Coronavirus - Health aspects

[gwraigty]

I know. Imagine if we had a lockdown in the USA for virus reasons. I have seen the store shelves empty in Seattle when there is 1.5 inches of snow and it isn't even sticking to the road. It would probably make your head spin how fast the shelves would be depleted and there would not be any trucks making new deliveries until the national guard or something started arranging delivery of MRE and bottled water.

Right now I can walk into Wal-mart or Fred Meyer and buy 20 pounds of sugar, 10 pounds of coffee, etc. for almost nothing. Imagine having to tear a coupon out of a book to get your monthly allotment of 1 pound of coffee, or 2 rolls of toilet paper.

AFK for a bit, I think I am heading to the store.

I've been imagining it for the last couple of weeks. The things I've taken for granted my whole life that could go away so easily. As I posted in the travel thread, don't forget things like toilet paper, cleaning supplies, making sure that OTC remedies are fresh, etc.

Last week I made the mistake of doing some grocery shopping at Meijer on a Monday evening, which I usually don't do. The sale for the week starts on Sunday. Two of the sale items I wanted were completely out of stock already and one item was almost out of stock. An employee told me it was typical for the Sunday shoppers to clean out so much of the sale stock like that. Wow. I don't want to know what panic buying would be like.

I went back to Meijer on Friday evening and all the shelves were full, including the sale items I'd missed out on Monday. No, I didn't clean them out. I bought responsibly, even though I needed nothing. Everyone in the store was strolling through, unconcerned, unhurried, just doing their average weekly shopping.

I think this isn't really on many people's radar yet, especially if they just listen to the 5 minutes of coverage on the evening news, if that. It doesn't do justice to the scope of this thing.

 

[brewer12345]

I've been imagining it for the last couple of weeks. The things I've taken for granted my whole life that could go away so easily. As I posted in the travel thread, don't forget things like toilet paper, cleaning supplies, making sure that OTC remedies are fresh, etc.

Last week I made the mistake of doing some grocery shopping at Meijer on a Monday evening, which I usually don't do. The sale for the week starts on Sunday. Two of the sale items I wanted were completely out of stock already and one item was almost out of stock. An employee told me it was typical for the Sunday shoppers to clean out so much of the sale stock like that. Wow. I don't want to know what panic buying would be like.

I went back to Meijer on Friday evening and all the shelves were full, including the sale items I'd missed out on Monday. No, I didn't clean them out. I bought responsibly, even though I needed nothing. Everyone in the store was strolling through, unconcerned, unhurried, just doing their average weekly shopping.

I think this isn't really on many people's radar yet, especially if they just listen to the 5 minutes of coverage on the evening news, if that. It doesn't do justice to the scope of this thing.

For God's sake, don't forget to stock up on booze.

 

[Fermion]

For God's sake, don't forget to stock up on booze.

Booze can be traded for other stuff too....well, unless you are in Utah, then you are SOL

 

[Dtail]

Gee I wonder how the "Stand Your Ground" gun rule in FLA will play out, if the s**t really hits the fan.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Gee I wonder how the "Stand Your Ground" gun rule in FLA will play out, if the s**t really hits the fan.

In general, better for those who have them than those who don't.

 

[Another Reader]

If you live in earthquake country and probably more so if you live in a hurricane zone, emergency preparedness is part of your every day life. It's taught in school, there are sections of local agency websites devoted to it, and your workplace has a plan that you are given to review or about which you have a meeting. We did not do duck and cover drills during the Cuban missile crisis, but we did do similar earthquake drills in school. Local government here repeatedly tells the populace to have enough supplies on hand to carry you for a week because it may be that long before help gets to you. We are not preppers, we are just acknowledging the inevitable disaster.

 

[brewer12345]

Booze can be traded for other stuff too....well, unless you are in Utah, then you are SOL

You would be amazed. As the old joke goes: How do you keep your Mormon friend from drinking all the beer on a fishing trip? Invite a second Mormon.

 

[NW-Bound]

It may e fun to laugh at preppers, but if I were you I would be hitting the stores for enough food, etc. to hole up for a good while.

Preppers are generally wrong 99% of the time, but boy those times they are right sure do pay off.

We are no preppers, but the way my wife likes to load up on bargains, I would need some calamities to clear out our pantry and fridges.

Speaking of stocking up on TP, somewhere on this forum I shared the news about some bandits in Hong Kong who held a delivery truck driver at knife point. Their targeted loot: 600 rolls of TP.

PS. It was not intended for prepping purposes, but my DIY off-grid solar system generates plenty of juice to keep two big fridges going, and still has enough output to run a mini-split AC to stay comfortable in the summer. I don't think it will get down to being so bad though. Even Wuhan still has power and water.

 

[Brat]

You would be amazed. As the old joke goes: How do you keep your Mormon friend from drinking all the beer on a fishing trip? Invite a second Mormon.

I am not a Mormon but they have a significant presence in the west. Although they do not drink coffee or tea I have learned that although alcohol is forbidden their founders did drink beer. Historically beer was a safe beverage because many water sources during pioneer days were contaminated and cholera was common. Water on a fishing trip might be contaminated so if it cannot be boiled..

 

[gwraigty]

Even Wuhan still has power and water.

Keeping utilities up and running would probably be a priority everywhere else as well. And that better include Internet!

 

[Gumby]

In general, better for those who have them than those who don't.

