The Covid-19 Thread: News, Preparation Tips, Etc

[UmSumayyah]

I heard a news reporters say keep your windows closed at home. Struck me kind of strange, as I do not wear PPE outdoors, although I see Chinese people wearing the mask any an everywhere all the time. I guess because it is airborne.

Yeah. ... no.

 

[King of Sorrow]

I got the inside info now because of you. I watch it from YouTube live from MSNBC or one of the news channels on YouTube.

I will try to watch it from the gov site today. Hope it supports my French Connection!

Do I use the same link you provided for that 2 o'clock session, from yesterday? Thank you so much again!

Yup, same link. He's usually scheduled to come on at 11.30am so I go to the site 5-10 minutes before, click the link to watch live, and just let the waiting music play until it starts.

 

[Chicoro]

The virus is most definitely airborne.

Now, they are saying that 50% to 80% of people with the virus are asymptomatic. That means these folks can be super spreaders.




Conclusion:You need to test everybody.


Does that mean that all of us, each one of us needs to have two (2) types of tests, one of each?

1. The first type of test I'm referencing is an antigen test, which shows if you currently have Covid-19. An antigen test that has a high level of efficacy should be able to detect low levels of Covid 19 infection
   • If you test positive you need to trace your contacts.
     
   • If you test positive you need to isolate and quarantine yourself.
2. The second type of test I'm referencing is an antibody test, which shows if you had Covid-19 but you do not have an active infection at the moment of the test. This would be good assuming that once you get COVID -19 you have an immunity to the virus, that stops you from getting reinfected for up to eighteen months.

Question:
Does everyone need to get both types of tests?

 

[Chicoro]

Yup, same link. He's usually scheduled to come on at 11.30am so I go to the site 5-10 minutes before, click the link to watch live, and just let the waiting music play until it starts.

I usually tune in, via some news channel on YouTube, at 5:30 pm my time, here in Lyon, France. I believe the time difference from France to New York is 6 hours. It's 9 hours from Los Angeles to Lyon, France.

It's about 4:45 pm right now. I'll head on over and try to claim my space, going through the government link you provided, in about 30 more minutes.

@King of Sorrow
I don't see the link to watch live!!!!!!!!
I'm on the 'pressroom' page. Should I go somewhere else?

I found the live button!!!!

 

[meka72]

Sorry to hear this. Praying.

Praying he hangs in there and starts to improve. Are they sure it's the z pack that caused the heart issue. I know hydroxychloroquine does. Is he a candidate for ECMO at all??

Was zinc a part of what they gave him? I heard zinc is key with that drug. It’s supposed to be the 3:
The drug
Z pack
Zinc

Thanks ladies! I hope he pulls through but my friend seems to think that they need to accept the inevitable. Things are further complicated by his spouse refusal to share info with his family. A nurse is sharing info with my friend’s mother.

I went back to check and this is what the doctors gave him:

Azithromycin
Plaquenil same as (Hydroxychloroquine)
Cesefine
Zinc Sulfate

 

[meka72]

Praying he hangs in there and starts to improve. Are they sure it's the z pack that caused the heart issue. I know hydroxychloroquine does. Is he a candidate for ECMO at all??

Maybe I misunderstood what my friend’s text meant. This is what she said:
“Per cardiologist Z-pac stopped because of heart rhythm.”

 

[Chicoro]

Low Infection Areas = You get antigen testing!
High Infection Areas = You get antibody testing!

I just started re-listening to Gov Cuomo's briefing with the other governors he did yesterday, Monday, April 13th, at 2:00 pm EST. Governor Lamont of Connecticut answered my question about testing. He suggests:

1. Perform antigen testing on people in those areas with low infection rates.
2. Perform antibody testing on people in those areas with high infection rates.

He adds that [the results and data] will help to put together a system to help get people back to work [safely].

Starts at around the 10:00 minute mark on the video:
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/go...vernor-wolf-governor-carney-governor-raimondo

 

[B_Phlyy]

I think it is good you wear a bun.

I would encourage a covering for the entire head. Hair is a fiber. Therefore, the virus particles can get in the hair. Now add that we wash about 1 x per week and that creates more potential issues.

Whenever I go out, I cover my head with a scarf and then put on a hat. But, I don't cover my bun. It sticks out the back of my scarf. That would be ideal if I covered my hair completely. I would assume that most viral transfer, that causes infection, is going to from a frontal transfer. Meaning, stuff in your face is what can get you sick. Therefore, an exposed bun or ponytail in the back would seem to be less of an issue.

