Coronavirus

[Kimbers]

Our Local A&E have told people to stop coming in as there's a huge increase in COVID and many people are coming into A&E with it.

People are stupid and seem to have forgotten what to do with COVID. 

[pete]

On 19/08/2023 at 16:07, Bibs said:

I've had my 5th vaccinaction and am fine so far! 

also had 5 but a month ago had covid for the first time ,this was followed by Sue getting it

[Bibs]

Oh dear @pete, hope you're both feeling ok! 

[pete]

2days in bed then fine although positive for 5 days more

[Rambo]

Covid is basically a bad cold to most normal, healthy people. It's hear to stay, like seasonal colds, flu viruses, haemmerhoids, period pains etc... so people need to live with it and get on with it 🤔

[C8RKH]

On 21/08/2023 at 16:19, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

Yes, you seem to be right. Makes you wonder about the logic of not giving the COVID jab or the winter flu jab to 50 - 64 year olds this year. They helped keep me healthy over the past two winters.

I'm 56 and got my email about my winter jabs (flu and covid) from NHS Scotland 2 weeks ago, booked for week after next.

Either we've got a better NHS service up here, or you English have subsidised the better jab provision. Either ways me's a happy bunny.

2 hours ago, Rambo said:

Covid is basically a bad cold to most normal, healthy people. It's hear to stay, like seasonal colds, flu viruses, haemmerhoids, period pains etc... so people need to live with it and get on with it 🤔

I showed my wife your post @Rambo and she asked why I wasn't in that list of irritants you need to live with?

[Rambo]

9 hours ago, C8RKH said:

I showed my wife your post @Rambo and she asked why I wasn't in that list of irritants you need to live with?

I was being kind for once, but if you insist.... 😉

11 hours ago, Rambo said:

Covid is basically a bad cold to most normal, healthy people. It's hear to stay, like seasonal colds, flu viruses, haemmerhoids, C8RKH, period pains etc... so people need to live with it and get on with it 🤔

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

10 hours ago, C8RKH said:

I'm 56 and got my email about my winter jabs (flu and covid) from NHS Scotland 2 weeks ago, booked for week after next.

Either we've got a better NHS service up here, or you English have subsidised the better jab provision. Either ways me's a happy bunny.

According to this you should only be getting the flu jab, not covid. Still more than we will get in England though.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66444582

[Rambo]

18 minutes ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

According to this you should only be getting the flu jab, not covid. Still more than we will get in England though.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66444582

Perhaps C8RKH is in the "unhealthy" or "at risk" 65 year old category?

[Kimbers]

12 hours ago, Rambo said:

Covid is basically a bad cold to most normal, healthy people. 

Not really True. It's actually like the flu. Saying its like a cold is under rating it. Colds don't tend to kill if you are old or have underlying health conditions. The flu does and so does COVID. I am fit and healthy but definately knew it when I had COVID just weeks after a common cold. They were nothing like each other. We nearly lost MJK last year from COVID, he was really ill for 3-4 weeks bed ridden. It really knocked him for 6. I've had my 4th bout of it now. Sort of predicatable after having 2 grandkids at school/play group, 4 children all working, one in A&E, working 3 jobs all customer/public facing and being very sociable and having a wife who is a nurse in the community seeing up to 8 patients a day.

The worst was Alpha variant which I had before they even had testing, I nearly ended up in hospital and so did Wendy. It was horrible. One thing everyone tends to forget is that the early variants didn't spread as quickly but they had a very high mortality rate. My daughter recalls that previously, when on ICU 1 out of 50 patients would pass away. When they had COVID in ICU it was closer to 5 times more than that.

However as time has gone on it has lessened and when I had Omicron it was nasty but just like having the flu. I had 2 days off in bed, unable to operate (working from home) and rest of the time spent sweating my arse off in my home office.

The easiest I had it was the previous variant to Omicron around May 2022. I'll be honest, apart from a temp and aching I didn't even have a cough but tested positive. 

[ramjet]

I have only had three vaccinations. Got Covid when I went to a small town to buy a clock.

Can't have my fourth until 6 months have passed from having caught it. Haven't had it again though. Not that I am aware of anyway.

The only time I did get it so far, felt off colour for the first day, then fine after that. Liz was the same.

It was my grandson;'s third time. Was like water off a duck's back to him.

[drdoom]

What apparently is lost on many is the precarious marginality of our contemporary systems, the outcome of decades long thrust to " just in time " delivery in every sector of our economies. What rightly troubles those who are responsible for the effective delivery of health care is that any runaway trend in disease, pandemic in other words, would rapidly topple the system. Imagine the screaming outrage which would erupt were the system be so mismanaged. We are an aged cohort by historic measures, the vulnerable among us in meaningful need of support, like it or not.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Anecdotally, I am hearing about new cases locally on a pretty much daily basis, for the first time in 18 months. The most recent one seems to have got infected at a local hospital. A lot of people at our hotel were suffering from “colds” whilst we were away on holiday in 40 - 47 degrees heat. Maybe some of those were actually COVID that they brought back with them on the plane?

