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

yamilee21

Well-Known Member
Has anyone here taken Paxlovid antiviral medication for Covid? I’m trying to decide if I should ask my doc for it or just power through.
@TrulyBlessed I did. I have multiple comorbidities, and cannot “take my chances” with Covid. My symptoms started about 48 hours before I was able to take my first dose, and I had to take a modified course of Paxlovid due to one of my health conditions. My worst symptoms continued about 36 hours after I started taking it, but decreased substantially afterward. I did not get rebound symptoms afterward. The only side effect I noticed from the Paxlovid was a metallic taste that ended as soon as I stopped taking it. (I did not lose my sense of taste/smell from Covid.)

I can’t say for sure how much Paxlovid helped; we were taking extra vitamins, and drinking home remedy teas and broths at the same time. It’s been just about 2 months since we had Covid; my kids are fully recovered, but I don’t have quite the same energy level yet, and I still get tired more easily after most activities.
 

Lylddlebit

Well-Known Member
I deleted the covid direct I just posted because it has some strong language and replaced it with the main link to his page. Dr Prasad generally has some good videos. His recent video about resentment some doctors display after contracting covid. I don't expect doctors to be inhuman and unbothered by catching covid but Dr Prasad makes valid points. I definitely think regular exposure to the virus is a ticking clock to catch it. I watched his Angry Doctors video that got posted today. For the record, I generally agree with is concerns.

 
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Everything Zen

Well-Known Member
I hope your dh gets better. The loss or alteration of taste and smell isn't going to kill anybody but people really take for granted how Covid can change your brain. I would be beside myself if I had to go from regla smell and taste to what some of the Covid people go through especially the ones where everything smells and tastes like garbage.
I still say his case is relatively mild - he’s experiencing upper abdominal cramping that keeps him up at night seems localized to the transverse colon, fatigue, swollen glands, stabbing localized headache that comes and goes, body aches and pains, and hypersensitive skin. At first I was just angry with him but this ice queen may melt just a tad because now the it hit home he seems concerned. I am still without symptoms but took a test today just to confirm; negative. He wasted a test today- shocked that he was still positive. I mean- DUH :look:
 

Peppermynt

Defying Gravity
I deleted the covid direct I just posted because it has some strong language and replaced it with the main link to his page. Dr Prasad generally has some good videos. His recent video about resentment some doctors display after contracting covid. I don't expect doctors to be inhuman and unbothered by catching covid but Dr Prasad makes valid points. I definitely think regular exposure to the virus is a ticking clock to catch it. I watched his Angry Doctors video that got posted today. For the record, I generally agree with is concerns.

I'm halfway through the Angry Docs video and honestly I disagree with most of what he is saying. Stop making excuses for the general (GQP) public being willfully ignorant and un-empathetic to others (the immune system compromised, the elderly, babies, etc etc.). Until the $h hits the fan and they end up with covid then all of a sudden "Covid is no joke" while they're prepping to be intubated. And stop with all the "I'm really worried when doctors feel this way "woo-wooing. I do believe that doctors and nurses have a right to be angry over this whole situation.

I completely completely completely agree with the Angry Docs. Just wear the :censored: mask.
 

Lylddlebit

Well-Known Member
We disagree then. The idea of of anyone hospitalized during this most recent strain getting less than the "standard of care" because their doctor is pissed is scary though. I'd expect anyone who is responsible to get upset about catching covid. However in the wake of folks getting first time passports during the pandemic and looking for blame after they get back from vacation, that large gathering, being vaccine free during a pandemic (that is the camp I am in ), don' wear masks or are in situations where they are exposed to the virus regularly is short-sighted. We are in the middle of a whole pandemic where every risk we take can get us sick. Getting upset about getting sick is human but acting like everyone else is less responsible than that risk we chose to take and justify once one tests positive isn't productive. Certainly not as productive as mitigating which risk(s) we individually find justification to take. Every risk one takes is a risk and most of us don't control other people.
I'm halfway through the Angry Docs video and honestly I disagree with most of what he is saying. Stop making excuses for the general (GQP) public being willfully ignorant and un-empathetic to others (the immune system compromised, the elderly, babies, etc etc.). Until the $h hits the fan and they end up with covid then all of a sudden "Covid is no joke" while they're prepping to be intubated. And stop with all the "I'm really worried when doctors feel this way "woo-wooing. I do believe that doctors and nurses have a right to be angry over this whole situation.

