Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

abbbottt will always be an ilxor imo

thinking of you peace man, hang in there

hang in there, peace man! i think it's ok to let that negative stuff out sometimes, too (maybe in the shower, or the classic scream into a pillow) but everyone's got their own way of doing it. hoping the best for you and your fam

abbbottt will always be an ilxor imo

― Karl Malone, Monday, January 4, 2021 12:13 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh, for sure.

Just got over a nightmare 15 day period dealing with a parent in the hospital with COVID.

I had to beg her, send her every article explaining the potential dire complications, and basically threaten to disown her for her to finally check into the hospital (She had already tested positive for covid about 4 days before). Given her age (71), symptoms (severe), her doctor told me, on her 2nd day there, that she had a 1/3 chance to live over the next five days, based on everything that they know.

She was released today from the hospital. Her doctor told me that he wished every elderly person who has tested positive for covid with a fever, and an oximeter reading at or below 90 to check into the hospital asap, as that would cut the death rate so much. So many seniors wait until their symptoms progress to the state of almost no return.

wau. glad she made it!

Not that there's some miracle cure, by any means, but there are many combinations of therapies that they can try before you spiral out of control with that covid-related Pneumonia.

Thanks mookie!!

Please let me share a few of the articles that inspired my mom to go to the hospital:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-testing-pneumonia.html

https://blog.bcbsnc.com/2020/07/a-timeline-of-covid-19-symptoms/

If you have elderly people in your life testing positive, get them to the hospital early so they can unleash every therapy known to science. Most won't even be admitted (like my mom). But they'll know.

Last thing: you want to avoid acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) at all costs.

A friend sent me the article when I was describing things, but I would also mention that a quick change in symptoms is important to watch for, especially if things go south, fast:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7365923/

A couple family members, of different friends, had the situation where they went from barely symptomatic to complete fatigue leading to heart failure. I think it’s hard to make that call in any case, but any quick change — like complete fatigue when they were fine the prior day, or even hours before — means quick intervention is needed.

Good work mf

I feel very fortunate to know that all the elders in my life wouldn't hesitate to seek treatment. I'm glad you managed to convince your mom.

Update on my own condition, my wife and I are feeling a lot better. Still feeling waves of mild symptoms like headaches and tiredness, but so far (over a week later now) nothing major. I wonder how long they'll last. She took our daughter for a walk in the woods yesterday and got through it alright, whereas earlier in the week I had to help her up the stairs to bed. Feeling extremely fortunate that we haven't developed anything severe.

*********

One thing I didn't mention in my earlier post, but was eating hard at my mind, was that the day before my wife and I came down with symptoms, we had allowed our daughter to have a play-date with a friend who we considered "in our circle". These were more common in the summer when the cases had dropped significantly in Maryland. We had outdoor gatherings with a select group of her friends once or twice a month. But we had foresworn these gatherings entirely when the numbers started rising in the fall.

I argued a little with my wife about letting the play-date go on, but she kept repeating something that she knew was legitimately concerning to me: "our daughter has been having conversations with the television." She has had the option to facetime and message with her friends, but that hasn't really stuck for whatever reason. And we set up a bi-weekly online D&D game for her and a couple girls, where they have private chats on discord. But for the most part, her only pastime has been watching youtubers all day, and my inability to interest her in doing anything else has been deeply saddening to me.

Knowing that I was being stupid and absolutely doing the wrong thing, I took her over to their house and picked her up a few hours later. By all reports it was the most fun either girl had had in months.

That night, my wife came home from work feeling more fatigued than usual. Her job is high-stress and very physical and feeling fatigued is common when she gets home, so I didn't think anything of it. But back at work the next day, she felt faint and checked herself in. Her rapid test came back positive.

What I didn't know was that her friend had then had contact with her cousins and grandmother. Which in all respects negates the whole concept of pretending to have "a circle". So in addition to worrying about my own health and mortality and that of my family, I spent the first few days of my illness confronting the very real possibility that through my idiocy I had killed someone's family matriarch. It took them longer to get their PCR tests back than it did for us, probably because cases around here took a huge jump after New Years. Eventually, all of their family's tests came back negative.

I talked to the parents, and they don't blame us for the hubbub and the worries that they had to face. But I certainly blame myself for my part in allowing this irresponsibility to go on.

oh man. that "talking to the television" bit sounds awful too, i can see why you felt guilted into it

man that hurts my heart

I just need to vent that I am fed up with hearing anything about how Cuomo is any good at dealing with COVID. He's just a petty, vindictive control freak who likes pushing and pulling the levers.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/136711326_10224574797379485_6269658185816724606_o.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=2&_nc_sid=dbeb18&_nc_ohc=4eXuIY5WHosAX8EX6ES&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=5c1aca8a564df49df192be22113d507f&oe=601F824D

https://www.lohud.com/story/news/coronavirus/2021/01/08/montefiore-new-rochelle-sanctions-ineligible-vaccinations-covid-investigation/6593444002/?fbclid=IwAR14H9LxqAvbfhCU1rPfroWxUigE5j97K7V9RMPy5nt_T1eg34NmDzmWDxY

I hate Cuomo, but fuck jumping the line.

People getting vaccinated already who aren't in nursing homes or frontline healthcare workers enrage me.

