen (and it didn't).

Anyways, as you say, food stocked up for 10 days (vs. for 5 days vs for 3 days - my usual count of days before I have to go to the grocery store) is a good compromise. In this way you only have to visit the grocery store 3 times in a month (vs. 6 times vs. 10 times). This reduces the risk a lot.

But... this all pertains to a more normal situation, ie. when we are before or after the peak of infection rate curve.
During (and before) the peak I'd stay home at any price, even if I had to stop ingesting fresh foods for a week. The problem is that there is a lot more people walking around than the official number so you never know when and where they are and how you may be infected. And the problem is that the official peak is delayed - ie. first there are infected people walking around and only then there is the peak.
 
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ShepherdK

ShepherdK

Messages
73
Location
Richmond, VA
So I finally got the call from the Virginia Department of Health about testing yesterday. I reported to the testing site (a MedExpress Urgent Care), waited an hour in my car, got called into the building, was dressed up in gloves/mask, then waited another hour in the exam room. Doctor came in, I explained the symptoms/timeline, they tested me for flu/strep (negative), then came back and said that testing was being reserved for medical workers and the elderly. This was due to them only having ten tests, while they had a backlog of a hundred patients for that evening. The testing center still charged me $40, released me with a "diagnosis" of asthma with flu-like symptoms lasting nine days, and prescribed prednisone. The doctor did say it was highly likely that I may have the disease, but I did not qualify for a test due to my age and stable condition. Also, no, I'm not filling that prednisone prescription.

My ME/CFS + COVID19 TImeline:
  • (E+0) March 11th: Confirmed exposure to COVID19 from someone at work.
  • (E+3) March 14th: Mild cough develops. Overnight respiratory rate at baseline of 14.5 breaths/min.
  • (E+4, S+0) March 15th: Mild cough, general unwell feeling toward evening, headaches.
  • (S+1) March 16th: Cough worsens, mild chest tightness, transient flu-like fatigue (different feeling from typical ME/CFS), transient headaches. Overnight respiratory rate increases to 15.2 breaths/min until night of the 19th.
  • (S+2) March 17th: Coughing all day, moderate chest tightness, tingling sensation in chest, flu-like fatigue, constant headaches.
  • (S+3) March 18th: Same as previous day.
  • (S+4) March 19th: Same as above, except: Cough getting deeper, experiencing shortness of breath, however less flu-like fatigue. Wife starts experiencing flu-like fatigue and sore throat. Overnight respiratory rate increased to 16 breaths/min.
  • (S+5) March 20th: Less coughing so far today, chest tightness downgraded to mild-moderate, no shortness of breath, decreasing flu-like fatigue, still have "chest tingles', headaches downgraded to "transient". Wife has flu-like fatigue and sore throat still.
  • (S+6) March 21st: Symptoms got worse compared to yesterday - they are on par with March 19th symptom severity and profile. New symptom emerged: mild chest pain. Overnight respiratory rate still around 16 breaths/min. SpO2 is starting to fluctuate throughout the day - lowest dip in blood oxygen was recorded at 95% today - which to this point had not deviated below 97%. Wife still has flu-like fatigue + sore throat. Out of concern for my overnight SpO2 I took 1g ITPP orally before bed - I had some extra when I trialed it for ME/CFS last year without much success.
  • (S+7) March 22nd: The ITPP seems to be working wonders. Overnight respiratory rate decreased to 15.4 breaths/min, and SpO2 has remained at a constant 98%-99% throughout today. This was the first morning that I woke up without a headache - and as of 3PM EST I still have not experienced a headache. My cough has been manageable unlike yesterday, however is still fairly persistent. Chest tightness downgraded to "mild", chest pain is "barely noticeable" ranges, fatigue has decreased, and no shortness of breath. My wife has developed a mild cough and chest tightness alongside the flu-like fatigue and sore throat.
  • (S+8) March 23rd: I felt great in the morning, but then the flu-like fatigue, chest pain, chest tightness, headaches, a wheezy-dry-cough, and shortness of breath hit me hard in the afternoon. These symptoms were on par with the symptoms from March 21st. SpO2 was dropping to 96% consistently throughout the evening.
  • (S+9) March 24th: All symptoms decreased in severity compared to yesterday afternoon, however only slightly. SpO2 rose to a consistent 97% throughout the day. This is the day I finally got called and tried to get COVID19 testing performed. My wife continues to worsen across the board symptom-wise.
  • (S+10) March 25th: All symptoms decreased in severity compared to yesterday! SpO2 has improved to 97%-98% as well. We will see if this pattern continues to hold. Chest pain and tightness still the most annoying symptom, but it is manageable compared to two days ago now. I've switched my attention to monitoring my wife and ensuring she remains stable, since she seems to be going through a rough spot - her timeline is lining up to mine in terms of symptom severity - since she is now on day 5 or day 6 of showing symptoms.
 
rainbowbluebells

rainbowbluebells

Senior Member
Messages
248
We are also going to be getting antibody testing soon, not for the entire population but a sample. If it’s not “accurate” the govt won’t be publishing results. if it’s “accurate” they will publish results. They want to check the degree of immunity in population.

It’s an antibody test, so it will check if you’ve had coronavirus before, not for checking if you currently have it. I’m interested in how it’ll be done and how many people. A guardian article says Amazon may be distributing it / we can get it from the high street.
 
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