I completely completely completely agree with the Angry Docs. Just wear the :censored: mask.
 
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Peppermynt

Defying Gravity
We disagree then. The idea of of anyone hospitalized during this most recent strain getting less than the "standard of care" because their doctor is pissed is scary though. I'd expect anyone who is responsible to get upset about catching covid. However in the wake of folks getting first time passports during the pandemic and looking for blame after they get back from vacation, that large gathering, being vaccine free during a pandemic (that is the camp I am in ), don' wear masks or are in situations where they are exposed to the virus regularly is short-sighted. We are in the middle of a whole pandemic where every risk we take can get us sick. Getting upset about getting sick is human but acting like everyone else is less responsible than that risk we chose to take and justify once one tests positive isn't productive. Certainly not as productive as mitigating which risk(s) we individually find justification to take. Every risk one takes is a risk and most of us don't control other people.
Maybe I need to read all of those doc rants but I missed where any doc said they wouldn’t fulfill their oath and provide adequate care.

And frankly they (unmasked COVID deniers) are being irresponsible. In many cases willfully irresponsible.

So yes we can agree to disagree.
 

Lylddlebit

Well-Known Member
Maybe I need to read all of those doc rants but I missed where any doc said they wouldn’t fulfill their oath and provide adequate care.

And frankly they (unmasked COVID deniers) are being irresponsible. In many cases willfully irresponsible.

So yes we can agree to disagree.
I can see my point is getting lost. The rants don't prove doctors being negligent but compassion fatigue is a valid area of consideration when seeking care.
I do agree not wearing masks is irresponsible in public settings. I personally would not go that route. The problem is there is no blood test or mask wearing card to prove you have been masking the whole pandemic once you are hospitalized. You can't prove responsibility when your body begs help that only a doctor can provide. If one gets sicks and goes to the hospital they just go there for help and how responsible they are in real life doesn't stop bias. However when I see evidence of negative bias, that does impact where I would personally receive care and to whom I would allow to care for me and my family. I went to urgent care one time during this pandemic when my child go injured(and it was one of those facilities that have other specialities in the building that I had been to before and trusted) . I took my child to a black practitioner who was part of my community and treated me and my baby right. A facility where rapport was established and I didn't have to question bias. Just putting it on your radar. A lot of times people don't question who treats them when they need care, but I would not be that passive when a negative tone is established by a specific practitioner and there is the option to go elsewhere. My first choice would be established rapport, good reputation or a trusted provider. We can disagree on the opinion of the video but I hope that explains my point better.

For anyone who is comfortable with that specific doctor who was traveling while Covid positive and "pissed at the world" in the video content, good luck to them as a patient. I hope that provider assumes they wore the mask once he has their chart.
 
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Crackers Phinn

Either A Blessing Or A Lesson.
I still say his case is relatively mild - he’s experiencing upper abdominal cramping that keeps him up at night seems localized to the transverse colon, fatigue, swollen glands, stabbing localized headache that comes and goes, body aches and pains, and hypersensitive skin. At first I was just angry with him but this ice queen may melt just a tad because now the it hit home he seems concerned. I am still without symptoms but took a test today just to confirm; negative. He wasted a test today- shocked that he was still positive. I mean- DUH :look:
Mild Covid symptoms don't sound mild. It's obviously better than a ventilator but that's some poo to go through right here.
 

Peppermynt

Defying Gravity
I respect your point and would also not go back to a practitioner with whom I've had a bad experience. (The last thing I am is passive and soft spoken :look:.) Feeling comfortable and trusting the doctors, nurse practitioners, etc you depend on is absolutely critical.

And if a doctor/NP asks if you've been vaccinated when you're struggling for breath and you exclaim, heck no its made of aborted baby fetus ears, then I suspect they will draw certain conclusions (as would I). They're human beings too. I expect they'll do their job, but frankly too many everyday people haven't done their jobs - free vaccines if you're eligible, boosters, masks, distancing, etc ...

So anyways, I guess we disagree on something but I guess I'm not sure what at this point. Peace.
 

awhyley

Well-Known Member

Lord, what is this?! Like Covid and Monkeypox weren't bad enough :swearing:
Summer is officially cancelled.

eta: Based on this, it appears to have 'Covid-like' symptoms,
"Polio is very contagious, and a person can spread the virus even if they aren't sick. Symptoms, which can be mild and flu-like (fatigue, fever, headache, stiffness, muscle pain, vomiting), can take up to 30 days to appear, during which time an infected individual can be shedding virus to others."

