Coronavirus prep

1…481482484486487…498

Replies

  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    It still sounds rather, dare I say, "Interesting" most of the 9 known cases in the UK yesterday were not connected to overseas travel. So they have been up close and personal to have contracted...............
    I'd think you'd notice the lesions. But what do I know. I hope the medical profession have good PPE.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    edited May 2022
    From WaPo:
    Monkeypox is not known to spread easily between humans. The fact that cases are emerging in several countries at once — with signs of “sustained” transmission in people — is striking, said Aris Katzourakis, a professor of evolution and genomics at the University of Oxford.

    “It’s either a lot of bad luck or something quite unusual happening here,” Katzourakis said.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    @The_Enginerd I have also read that although it is true that the new variants that dominate do so by being more infectious, it is a roll of the dice as to whether the illness they cause is more or less severe. Sorry, don't have sources handy. Sounds like you are out of the woods. Stay well!
  • tiptoethruthetulips
    tiptoethruthetulips Posts: 3,371 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    My husband has Covid now.

    Feeling pretty sick and miserable but ok at home.

    He is now in isolation for 7 days.

    Close contacts don't have to isolate here now so I can go out, just have to wear a mask in indoor public places and cant go to tier 1 or 2 health care settings unless emergency.

    Which means I cant go to work for a week since I work in a tier 2 health setting - and just started new job so no sick leave.

    If you meet the criteria, you may be eligible for this payment https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/pandemic-leave-disaster-payment?context=60352
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    Paperpudding, I'm sorry the "rules" are so complicated. I hope all comes good soon for you both.
    Please take care


    Referring back to the next virus, monkey pox, the cases here are up to 70! We have health professionals isolating for three weeks! Seems international concerns are being voiced because it does not seem to be behaving as it did in the past.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,281 Member
    that's all the world needs - another new virus :o
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    Its true its another virus which tends to affect persons in a social minority. This does not make it dismissible. I think it was the WHO talking about it. More persons in quite a few countries no cause for spread so far has been found. Here discovering something to connect cases is proving impossible. The fall back situation is contact and trace........... where have we heard this before. And covid has not gone away, we are supposed to be able to get on and live with it.

    I realise the press in the US is vastly different to ours in the UK.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    Paperpudding, I hope your husband recovers well, hope you continue to stay clear too.

    You could look into zinc supplements because his taste is affected, even before covid zinc was associated with taste and smell. I expect were this appropriate to your husband you will be across it.
    Take care, Keep safe
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,352 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    thats not the rule here Gail.

    Close contacts have to test for 5 days out of 7 including on their last day. They are not in isolation though, but have some restrictions - wear masks in public areas, don't attend health settings (so time off work if you are employed in one)

    if you actually get Covid - either as a close contact like I did , or just randomly, you have to home isolate for 7 days. You do not leave your home unless emergency

    But you do not have to test again - at the end of the 7 days, if you have no symptoms, your isolation is over. If you have acute symptoms you stay isolated until they clear

    You are also exempt from RATS tests in any situation in which they might be required - eg occupational, visiting nursing homes travel etc - for 3 months

    Because people can have antibodies which show up as positive for a period of time but they are not infectious, it is just evidence of recent infection

    That’s the policy here in the US as well, except isolation is 10 days. In Colorado at least. I was very specifically told not to test again and to contact public health if I needed documentation to exempt me from any testing at all, even for medical procedures, for 90 days.
  • 33gail33
    33gail33 Posts: 1,155 Member
    edited May 2022
    paperpudding wrote: »
    thats not the rule here Gail.

    Close contacts have to test for 5 days out of 7 including on their last day. They are not in isolation though, but have some restrictions - wear masks in public areas, don't attend health settings (so time off work if you are employed in one)

    if you actually get Covid - either as a close contact like I did , or just randomly, you have to home isolate for 7 days. You do not leave your home unless emergency

    But you do not have to test again - at the end of the 7 days, if you have no symptoms, your isolation is over. If you have acute symptoms you stay isolated until they clear

    You are also exempt from RATS tests in any situation in which they might be required - eg occupational, visiting nursing homes travel etc - for 3 months

    Because people can have antibodies which show up as positive for a period of time but they are not infectious, it is just evidence of recent infection

    That is the legal procedure here as well, but my understanding is that those policies were put in place more because of business demands than actually medical science.

    I was searching online and my understanding is that while PCR tests can pick up genetic material for many weeks - if you test positive on a rapid test it is possible that you are still infectious (especially day 5 - 10).

    At any rate I couldn't get a definitive answer so I leaned towards a cautious approach and didn't return to the office until I tested negative (rapid test) just to be safe. I didn't want to expose anyone.

    Also I was pretty sick so I don't think my symptoms were even gone in 7 days.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,281 Member
    It was 10 days here too till a month or so ago COgypsy - but now only 7.
    Although the day of positive test is day 0, so really 8 days.

    if your acute symptoms are not gone, you stay in isolation.
    Ongoing symptoms like post viral cough, some people have fatigue for a while afterward - they are ok to go out.
    I will be wearing a mask when I am back at work - as masks are still required in health settings anyway.

    No I dont agree that positive RATS would mean you are still positive - I dont think SA Health (or other authorities) would exempt people who have had Covid for doing RATS for 3 months if that were so.
    They specifically say you do not need to do a clearance RATS test - if your symptoms have cleared you can end your isolation.
    And SA Health have been conservative compared to other places and I do not think swayed by business influences.
  • 33gail33
    33gail33 Posts: 1,155 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    It was 10 days here too till a month or so ago COgypsy - but now only 7.
    Although the day of positive test is day 0, so really 8 days.

    if your acute symptoms are not gone, you stay in isolation.
    Ongoing symptoms like post viral cough, some people have fatigue for a while afterward - they are ok to go out.
    I will be wearing a mask when I am back at work - as masks are still required in health settings anyway.

    No I dont agree that positive RATS would mean you are still positive - I dont think SA Health (or other authorities) would exempt people who have had Covid for doing RATS for 3 months if that were so.
    They specifically say you do not need to do a clearance RATS test - if your symptoms have cleared you can end your isolation.
    And SA Health have been conservative compared to other places and I do not think swayed by business influences.

    Interesting - it's only 5 days here but my belief is still that is just to get people back to work sooner. Or it was when it was changed back in January when basically everyone had it and the economy was going to come to a standstill with everyone isolating.

    Everything I have read from virologists and public health experts states that (at the very least up to day 10) if you test positive you are still infectious. Probably less infectious than the first few days, but still potentially infectious. And I did a LOT of (online) "research" when I had it. I'd be curious to see the data that SA Health used in making their assertion. Asymptomatic testing resumes here 30 days after confirmed infection.

    "The odds are very slim, outside of a laboratory setting, that someone who gets a positive result on a rapid antigen test is a non-infectious person shedding large amounts of dead virus, said Kelly Wroblewski, director of infectious disease programs for the Association of Public Health Laboratories."

    https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/if-you-test-positive-on-a-rapid-covid-test-dont-stop-isolating-just-yet-virologists-say

    My BIL (who is the director of public health here) concurred - he gave me actual numbers on how it works (which I now forget but something like 40% of people are still infectious after 7 days etc). It's not like you are 100% infectious on day 5 and 0% on day 6.

    The regulations here also state not to visit high risk settings between days 6-10 - so it seems that does acknowledge there is still a risk of infection.

    At any rate, yes legally probably no one could have stopped me from going into the office. But out of respect for the people I work with I followed the information that I could find, not the legal requirement. If that information is flawed then whatever, I'm not harming anyone by staying away. I can work from home anyway so it was no big deal.

Categories