Covid-19 discussion and humor thread [Was: CDC says don't touch your face to avoid Covid19...Vets to the rescue!

[BillsFan4]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/entire-senior-home-new-jersey-94-people-presumed-have-coronavirus-n1168701

Entire senior home in New Jersey, 94 people, presumed to have coronavirus

 

???

[KD in CA]

6 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/entire-senior-home-new-jersey-94-people-presumed-have-coronavirus-n1168701

Entire senior home in New Jersey, 94 people, presumed to have coronavirus

 

???

 

I'm surprised we haven't seen this headline before now.

 

Senior homes are on lockdown but when you need dozens of staff and they have to go room to room all day to care for the residents.....it's a bad recipe.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

5 minutes ago, KD in CA said:

I'm surprised we haven't seen this headline before now.

Senior homes are on lockdown but when you need dozens of staff and they have to go room to room all day to care for the residents.....it's a bad recipe.  

 

My eldest niece is an RN in a small nursing home located in a small city in S. central MO.  

 

The staff are instructed to take their temperature 2x/day and keep a log.  They have a temperature check on entrance. 

 

They can not work if they have an elevated temperature until 24 hrs past normal temperature.   They will get sick pay for that, but they only have a small # of sick days.

 

If they have an ill family member, they must self-quarantine for 14 days - UNPAID.  Congress just passed a law that people are supposed to get paid for quarantines but

   1) that's only if you or a family member is tested positive for covid-19 - and there is NO testing going on in this small MO town

   2) nursing homes, hospitals, and businesses <50 can apply for exemptions

 

So what do sick aides and cleaning staff do?  They can't afford to miss time, they're working paycheck to paycheck.  So they dose themselves to the max on extra-strength tylenol and ibuprofen and come to work anyway.  She's a charge nurse.  She knows some are doing it from the "grapevine" but she can't take any action without proof.

 

Nurses and aides are not being issued masks.

 

Especially near any larger population areas where covid-19 is circulating in the community, this is inevitable.

[Augie]

9 minutes ago, KD in CA said:

 

I'm surprised we haven't seen this headline before now.

 

Senior homes are on lockdown but when you need dozens of staff and they have to go room to room all day to care for the residents.....it's a bad recipe.  

 

My mother is 92 and in a retirement home with 9 floors, and two slow elevators. They say limit to two people per elevator, which means they could possibly evacuate by Labor Day.  I don’t visit, just go to take her groceries, dropping them off to her out front. No visitors allowed. This waiting is like hell on earth. 

[BillsFan4]

4 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

My eldest niece is an RN in a small nursing home located in a small city in S. central MO.  

 

The staff are instructed to take their temperature 2x/day and keep a log.  They have a temperature check on entrance. 

 

They can not work if they have an elevated temperature until 24 hrs past normal temperature.   They will get sick pay for that, but they only have a small # of sick days.

 

If they have an ill family member, they must self-quarantine for 14 days - UNPAID.  Congress just passed a law that people are supposed to get paid for quarantines but

   1) that's only if you or a family member is tested positive for covid-19 - and there is NO testing going on in this small MO town

   2) nursing homes, hospitals, and businesses <50 can apply for exemptions

 

So what do sick aides and cleaning staff do?  They can't afford to miss time, they're working paycheck to paycheck.  So they dose themselves to the max on extra-strength tylenol and ibuprofen and come to work anyway.  She's a charge nurse.  She knows some are doing it from the "grapevine" but she can't take any action without proof.

 

Nurses and aides are not being issued masks.

 

Especially near any larger population areas where covid-19 is circulating in the community, this is inevitable.

Yeah my cousin’s wife works at a nursing home here in NY. she has to wear a mask all shift (when she’s around the residents, anyway) and they all have instructions to stay home if they are sick (or their family members are).

 

But she’s been out and about when she’s not at work, and my cousin has too.

 

The big issue is that people can be contagious days before they even start feeling sick.  

