Coronavirus - Health and preparedness aspects - II

[Bongleur]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister So it’s wise to get outside and soak up as much unprotected sunshine as you can, as long as you don’t have specific reasons to avoid that. But a good Vitamin D supplement is cheap insurance.

As you get older your ability to synthesize Vit D is severely diminished. Essentially, you NEED to get it from supplements in order to get enough. 5000 units a day is good. And there are cofactors involved.

And most products contain the cheapest form of minerals, which means essentially not absorbed by your body (calcium carbonate = chalk). So spend $$ on a good molecular form blended with the cofactors.

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shotgunner ..... I listened to Dr. Tony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ..... He said that 15% to 20% who contract Corona virus will require "advanced medical care". To me that is a big number and I wonder does it have the capacity to overtax our hospitals if the virus becomes wide spread? ....

That's an important reason why we try to slow the spread even if we can't stop it - so that everyone doesn't arrive at the hospital at the same time.

[Brat]

I read that the 50 yo in WA (the one who didn't die) worked in health care in a long term care facility. [MOD EDIT]

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/...-seattle-area/

[davebarnes]

We flew into Linate Milano from Denver (via Heathrow) on Saturday 29FEB2020.
We did a bit more hand washing and surface rubdowns.

The flight from LHR to LIN was at 30% load factor.
The Linate airport was semi-deserted. The immigration queue was zero.
We did get temperature checked by civil servants wearing red jumpsuits.

We ate dinner in a restaurant (Osteria del Corso) that was packed with happy Italians eating excellent food.

We are happy.

[Bongleur]

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkinwood You're posting incorrect information. This was 2 clicks from the cdc.gov site. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...treatment.html They recommend hand sanitizer on if "Soap and water are not readily available"

Not the same web page.

[GenXguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shotgunner He said that 15% to 20% who contract Corona virus will require "advanced medical care". To me that is a big number and I wonder does it have the capacity to overtax our hospitals if the virus becomes wide spread?

Most definitely. It's early in the outbreak in Italy, and I was just reading about hospitals having to transfer patients to other hospitals. But what happens when this spreads, as is apparently happening pretty quickly in places? Indeed, hopefully we can slow the spread.

[Bongleur]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Born2BRetd I've also been researching traditional methods for dealing with pneumonia since Coronavirus seems to target the lungs specifically. So, I have hot mustard for mustard packs and castor oil for castor oil packs.

AFAIK this will increase inflammation by irritating the skin & nasal passages. IMO exactly what you DO NOT want to do when you are dying of ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, colloquially a "cytokine storm"). You want high doses of anti-inflammatory substances.

Garlic is one (I have read that aged and fresh have different qualities but both are anti-inflammatory) and read up on DHEA. Also investigate zinc lozenges, Lactorferrin and Melatonin as immune boosters at the first sign of an infection.

You might want an Oral Rehydration Solution - you might need 4 to 8 gallons per day in a critically ill situation. Gatorade G2 powder plus 1/2 tsp salt per quart is cheap insurance on your shelf.

[copyright1997reloaded]

I've decided that I will not travel by plane or train until a) more is known about the true infection death rate in the United States or b) the number of infection curve stops growing exponentially.

Why? Not only do I not want to catch it, I also have a social responsibility to (as much as I can control) not give others the virus.

For now, I am keeping some college acceptance day visits (for my child), but have switched distant school visits from train to car (where I can better control sanitary conditions).

I do believe (perhaps it is really hope rather than reality) that the infection death rate is likely overstated, as some/many mild cases may go unreported. I am also a little (but not much) hopeful in that the early China cases had a much higher death rate than what they are seeing now.

If/when things settle down, there is plenty of time to travel in large groups (e.g. train, plane, ship). For now, I am trying to practice social distancing as much as possible.