Link: https://health.ny.gov/press/releases/2022/2022-07-21_polio_rockland_county.htm#:~:text=Polio is very contagious, and,be shedding virus to others.
 

awhyley

Well-Known Member
Here we go, smh


It's even reached the children. :(

CDC reports the first two monkeypox cases in children in the US​

By Brenda Goodman and Deidre McPhillips, CNN
Updated 2334 GMT (0734 HKT) July 22, 2022

(CNN)Two cases of monkeypox have been identified in children in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
The two cases are unrelated and probably the result of household transmission, the CDC said.
One case is a toddler who is a resident of California. The other is an infant who is not a US resident. Public health officials are investigating how the children were infected.


Monkeypox spreading in 'cluster events,' but vaccines can help stop it, local health officials say

Monkeypox spreading in 'cluster events,' but vaccines can help stop it, local health officials say


Both have symptoms but are in good health and receiving treatment with an antiviral medication named tecovirimat or TPOXX, which the CDC recommends for children under the age of 8 because they are considered to be at higher risk from infection.
Since the monkeypox outbreak began in May, most of the cases have happened among men who have sex with men. However, anyone can catch the virus through close skin-to-skin contact. In the case of children, the agency said this could include "holding, cuddling, feeding, as well as through shared items such as towels, bedding, cups, and utensils."
The CDC says the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine is being made available for children through special expanded use protocols. The agency has also developed new guidance for health care providers about identifying, treating and preventing monkeypox in children and teens.
Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the CDC's Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, said Friday that the cases in children were not surprising and that the US should be ready to respond to more.


How is monkeypox being treated?

How is monkeypox being treated?


"The social networks that we have as humans mean that we have contact with a lot of different people. And while this outbreak is spreading in a particular social network right now, I think we've messaged from the start that there could be cases that occur outside those networks and that we need to be vigilant for it and ready to respond and message about it," she said.
"I know that in Europe and other places where this outbreak is also expanding, they have reported cases in children, in women. And I think the same thing is happening and expected to happen here in the United States," she said.
"There is no evidence to date that we're seeing this virus spread outside of those populations to any degree," McQuiston said.

Read the rest here - Link: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/22/health/monkeypox-children-vaccine/index.html
 

awhyley

Well-Known Member
Covid-19? Not Me!

Meet the covid super-dodgers​

The no-covid club gets more exclusive every day. And some members have no idea how they’re still there.

July 21, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EDT

Joe and Susannah Altman are serious poker players. Sometimes, when they play in tournaments, they’ll place what’s called a “Last Longer” bet with friends who see which of them can outlast the others. The pandemic kept the Altmans, both 58, away from the in-person tables for over a year — Susannah has lupus, and at the time, they were caring for a friend with cancer — but they came out of lockdown a little over a year ago, after getting vaccinated, and since then have had some close calls. The Las Vegas couple dined with friends who subsequently tested positive. Joe spent a day with their 25-year-old son, only to have that son be diagnosed with covid 48 hours later. Just last month, Susannah went to lunch with four friends, two of whom tested positive days later.

“Joe and I feel like we’re still in the Last Longer with covid,” Susannah said in a recent phone interview.
She said she figures it’s only a matter of time before she gets knocked out. That’s the way the game goes.

“At some point,” she says, “there’s only one person left.”

There are no winners in a pandemic. That said, if you’ve made it to the summer of 2022 without yet testing positive for the coronavirus, you might feel entitled to some bragging rights. Who’s still in the game at this point? Not Anthony S. Fauci. Not President Biden, who tested positive this week. Not Denzel Washington, Camila Cabello or Lionel Messi. Not your friend who’s even more cautious than you but who finally caught it last week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that nearly 60 percent of Americans had contracted the virus at some point — and that was as of the end of February, before the extremely contagious BA.4 and BA.5 variants became rampant.


“I’ve always been doing strikeouts, and I don’t think that anyone else is doing them as much as I am,” said Luke Martin, a 30-year-old film producer, from his apartment in Brooklyn.
And what’s a strikeout?
“That’s when you take a hit of weed, hold it in while you rip a shot and then chug a beer before exhaling.” (Note: Do not do this, for any reason.)
Martin does comedy in his spare time and was joking — mostly. He did start doing strikeouts on Zoom calls with old college buddies at the onset of the pandemic shutdown and continued even when the world reopened. One by one, the people in Martin’s orbit fell ill with covid. But not him. Coincidence?

