Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

[Marilyn]

Trump declares he feels better than he has for 20 years.
That is the steroids talking! Wait for “the crash” once he weens off them. If he stays on high doses, he will develop a moon face, and I can’t see his vanity allowing that.

[Stanley]

I agree Maz but we can't trust a word we hear about him. Let's wait and see, we have the luxury of time and he doesn't, that will be his undoing in the end.

[plaques]

Trump's dramatic recovery is all down to the fantastic health service the amercans have. At the first sign of the virus your team of doctors will arrange for an helicopter to fly you to the top medical centre where you will be treated with another team of doctors using the latest drugs that are available on the very expensive market. At the first sign of recovery you will be flown back to your first team of doctors who will ensure the procedure is repeated should you deteriorate. No wonder the americans are keen to ditch the Obama care system when they can access something that is far better.
PS. Can't understand why 210,000 have died in America with a fantastic system like this.

[Big Kev]

I'm still in disbelief that a multi million pound track and trace system relies on MS Excel. Who would have thought the 16384 column limit would be an issue?
£139 for the Excel licence and the wages of a spotty oick to write a formula, I wonder where the rest of the money was spent?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Excel. The Northern Territories Health Service monthly reports were all reliant on Excel formulas when I looked after them.

[Tizer]

More explanation about long-covid.
`'Long Covid': Why are some people not recovering?' LINK

I haven't had any response to my question about long-covid that I emailed to BBC's More or Less team (Is it seen among young people who haven't suffered severe acute problems?). All I've found is a comment by Professor Debby Bogaert, Chair of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Edinburgh: “It is momentarily still unknown who is at risk of long COVID symptoms, but current data show the young healthy and active generation is not spared.”

[Tizer]

Kev, Have a look at the link in my post here: LINK

[PanBiker]

PS. Can't understand why 210,000 have died in America with a fantastic system like this.

Because they are plebs and don't matter!

Same over here of course it makes you wonder why a lot of older folk who succumb to the virus spend weeks in hospital on ventilators with the addition of a raft of drugs and in many cases it makes no difference and they die. More than 46,000 here and counting. Are the docs doing something wrong or is Trump generating his own fake news. The latter works for me.

[Marilyn]

Trump will soon be hit with how sick he is when he must ween off the steroids...rest assured...many folk crash when “coming down” from steroids.
Steroids save lives, but they come with the physical cost of rebound.
( high doses can cause both depression and even aggression...cutting down the dose is necessary but a body does struggle and you may find yourself sicker than you were originally, especially with Covid)
So speaks Nurse Maz

[PanBiker]

I didn't crash as such coming off mine, same stuff as Trump has had but they did make me put one weight which is proving difficult to shift. Like you say Maz there is always a price to pay.

[Marilyn]

I have known people who become “steroid dependent “.
I had to have IV steroids after an Asthma attack, and truly understood how great it was to go from being unable to breathe to feeling like I could climb Mt Everest. Followed up with a reducing dose of oral steroids, I found each day a bit more difficult as the steroids reduced.
I can’t imagine how hard that would be being on a campaign trail for presidency. Having to front up and be positive every day and travel...I was just happy to get from one end of the day to the other end, and still being able to breathe. Steroids really make you feel so good that you want to stay on them. You can’t. The cost is too great...eventually they demineralise your bones, and the weight gain can be enormous.

[PanBiker]

Mine were to stop my brain exploding or popping a vein, neither to be recommended. I started on 8 Dex tabs a day for about a week then was weaned off over the next two weeks. Med free when I was discharged. I should have been on them for three days before my surgery but going in next day on a cancellation shot that plan to bits. They shoved some in via cannula pre surgery.

[plaques]

One of the long term side effects of the covid-19 virus is pneumonia a condition which is bad enough in itself but should the immune system go into overdrive it could develop into sepsis which has a far higher mortality rate. Both these conditions will probably take longer than the 28 day cut off period to be recorded as a coronavirus death. The present system of counting the coronavirus is to record the positive cases but only take notice of the number of deaths. The actual suffering and long term suffering are quietly ignored with nobody yet putting any financial cost on these not to be talked about numbers.

[Stanley]

All valid and valuable comments. I am listening to the latest horror stories about the test and trace system. Is there any good news anywhere?

[PanBiker]

All this talk about "I'm it" Trump and not a dickie bird about his wife the First Lady. I suppose he always has Hope to fall back or is that forwards on if his wife succumbs.

[Big Kev]

Kev, Have a look at the link in my post here: LINK

I worked for a company, about 3 years ago, looking after hospital software packages. We were unable to upgrade a lot of the NHS packages as they were still using unsupported Microsoft products, Excel being one of them. Don't see whe PHE should be any different. Plonkers .

[Tizer]

I'm with Maz on the Trump-steroids issue. If you listen to the latest Americast (there's almost one a day at the moment!) Jon Sopel said how fired up Trump is but when he got to the White House and took off his mask he was very obviously short of breath. Sopel was reporting from his apartment and we heard Trumps helicopter flying over on its way to the White House. Sopel flicked through the US TV channels and every one he looked at was showing Trump's progress to the White House. Trump has turned it into a show, as usual. The doctors at the hospital said it was madness for him to go back there and infect other folk.

