Coronavirus - Health and preparedness aspects - II

[Moemg]

In order to slow this down they have to limit cruising .There is a third ship in California being detained .Between the three ships that is almost 15000 people .

 

[bbbamI]

Just a reminder....some private medical insurance companies have nurse help lines. I'm on BCBS and it has one.

I haven't called them regarding the virus, but hopefully they can provide advice if you're worried you may have come in contact with the virus or any other questions you may have.

 

[Teacher Terry]

In December my husband caught a bad cold so we skipped a Xmas party with 200 people and then in February I got sick and skipped a similar event. Both groups skew heavily with a older crowd with many over 75. You never want to be responsible for making old people sick)

 

[Rianne]

What Next?

I wake up, nose runny, a little cough, feel tired achy. Take my temp, a little high 100.

I don't want to go to the Dr office. More germs there and I could infect someone else, even though I do not know if I have the cold, flu or coronavirus.
What does the Dr say anyways? Always says, drink lots of water, rest and stay home. Hydration is the most important thing. So, I"m staying home. Call it self quarantine, I"d do that if I were sick before this all started.

So home, feeling sick and start to panic a bit. Am I dying? I think that when I get the flu anyway.

What else can one do? There are tons of articles about "should I exercise if I feel sick?" Should I eat or fast? Starve a cold, feed a fever?

I get everything is about prevention. But do you do when the virus gets you? Wait it out, I guess?

 

[Teacher Terry]

I stay in bed and read and watch tv. The dogs join me.

 

[audreyh1]

I wake up, nose runny, a little cough, feel tired achy. Take my temp, a little high 100.

I don't want to go to the Dr office. More germs there and I could infect someone else, even though I do not know if I have the cold, flu or coronavirus.
What does the Dr say anyways? Always says, drink lots of water, rest and stay home. Hydration is the most important thing. So, I"m staying home. Call it self quarantine, I"d do that if I were sick before this all started.

So home, feeling sick and start to panic a bit. Am I dying? I think that when I get the flu anyway.

What else can one do? There are tons of articles about "should I exercise if I feel sick?" Should I eat or fast? Starve a cold, feed a fever?

I get everything is about prevention. But do you do when the virus gets you? Wait it out, I guess?

You can call your doctor's office. For my doctor at least a nurse practitioner will get back to me. You discuss your symptoms over the phone, and they can tell you what to do.

 

[Kwirk]

Just a reminder....some private medical insurance companies have nurse help lines. I'm on BCBS and it has one. I wondered about Medicare and I found this site....

https://medicare.com/coverage/does-medicare-cover-an-advice-nurse/

I haven't called them regarding the virus, but hopefully they can provide advice if you're worried you may have come in contact with the virus or any other questions you may have.

Hmm, that's not medicare.GOV. They may be trying to sell stuff.

 

[ziggy29]

Hmm, that's not medicare.GOV. They may be trying to sell stuff.

Indeed. Good catch.

 

[TromboneAl]

Hmm, that's not medicare.GOV. They may be trying to sell stuff.

"A non-government site powered by eHealth, a health insurance agency."

That should be illegal.

 

[NW-Reader]

I wake up, nose runny, a little cough, feel tired achy. Take my temp, a little high 100.

I don't want to go to the Dr office. More germs there and I could infect someone else, even though I do not know if I have the cold, flu or coronavirus.

Many health care systems offer a telephone triage service. Some call it a consulting nurse line. Clinics and hospitals are advising people to call before they show up if they are worried about Covid symptoms. This is to avoid unnecessary visits and so that they can be properly prepared for you if they think you might have the virus.

 

[bbbamI]

Hmm, that's not medicare.GOV. They may be trying to sell stuff.

Indeed. Good catch.

"A non-government site powered by eHealth, a health insurance agency."

That should be illegal.

No harm intended, however I do apologize. I deleted the link.

 

[explanade]

Yes, this is very worrying, because it indicates that an environment with multiple elderly sick patients is very infectious, and that the time and actions that were required to move an elderly person to the hospital is plenty to infect the first responders.

I think it was the WHO report which said transmission was mostly through droplets coughed or sneezed out?

So one of the advice was not to be closer than 6 feet to someone who may be infected. Time and distance were both said to be critical.

