Social distancing for couples

[Rambler]

I snore. My wife is a light sleeper. Social distancing is the old nighttime normal. All but one of the bedrooms in our home has its own bathroom, so we essentially each have our own “master” bedroom. Our normal routine is morning cuddles instead of nighttime cuddles, and morning caffeine (in whatever form that takes) in the “real” master bedroom. If one of us got sick, we’d just stick to our own room, and the other would likely prepare meals for the one who is sick and leave it outside the door. If we could park the RV by the house, that’s what we’d do, but we can’t.

 

[CardsFan]

DW and I rarely ever get colds, or influenza. My last flu episode was in 2000, and was the first time in 19 years I ever called off from work, and I really think it was food poisoning from some canned tuna.

You made me think about it. I cannot recall the last either one of us had a really bad flu. Has to be at least 20 years ago, and probably longer (knock on wood).

A crappy day or two, yeah, but nothing that kept either one in bed all day.

Colds are another matter, we each get those 1-2 times a year, but not debilitating, just inconvenient.

And, for the record, I never got regular flu shots until about 10 years ago. DW, a little longer.

 

[HaveEnough]

I'll be the caution to the wind opinion.
I'm 57, wife 52. I'm diabetic. And, reading the latest research from Stanford where a ton more people have it and are asymptomatic implies that the mortality rates (I ain't a doctor and I don't play one on TV either) are much lower than said. However, these larger numbers mean that it is much more contagious than thought, but also much less terrible as thought.

So, get out, exercise, loose weight if you need to, get healthy, eat right, remove stress from your life... it'll kill ya faster IMO.

Study in the UK showed that the at risk group seems to be the overweight, obese and morbidly obese.

NY hospitals are showing that a much larger number of pregnant woman have it and are, asymptomatic.

If you are at risk, stay home and be cautions. If you can get healthier through diet and exercise, do it. We need a herd level immunity so the next time this comes around, we treat it no differently than the flu (a vaccine would help too)

Sleep with your partner/girlfriend/mistress (oops), hold them, love them, comfort them, do you really think that the air circulated in the same home 24/7 will never move between rooms or floors?

Ok, I'm sure I've put an unpopular opinion out there. Discuss as you will, that's my opinion...references below.



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-obese-they-re-more-vulnerable-to-coronavirus

https://paloaltoonline.com/news/202...ents-have-likely-been-infected-by-coronavirus

https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-in-pregnant-woman-high-nyc.html

 

[harley]

Study in the UK showed that the at risk group seems to be the overweight, obese and morbidly obese.

You do realize that 70% of the US population is in the overweight/obese weight range? And it's pretty close to the same percentage in the UK. That cuts the herd immunity pool down pretty significantly, if the "at risk" people stay home.

Sleep with your partner/girlfriend/mistress (oops), hold them, love them, comfort them, do you really think that the air circulated in the same home 24/7 will never move between rooms or floors?

Of course the air circulates, but viruses tend to drop out of circulation over distance. Especially when moving through filters. I can absolutely guarantee that if the sick person isolates in the house it will significantly decrease the chance of the other person catching it from them. No guarantees, but if you love someone why wouldn't you want to protect them as best you can? I see no reason to isolate when you're both well, but at the first sign of illness I always isolate, whether it's a cold, flu, coronavirus, or whatever. it's the least I can do.

 

[6miths]

I moved to the guest room about a month ago when I was felling a little ill. I use a different bathroom than DW and generally stay at least 6' from her. But I'm thinking of moving back to the master bedroom and taking my chances.

Has anyone here moved away from their spouse/SO/partner and children? If so, when are you moving back?

There's a good chance that DW has already had the virus a couple of weeks ago. Kids didn't do much of anything. I washed my hands alot and tried to suppress my tendency to express my affection. I'm still pretty young and very healthy and figure I'm going to get it sooner or later. If I had significant risk factors I might (would) have behaved differently.

