Coronavirus

[thrill]

My Mom had an antibody test and found out this morning she had covid. She was terribly sick in March, so before it was thought to be in our area. She was down for almost a month and had to be on oxygen but not a respirator. At the time we all thought it was the flu and pneumonia. Her doctor is now convinced she had covid then. She still has lingering breathing issues.

I, too, hope your mom recovers, but how on earth did she go through this without a COVID test?! What kind of hilljack back woods medical clinic did she go to? I lived in Central Illinois in March. It was "in the area." Those doctors should be ashamed of themselves.

[cardsfantx]

My Mom had an antibody test and found out this morning she had covid. She was terribly sick in March, so before it was thought to be in our area. She was down for almost a month and had to be on oxygen but not a respirator. At the time we all thought it was the flu and pneumonia. Her doctor is now convinced she had covid then. She still has lingering breathing issues.

I, too, hope your mom recovers, but how on earth did she go through this without a COVID test?! What kind of hilljack back woods medical clinic did she go to? I lived in Central Illinois in March. It was "in the area." Those doctors should be ashamed of themselves.

I obviously don't know his situation, but being in the medical field...back in march when this was brand new in America, you couldn't just go and get tested, even if you had symptoms. the only ones that were getting tested at that time were individuals that had come in contact with a COVID19 patient. If his mom didn't come (or know) she came in contact with a COVID19 patient, then she wouldn't (couldn't) get tested back in march.

[IMADreamer]

My Mom had an antibody test and found out this morning she had covid. She was terribly sick in March, so before it was thought to be in our area. She was down for almost a month and had to be on oxygen but not a respirator. At the time we all thought it was the flu and pneumonia. Her doctor is now convinced she had covid then. She still has lingering breathing issues.

I, too, hope your mom recovers, but how on earth did she go through this without a COVID test?! What kind of hilljack back woods medical clinic did she go to? I lived in Central Illinois in March. It was "in the area." Those doctors should be ashamed of themselves.

It was nearly mid June before we could get tests here locally. It was late April before we could get tested at all, they would send you to Springfield to get tested if they thought you had it, or just tell you to go home and quarantine.

[thrill]

I worked for a major health network in central IL in march. I know all about the limitations of testing at the time. It's still [expletive]. I'm not blaming anyone, certainly not IMA's mom. The doctors should have insisted on getting her a test. The tests existed in rural Illinois, in march. I was part of a team that planned the logistics for one of the biggest providers in the state. You can't say it's "not in the area" when patients display trademark symptoms and you just didn't test them. That's how you end up still stuck in this mess 6 months later...oh wait.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Sorry to hear about your mom's ordeal, IMA. Hope she makes a full recovery.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Speaking of testing. FDA approved another fast, cheap test.

https://abbott.mediaroom.com/2020-08-26 ... ts-a-Month

ABBOTT'S FAST, $5, 15-MINUTE, EASY-TO-USE COVID-19 ANTIGEN TEST RECEIVES FDA EMERGENCY USE AUTHORIZATION; MOBILE APP DISPLAYS TEST RESULTS TO HELP OUR RETURN TO DAILY LIFE; RAMPING PRODUCTION TO 50 MILLION TESTS A MONTH

Now, if we can just get these so they can be done at home and available to everyone, we'll be getting somewhere.

[GeddyWrox]

Nice!

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Here's some information about a study that looked into COVID transmission. It includes a really helpful, color-coded chart for various interactions, which I have posted below.

The article also ends on an ominous note for those who have children attending school in-person:

6 feet may not always be enough for social distancing, new report suggests

The current guidance for safe social distancing may not be enough to stop the spread of COVID-19, a new analysis suggests.

In the report, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Oxford say other factors, such as ventilation, crowd size, exposure time and whether face coverings are worn, need to be considered, as well.

Lydia Bourouiba, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT and co-author of the report, said, "It's not just 6 feet and then everything else can be ignored or just mask and everything else can be ignored or just ventilation and everything else can be ignored." It's important to distinguish between high-risk and low-risk exposure, Bourouiba said.

The researchers developed a color-coded chart to show how transmission occurs, based on different types of exposure. "This is a way to synthesize and, in some sense, translate complex notions into what we hope is an accessible color-coded chart," Bourouiba said.

https://news.yahoo.com/6-feet-may-not-a ... 00137.html

I read through some of the study published at BMJ and had a couple thoughts. On the one hand, it's useful to note that the risk of transmission varies on multiple factors, not just space. So, that's good to see and it's good to see that someone took the time to break out the multitude of variable and compile them in an easy to read chart. And, from a 10 mile high view, it conveys the information very well.

But, it seems to be devoid of much if any detail. For example, what are the percentages of infection associated with the risk levels of low, medium, high? If an infectious carrier is put in one of these situations (eg, speaking, poorly ventilated, wearing mask) with another person (same environment obviously) for a prolonged time at 6' away, what are the odds the other person is infected? Is high 1%, 10%, 50%? Is there a difference with a mask at that point? Because, the graph doesn't read as if there is. And, if there isn't, then why are they mandating school children wear masks? Or two masks?

Further, there are some key factors left off. Humidity being a big one. Types of mask. Definition of poor/well ventilated. Etc.

Lastly, I didn't see a methodology where they even dive into any of this, just explanations of why they get into the different variables.

[thrill]

Encourage everyone to get a flu shot every year, but even more so this year. You don't want to get sick and wonder if it's flu or covid.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Haven't looked much into it, but hopefully the amount of flu shots increases and the preventative measures taken against covid limit the spread of the flu as well so we end up with a severely muted flu season.