 

And though she wears a mask, they’re not properly trained in how to wear/fit them, and they don’t have enough to dispose of them as frequently as they should so they’re taking the same mask on and off all day and sometimes even using them for days in a row.

 

 

[KD in CA]

26 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

My mother is 92 and in a retirement home with 9 floors, and two slow elevators. They say limit to two people per elevator, which means they could possibly evacuate by Labor Day.  I don’t visit, just go to take her groceries, dropping them off to her out front. No visitors allowed. This waiting is like hell on earth. 

 

No visitors for my MIL either and residents can't leave their rooms.  We've connected via facetime but she doesn't quite understand what's going on.  No doubt many elderly people in that boat.

 

 

[MJS]

I think it's totally fine to take this seriously, but mark my words (and I'll own up to it if I'm wrong): this disease will pass with fewer cases and fewer deaths than the H1N1 (swine flu) did about a decade ago that infected more than 60 million Americans and killed over 12,000.

 

Part of that might be because of the extreme measures the country is taking. If so, good for us. We seem to have gotten the drop on this disease far quicker than we did with H1N1. But it makes me wonder why we didn't take such extreme measures then. Was it simply because it had already spread so much by the time we really knew about it and so there was no stopping it?

[Dr.Mantis_Toboggan]

This is the reality some of you may be presented with-

 

My fiancé, early 30’s, has been through hell fighting off this stupid virus, 18-19 days now she’s still coughing, low grade fever still pops up from time to time (99-100, she runs usually 97.6).

 

On her initial visit with her PCP, Doc said “a virus, not corona though, bc no high fever” (time to switch Primary’s) gave her some cough medicine and sent her on her way... Cough just continued progressing and it was accompanied by a constant heavyness in her chest, and said she feels like she is breathing through a straw all the time.  

 

Primary directed us to Urgent Care, where they did an X-ray and found “atelectasis” which is a partial collapse of the lung essentially. Now prescribed steroids, still no covid test however.  Couple days go by, we are contemplating the ED but don’t want to put her at risk if it’s NOT Covid like her Doctor had told her.

 

End up back at Urgent Care, she registers a resting heart rate of 132, but no EKG, no X ray, No Covid test, just an inhaler and codeine cough syrup (which has been the only thing that supressed her cough).  

 

Couple more days go by she’s complained of dizziness, pain in her arm and neck, night sweats, relentless cough, and trouble feeling like she’s getting breath.  In this time she receives calls back days later from her initial call to the health department who says laughingly “sounds like you have coronavirus”, but they aren’t interested in testing to confirm, because she’s not Kevin Durant...

 

So we make calls and speak to a physician who sounds like he’s actually concerned for her well being and wants her to be seen at a different URMC Urgent Care in Penfield, he says she needs an EKG.  So we go, and they do two nebulizer treatments, and were about to send her on her way without an EKG. She had to fight to have them do it, once it was performed it showed abnormal ST-T waves, generally not a good sign.  They tell her to follow up with the cardiologist the following day.

 

Still no official Covid 19 testing, just assuming. All I’m thinking is what if it’s not Covid? Shouldn’t we know? If it’s not, doesn’t this current condition put her at extreme risk?  

 

In this time she was given 3 different cough medicines, steroids, a nebulizer treatment, X ray, EKG, even anti biotics despite no trace of fluid in her lungs, basically just throwing stuff at her, but no Covid 19 test so we could actually try and treat it properly.

 

Next day things just not getting better, chest and neck pain continued and her primary finally orders her to the ED, so her father takes her to Strong because we have a 4 yr old (BTW through almost 20 days of essentially being locked in, he nor I have exhibited any real symptoms. I had a sore throat about 3 weeks ago for a couple days, and was a little tired.  Our sons appetite maybe a little supressed but now fine).  

The ED has tents and looks like a scene out of an apolocytic movie.  

There they ran another EKG which came back much better thank God, and then proceeded to do two more nebulizer treatments. No Coronavirus testing however, those are reserved for individuals in critical condition, and Kevin Durant.  