 

[Just_Steve]

You do realize that 70% of the US population is in the overweight/obese weight range? And it's pretty close to the same percentage in the UK. That cuts the herd immunity pool down pretty significantly, if the "at risk" people stay home.



Of course the air circulates, but viruses tend to drop out of circulation over distance. Especially when moving through filters. I can absolutely guarantee that if the sick person isolates in the house it will significantly decrease the chance of the other person catching it from them. No guarantees, but if you love someone why wouldn't you want to protect them as best you can? I see no reason to isolate when you're both well, but at the first sign of illness I always isolate, whether it's a cold, flu, coronavirus, or whatever. it's the least I can do.

According to NY obesity doesn't crack the top ten of co-morbidities.
https://covid19tracker.health.ny.go...D-19Tracker-Fatalities?:embed=yes&:toolbar=no

 

[6miths]

According to NY obesity doesn't crack the top ten of co-morbidities.
https://covid19tracker.health.ny.gov/views/NYS-COVID19-Tracker/NYSDOHCOVID-19Tracker-Fatalities?%3Aembed=yes&%3Atoolbar=no

Perhaps because they didn't collect the data? It is surprising how frequently height, weight, and BMI are not charted and how infrequently people who are quite clearly overweight/obese are not labelled as such. The top four co-morbitidities are highly co-related with high BMI.

 

[Sanbenito1]

We are sleeping separately because one goes into work occasionally and one does not. We are sleeping great! And not planning on sharing a bed again.

 

[Just_Steve]

Perhaps because they didn't collect the data? It is surprising how frequently height, weight, and BMI are not charted and how infrequently people who are quite clearly overweight/obese are not labelled as such. The top four co-morbitidities are highly co-related with high BMI.

Got it, makes sense.

 

[Old Microbiologist]

If you live in close proximity then it is basically a waste. Viruses, and especially this virus, are very tiny. Coronavirus inhabits the throat area and even asymptomatic people will shed the virus in their breath for up to 21 days. These tiny particles re small enough they behave like a gas and remain suspended in the air for a long time. This virus can live up to 3 hours in the air and on surfaces they settle onto. We do not know the infective dose but assume it is very small. So, touching an area the other person was in or even breathing the same air within 3 hours is enough to get infected. Unless you can isolate the areas entirely or live is complete separate places which never have any contact at all then it is an unnecessary burden to try and avoid each other. I only sleep in another room away from my DW if one of us is coughing a lot making sleep impossible. I prefer to be near her at night her as she has some cardiac issues and several times I have awoken to her being in distress and once called an ambulance which saved her life. Throughout my career I worked call back night shifts or was on LP/OP duty so always sleep with one ear open so to speak. I developed a technique to be able to work on patients without actually having to wake up all the way. That comes in handy on 72 hour shifts.

So, IMHO if one spouse gets a disease the other is always exposed if they share the same spaces. The other might be immune enough to avoid the disease which actually happens a lot.

 

[Ronstar]

....We do not know the infective dose but assume it is very small. So, touching an area the other person was in or even breathing the same air within 3 hours is enough to get infected....

I am not even close to an expert on this, but it seems to me that there could be levels of dose that one can be infected by.

For instance, if a person is at a very close distance to an infected person for several hours, does he/she get a greater dose than if they only spent a few minutes close to an infected person?

Another example - could medical workers get a greater dose working on several covid patients over several hours?

And if one can get a "greater" dose, would the greater dose be more deadly than a lesser dose?

 

[donheff]

I'll be the caution to the wind opinion.
I'm 57, wife 52. I'm diabetic. And, reading the latest research from Stanford where a ton more people have it and are asymptomatic implies that the mortality rates (I ain't a doctor and I don't play one on TV either) are much lower than said. However, these larger numbers mean that it is much more contagious than thought, but also much less terrible as thought.

