Coronavirus: More than 80% of patients have mild disease and will recover

Started by dsanchez, February 23, 2020, 23:47:08

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SueC

I'm a member of the grassroots people-power political organisation GetUp which is fighting the corporate buy-off of our democracy in Australia, and other nasty phenomena like that.  I was very pleased to find the line they are taking in this email to all members on COVID-19 in my inbox this morning, and thought I would share it because it's good advice.


QuoteThrough the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, our movement of over a million people needs to respond with love and compassion for everyone in our community. Whether it's checking on your neighbours, standing up to racism and stigma or proactively taking measures to reduce the spread - we all have a role to play. Can you stand with me, help protect our communities, fight misinformation and encourage care? Keep reading to find out how.

----

Sue,

This is one of the biggest challenges we've faced.

As coronavirus continues to spread across Australia, I know that the coming days and weeks will be tough and full of uncertainty for so many of us.

For older Australians and people with underlying health conditions, for whom this virus is very serious.1

For casual, gig economy, and contract workers who are still being pushed to choose between putting their colleagues at risk and putting food on the table.

For those on income support struggling to get everyday items from supermarkets as panic buying worsens.2

For the Chinese and Asian communities who are facing growing racism and xenophobia, being harrassed in the streets, online and even at work.3

It's clear that in times like this, we need to respond as a community, care for each other and do what we can to help. From calling neighbours who might need the company, to proactively practicing social distancing to minimise the spread.

As a million-strong people-powered movement, what we do now matters. For those of us that can afford to take extra precautions, let's do a bit more. Together, we can protect our communities, fight misinformation and instead encourage care for our neighbours.

Head here to get the latest health information and updates, and share with your family and friends:
https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/covid-19/coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know/coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know?t=KEXRXcMAn&utm_campaign=Coronavirus&utm_content=28683&utm_medium=email&utm_source=blast

Right now, everyday heroes, helpers and public institutions are stepping up. From our dedicated healthcare workers on the frontline, to vital updates and coverage from the ABC and CSIRO scientists working to help develop a vaccine.4

These coming weeks and months are about those of us who can, doing a little more. It's about:

Responding as a community
Whether it's calling out racism towards the Chinese community, or taking extra precautions to keep yourself and family away from events and crowds to stop the spread. This is a time for solidarity.

Caring for ourselves and each other
Through this time, we need to support each other. Calling elderly neighbours, making sure people who are self-isolating have supplies and (digital) company, doing what we can to minimise the spread and minimise the risk for those most vulnerable.

Calling out misinformation
The tabloids and social media continue to spread misinformation and fear. Together, we need to call this out, and make sure it's the sensible advice from medical experts that dominate.


We know that coronavirus has already had a huge impact on the economy, but the government's stimulus package doesn't go far enough in boosting the social safety net for the people who need it most. We'll be working on this now and in the lead up to the May budget to make sure the budget responses to this crisis are focused on those that need it most.

Whatever comes next, we're all in this together. Now is the time for solidarity. Now is the time to come together with love and compassion.

Onwards,

Paul for the GetUp team

P.S As coronavirus continues to unfold, we want to hear from you Sue about how the GetUp community can be supporting each other, and what we can be doing to help. Can you take this short, 2 minute survey and let us know what you think?

P.P.S I keep thinking about the words of World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, "We're in this together, to do the right things with calm and protect the citizens of the world. It's doable."

References:
[1] Q&A on coronaviruses (COVID-19), World Health Organisation, 9 March 2020.
[2] 'Selfish' stockpiling of cheap food staples is hurting low-income earners, The New Daily, 6 March 2020.
[3] As coronavirus fears spread, Chinese restaurants are reporting an 80pc drop in business, ABC, 13 February 2020.
[4] Working against the new coronavirus, CSIRO, 13 March 2020.
SueC is time travelling

word_on_a_wing

I just heard the Sydney Vivid festival has been cancelled for this year.  ...So thankful all this wasn't happening this time last year (Disintegration! 🙌)


I decided not to go to the New Order concert last night. I have been feeling very fatigued/run-down so thought it best to play it safe and get more rest. 
When I see photos/videos of last night gig I think it was the right choice: thousands of people, very packed.
If it had been The Cure it would have likely been a different situation (as I'm a much bigger fan of The Cure than New Order)... that would have been a difficult choice.

It was interesting to see all the discussions on the Twitter feed of New Order and the tour promoter (Frontier) yesterday. Many people were getting quite outraged, saying it was irresponsible to let the concert go ahead; whereas others were very thankful it wasn't cancelled.
"Where the flesh meets the spirit world,
Where the traffic is thin..."

SueC

SueC is time travelling

Ulrich

Quote from: word_on_a_wing on March 15, 2020, 02:27:39It was interesting to see all the discussions on the Twitter feed of New Order and the tour promoter (Frontier) yesterday. Many people were getting quite outraged, saying it was irresponsible to let the concert go ahead; whereas others were very thankful it wasn't cancelled.