 

She’s then given pamphlets that are basically the equivalent of “So, You have Coronavirus”, and told to quarantine and rest, but don’t hesitate to come back if symptoms get worse.  

Lots of praying, and rest she finally seems to be doing better.  Still slight fever, and when the codeine wears off the cough starts creeping back. Strong said it could be another 2 weeks before she starts to feel like herself again.

 

1 PCP visit, 3 Urgent Care visits, and a trip to the ED.

 

Tonight has been her best night in a long time. She’s the toughest woman I’ve ever known and an amazing mother to our young son.  On top of this she also had a botched “routine” thumb surgery just a couple months back that cost her, her career as a permanent make up artist (microblading), 2020 hasn’t been very kind to her so while I’m not lookin for a pity party, we’ll take any of the thoughts, prayers, and/or good vibes you’d like to send our way. 

 I will add that she does have some other underlying health issues but nothing of the life threatening variety, more chronic pain type issues. Not certain if this has played a role in her slow recovery, but most likely.  

 

Thanks for taking the time to read, everybody just stay safe, stay home if you can, and God Bless.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Dr.Mantis_Toboggan

[BillsFan4]

21 minutes ago, Dr.Mantis_Toboggan said:

This is the reality some of you may be presented with-

 

My fiancé, early 30’s, has been through hell fighting off this stupid virus, 18-19 days now she’s still coughing, low grade fever still pops up from time to time (99-100, she runs usually 97.6).

 

On her initial visit with her PCP, Doc said “a virus, not corona though, bc no high fever” (time to switch Primary’s) gave her some cough medicine and sent her on her way... Cough just continued progressing and it was accompanied by a constant heavyness in her chest, and said she feels like she is breathing through a straw all the time.  

 

Primary directed us to Urgent Care, where they did an X-ray and found “atelectasis” which is a partial collapse of the lung essentially. Now prescribed steroids, still no covid test however.  Couple days go by, we are contemplating the ED but don’t want to put her at risk if it’s NOT Covid like her Doctor had told her.

 

End up back at Urgent Care, she registers a resting heart rate of 132, but no EKG, no X ray, No Covid test, just an inhaler and codeine cough syrup (which has been the only thing that supressed her cough).  

 

Couple more days go by she’s complained of dizziness, pain in her arm and neck, night sweats, relentless cough, and trouble feeling like she’s getting breath.  In this time she receives calls back days later from her initial call to the health department who says laughingly “sounds like you have coronavirus”, but they aren’t interested in testing to confirm, because she’s not Kevin Durant...

 

So we make calls and speak to a physician who sounds like he’s actually concerned for her well being and wants her to be seen at a different URMC Urgent Care in Penfield, he says she needs an EKG.  So we go, and they do two nebulizer treatments, and were about to send her on her way without an EKG. She had to fight to have them do it, once it was performed it showed abnormal ST-T waves, generally not a good sign.  They tell her to follow up with the cardiologist the following day.

 

Still no official Covid 19 testing, just assuming. All I’m thinking is what if it’s not Covid? Shouldn’t we know? If it’s not, doesn’t this current condition put her at extreme risk?  

 

In this time she was given 3 different cough medicines, steroids, a nebulizer treatment, X ray, EKG, even anti biotics despite no trace of fluid in her lungs, basically just throwing stuff at her, but no Covid 19 test so we could actually try and treat it properly.

 

Next day things just not getting better, chest and neck pain continued and her primary finally orders her to the ED, so her father takes her to Strong because we have a 4 yr old (BTW through almost 20 days of essentially being locked in, he nor I have exhibited any real symptoms. I had a sore throat about 3 weeks ago for a couple days, and was a little tired.  Our sons appetite maybe a little supressed but now fine).  

The ED has tents and looks like a scene out of an apolocytic movie.  

There they ran another EKG which came back much better thank God, and then proceeded to do two more nebulizer treatments. No Coronavirus testing however, those are reserved for individuals in critical condition, and Kevin Durant.  