[drdoom]

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2022/11/07/COVID-Reinfections-And-Immunity/

 

[ramjet]

2 1/2 years my young bloke has worked in a covid ward. Fully vaccinated as much as he can be. Caught it from a guy that was coughing etc when he was admitted, but wasn't tested. That is until Jarryd rang in to the hospital to say he had tested positive. Has hit Jarryd like a ton of bricks.

[Bibs]

I had my 7th jab today. Seems to be working, I've not had it and Rachel has twice and Chloe 4 times! Just popping out to touch every bit of wood within 5 miles!

[PaulCP]

Have my 7th booked for 5th Oct, 3 days after getting back home from Croatia. Just hoping that there’s nothing nasty floating around in the air on the plane home🤞

[Rambo]

I suspect there will be.

They recirculate the air on commercial planes, albeit through HEPA filters. It is about a 50% mix of "stale" air and fresh air from the outside and the air is changed abot 25 times an hour.

[Bibs]

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/how-clean-is-the-air-on-your-airplane-coronavirus-cvd

Rachel caught it on the way back from Italy a month ago. While they, as @Rambo says, clean and change the air at the end of the day you're in a confined space with a lot of people and it only takes a sneeze within a few seats. 

[pete]

12 hours ago, Bibs said:

ust popping out to touch every bit of wood within 5 miles

you could have a party at mine😁

[PaulCP]

2 hours ago, Rambo said:

I suspect there will be.

They recirculate the air on commercial planes, albeit through HEPA filters. It is about a 50% mix of "stale" air and fresh air from the outside and the air is changed abot 25 times an hour.

 

2 hours ago, Bibs said:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/how-clean-is-the-air-on-your-airplane-coronavirus-cvd

Rachel caught it on the way back from Italy a month ago. While they, as @Rambo says, clean and change the air at the end of the day you're in a confined space with a lot of people and it only takes a sneeze within a few seats. 

I heard an interesting point of view from a Canadian health official last month, who was talking about wearing of masks on aircraft.
His theory is that wearing of masks is beneficial during boarding, whilst the plane is sitting on the tarmac, before it reaches cruising speed/altitude and again during landing and disembarking.
During flight at cruising speed/altitude it is believed that the mix and speed of fresh air recirculating is sufficient to question the benefit of wearing a mask.

I decided to give his theory a try so 🤞🙏

[Rambo]

I am convinced I first got CV-19 returning home from Spain in Dec 2018 and/or again in Jan 2019. Half the plane was spluttering and I thought "Shit, I'm going to catch a cold"

Of course, CV-19 was in its infancy then and when I was hospitalised in March 2019 they had no idea what to do. No lateral flow tests then, not even offered a lung function test.

I had had no sense of taste of smell for over 8 weeks (anosmia) but they didn't believe this was a symptom at the time. I was the 1st person to report this in the Scottish Borders and it later became one of the main symptoms.

As an ex analytical and pharma. chemist, I believe they got the wearing of masks completely wrong. In industry, masks are single use then wrap in a bag then dispose. The mask has to be the right mask and fit for its intended purpose (do you ever see any of our surgical teams wearing a home made mask out of an old bra, t shirt, or in some cases, knickers?) Masks also need to be worn correctly and men (and a few women I know) need to realise that facial hair of any sort, whether a 24 hour growth or a full beard, dramatically reduces the masks efficacy.

Yes, it may help in the situations you describe but for 1 single journey you will require a minimum of 2 or maybe 3 masks ie bin it after 1 use and don't use it multiple times - cross contamination issues.

Good luck with your flight and try and mitigate the possibility of catching the virus wherever possible.

[C8RKH]

You're just as likely to catch it on the way to the airport (bus, tram, taxi, train, subway etc). In the airport (departure lounge, shops, toilets etc).  Just because you caught it "after" a flight doesn't mean you caught it on the flight.  Imagine how may handrails, handles, surfaces etc you touched on the way to, whilst in, and going home. Did you sanitise after every "touch".

[PaulCP]

On the way out 6 days ago we decided to try to minimise risk by being as clinical as possible through the airport (at both ends) and decided to follow the Canadian guy’s theory when boarding and on the plane. We will do the same for the return journey.
 

Yes @C8RKH you are correct, there will be many things missed along the way and yes @Rambo you are correct re type of mask etc. Since I appear on the ‘vulnerable’ list it would be crazy to act all macho and be totally ‘gung-ho’ about CV-19 but it is also crazy to regard oneself as a hermit and never travel anywhere etc.

We know the risks so try to minimise as much as possible. Fortunately the 1 time I did catch CV-19 the NHS were very efficient and administered antivirals within 4-5 hours of me reporting that I had tested +ve. I never really felt ill afterwards but I don’t take for granted that it would be the same the next time so we still try to minimise the risk as much as it is practical to do so.

[exeterjeep]

I know these days Covid seems a thing of the (near) past, but some have on going issues.

In the press today...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/04/us-shared-gobsmacking-lab-leak-evidence-with-uk-pandemic/

The US shared “gobsmacking” evidence with Britain at the height of the Covid pandemic suggesting a “high likelihood” that the virus had leaked from a Chinese lab, The Telegraph can reveal.

In January 2021, Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nations were convened to discuss the possibility of a lab leak as the US warned that China had covered up research on coronaviruses and military activity at a laboratory in Wuhan