Coronavirus prep

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  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    lokihen wrote: »
    My niece brought her kids up to see my mother. Inside, none of them wearing masks; now I have to isolate from my parents for two weeks. I was furious.

    If anyone has Kindle Unlimited they can read my book for free. It's an apocalyptic romance: Something Begins. No pandemic. I've been avoiding anything in the apocalyptic genre myself. Somehow, I don't find them enjoyable when living through one.

    Yes, I'm over the apocalypses caused by pandemics but am always up for good SF.

    I don't have Kindle Unlimited but I should still be able to find your book on Amazon, yes? But I didn't. You're probably not allowed to post the link here yourself, but would you Friend me and send me the link?
  • lokihen
    lokihen Posts: 382 Member
    edited August 2020
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    lokihen wrote: »
    My niece brought her kids up to see my mother. Inside, none of them wearing masks; now I have to isolate from my parents for two weeks. I was furious.

    If anyone has Kindle Unlimited they can read my book for free. It's an apocalyptic romance: Something Begins. No pandemic. I've been avoiding anything in the apocalyptic genre myself. Somehow, I don't find them enjoyable when living through one.

    Yes, I'm over the apocalypses caused by pandemics but am always up for good SF.

    I don't have Kindle Unlimited but I should still be able to find your book on Amazon, yes? But I didn't. You're probably not allowed to post the link here yourself, but would you Friend me and send me the link?

    Funny, I had to sign out of amazon and search again to see it wasn't showing up. If you search the title under kindle romances it's on the second page. Don't buy the paperback - too expensive.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    baconslave wrote: »
    Things are getting crazy locally with Monday being first day of on campus classes. This week was party time since the campus March closure.

    Left KY this morning and drove straight south nearly to the AL border to pickup a cultipacker. I did not see any face mask usage and was told it was business as usual in West TN which seemed factual based on the 5.5 hours we were in the state.

    I expect the pandemic being fake news mindset will be changing for many soon. I'm not sure we'll ever recover from this mental health crises that seems to be world wide.

    Yup. That sounds about right. It's like that in the Eastern part, too. :unamused:



    Schools started here Monday on a hybrid schedule despite being in the Red category still: masks required in the city schools, only suggested but not required for all the county schools. I haven't asked my teacher friend how that's looking. She works in the city schools. I'm forgotten here in the corner. None of my "friends" have time for me. They are out living their lives and having a fine, busy ol' time. I wouldn't know what anywhere else looks like at this particular moment besides Kroger. That's the only place we go besides one other grocery outlet place. No, scratch that: hubby know what it looks like. I'm always at home unless it's a doc appt. Walmart was a joke when we were forced to go there to get an order for something we needed the same day. Hubby went in and was the only customer wearing a mask and people were not keeping their distance. Kroger has masking about 85-90% during the times he goes (morning). The other grocery place almost no wearing and if an employee has one, it's hanging around their neck. We don't go anywhere else. Exposure risk is just too great. We pay more to order online at Target or Amazon. I'm not ordering from Walmart again unless it's a home delivery. A couple weeks ago, hubby had gone to the grocery stores and got takeout. Between those 3 places, he brought a grocery item or food home that was germed. One of my kids got very sick and spent a week on the couch with fever, severe fatigue, lack of appetite, and no other symptoms. Wasn't COVID, but was definitely a virus according to the pediatrician. Doc wanted my daughter tested, and it was negative, even though I told her we never see any human besides my elderly Dad next door. He's practically a hermit anyway besides shopping at Kroger and Walmart during senior hours. The kid's finally back to normal. Can't wait to see the bills from the test and bloodwork. We had to cancel our camping trip that week. We lost money on it.

    Meanwhile the kids are doing their homeschool work here at home. My college freshman's classes are all online now. Only lab or experience-based classes are going to be in-person on campus. We have to venture on campus though this week to pick up her books. At least they require masks.

    I live in west TN and nobody here is taking it seriously.