 

She’s then given pamphlets that are basically the equivalent of “So, You have Coronavirus”, and told to quarantine and rest, but don’t hesitate to come back if symptoms get worse.  

Lots of praying, and rest she finally seems to be doing better.  Still slight fever, and when the codeine wears off the cough starts creeping back. Strong said it could be another 2 weeks before she starts to feel like herself again.

 

1 PCP visit, 3 Urgent Care visits, and a trip to the ED.

 

Tonight has been her best night in a long time. She’s the toughest woman I’ve ever known and an amazing mother to our young son.  On top of this she also had a botched “routine” thumb surgery just a couple months back that cost her, her career as a permanent make up artist (microblading), 2020 hasn’t been very kind to her so while I’m not lookin for a pity party, we’ll take any of the thoughts, prayers, and/or good vibes you’d like to send our way. 

 I will add that she does have some other underlying health issues but nothing of the life threatening variety, more chronic pain type issues. Not certain if this has played a role in her slow recovery, but most likely.  

 

Thanks for taking the time to read, everybody just stay safe, stay home if you can, and God Bless.

 

Damn, sorry to hear that. You will all definitely be in my thoughts and prayers. Keep us updated. 

33 minutes ago, MJS said:

I think it's totally fine to take this seriously, but mark my words (and I'll own up to it if I'm wrong): this disease will pass with fewer cases and fewer deaths than the H1N1 (swine flu) did about a decade ago that infected more than 60 million Americans and killed over 12,000.

 

Part of that might be because of the extreme measures the country is taking. If so, good for us. We seem to have gotten the drop on this disease far quicker than we did with H1N1. But it makes me wonder why we didn't take such extreme measures then. Was it simply because it had already spread so much by the time we really knew about it and so there was no stopping it?

Read this:

https://www.livescience.com/covid-19-pandemic-vs-swine-flu.html

 

And we are nowhere near the peak of COVID19 yet. It’s getting worse by the day right now.

 

This is way different than h1n1 - both in the virus itself and the way it was handled.

 

h1n1 wasn’t as contagious or nearly as deadly, and we had already tested over 1 million people for h1n1 within the first month. They rapidly made test kits and distributed them across the country.

We are multiple months into covid and we still can’t even test people who are very sick, let alone the widespread testing that was done during h1n1.

 

(I do pray you’re right about it not getting bad, but that doesn’t seem to be the reality of what is actually happening right now. Cases are skyrocketing by the day. We are up to 65,000 cases today from 6000 just a week ago. Hospitals in multiple states are already being overrun. NYC is getting pounded. Florida is starting to. They’re out of ICU space in Atlanta. Etc etc. read some of the stories coming from doctors that have been posted in this thread)

Edited March 26, 2020 by BillsFan4

[Franco_92]

35 minutes ago, MJS said:

I think it's totally fine to take this seriously, but mark my words (and I'll own up to it if I'm wrong): this disease will pass with fewer cases and fewer deaths than the H1N1 (swine flu) did about a decade ago that infected more than 60 million Americans and killed over 12,000.

 

Part of that might be because of the extreme measures the country is taking. If so, good for us. We seem to have gotten the drop on this disease far quicker than we did with H1N1. But it makes me wonder why we didn't take such extreme measures then. Was it simply because it had already spread so much by the time we really knew about it and so there was no stopping it?

Bro, we are going to pass 12,000 deaths before you can blink 

[MJS]

12 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

Damn, sorry to hear that. You will all definitely be in my thoughts and prayers. Keep us updated. 

Read this:

https://www.livescience.com/covid-19-pandemic-vs-swine-flu.html

 

And we are nowhere near the peak of COVID19.

 

This is way different than h1n1 - both in the virus itself and the way it was handled.

Basically the only difference is how contagious it is, from what I can gather, and the response. Looks like the CDC had some problems with their kits which messed things up.

 

We will not know the true death rate until we know the number of cases, which we just plain have no idea about. Death rate can only be accurately measured AFTER the disease has run its course.