Yeah, that happens all over the place. On FB I am befriended with a promoter (doing small-scale gigs in clubs with 150 guests mostly, only rarely a bigger show of up to 1000), one guy was kinda "attacking" him for not listening to his advice of taking a break for 2 months (the authorities have now closed all clubs anyway, so he was right to wait for something "official"; there were no gigs planned for these last few days anyway). That one guy now considers this "irresponsible" - it turned it he never goes to these concerts as he lives elsewhere... in my eyes this behaviour is pretty close to "trolling" (I'd have removed him my from my list).  :unamused:
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

dsanchez

Bratislava during the coronavirus outbreak (filmed with my GoPro)

2023.11.22 Lima
2023.11.27 Montevideo

word_on_a_wing

A really interesting simulation that show the effect of social distancing. After watching this I understand it much more, and why it works better than quarantine...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/
"Where the flesh meets the spirit world,
Where the traffic is thin..."

SueC

That's a fabulous link, @word_on_a_wing!  Thanks for posting.   :smth023

I just logged on to suggest a piece of jewellery that might help with social distancing.   :angel



It will keep people at arm's length, and give you a steady supply of antivirals / immune boosters / miscellaneous nutrients to munch on...  :winking_tongue
SueC is time travelling

SueC

Quote from: dsanchez on March 16, 2020, 10:26:01Bratislava during the coronavirus outbreak (filmed with my GoPro)

You appear to be travelling significantly above 30km/h!  :cool

The architecture in the old part of town is lovely.  Thank you very much for the virtual tour.  I've never been to Bratislava before!
SueC is time travelling

word_on_a_wing

I'm curious to what extent others are socially distancing?

My brother's workplace is now from home (his work is all on a computer so it's possible).

I work in a health care setting (mental health) so this work currently can't be done from home. It looks likely I'll still need to go to the office, but with client contact increasingly via phone/Skype etc.
Ideally I'd prefer to be able to socially isolate... From all I can see it seems the best choice at a time like this.
I'm also feeling a bit worried Australia isn't doing enough. We should be doing similar to countries who were able to achieve flattened curves like Singapore. I would fully embrace more drastic actions occurring, shut everything down as much as possible ...stay home people!
"Where the flesh meets the spirit world,
Where the traffic is thin..."

Ulrich

Quote from: word_on_a_wing on March 17, 2020, 12:10:00I'm curious to what extent others are socially distancing?

My brother's workplace is now from home (his work is all on a computer so it's possible).

My brother-in-law is also working at his "home office" now (my sister has been doing so anyway for a few days a week - her usual "visits" to the company are now being reduced). Their kids are at home (schools will be closed until after Easter).

I'm self-employed, so I basically work from here (next door) anyway. Trouble is my customers mostly do own stores and need people to come in (which not many will do now), thus I reckon not much work will come in.

Might have to do some shopping at times (maybe for my mother too).

Apart from going to concerts or cinema, I didn't go out that much anyway. As clubs and cinemas are closed now, I don't even have to think about going.
Going for a walk/hike is still possible under the circumstances (and they tell people they can go out and do "jogging" or whatever). On Sunday I already walked in an area in which I saw only few people from afar.

Other than that, I'm probably restricted to staying in, maybe doing a bit of garden work, contact friends via email, letter, phone & forums. Plus I might do more of these (usual) acitivities: reading, listening to music, watching movies & series...
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

word_on_a_wing

Can you get shopping home delivered Ulrich?
Here they do that for a small fee, and you can choose for it to be left (so you don't have contact with the delivery person).

I'm wondering if Sue is still doing AirBNB?

I'm feeling a bit frustrated about my parents being a bit set in their ways. My Mum was at bingo tonight where everyone was sitting close together (not the advised 1 1/2 metres apart). I gave her hand sanitizer last week and she keeps forgetting to use it. Plus she has a heart condition. ...I feel the urge to lock her in the house to stop her going out unnecessarily! I've had to settle for a strongly worded plea, combined with using disinfectant throughout their house!
"Where the flesh meets the spirit world,
Where the traffic is thin..."

Ulrich

Quote from: word_on_a_wing on March 17, 2020, 13:20:05Can you get shopping home delivered Ulrich?

We could (I guess). But I can imagine they've got more of those now than usual (i.e. they might be overbooked). I will look into this later. Right now there are no cases known in this town (*), my mum still goes to the shop on her own. My sister has already offered to go shopping for her.

(* and 13 known cases in the whole region, more than 1100 cases in our federal state)
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

SueC

Quote from: word_on_a_wing on March 17, 2020, 12:10:00I'm curious to what extent others are socially distancing?