    As to classes - my WFR certification expires in a few days and I haven't been able to find a class to re-certify yet. However, I was able to re-certify the BLS (it's required for all professional medical certifications, including my WFR). I did it as a hybrid class: online learning, tests + in-person skills assessment. The in-person was modified for Covid because a big part of the point of BLS is team CPR. Obviously we can't team up on a single CPR mannequin because there is too much risk involved. So they just assessed our individual skills. Anyway, at least I won't have to worry about that whenever I am able to re-certify the WFR (hopefully within another month or 2, but I'm not holding my breath).
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    University is definitely not some elite thing above college here (US). Mainly, college is an undergrad only school (some of which are among the hardest to get into, and the benefit is you get taught by professors, not grad students, and they are evaluated on teaching as well as publications), and university is a school that has undergrad and grad students, some of which are very competitive (Yale, Stanford), but still might have more grad school teaching and bigger classes than some of the best colleges, and some of which are less hard to get into but still good (my state school, U of IL), and some of which are awful (same with some colleges) and a waste of money. Minimal research should show any reasonably intelligent person which is which. There's no clear division in quality between schools known as colleges and those known as universities.

    Yes. The American distinction between school, college, and university is a bit strange compared to other parts of the world.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,089 Member
    My friend a science fiction writer wrote this to honor her sister in law who passed away last month from Covid. It's chilling.

    http://www.elizabethmoon.com/site/Bring.Out.Your.Dead.html

    I dunno. Might have seemed chilling to me if what is going IRL weren't going on. In the midst of this, it seems anticlimactic.
  • kushiel1
    kushiel1 Posts: 96 Member
    Gisel2015 wrote: »


    Better safe than sorry until we get an effective vaccine

    Do you really think we will get an effective vaccine? There's never been a vaccine for a coronavirus before, viruses mutate all the time, and we can't even get a decent vaccine for the flu half the time (it seems like anyway). Not to mention there will be no long term studies to see what effects any vaccine will have long term....just seems like hoping for a vaccine is a pipe dream at best :(.

    It just doesn't seem realistic - and honest question, will you be happy to live the rest of your life isolated from friends and family? Because that could happen if we don't come up with a vaccine. I mean we can hope for a vaccine that is long term proven both effective and safe but what will our mental health be if we avoid all people/activities for so long? Will you be willing to take one that hasn't had any long term studies on it? Isn't that risking health issues just as much as Covid?
  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 7,018 Member
    My friend a science fiction writer wrote this to honor her sister in law who passed away last month from Covid. It's chilling.

    http://www.elizabethmoon.com/site/Bring.Out.Your.Dead.html

    Chilling indeed. I haven't come across her stuff in a while, but then I don't get to read as much as I used to. She's great.
    So sorry for her loss. :disappointed:
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
    Crazy how much regulations are changing week to week. Medical procedure this week, as of a couple weeks ago I was supposed to have a CV test 72 hours prior. Never got a call so I called them, evidently now they aren’t requiring them anymore. Not sad about that!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    kushiel1 wrote: »
    Gisel2015 wrote: »


    Better safe than sorry until we get an effective vaccine

    Do you really think we will get an effective vaccine? There's never been a vaccine for a coronavirus before, viruses mutate all the time, and we can't even get a decent vaccine for the flu half the time (it seems like anyway). Not to mention there will be no long term studies to see what effects any vaccine will have long term....just seems like hoping for a vaccine is a pipe dream at best :(.

    It just doesn't seem realistic - and honest question, will you be happy to live the rest of your life isolated from friends and family? Because that could happen if we don't come up with a vaccine. I mean we can hope for a vaccine that is long term proven both effective and safe but what will our mental health be if we avoid all people/activities for so long? Will you be willing to take one that hasn't had any long term studies on it? Isn't that risking health issues just as much as Covid?

    The flu vaccine is actually very effective, the problem is there are many versions of the flu and they don't always predict the correct ones. Even so, if everyone who could get the vaccine every year did get it, we would have a better chance on any given year of at least approaching herd immunity and greatly reducing flu transmission.