As the saying goes, better to have and not need than need and not have. But your very best course of action is to avoid conflict in the first place.

 

[NW-Bound]

Keeping utilities up and running would probably be a priority everywhere else as well. And that better include Internet!

Come to think of it, a pandemic is not as bad as a war. You do not have enemies blowing up your infrastructure, and then shoot at you while you are trying to repair it.

In Wuhan, they shut down public transportation by choice. In Beijing, metros and buses still run, but people stay home as a precaution. They still have workers maintaining power and water plants, moving food, etc...

And the virus patients do not have the energy to run around like zombies in movies and attack the healthy. That's the most important thing.

 

[brewer12345]

Well, I just did the math and figured out that the three dogs go through just about 2 pounds of food a day. Guess the hundred pounds in the basement isn't as much as I thought it was. Might be stopping by Costco to load up tomorrow.

 

[Winemaker]

For God's sake, don't forget to stock up on booze.

I got that pretty well covered.

 

[brewer12345]

I got that pretty well covered.

Ditto. But don't forget the distilled stuff. You can drink it, light fires with it, sanitize stuff with it, clean out wounds, etc. A million household uses...

 

[Winemaker]

Ditto. But don't forget the distilled stuff. You can drink it, light fires with it, sanitize stuff with it, clean out wounds, etc. A million household uses...

Again, that is covered. Living in the hometown of the Whiskey Rebellion, there is a significant collection of rye and bourbons in the cellar.

 

[Brat]

Getting back to the science of this, today's podcast edition of TWIV (This Week in Virology) it mentions that our ability to generate antibodies to fight off infections decreases with age even for otherwise healthy individuals, for example, the amount and quality of bone marrow - I did not know this. Also, the difference in the death rate of older men and older women is likely attributable to the fact that men smoke more than women. I would add that men are more likely to have worked in industrial occupations with bad air quality.

Bottom line we elderly are sitting ducks.

 

[garyt]

I am having math issues.

Deaths of those diagnosed by age
80+ 14.8%
70s 8.0%
60s 3.6%

Percent of US population by age
80+ 3.6%
70s 5.4%

Will everyone 80 or older who catches this virus die?

US population around 331million. 3.6% of that is 11,916,000, that's the over 80 population. 14.8% (the death rate) of that is 1,763,568 deaths.

Add another 1,429,920 deaths for people in their 70's and your looking at 3,193,488 senior deaths. And I don't mean this to be funny at all, because some of those deaths would likely involve family members, but it would certainly put an end to worries about Social Security solvency for quite some time.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Well, I just did the math and figured out that the three dogs go through just about 2 pounds of food a day. Guess the hundred pounds in the basement isn't as much as I thought it was. Might be stopping by Costco to load up tomorrow.

As I yell at the squirrels who keep raiding my bird feeders, "keep eating, you will taste good on my smoker".

 

[brewer12345]

As I yell at the squirrels who keep raiding my bird feeders, "keep eating, you will taste good on my smoker".

If it comes to that, squirrels are easy prey to a rat trap baited with a smidge of peanut butter. Now doubt the dogs would be overjoyed to be fed squirrel and rice stew with some landsquarter mixed in.

 

[NW-Bound]

Bottom line we elderly are sitting ducks.

Yes. Otherwise, we would live forever. For some reasons, nature does not intend for us to.

 

[Born2Fish]

US population around 331million. 3.6% of that is 11,916,000, that's the over 80 population. 14.8% (the death rate) of that is 1,763,568 deaths.

Add another 1,429,920 deaths for people in their 70's and your looking at 3,193,488 senior deaths. And I don't mean this to be funny at all, because some of those deaths would likely involve family members, but it would certainly put an end to worries about Social Security solvency for quite some time.

I had thought about this a few weeks ago. 3.2 million won't eliminate the shortfall but every little bit helps (sarcasm ON).

 

[braumeister]

[mod hat]
Some good health related information in this thread but we need to stay off the morbid side and get away from just talking about the effects of all the possible deaths. That should help the thread remain open.
[/mod hat]

 

[NW-Bound]

We came to the hospital to visit my son yesterday which was a Sunday. He got sick last Tuesday, and got bad enough on Friday to get himself to the ER.

We could not come see him on Saturday, because he said he was put in an isolation room, which allowed no visitor. What? I immediately wondered if they feared the virus.

It turned out that one of his lungs got infected so badly as shown on CAT scan that they thought it could be TB (tuberculosis). They also tested him for HIV, because a young person should not have that kind of bad infection, which usually hits people with an immune deficiency. When both above tests proved negative and he responded quickly to antibiotics, they moved him out of the isolation room with negative pressure, to make room for someone else.

I brought this up because I met the attending physician, and I asked if they worried about the coronavirus. He said no. The reason for the isolation room was the fear of TB. I also asked and he confirmed that they did not have capability to test for the virus. This agreed with what I read earlier, that if a virus test was deemed needed the sample would be flown to CDC. I forgot to ask how many isolation rooms they have.

We have not had an outbreak in the US. Let's hope that it remains so.

And my son said the ER was busy when he checked in. This time of year, we have a lot of snowbirds, and hospitals tend to be busy because of visitors.

 

[Fermion]

Would they lock down cities in the USA if we had a outbreak? I know we are not Italy...I mean they fought WWII with WWI weapons so they are probably treating this virus with expired Vick's Vapor rub, but could we lock down an entire city here?