A little more skepticism might be in order. A few weeks ago, someone might have said, "I snagged some hydroxychloroquine, so I'm good to go." Today, they would be back at home. Some evidence is coming in pointing towards 3-4% background infection rate. If these estimates prove accurate then mortality risk is indeed much lower than has been estimated. But these studies have lots of potential flaws and the CV Task Force crew are advising that we don't yet really know the prevalence. So, caution is still advised - especially if you are in a high risk category.

 

[Old Microbiologist]

Ronstar - Actually aerosol inhalation infections of high consequence pathogens into non-human primates was what I did for my career for the last 20 years of my military career. So, I suppose that makes me an expert on this.

The minimum effective dose is that which produces the infection. We don't know what that is yet for this virus. It could be as little as a single virus particle which is extremely small. There are other diseases that the minimum dose is 1. But, some are worse like anthrax where roughly 10,000 spores need to be inhaled to get infected. When you deal with small organisms that is still not much. We don't have accurate viral shedding amounts in exhaled air but I am sure someone is going to be tasked with doing that work. Likely, it will remain classified so won't be anything useful to end users. I did a lot of work that ended up locked away probably never to be seen again.

What you are correct about is the increasing dose does increase likelihood and especially speed of onset. Before I challenge animals by aerosol (or other routes) I always do a dose escalation study beginning with a massive dose and drop it by 1 log per pair of animals. Normally, I do this in mice or rats as monkeys are expensive. This gives you the ballpark number or what challenge dose to use when running a model. But, it also gives a threshold for minimum dose as well. Within the 1 log group that is lowest you then "can" perform an intermediate study with a range of doses in that 1 log region to calculate the exact minimum dose required in that animal model. I always opt for expected battlefield dose based on assumptions of how much viable material is left in a given ordinance. This can range from bomblets to aerosol sprays and this depends on some kind of intelligence as to what might be used or what has been used in the past. But, this is a new organism so everything has to be done from scratch.

So, if you inhale a minimum dose you will get infected but it might take longer to establish disease and your immune system might actually take it out early. I am assuming this is what the asymptomatic individuals who never develop disease although a fair number do go on to become seriously ill a week or 2 later so this is another difficult area. But, if you get a high dose or repeated doses then the onset will be faster as there is more material to start with. Every organism has a doubling time while it reproduces. Bacteria are easier as it is binary fission and doubles (depends on the organism) typically around every 20 minutes. Viruses get into a cell and turn the cell into a virus factory and pumps out thousands constantly so is much faster as more cells are taken over. This virus seems to kill because of the massive uncontrolled immune response against it. Humans have the most advanced immune system and often this is the cause of a lot of our problems. Shutting it down (using steroids) helps but if you do that it also won't kill the virus. So, it is a Catch-22 situation. What seems to be helping are the newer HIV drugs that block RNA signals and other drugs that block specific cytokines like the one that blocks Interleukin-6 (used with success in arthritis). Immune serum is also working fairly well.

In context with close proximity to a spouse I see no way to ameliorate the constant dose by separation within the same household. The virus particles will end up everywhere constantly.

 

[ncbill]

I get volunteered to sleep on the couch (now in the basement bedroom now that DS is out on his own) whenever I or DW thinks I'm sick...surely others do the same?

Meals brought to me...banned from going upstairs for the duration.

 

[rk911]

harley wrote...“... I can absolutely guarantee that if the sick person isolates in the house it will significantly decrease the chance of the other person catching it from them. No guarantees, but if you love someone why wouldn't you want to protect them as best you can?...”
———————-
lol...you should run for office.

 

[JustCurious]

“... I can absolutely guarantee that if the sick person isolates in the house it will significantly decrease the chance of the other person catching it from them. No guarantees, but if you love someone why wouldn't you want to protect them as best you can?...”
———————-
lol...you should run for office.

Lol. I'm confused, is rk911 offering a guarantee or not?

 

[Nemo2]

I get volunteered to sleep on the couch (now in the basement bedroom now that DS is out on his own) whenever I or DW thinks I'm sick...surely others do the same?

Some others might, us others don't.