We are avoiding crowds at the moment. In everyday terms things aren't vastly different because we live on a farm and are therefore already comparatively quarantined, and we generally avoid crowds anyway, except at concerts (but we didn't have any of those lined up right now anyway) and for fortnightly grocery shopping (which we always do off-peak).

I run the farm and do my writing from home, so I don't get to town more than once a week at most on average anyway. The rest of the time I'm either on the farm, or going on a hike somewhere with my husband, and that rarely involves meeting another human being up close.

My husband has just gone back to work on Monday after two weeks' annual leave. He works at a medical practice, and they had a big meeting Monday morning about COVID-19. As of now, no staff with any sniffles or sore throat are allowed to turn up to work - doctors included. To do so is considered irresponsible unless people are prepared to work in biohazard suits - they don't want to spread COVID-19. Also, public servants in this state have just been given an extra 14 days COVID-19 leave to use for the same reasons - they don't want anyone coming to work with the sniffles. My husband works at a private practice so that won't be covered by this extra leave, but staff have general sick leave to use, and annual leave as well.

For years, in that practice, anyone coming in with respiratory symptoms was asked to wear a mask and disinfect their hands, to reduce spread. This has reduced illness amongst staff, but not eliminated it. They also wipe down surfaces, doorknobs, taps etc with disinfectant several times a day as standard practice and are now stepping that up a bit more. Brett disinfects his hands before handling his personal items, like his lunch bag and briefcase, and then again before leaving for the day. Doors are opened with elbows.

Both of us have a mildly sore throat at present (but nothing else); I had that on and off for a couple of days.  But work told Brett to stay home tomorrow because of it, just in case, and come back in on Friday (he has Thursdays off anyway) if it's gone.  It's highly unlikely to be COVID-19, both because we've had no documented cases in our region yet, and because it's the kind of thing that is mild and comes and goes (and it's not affected my inclination to exercise).  But, nobody is taking chances, and also spreading any germs around at present is stacking the field in favour of COVID-19, so it's a sensible policy.

Since we both have the same symptoms, we are going to sleep in the same bed as usual, but if it had been only one of us, then the unaffected person would have shipped out to the guest wing (our bedroom/ensuite is more self-contained, and therefore makes the best sick quarters).  We hate to do that, but don't want to be sick at the same time if we can avoid it.  (Oh, and we're now on the therapeutic dose of coldsore formula - Vit C, zinc, lysine - not on the everyday dose; and drinking loads of green and herbal teas - even more than usual - and extra mindful of eating properly and getting additional rest.)

But have a look at what an online friend is doing over in Spain re social distancing - she's got chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is therefore really prone to respiratory viruses and pneumonia, and the infection has exploded in her country:  https://www.horseforum.com/general-off-topic-discussion/covid-19-different-containment-approaches-around-812919/page6/#post1970844847

You asked about Airbnb.  In theory I'm still running it, but I'm not quite sure if I'm going to accept any more bookings for a while.  We just had a COVID-19 related cancellation - people had booked us to go to someone's 60th in the area, but the 60th celebration has now been postponed. Airbnb's current policy around the pandemic is that for the near future, anyone - hosts or guests - can cancel without penalty, and I agree with that policy.  Anyway, it saved me having to contact the guest to ask if she had any respiratory symptoms (and to say that I had a sore throat) etc (because I won't let anyone with illness past the threshold at the moment, except ourselves...)

Disease symptom status will be one thing that will have to be communicated about earnestly from both host and guest sides... in theory I'm not averse to taking symptom-free guests when there is no illness in the house either.  I do know that people can be asymptomatic and still shed virus in the early stages, but at the moment the risk is quite low.  If and when the infection skyrockets and we start getting community transmission, I won't be taking any bookings until that status changes...

Nice talking to you, @word_on_a_wing - and such a hygienic way to talk!   :angel
SueC is time travelling

Ulrich

Infection rates were still increasing the last few days, I hope the current measures will help soon.

A friend told me the University where he works will be closing down from Friday. Most shops are closed now (except pharmacies, drug stores, supermarkets and such) too.

No new work has been coming, no surprise here. Did some garden work yesterday in the sunshine. Having a rest today... (because, after it was done, I took a mis-step somehow and sprained my foot a bit).
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

SueC

Quote from: Ulrich on March 18, 2020, 10:24:07No new work has been coming, no surprise here. Did some garden work yesterday in the sunshine. Having a rest today... (because, after it was done, I took a mis-step somehow and sprained my foot a bit).

Typical Murphy.  It's always something banal like this.  The one time I broke bones in my body was NOT going flying off a galloping horse, it was falling from a small height after unbalancing, and landing awkwardly.  That broke three bones in my foot!  I was worried I might be getting decrepit - what, osteoporosis already??? - but no, apparently that injury is seen in all ages, most commonly from slipping in the bathtub, the ER people were telling me!

Get better soon! :)
SueC is time travelling