    One of the primary reasons there are no coronavirus vaccines is that the common coronaviruses are not dangerous and the dangerous ones are not common. It's simply not budget conscious. C19 is I think the first coronavirus to warrant the time and resources to develop and produce a vaccine.

    My understanding from researchers I follow on social media is the two major vaccines being tested in the US are being built with ingredients already being used in other vaccines. Assuming phase 3 of either trial shows efficacy, I will be in line for a jab as soon as I'm allowed. As more data comes out, it sounds like a measurable percentage of people end up with long term side effects like chronic fatigue, heart inflammation, circulatory issues, even those who had a mild illness. Could be as high as 40%. Serious stuff.

    It is quite possible that at least in the beginning, continuing boosters will be required to maintain some level of immunity.

    Having said that, of course there's no guarantee. If there is no vaccine, efforts will have to switch to increasingly efficient testing and treatment to avoid the millions of deaths seen in 1918. I'll worry about that bridge if we get there, which hopefully we won't. But I'm not going to throw caution to the wind now because I might have to throw caution to the wind later. We don't know enough yet to give up IMHO.

    While I respect your decision to get in line for a jab, I am curious as to why you do not find this to be a deterrent "As more data comes out, it sounds like a measurable percentage of people end up with long term side effects like chronic fatigue, heart inflammation, circulatory issues, even those who had a mild illness. Could be as high as 40%."
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    lokihen wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    lokihen wrote: »
    My niece brought her kids up to see my mother. Inside, none of them wearing masks; now I have to isolate from my parents for two weeks. I was furious.

    If anyone has Kindle Unlimited they can read my book for free. It's an apocalyptic romance: Something Begins. No pandemic. I've been avoiding anything in the apocalyptic genre myself. Somehow, I don't find them enjoyable when living through one.

    Yes, I'm over the apocalypses caused by pandemics but am always up for good SF.

    I don't have Kindle Unlimited but I should still be able to find your book on Amazon, yes? But I didn't. You're probably not allowed to post the link here yourself, but would you Friend me and send me the link?

    Funny, I had to sign out of amazon and search again to see it wasn't showing up. If you search the title under kindle romances it's on the second page. Don't buy the paperback - too expensive.

    Found it! I had to sign out too, and add a bunch of filters, so am going to give the link:

    https://www.amazon.com/Something-Begins-J-D-Burk-ebook/dp/B01KVY0U4U/
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    https://labblog.uofmhealth.org/rounds/top-5-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-explained

    Here is one recent summary.

    I do not have the link in hand but one from a Chinese firm was hoping for theirs to protect 60% of the people jabed and last for 6 months. Sound like the odds for regular flu shots perhaps and long term side effects will become known it the following years.

    From what I read it sounds like Bill Gates supported labs are making progress.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    edited August 2020
    Regarding holiday plans, I'm open to the possibility that there will be much better testing -- readily available, quick results, more accurate. I'm optimistic that at some point, if not by the holidays, people can take a test before deciding to visit grandma.

    Our two college kids will live at home Thanksgiving-January, and we've asked them to test before they come back home. We had a lot of pointless quarantining -- 8 weeks total -- because tests were not available and results took >2 weeks. Each time a kid came home, we stayed in 2 weeks. Then one had indoor exposure (dinner) to someone who tested positive (step brother). Looking back, it seems like so much wasted effort because of inadequate testing. A cheap saliva self-test could make the holidays a lot merrier and safer for all.

    ETA: https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/saliva-tests-how-they-work-and-what-they-bring-to-covid-19-67720
    https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/15/fda-clears-saliva-test-for-covid-19-opening-door-to-wider-testing/
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    edited August 2020
    My cousin is taking more preventative measures than anyone I know. We call her CDC. She just related to us that we need to flush and run, especially in public places. It is the dreaded 'Rona mushroom cloud. Toilet plumes
    lift 'Rona droplets out into the atmosphere to be inhaled. They say, Ol' CDC to turn your head after flushing and run like hail. Just what we need. More multi-cr@p to worry about. :p