[splitwdw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Born2BRetd I have been preparing since the beginning of February. I am cautiously optimistic that we won't need the extra supplies but don't want to be in the stores if there is a last minute panic. I've been approaching this as an educational exercise and have learned some interesting things i.e. powdered buttermilk supposedly helps dogs with tear stains. Who knew? Also, it will be nice to have dried milk/buttermilk on hand if I'm out and want to get started on the baking. I have dried fruit, vegetables, nuts, jerky and a few canned items. Honestly, canned vegetables have never been a regular part of my diet and I had a hard time buying those (they'll definitely go to the food pantry unless they are absolutely needed). The dried vegetables will go right into any soup so those definitely won't go to waste. I have been busy making Fire Cider which is a combination of garlic, onions, gingers, horseradish, peppers, apple cider vinegar and honey. It takes three weeks to ferment so I bought an expensive bottle through Amazon until home production could catch up. We started dosing ourselves every day this last week. Will it keep us from getting sick? Who knows? But if we reek of garlic maybe that will keep people from standing too close I have also made Medicine Chicken Soup that has garlic, ginger, rosemary, thyme and peppers in it. Each one of those ingredients targets inflammation, cough, etc. I have frozen the broth in separate packets so it's ready to go. If I'm sick, I won't have the energy to do that and the kids would be clueless. I've also been researching traditional methods for dealing with pneumonia since Coronavirus seems to target the lungs specifically. So, I have hot mustard for mustard packs and castor oil for castor oil packs. In addition, I have Alka Seltzer Gold to use for electrolytes and Mucinex for decongestion. These ingredients last a long time and I hope to not have to use them but if we need to self treat at home I wanted to have the tools on hand. I plan on creating a spreadsheet with expiration dates of the items listed so I will use them up on time and/or donate. INFJ here. Curious to know if INFJs are more likely to prep ahead of the masses. Edit: I also have a slightly large stash of dark chocolate. Forget the stories about stores running out of toilet paper - we'll survive that but no Chocolate? Nope, not safe out there if we don't have our chocolate!

Born2B, You made some great choices in your food selections and that's a great idea about freezing the broth. I hang a sheet in my pantry that has my inventory of canned and dried foods. I also write the expiration dates on the cans/packages. We are boring in our food selection so not that many items to track. I keep cans of diced tomatoes on hand because you can use chunky or cook down for a sauce. I'll eat baked beans from a can but don't like most canned veggies. We eat frozen veggies, taste better to us. Anyway, great suggestions and I did forget the chocolate.

[FIYes]

Gumby, I like your suggestion to buy a case of whatever and donate it a month before expiration if not used.

[TromboneAl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Ok, I'll go first on the preparedness subject: DW and I just returned from a trip to Costco. No more crowded than usual without obvious signs of more than a couple of folks stocking up in preparation for a big hunker down. However, the lady checking off our purchases at the door looked at our two bundles of TP and said we were lucky we came in today as yesterday they sold out of TP, bottled water, canned chicken, canned corn, canned green beans, etc...

Today our local Costco had toilet paper up the wazoo.



Yes, we got some Spam.

[Mdlerth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl Today our local Costco had toilet paper up the wazoo.

Good place for it.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl Today our local Costco had toilet paper up the wazoo.

"....no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should."

Max Ehrmann

Desiderata

[ls99]

Seems like a good time to consider installing a bidet.

[ocean view]

Somethings we’ve done that I have not seen mentioned:

We checked the batteries in our digital thermometers. Also check for adequate supply of covers.

We bought the huge Costco bottle of Tylenol. Probably more than we’ll need but didn’t want to go to another store.

We bought “flu foods” such as chicken broth, crackers, Gatorade

Although we stocked up on canned goods, I may consider using a grocery delivery service for some fresh foods. Especially if those foods would be cooked before consumption. I’m still thinking about the risks of this though.

[jfn111]

I stopped by Walgreen's tonight to get some hand sanitizer. I like to keep it in the car to use after I show houses. The shelves were bare. The wife tried to order some from Amazon and most vendors were out of stock.

[Chuckanut]

There are sanitizer recipes on the internet. How many are useful against a virus is questionable.

[ocean view]

Today I noticed that my dishwasher as a “sanitize” setting that we have never used. Of course, this begs the question, are our dishes not sanitized from other cycles? Nonetheless, should one of us get sick we would start using this feature. We also restocked dishwasher pods, as we may run the dishwasher more frequently if we went into quarantine mode.

Our dryer also has a “anti-bacterial” cycle that we also have never used, but would if we were on lockdown.

[garyt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry I didn’t find the other threads as panicking. They were just adult discussing the virus.

I agree

[Bestwifeever]

We stopped at a Target on the way home from downtown. Usual Saturday crowds. Lots of cleaning supplies, TP, paper towels, etc. No shortages, no panicking. No one wearing masks. We're handwashers vs hand sanitizer users, so didn't look for hand sanitizer.

I probably wouldn't wear a mask if I had one, and we didn't check for them (although I think DH has a few on hand from painting or something). Maybe I'll whip up some fashion masks on my sewing machine from fabric remnants I have on hand and put them on Etsy--a couple of layers of colorful silk, some cotton quilt batting, sequins here and there, ribbon ties.