 

The experts thought that N1H1 would be far worse than it actually was as well. They expected 50% of the population to get it and estimated there would be 30 to 90 thousand deaths in the USA, and the numbers never got anywhere near that. I expect something similar.

[BillsFan4]

1 minute ago, MJS said:

Basically the only difference is how contagious it is, from what I can gather, and the response. Looks like the CDC had some problems with their kits which messed things up.

 

We will not know the true death rate until we know the number of cases, which we just plain have no idea about. Death rate can only be accurately measured AFTER the disease has run its course.

 

The experts thought that N1H1 would be far worse than it actually was as well. They expected 50% of the population to get it and estimated there would be 30 to 90 thousand deaths in the USA, and the numbers never got anywhere near that. I expect something similar.

Like I said, I pray you’re right.

[MJS]

11 minutes ago, arcane said:

Bro, we are going to pass 12,000 deaths before you can blink 

We might. We're at 1,000 deaths right now, but I don't think it will be anywhere near the projections. But we'll see.

[Franco_92]

29 minutes ago, MJS said:

We might. We're at 1,000 deaths right now, but I don't think it will be anywhere near the projections. But we'll see.

We went from 100 to this 1,000 in seven days, and both cases and deaths are growing faster than any other country has recorded at this point 

[BillsFan4]

43 minutes ago, MJS said:

Basically the only difference is how contagious it is, from what I can gather, and the response. Looks like the CDC had some problems with their kits which messed things up.

 

We will not know the true death rate until we know the number of cases, which we just plain have no idea about. Death rate can only be accurately measured AFTER the disease has run its course.

 

The experts thought that N1H1 would be far worse than it actually was as well. They expected 50% of the population to get it and estimated there would be 30 to 90 thousand deaths in the USA, and the numbers never got anywhere near that. I expect something similar.

That’s not the only difference though.

 

For example, another difference is the hospitalization rates that we’ve seen so far.

 

for H1N1, it looks like it was something like 22 per every 100,000 people.

From 2009-10  on h1n1 hospitalization rates: https://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/hosp_deaths_ahdra.htm

 

For covid-19 it’s something like 1 in every 5-7 people. So far, 15+% of people in all age groups 20 and over have needed hospitalization (closer to 15% for younger, and more like 30+% for older patients). If this keeps spreading at the rate it is right now, our hospitals aren’t going to be able to handle it and a lot more people are going to die because they can’t get the proper care. 

 

we never saw swine flu do what covid19 is doing in 1st world countries like Italy, Spain and the U.S.

 

Here’s quick chart showing some of the differences between influenza and covid-19:

 

 

Edited March 26, 2020 by BillsFan4

[BillsFan4]

2 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/entire-senior-home-new-jersey-94-people-presumed-have-coronavirus-n1168701

Entire senior home in New Jersey, 94 people, presumed to have coronavirus

 

???

 

[BillsFan4]

 

For reference, they had their first covid-19 case March 10th.

 

So it’s been 16 days and they already have thousands of cases. This isn’t even one of the hardest hit states (so far).

 

This is far from the only story like this.

Edited March 26, 2020 by BillsFan4

[BillsFan4]

 

[BillsFan4]

https://www.today.com/video/severe-coronavirus-cases-among-young-americans-raise-new-alarm-81091653741

Severe coronavirus cases among young Americans raise new alarm

 

Video says:

 

- initially thought those over 65 were hit the hardest but the latest CDC data shows that patients between the ages of 20-54 make up nearly 40% of the hospitalization here in the U.S.

 

-12% of intensive care patients between the ages of 20 - 44.

 

- more than 53% of cases in NY state are people between the ages of 18-49

[Doc Brown]

4 hours ago, TigerJ said:

I suspect the greater population density in NYC makes it a lot harder to get everybody to comply with social distancing.  It is going to be a bigger problem for the rest of the state with each passing day, but I don't really think it will rise to NYC's levels.  I'm hoping at least.

Pry not.  I'm also hoping the warmer weather cities like LA and Miami don't see as wide of an outbreak.