Yes, definitely. That is definitely a coincidence.
But among covid-deniers — the always-testing-negative ones, not the conspiracy theory crew — theories about the reasons for their good fortune abound.

“I must have superhuman immunity or something,” mused Kathi Moss, a 63-year-old pediatric nurse from Southfield, Mich.
Scientists have found no conclusive evidence of innate genetic immunity. “It would be extremely unlikely that any innate immune system properties could protect against all infections,” said Eleanor Murray, an epidemiologist and professor at the Boston University School of Public Health. But Moss’s ability to duck the virus — to her knowledge, we should add; a disclaimer that applies to all these folks, since in theory they could have had asymptomatic cases at some point — does cry out for an explanation. Consider that she’s a pediatric nurse who has been staring covid in the face (while fully masked) for 2½ years now. And that she rode in a car with her ex-husband, with the windows up, three days before he tested positive. And that a woman at the camp where she works every summer gave Moss a henna tattoo one day and reported a positive coronavirus result the next.

Moss’s mysterious good fortune has not made her less worried about contracting the virus. She wants to stay in the game as long as she can, because she knows it’s not a game at all. What Moss fears the most is the potential long-term effects of covid. “I just keep thinking, ‘I don’t want it. I just don’t want this disease,’ ” she said.

Sustained vigilance may be the sensible approach. But not-partying like it’s 2020 is only getting lonelier.
S.F. said her household has avoided covid because she feels uniquely vulnerable, not invulnerable. The 40-year-old mother of two, who lives outside Boston, asked to be identified only by her initials because she thinks continuing to practice conservative mitigation strategies could make her a target for online abuse. She has been especially worried about her 4½-year-old daughter, who was born prematurely. And now that everyone seems to have let their guard down, protecting that child feels harder than ever. No one else is masking at the playground. It’s tricky to explain to friends that they are only comfortable gathering outdoors and still prefer to practice social distancing. “I feel like I’m forced to choose between my kids’ socialization and their safety,” S.F. said.

Lucas Rivas has immunocompromised parents, so he’s tried to be as safe as possible. He’s also a 27-year-old who wants to have a social life, but who has passed on more nights out than he cares to remember.

“All these people my age were living their lives and, you know, I was really kind of living in fear of it because I knew how prevalent it was,” said Rivas, who managed to avoid testing positive despite working as a medical assistant at an urgent-care clinic in Littleton, Colo. “It’s hard to walk out of the office and forget what you see there and go socialize and be in big groups and things like that.”
Over the July Fourth weekend, he couldn’t take it anymore. When a friend asked to meet at a bar, he agreed.

He had one drink, then another.
He sang karaoke with one woman, then kissed another.
He tested positive for the virus two days later.
“I was starting to think that maybe I couldn’t get it,” Rivas said from isolation, “and I was instantly proven wrong.”
He felt stupid, reckless, “like I wasted two years of heavy precautions.”

That kind of self-imposed guilt drives Katrine Wallace crazy. Wallace is an epidemiologist, but lately she has begun to serve as a de facto counselor/confessor for the covid-sick, comforting people who, like Rivas, have been devastated to see their streaks come to an end.
“There’s a lot of people who feel like they failed,” said Wallace, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Public Health. “ ‘I’ve been so good for so long’ — I hear that every day.” She assures those people that they’re not bad — it’s the new variants that are bad. “They have done really well if they are just getting it now,” Wallace said.

In those moments, she tries to avoid mentioning that she herself has not yet tested positive. No need to rub it in.
Tony Freeman feels certain he’s going to get knocked out of the game by fall. Freeman, 63, is an actor who has been in the cast of “The Lion King” since it debuted on Broadway more than 20 years ago. In the past five years, he’s been a standby, ready to take over if another actor gets sick. Which has been just fine, especially this past year, when he’s been able to sit backstage, safely tucked behind a mask. But recently he was asked to take over the role of Timon, the meerkat, for four months on a national tour. The part has him “Hakuna Matata”-ing eight times a week while the unmasked masses cackle and cough and loudly prove to their neighbors that they know all the lyrics. (Bunch of hyenas.)