So I don't understand why people at elderly home would be infecting each other unless they're near each other for extended periods for meals or maybe some events.

Either that or maybe some infected workers went from each elderly resident to another, like maybe helping them bathe? Or serve them food?


In the case of the cruise ship docked off Japan, they said the passengers did NOT self-isolate into their cabins. They were going out and talking to each other and then some infected service personnel may have been delivering the meals.

If it's very easy to transmit the virus, like infected people breathing and virus is being transported via the HVAC system or something like that, then it's way more infectious than the flu.

 

[GenXguy]

It doesn't take an extended amount of time to transmit the virus. It also can spread from surfaces since it can live on them for days

I just went to Walmart, 6 days after my last visit. Now, all those bottles of sanitizer they had just inside the front entry last time were gone, plus all of the 91% alcohol bottles were gone. I had gotten the last 70% alcohol last Sunday. TP and cold/flu meds stock looked fine. Plenty of hydrogen peroxide in stock.

 

[NW-Bound]

So I don't understand why people at elderly home would be infecting each other unless they're near each other for extended periods for meals or maybe some events.

Either that or maybe some infected workers went from each elderly resident to another, like maybe helping them bathe? Or serve them food?

My father-in-law spend the last year of his life in a nursing home. Most residents were bed-ridden, and needed help to get into a wheelchair. They were rolled into the shower, or to the toilet, or to the dining room. Many had to be spoon-fed.

 

[NW-Reader]

This is probably not news to folks on this forum, but nursing homes have had problems with infection for many years.

1 to 3 million serious infections occur every year in these facilities.
Infections include urinary tract infection, diarrheal diseases, antibiotic-resistant staph infections and many others.
Infections are a major cause of hospitalization and death; as many as 380,000 people die of the infections in LTCFs every year.

https://www.cdc.gov/longtermcare/index.html

The LifeCare facility with all the cases here was investigated by the state last April:

Last April, the state fined Life Care $67,000 over infection-control deficiencies following two flu outbreaks that affected 17 patients and staff. An unannounced follow-up inspection in June determined that Life Care had corrected the problems, Verma said.

https://abc7news.com/5987277/

 

[NW-Bound]

Elderly people in nursing homes are sitting ducks.

As Khan, a long-time member here, has famous said:

"Getting old sucks moose balls" -- Khan

She is not even in a nursing home yet.

 

[audreyh1]

It doesn't take an extended amount of time to transmit the virus. It also can spread from surfaces since it can live on them for days

I just went to Walmart, 6 days after my last visit. Now, all those bottles of sanitizer they had just inside the front entry last time were gone, plus all of the 91% alcohol bottles were gone. I had gotten the last 70% alcohol last Sunday. TP and cold/flu meds stock looked fine. Plenty of hydrogen peroxide in stock.

I just think that’s a much less likely way to get infected from contaminated surfaces compared to person to person contact as several medical/health folks have indicated. That doesn’t mean I’m going to ignore surface contamination. I’m just not going to freak out about every possible thing I could touch, and wash my hands often when I am in public areas or have just departed public areas. I’m going to focus more on staying away from other people.

 

[audreyh1]

So I don't understand why people at elderly home would be infecting each other unless they're near each other for extended periods for meals or maybe some events.

Either that or maybe some infected workers went from each elderly resident to another, like maybe helping them bathe? Or serve them food?


In the case of the cruise ship docked off Japan, they said the passengers did NOT self-isolate into their cabins. They were going out and talking to each other and then some infected service personnel may have been delivering the meals.

If it's very easy to transmit the virus, like infected people breathing and virus is being transported via the HVAC system or something like that, then it's way more infectious than the flu.

Wow, I guess you haven’t spent much time in an elderly care facility.

It’s worse than a cruise ship. Everything is communal - meals, entertainment. People generally need daily assistance, some very personal, so aides are going from person to person providing care that requires close personal contact.

Plus, I think there is also the issue of viral load. I suspect the elderly are more contagious because their more severe cases probably indicate a higher viral load. People coming into contact with them probably are exposed to a larger amount of the virus.

 

[JoeWras]

Wow, I guess you haven’t spent much time in an elderly care facility.