I'm looking into making a turban but fabric is at a premium now. They don't have any surgical caps I like on the site I normally order from.

And despite my best efforts, people still come up and tap Nurse B_Phlyy on the shoulder in COVID-19 healthcare facilities. Claiming they said my name but didn't want to yell through the mask since it appears I didn't hear. I'd rather you yell than touch me. So yeah, even my bun in the back may have people breathing on it.

 

[vevster]

Great News! A few months ago, I purchased an at home testing system. It was in the final phase of development.

Anyway, they kept pushing the ship date but today they said they were acquired by another company and have added COVID antibody testing to the system! Since I was an early adopter, I get it for free! So, I can do my own COVID antibody test in the privacy of my own home. Exciting!

 

[Chicoro]

I'm looking into making a turban but fabric is at a premium now. They don't have any surgical caps I like on the site I normally order from.

And despite my best efforts, people still come up and tap Nurse B_Phlyy on the shoulder in COVID-19 healthcare facilities. Claiming they said my name but didn't want to yell through the mask since it appears I didn't hear. I'd rather you yell than touch me. So yeah, even my bun in the back may have people breathing on it.

Put some cling wrap or a plastic baggie on. Then wrap that with something. You won't need as much fabric.

 

[Chicoro]

Great News! A few months ago, I purchased an at home testing system. It was in the final phase of development.

Anyway, they kept pushing the ship date but today they said they were acquired by another company and have added COVID antibody testing to the system! Since I was an early adopter, I get it for free! So, I can do my own COVID antibody test in the privacy of my own home. Exciting!

Keep us posted. What system did you purchase?

 

[naturalgyrl5199]

Tip: Homemade Yogurt From Powdered Milk!


@naturalgyrl5199

I noticed that you stated that you buy lots of yogurt. This recipe may be of some interest to you.

After 3 attempts, I finally was able to successfully make yogurt from powdered milk. Once you can figure out what works for you, with the tools you have, then it becomes simple and cheap. Once you have your first successful batch, you will only need to buy powdered milk.

I put the details in The Living on Less thread. Here's the link for you:

https://longhaircareforum.com/threads/the-living-on-less-thread.738439/page-18#post-25462757

EDIT:

• My batch of yogurt came out like honey, it was stringy but still edible.
  
• Also, at some point your culture will give out and you will have to buy more starter or some yogurt to start another culture!

Thank you!!!!

 

[vevster]

Keep us posted. What system did you purchase?

Previously Bloom Health, now Vessel Health

 

[Chicoro]

Thank you!!!!

My pleasure.

I have some caveats. My stuff came out stringy but good. There are literally 100 videos on Youtube. I cobbled together the various ones using milk powder and created or refined the process based on what I had.

I hope it works well for you.

 

[Layluh]

Well my job is going to be doing free antibody/antigen testing soon for employees and all household members.

 

[naturalgyrl5199]

Cost of living is cheaper. You can buy materials and labor for less. If things or wages start to get expensive in China, they literal manipulate their currency so it remain cheaper to buy from them.


We as Americans will need to make a conscious decision to buy local, which cost more, or continue to be at the mercy of China.

Which is why Cheeto aggravates me to NO END. He vacillates from saying "China is taking advantage of us" (And he is RIGHT!) to "well President Xi and I are friends, and he is a great man."
But he isn't addressing the labor issues.
He isn't addressing the trademark and patent issues that has been a problem for more than 2 decades----however the flipside is....China is the reason cost of goods have been cheaper since the 2000s.....

Did ya'll know that NOBODY manufactures antibiotics in the US anymore?
Do you know WHY antibiotics are as cheap as $4/30 day supply now?
Do ya'll understand that if they decided to stop making antibiotics (its all made in China) we'd be screwed and the hospital system would IMPLODE?
China has us by the BEANS.
I will give it to Trump that he says he cut a deal where they have to agree to spend $250B to invest on US Goods. Because we were doing all the buying with the understanding that the benefit to us was cheap prices. However, we need to demand they do more, and we need some kind of reset to really see if we can make more goods in the US (local) or there will be a war.

 

[vevster]

Well my job is going to be doing free antibody/antigen testing soon for employees and all household members.

If only the states were like your job!