It means no worries. . . ? Nah, not anymore. Freeman no longer likes his odds of getting through the rest of the pandemic unscathed. “I don’t think there’s anything special about my body,” he said. “If you saw it, you would agree.” Cast members test six days a week, and he’s just waiting for a second line to appear.

Pessimism is one way of protecting yourself. Everybody is in the game until they’re not. And bragging that you’ve dodged covid for 2½ years seems akin to chanting “Bloody Mary” three times while looking in a mirror. You don’t really want to tempt fate. Though maybe you can’t help yourself — whatever the consequences.
“As of today, I have finally tested positive for the iconic COVID-19 virus,” Luke Martin — he of the “strikeouts” — announced in an email to The Washington Post shortly after boasting about not having caught it yet.

Reached by phone, Martin said he wasn’t sure where he picked up the virus, but he has a theory on why it came for him now. He hasn’t done a strikeout in two weeks — ironically, he was trying to be healthier.
On Day One of his diagnosis, Martin reported feeling mostly okay, just a little tired and a lot disappointed.
“I made it loud and clear to all my circles that I hadn’t gotten it,” he said. “Now, the king has fallen.”
Last week, Joe Altman of Las Vegas took a calculated risk and competed at the World Series of Poker. He survived round after round, finally finishing 31st out of almost 8,700 players. He wasn’t the last one standing, but still — not a bad run.
Then three days after he busted out of the tournament, he busted out with a little dry cough. Susannah made him take a coronavirus test; the second line was faint but visible. Her own case was confirmed three days later.
“We’re out of the Last Longer,” Susannah said by phone. She wasn’t surprised. That’s just how the game goes.

This is a developing story. Any subjects interviewed about not testing positive for covid might well, at this very moment, be testing positive for covid.
They knew this might jinx it.


Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...vkL5v_qsDz6Xzc8YPztezj0tqc5Qo1lPiP_29GnGPUHfM
 

Evolving78

Well-Known Member
This unspoken “herd immunity” by forcing everyone to catch Covid isn’t working. Instead of sending free tests that don’t show positive until people have been walking around spreading their “I think it’s just allergies” germs for days, how about sending free N95 masks?
The people that you see wearing masks now, are the only ones willing to wear an N95 mask. I don’t think this thing can be turned around. I got my youngest boosted. We still practice social distancing and don’t do a bunch of outings, and we wear N95s and KN95s.
 
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yamilee21

Well-Known Member
The people that you see wearing masks now, are the only ones willing to wear an N95 mask. I don’t think this thing can be turned around. I got my youngest boosted. We still practice social distancing and don’t do a bunch of outings, and we wear N95s and KN95s.
I agree; the anti-maskers are a lost cause at this point, but I think people willing to wear masks might be jolted back to the seriousness of the situation if N95/KN95 masks were made more easily available. Except at Home Depot and Lowe’s, I have only seen N95s sold individually or in packs of two, and even then, it’s not in most stores, and the single mask still costs as much as a box of disposable surgical ones.

Speaking of boosting, I went to the Dept. of Health vaccination clinic recently, and asked if they had any information on where boosters were available for kids ages 5-11. Three different employees (vaccination nurses!) had no idea that boosters had been approved for that age range, let alone where it could be done.
 

Evolving78

Well-Known Member
I agree; the anti-maskers are a lost cause at this point, but I think people willing to wear masks might be jolted back to the seriousness of the situation if N95/KN95 masks were made more easily available. Except at Home Depot and Lowe’s, I have only seen N95s sold individually or in packs of two, and even then, it’s not in most stores, and the single mask still costs as much as a box of disposable surgical ones.

Speaking of boosting, I went to the Dept. of Health vaccination clinic recently, and asked if they had any information on where boosters were available for kids ages 5-11. Three different employees (vaccination nurses!) had no idea that boosters had been approved for that age range, let alone where it could be done.
My youngest is in that age range. I had issues with getting my teens vaccinated at a well-known healthcare establishment. The information posted on the CDC website is as clear as day who is eligible. I won’t tell too much, since that provider will be reported, but there are some corporate vaccination clinics that are unorganized and unprepared, which is sad and just plain unacceptable. Just like in Florida how you have the state surgeon general trying to prohibit children from getting vaccinated. From my experience with getting my children boosted, I realized again that all skinfolk ain’t kinfolk. Now we have all of these viruses attacking our society due to their deliberate, intentional ignorance and selfish.

and the N95 thing is about the have and the have nots, which will create a hostile supply and demand issue.
 
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