It’s worse than a cruise ship. Everything is communal - meals, entertainment. People generally need daily assistance, some very personal, so aides are going from person to person providing care that requires close personal contact.

+1. This.

It takes a lot of employees to run the place. Most are not CNAs. They may be just cleaners, servers, or general assistants. Many of them are compassionate, and "high touch" kind of people. The others are just not trained. Many of them are immigrants doing a job our kids don't want to do, and need the money, and will come to work sick. Add all of that together, and you get easy transmission.

 

[JoeWras]

I was a big Mythbusters fan until they got into zombies and other ridiculous things. When they were not killing zombies, they had some good segments. I thought this one about "transmitting a cold" was good. Adam has a fake runny nose with special dye. It is interesting to see how far he can get his snot everywhere. And he pretty much gets it everywhere. The hands of everyone, except one, get grossly contaminated.

 

[atmsmshr]

Delay and minimize the peak of community infection

I think I'm enough of a hermit by temperament that I could self-isolate for months if necessary. If I tried to make my wife do that, however... let's just say COVID-19 would not be my likely cause of death.

Wow, excellent point. Something I wouldn't have realized without this forum.

Here, I fixed the poor labeling that caused me to misunderstand the graph at first:

This graph tells a lot (thanks for the added clarification TAl). Just to state the potential obvious information it represents.

First, the peak number of people infected at a given time is represented. Personally, this is what concerns me the most. Although the USA has a very good medical system, if the peak number of people infected is higher - this places a greater strain on health care workers, supplies and available treatment facilities. Current shortages of masks to health care workers bothers me enough that I have not ordered any. I want nurses and doctors to have all they need before a box of 50 sits in my pantry unused. Imagine, if the peak were high and there was a shortage of oxygen masks. Or, imagine no hospital beds and field hospitals and fever wards became the norm.

Second, the area under the plots under the graphs are about the same, but the peak is later and smaller for one. The slowing the spread of an infection may (or may not) reduce the total number of cases, but is lessens the strain on health care workers, facilities and supplies. The delay with social distancing and hygene by some of the population gives time for supply chains to build a surplus, health care workers to rest (and recover), and generally prepare by practicing their techniques before peak community infection.

IMHO, until a vaccine is developed, I think a large number of us are going to be infected. I would like DW and myself to defer the possibility or delay infection to the downward slope of the graph by taking precautions that we can.

atom

 

[atmsmshr]

I was a big Mythbusters fan until they got into zombies and other ridiculous things. When they were not killing zombies, they had some good segments. I thought this one about "transmitting a cold" was good. Adam has a fake runny nose with special dye. It is interesting to see how far he can get his snot everywhere. And he pretty much gets it everywhere. The hands of everyone, except one, get grossly contaminated.

The US Navy taught me a very simple thing about surfaces that are radioactively contaminated; how to avoid spread and ingestion of radioactive materials. Pretend everything in a potentially contaminated area is covered in fresh dogshit, but you cannot see, smell or feel it. It helped in making the newbees pay attention to how they wore gloves, face protection and for crying out loud keeping gloved fingers of our faces!

 

[LRDave]

For heavens sakes, I hope none of our little happy online community get any OTHER kind of sick in the next few months. April or May could be particularly bad times to have a heart attack, for instance. (not that there is a good one....)

 

[JoeWras]

For heavens sakes, I hope none of our little happy online community get any OTHER kind of sick in the next few months. April or May could be particularly bad times to have a heart attack, for instance. (not that there is a good one....)

Yes, that's a concern. Also, elective surgeries may be delayed if the beds are required. For some, that could be quite traumatic.

That's why the discussion above about flattening the bump is so important.

And it got me thinking about personal preparedness. If one has health issues, it might be worth thinking about delaying elective surgery in the event you have complications. Heck, for that matter, any surgery, PT, etc. puts you in the hot zone. Stay away unless necessary.

 

[zinger1457]

I have BCBS through the ACA. They have offered the nurse hotline for a long time but received an email from them a couple weeks ago about a new service they are offering called "BlueCare Anywhere". They have a network of online doctors you can video call/chat with 24/7 about non-emergency health issues. It's not free, I haven't used it but from what I gather the typical cost is ~$49. The doctors can also prescribe medication if required.