[Big Kev]

Screenshot_20201006-213400_Chrome.jpg

Trump is certainly making the headlines, he is definitely dangerous. Social media have removed some of his posts for being misleading.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54440662

[Stanley]

And all this while the Republicans are working to deprive even more poor citizens of the limited hospital access they have. OK to be sick if you're rich and powerful.

[Marilyn]

It really grates that they refer to him as Leader of the Free World. There is a huge divide between rich and poor in his country.

[plaques]

Washington State has its own rules for self isolation and quarantine Washington The rules are quite comprehensive and cover those who ignore the rules.
Quote...
(1) At his or her sole discretion, a local health officer may issue an emergency detention order causing a person or group of persons to be immediately detained for purposes of isolation or quarantine in accordance with subsection (3) of this section, or may petition the superior court ex parte for an order to take the person or group of persons into involuntary detention for purposes of isolation or quarantine in accordance with subsection (4) of this section, provided that he or she:

I wonder if Trump would issue an executive order to bar himself from these restrictions?

[Tripps]

I've said this a few times before - that "politicians do things for one reason whilst pretending it is for another". It now dawns on me (always a day late and a dollar short) that they may be doing it now - allowing the virus to spread whilst pretending to be trying to defeat it.

That was the policy when this all began in Feb / March, and was only dropped when Imperial College (with Professor Ferguson) started predicting 500k deaths. His resignation from SAGE is rarely mentioned now - in total contrast to fellow rule dodger Dominic Cummings who is still spoken of almost daily.

Perhaps it was the right policy and has been quietly adopted again.

[Stanley]

I agree David and this question of 'herd immunity' is a classic driver for it. The public have a touching faith in the ability of the medical profession to solve all our ills and our leaders have similar mistaken belief in the efficacy of central control, both are wrong.
Any palliative care doctor will soon put you straight if you ask them. Life is a terminal disease and this virus is particularly damaging to the old or anyone who already has underlying health problems. There is a good reason why there have been so many deaths in care homes.
Leaving aside imponderables like mutation of the virus over time, as things stand now we will only see a let-up in precautions against infection when some level of immunity is reached in the general population either naturally or by means of an affective vaccine. This is what is meant by herd immunity and I don't see any reason why it shouldn't apply here. It is the inevitable conclusion.
I see there was a letter yesterday from a respected group of doctors arguing for something very close to 'herd immunity'. They say we should take note of the severe effects of the restrictions and relax them while putting more effort into protecting the vulnerable. That is very close to 'let it rip!'
As for what the present policies are. The reason why they are so garbled and unclear could be because of what you and I suspect David, a form of herd immunity is actually the policy but dare not speak its name. How else can you explain the logic of allowing revellers to crowd into bars and drink, or cramming students into shared accommodation?
These are Higher Matters and outside our control. I suspect David that you are doing the same as I am, exercising extreme caution within the bounds of necessary daily activities and watching and waiting whilst doing all we can to preserve our mental and general physical health. I don't see any other sensible course. Time will tell whether this is right.

[plaques]

I think Tripps is right. The herd immunity experiment is already running. In the outside world we have restrictions on travel. aeroplanes, cruises ships. then social distancing, rule of six. contact bubbles etc. But then comes to university term time and we stuff over a thousand students in halls of residence we expect everything to be sweetness and light. The only social harmony out of this is that everybody gets a chance to contract the covid virus. The whole business looks premeditated, accommodation paid for, once locked in no returning home, all young people therefore the risk of death is reduced. little strain on the NHS. I wonder where the next experiment will be held?

[Stanley]

I think Ken, like David, you are on the money. They daren't tell us that this is the case. That's why we get no information on strategy and the end game.

[Tripps]

Wow - two senior members agree with me. That doesn't happen very often if ever.

Just saw an interview with one Dr Helen Stokes Lampard. She is Vice Chair of The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges having been Chair of the Royal College of GP's until last year. Formidable form sheet. In Germany where they use all titles she would have been Frau Professor Doktor Doktor Stokes Lampard. She was asked if she agreed with a previous expert who had said that an immediate 'circuit breaker' lockdown was needed immediately.

'Yes' or 'no' would have done.

She is one of those gifted people who has the ability to respond instantly and at full speed, to any question, and to speak quickly, confidently, fluently, and superficially intelligently, for as long as the interviewer puts up with her - or time runs out, whichever comes sooner. The problem is she ignored the question completely. She tried to get the " hands face space " mantra in , but unfortunately forgot it and got into a muddle., which I enjoyed.

It's not an uncommon talent - most MP's have it as well, and I guess it's only the wages that prevents her from standing for Parliament. The ego may prevail though one day - she must surely yearn to be Health Minister.

What I need is a simple word that describes her question swerving talent. Any offers?