 

[naturalgyrl5199]

Also--
While prevention is the MOST IDEAL situation.....Preparedness save lives and can shorten illness. I believe this Cheeto is going to open things up and put us all at risk but I am resigned to the fact that the economy is so structurally poor, we wouldn't be able to withstand the status quo as of today (4/14/20) for more than a couple more months. Last month I predicted a 2nd stimulus package and the 1st one is barely out and they are asking for another. Bernie Sanders called it and I believed it as soon as he said it.
I'm going to order some masks with my kids' name on it and have many for them, because I cannot continue homeschooling for 12 months. But I don't trust that the virulence of this thing isn't serious. We had a kid's parent refuse to cancel their spring break trip to the UK and tested positive (Elem. School age). People were mad it was shared on the local news but I think it was good so people can try and take it serious. If you have loved ones in a nursing home, pull them out. My point is that I had a day dream last week that my daughter was wearing a mask in school. Dr. Fauci has been saying "new normal" and mask wearing is part of that I believe. I will be teaching her to wear it on the van ride to school and on the play ground...and prompting her to remember to put it in her bag. They want to open schools here in FL as early as May 1st. I don't know how I feel. She is dying to see her classmates again but my area is like in 7th-8th place behind Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Orlando areas which have surged. Then if these daggone kids come in for the summer....from college (I live in a college town with 2 major Uni's and 2 small colleges)....we are really doomed. Not to mention how over 30-40% of Florida Natives attend college...in my city.

 

[ThirdEyeBeauty]

Social media is winning. That is all.

 

[Chicoro]

Social media is winning. That is all.

What do you mean? I don't understand the context.

 

[meka72]

Just ordered a sewing machine so that I can sew some face masks using anti-allergen pillowcases (thanks to whomever shared that in this thread). I plan on adding a pocket to add a piece of furnace filter.

ETA: not going to use the furnace filter because of the possibility of fiberglass. I will use coffee filters instead.

 

[Black Ambrosia]

For those of you taking vitamin c, how much are you taking?

 

[Lute]

For those of you taking vitamin c, how much are you taking?

I take 500 mg, but I mostly take Vitamin D2 (50,000 - 1 pill a week or take the daily supplement when i run out) , and cod liver oil. From what I read Vitamin D works with your immune system and POC lack in that.

 

[meka72]

Spoiler: Emergency room doctor, near death with coronavirus, saved with experimental treatment

By Richard Read Seattle Bureau Chief

April 13, 2020

10:48 PM

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SEATTLE —
As critically ill, elderly patients streamed into his emergency room outside Seattle, Dr. Ryan Padgett quickly came to understand how deadly COVID-19 could be.

Of the first two dozen or so he saw, not a single one survived.

It took longer for Padgett and his colleagues at EvergreenHealth Medical Center — the first hospital in the country to treat multiple coronavirus patients — to learn how easily the disease could spread.

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At first, the medical workers wore only surgical masks and gloves. Later, they were told to wear respirators and other gear, but the equipment was unfamiliar and Padgett couldn’t be certain he put it on and took it off correctly each time.

A 6-foot-3, 250-pound former football star who played for Northwestern in the 1996 Rose Bowl, he wasn’t fazed by much.

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“To worry about myself, as a 44-year-old healthy man, didn’t even cross my mind,” he said in an interview Monday.

But on March 12, with his wedding day two months away, Padgett became the patient.

Soon after being admitted to his own hospital with a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, he was placed on a ventilator. Five days after that, his lungs and kidneys were failing, his heart was in trouble, and doctors figured he had a day or so to live.

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He owes his survival to an elite team of doctors who tried an experimental treatment pioneered in China and used on the sickest of all COVID-19 patients.

Lessons from his dramatic recovery could help doctors worldwide treat other extremely ill COVID-19 patients.

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“This is a movie-like save, it doesn’t happen in the real world often,” Padgett said. “I was just a fortunate recipient of people who said, ‘We are not done. We are going to go into an experimental realm to try and save your life.’"

Once his colleagues at EvergreenHealth realized they had run out of options, they called Swedish Medical Center, one of two Seattle hospitals that has a machine known as an ECMO, which replaces the functions of the heart and lungs.

But even after the hospital admitted him, doctors there had to figure out why he was so profoundly sick.

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Based on the astronomical level of inflammation in his body and reports written by Chinese and Italian physicians who had treated the sickest COVID-19 patients, the doctors came to believe that it was not the disease itself killing him but his own immune system.

It had gone haywire and began to attack itself — a syndrome known as a “cytokine storm.”

The immune system normally uses proteins called cytokines as weapons in fighting a disease. For unknown reasons in some COVID-19 patients, the immune system first fails to respond quickly enough and then floods the body with cytokines, destroying blood vessels and filling the lungs with fluid.