As far as I'm concerned the NYPD can get fucked forever but I did see the point on Twitter that they interact w a lot of ppl, they are, as a demographic, reluctant to or refuse to wear masks, and it would probably be a good public health practice to vax them just to protect other ppl.

I hate Cuomo, but fuck jumping the line.

― Jimi Buffett (PBKR), Friday, January 8, 2021 12:47 PM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

People getting vaccinated already who aren't in nursing homes or frontline healthcare workers enrage me.

― All cars are bad (Euler), Friday, January 8, 2021 12:51 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

You are both completely wrong, dangerously so. We need to be vaccinating as many people as we can as quickly as possible, and "the line" is not working. Vaccines are not getting administered because we are placing too many restrictions on how and to whom they can be administered.

Also, this wasn't billionaires, it was public workers!

Literally more people are going to die because people want to be hall monitors.

otm

I agree that we should be getting as many people vaccinated as we can right now, but goddamn it I still reserve the right to be absolutely infuriated that my 83 year-old FIL can't get one, but I see people who aren't first responders, aren't essential workers, and are well under 50 happily sharing their vaccination news on social media.

Vaccine's won't be distributed on basis of need - nothing else is.

I mean, this might be an argument worth having if NY was doing a really, really good job of vaccinating nursing home residents and frontline healthcare workers quickly and efficiently, but it is not.

man alive otm x a bunch

My employee's husband is a doctor doing private research for a US firm, who has volunteered to do something like two shifts at an NHS hospital so he can get the vaccine. My employee thinks he'll also be able to get it through this connection. Both are early 40s with no health issues. So yeah, totally cool. (he was saying this like he was bragging and I had to hide my disgust)

Sorry, I know man alive is otm and I don't disagree. Just tired this morning and spent an hour listening to my wife cry in frustration because her high risk 83 year-old father isn't getting any clear information about when he might be able to get vaccinated.

He had a pneumonia scare three years ago and I think he's having a really hard time hearing about people he knows getting the vaccine, but getting blown off when he tries to find out more. Like he's not even demanding to get it now and he's happy to wait for first responders, but the unclear communication isn't helping his (or by extension, our) nerves.

Literally more people are going to die because selfish fucks want to get their vaccine before the more needy.

Like, if the line isn't working, fix the line! Or maybe...the line isn't working because selfish fucks don't want it to work.

i get what you're saying euler, but this is andrew cuomo we're talking about.

de blasio should just start vaccinating anyone over the age of 80 and challenge cuomo to sue the city.

(i mean not personally, i wouldn't let that mad oaf near me)

i know different people who have gotten the vaccine because someone they know hooked them up. late 30s/early40s, no health issues, not healthcare or frontline workers - one is a standup comedian ffs

ok yeah I don't know the specifics of the NY fuckup. we're having our own fuckups here, where doctors say 2/3 of the vaccine is currently being wasted because of inefficient administration.

the specific situation in NYS seems to be that the rules are so insanely tight that you can't get enough eligible people in a room before a vial expires.

Just want to say that people who are immunocompromised and under the age of 50 exist, and I'm a little tired of being absolutely terrified every time I leave the house.

yeah it's the same here

xp

the dakotas and WV are the only states doing a good job in the US

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/

IIUC WV in particular has done a particularly good job with nursing homes etc.

Literally more people are going to die because selfish fucks want to get their vaccine before the more needy.

Like, if the line isn't working, fix the line! Or maybe...the line isn't working because selfish fucks don't want it to work.

― All cars are bad (Euler), Friday, January 8, 2021 1:24 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I'm just going to say that this is an opinion based in a sentiment that sounds right in your mind for good reason but has no connection to the reality on the ground. No one is dying because of "selfish fucks jumping the line" right now. People are going to die because NY is making it too hard to get the vaccine in order to prevent hypothetical selfish fucks, i.e. placing more emphasis on the "wrong people" not getting the vaccine than the right people getting it. You have to do one or the other.

If Cuomo stopped focusing so much on the "wrong people" not getting it, more of the right people would get it, in other words.

Just want to say that people who are immunocompromised and under the age of 50 exist, and I'm a little tired of being absolutely terrified every time I leave the house.

Oh absolutely, and no knock intended on anyone in that situation! But there are absolutely folks who are not immunocompromised jumping the line even if you do discount the politicians, those are where I'm directing my ire. Basically still infuriated that Marco fucking Rubio was vaccinated before my high-risk, 83 year-old FIL.

my dad’s 86 and had a 7-hour heart operation a year and a half ago but isn’t considered a high priority in tennessee. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ he’s incredibly placid about it (i think it makes him feel young) but i’m kinda like... idk he probably would not do too well if he got the vid. what can you do though.

xxxp Penalizing, reactionary bullshit response to, for instance, the ParCare fraud/vaccine diversion, whatever that turns out to be, exactly. Andrew Cuomo: Why use the carrot when the stick is right here?

Yeah, I get it. I'm sorry to take out my frustrations here, just... well, y'know with all of this *gestures around wildly*, I'm on edge.

My FIL has been really placed and sometimes worryingly zen about it all, he called this morning and for the first time I actually heard some fear in his voice and it hit me hard.

"placid"

well shut my mouth! my dad just texted to say he’s getting the vaccine on monday!??

knox county got a grand total of... 500 doses a week or so ago. then they got some more. next shipment is monday a.m.

it turns out i’d read the criteria wrong - over-75s are in the priority group

That's great!