 

[rk911]

I get volunteered to sleep on the couch (now in the basement bedroom now that DS is out on his own) whenever I or DW thinks I'm sick...surely others do the same.

for better or for worse. over the last 50-yrs i’d guess we’ve spent less than 6-mos sleeping apart from each other.

 

[harley]

harley wrote...“... I can absolutely guarantee that if the sick person isolates in the house it will significantly decrease the chance of the other person catching it from them. No guarantees, but if you love someone why wouldn't you want to protect them as best you can?...”
———————-
lol...you should run for office.

Yep. Poor choice of sentence structure. My old English teacher would have chewed my butt for that one.

 

[rk911]

Yep. Poor choice of sentence structure. My old English teacher would have chewed my butt for that one.

yup...but it made me smile and that's a good thing. thanks even though it was unintentional.

 

[Shardo]

My sweetie came down with something right after this whole thing broke, fever and severe gastrointestinal distress.
She called the tele-doc through her work and they wanted her to come in for a test. She talked them out of it because she didn't want to leave her toilet that long and other than fever, her symptoms weren't typical of this thing. The fever didn't last but it was a good 10-12 days til she was back to semi-normal.
This house is too small to isolate so she slept in another bedroom and we took wide turns around each other.
Knock on wood, I think dodged a bullet.

 

[meleana]

Our home is very tiny- 1100 square feet. I guess one of us could sleep on the couch or the non ill spouse could buy a twin air mattress and stick it in the office so the one that is ill could stay in the master bedroom with adjoining bathroom. We have a second bathroom the non ill person could use. But the non ill person would have top take and move out all his/her clothes and supplies out of the master bedroom and bathroom. But by the time the non ill spouse does this they are already exposed.


What I do not get is if the spouse gets the virus- good chance the other spouse is already exposed anyway by the time this is discovered- so why bother with all this?


BTW- I had the flu last month and we still slept and ate and watched tv together. Hubby had the flu shot. He never got the flu so I guess it worked.


Also- our son (32) got laid off from his job. Still waiting for weeks for unemployment. Anyway, should he fall on hard times (fingers crossed he will be ok) we would have to put him up here- in our tiny house. So what would we do then? Our basement is unfinished and unheated- no bathroom or kitchen or anything. Just cement and exposed insulation and the furnace and water heater. We would have to risk it.


I am 64 and my husband is 66.

 

[NotYourAverageJones]

The best form of social distancing for couples is to remain 9K miles apart...I am in quarantine with my elderly parents in California since the beginning of March, DH is back home in Dubai...

As it stands right now, I can't get back home anyway since the UAE isn't allowing anyone back in the country, even it's own citizens. But the first chance I have to fly out of here, I am gone...Seems so many people have just gone stark-raving mad and just can't handle all the stupidity I am hearing and seeing on TV and Social Media.

Case in point: finally went to local Costco today for first time in weeks, fully geared up and following all these "social distancing rules" requested by local officials. I can't tell you all the non compliant people with babies, kids and teens running around grabbing food stuff off shelves, putting it back down acting as if nothing has happened, business as usual. I mean leave your kids at home people! All it takes is 1 person to push a cart. AND you are risking your own kids health by being so ignorant!

I really felt bad for all the old folks trying to get far away from these bad actors. But again, they prob should try to only go to stores at their special times to protect themselves from these out of touch misfits. They walk among us!

 

[mystang52]

I remember posting this on another thread a while back: for many years, if one of us gets sick then one stays in the bedroom and other gets to go to guest room. So when I get sick I sleep in guest room, and of course if DW gets sick....I get to sleep in guest room.
So far during this crisis, though, neither one of us is sick

 

[Retired Expat]

The other evening DW had a sore throat which is a potential symptom. I gave her the bedroom and she has her own bath. Used a mask when I brought her some tea.

Next day she was 100% recovered so not Corona but perhaps GERD? But who ever gets sick would get the bedroom and the other gets the rest of the house. My problem is DW is frightfully bad in the kitchen so if I am the one to get it can only hope loss of smell and taste will be my first symptoms!