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The doctors tried a drug called Actemra, which was designed to treat rheumatoid arthritis but also approved in 2017 to treat cytokine storms in cancer patients.

“Our role was to quiet the storm,” said Dr. Samuel Youssef, a cardiac surgeon. “Dr. Padgett was able to clear the virus” once his immune system was back in balance.

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Dr. Matt Hartman, a cardiologist, said that after four days on the immunosuppressive drug, supplemented by high-dose vitamin C and other therapies, the level of oxygen in Padgett’s blood improved dramatically. On March 23, doctors were able to take him off life support.

Four days later, they removed his breathing tube. He slowly came out of his sedated coma, at first imagining that he was in the top floor of the Space Needle converted to a COVID ward.

He soon became more conscious of his surroundings and had a FaceTime conversation with family members, who hadn’t been able to visit because of the hospital’s coronavirus lockdown.

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More coronavirus coverage

“It’s an incredible thing to survive a brush with death and not be able to see and be with your most loved people,” Padgett said. “And when everyone on staff who comes to see you has to be in a spacesuit, you just feel like this pariah. The isolation was pretty devastating at times.”

On March 31, balloons, gifts and letters came in the door. It was his 45th birthday. “My birthday cake was an ice chip,” he said, recalling how grateful he was for his first sustenance by mouth.

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As Padgett got to know Youssef, Hartman and other team members, they told him about a 33-year-old woman — a mother of three — who was in the hospital as well, also having experienced a cytokine storm. He saw the team’s excitement when they tried the approach on her, and she too recovered.

Padgett went home on April 5. He said Monday that he faced a long, slow recovery, physically and cognitively. He expects to be a better doctor, reminded how devastating an illness can be to a patient and a family.

Returning to the ER won’t be easy, he said. “But that’s my home, that’s what I do,” he said. “I enjoy that everyone-in-the-foxhole mentality.”

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And one day before then, Padgett and his fiancee, Connie Kinsley, plan to have a small wedding ceremony with a few friends on their boat moored on a Seattle lake.

 

[meka72]

For those of you taking vitamin c, how much are you taking?

I started taking 1000 mg liposomal vitamin c.

 

[BayouBelle]

Just ordered a sewing machine so that I can sew some face masks using anti-allergen pillowcases (thanks to whomever shared that in this thread). I plan on adding a pocket to add a piece of furnace filter.

The pocket for a filter is such a good idea! Thanks

 

[Chicoro]

Respiratory Assistance Levels and Support with oxygen being lowest level of support and ECMO being the highest level of support.

1. Oxygen
2.CPAP machine
3.Intubation (Ventilator/Respirator) 70% to 80% death rate
4.extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) about 400 centers in the US

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extracorporeal_membrane_oxygenation
ECMO:

"Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a technique of life support that consists of diverting a fraction of the patient's blood flow (BF) through an artificial lung for gas exchange (oxygenation and carbon dioxide [CO2] removal) and then returning it to the patient."

https://www.elso.org/Registry/SupportDocuments/CenterIDList.aspx

 

[meka72]

The pocket for a filter is such a good idea! Thanks

I tried to find the link where I first saw that idea but can’t seem to find it. If you google “face mask” along with “filter merv 13” (the filter rating), you should find multiple resources.

If you try it, I hope that you come back and let us know how it worked for you.

ETA: I did a deep dive on filter ratings. The higher the rating, the better. I landed on merv 13 because it was the most affordable to me and easiest to get (even though delivery is delayed). IIRC, merv 16 is hospital level rating but that was more than I wanted to spend.

 

[Jmartjrmd]

I tried to find the link where I first saw that idea but can’t seem to find it. If you google “face mask” along with “filter merv 13” (the filter rating), you should find multiple resources.

If you try it, I hope that you come back and let us know how it worked for you.

ETA: I did a deep dive on filter ratings. The higher the rating, the better. I landed on merv 13 because it was the most affordable to me and easiest to get (even though delivery is delayed). IIRC, merv 16 is hospital level rating but that was more than I wanted to spend.

Be careful girl. The vaccum bag/furnace people have made statements saying their filters contain spun fiberglass and are not safe for mask making.

This lady had some good suggestions or I've seen blue shop towels as reccomendations.

 

[vevster]

For those of you taking vitamin c, how much are you taking?

I take 4,000 to 6,000 mg in a divided dose per day.