Novel Coronavirus COVID-19

[simpycurious]

Just now, Ruby Slippers said:

I want to do this even when things are "normal".

My mom said people keep stealing the bottles of hand sanitizer they're putting out at the grocery store 

That's crazy.  Yep, maybe the sand and salt water is not good for the virus....

[LivingWaterPlease]

7 hours ago, basil67 said:

This makes me so sad.   On one hand, you're like pretty much everyone else who's healthy - very low risk.    On the flip side, you've got nobody in your life who would be at risk that you care about.  😢

How do you know I have no one in my life that would be at high risk that I care about? Because I don't worry doesn't mean I don't care!

The reason I live the way I do is because I care so much! I have arranged herbal care for my 92 -year-old mom and her husband through this. They have lived through many a flu season and cold season, don't take vaccines and are both vegans.  

There is no need for you to be sad for me. Be sad for those who don't take care of themselves and depend on the government and Drs. If you're not sad for them, then you have no one to be sad for and can be happy! Being happy will also help you avoid illness!

[LivingWaterPlease]

 

For anyone reading this who has high-risk people they care about and are worried for here are some tips besides hand washing and staying away from crowds that will be very helpful to protect yourself from covid-19 (and other flus, colds, diseases). 

1. Don't eat anything with sugar in it. With processed foods you can hardly avoid sugar but at least stay away from desserts, candies, etc. Sugar lowers your immune system drastically. It's bad for any disease you may be exposed to or already have.

2. Stay away from white flour as much as possible. It turns to sugar as you digest it.

3. Get your sleep, the hours before midnight are most important.

4. Get plenty of sunshine which encourages vitamin D. Although I'm out-of-doors exercising most days I still take a high quality D3K2 supplement.

5. For many supplementing with a high quality vitamin C is helpful. Doesn't work for me but think I'm unusual in this regard.

6. Take zinc lozenges the minute you feel something coming on. Lie down on your back and let the lozenge dissolve slowly and trickle into your throat. It'll kill the virus.

7. Exercise daily.

8. Get some echinacea herb. Not the big box brand but a high quality herb from a trust worthy source. Echinacea will boost your immune system. Best to take it several times a day. If I feel I'm coming down with something I take it every couple of hours all day long.

9. Eat plenty of dark green, red, and orange vegetables and fruits. Organic greens if possible.

10. Live at peace. If you're under stress have a plan to deal with it. I have lived in and gotten through very highly stressful situations by daily Bible reading and prayer. God is real and He really cares about you.

11. You can also get online and research other herbs and ways to naturally boost your immune system. There are many ways I haven't listed above. I just posted the things that work for me. Anyone can do most of them, if not all.

12. Stay away from meat as much as possible. Much of it is diseased, especially chicken and pork. In the interest of keeping this brief I won't post about it, but you can research this and learn about it.

You may not be able to do all of the above to start out but you can work toward it gradually. And right now there are some things you and your loved ones can do to beat covid-19! 

I also keep on hand an herbal formula I've posted on LS in the past that kills the virus. The people who make it have asked me not to post about it anymore because they're overwhelmed with orders but after this scare is over I'll be glad to share that with anyone who is interested for the next "epidemic" that comes along. One of the posters here inquired about this formula when I posted before and I was glad to give the information of where to purchase it. Will do so again for anyone who wants to be proactive for the next epidemic.

Edited March 11, 2020 by LivingWaterPlease
more information

[LivingWaterPlease]

To stay healthy I also take astaxanthin, an antioxidant 6,000 times more powerful than Vitamin C, and a mitochondrial anti aging formula. I didn't originate the formula and will be glad to share it with anyone who is interested.

You can check out online the purpose of mitochondria and their affect on fighting disease, anti aging and keeping telomeres lengthy. There is a strong connection between short telomeres and cellular aging.  

You can purchase supplements (any brand you like) for the mitochondrial anti aging formula which will clean up your mitochondria so that your body can function optimally.  

There's no reason for most people to be vulnerable to this covid-19 virus. 

I am in a high risk category myself, being elderly and having a poor immune system. That is why I practice the things I've listed in this post and above. 

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by LivingWaterPlease
grammar

[pepperbird]

15 hours ago, Ruby Slippers said:

I respectfully disagree. Most people aren't even slightly prepared for minor emergencies. It's always better to be safe than sorry. The supply chain will catch up to people's behavior soon enough.

I guess we're lucky up here that way. Stores expect there to be disruptions in the supply chain ( storms, strikes, etc.) and they allow for that in their stocking practices. Most people buy a bit extra just in case the weather gets bad for a few days and they can't get to the store.
 

[pepperbird]

9 hours ago, gaius said:

A 20% hospitalization rate isn't just higher, it's astronomically higher. People seem to focus on the 2-3% death rate, like it's not really that big a deal, but the overall picture is much grimmer. The flu and Covid aren't even on the same planet.

The Atlantic had a good article titled "Cancel Everything" today. A semi-long quote.

"When the coronavirus first spread to South Korea, many observers pointed to the comparatively low death rates in the country to justify undue optimism. In countries with highly developed medical systems, they claimed, a smaller portion of patients would die. But while more than half of all diagnosed patients in China have now been cured, most South Korean patients are still in the throes of the disease. Of the 7,478 confirmed cases, only 118 have recovered; the low death rate may yet rise.

Meanwhile, the news from Italy, another country with a highly developed medical system, has so far been shockingly bad. In the affluent region of Lombardy, for example, there have been 7,375 confirmed cases of the virus as of Sunday. Of these patients, 622 had recovered, 366 had died, and the majority were still sick. Even under the highly implausible assumption that all of the still-sick make a full recovery, this would suggest a case fatality rate of 5 percent—significantly higher, not lower, than in China."

 

but you can;t take that, in isolation, as an indicator of anything. Why is the fatality rate what it is? Who is getting sick? Is it mostly people who are elderly,/immunosupresssed? Is it a mutation of the virus that;s especially virulent?

Here, there's been a few hundred cases ( I'm rounding that up, because I expect there's been a fair number of people with the virus who never reported and didn't know they had it) and we have had one death.
 

[gaius]

2 hours ago, pepperbird said:

but you can;t take that, in isolation, as an indicator of anything. Why is the fatality rate what it is? Who is getting sick? Is it mostly people who are elderly,/immunosupresssed? Is it a mutation of the virus that;s especially virulent?

Here, there's been a few hundred cases ( I'm rounding that up, because I expect there's been a fair number of people with the virus who never reported and didn't know they had it) and we have had one death.
 

As far as who is getting sick enough to require hospitalization, that seems to span all age ranges. With children and very young adults being spared the vast majority of the time. Whether or not you survive said hospitalization does factor highly on how old you are and existing medical conditions.

There's also speculation that there are two different strains in circulation, one deadlier than the other. It's possible Korea and Canada have so far gotten the less lethal strain, or that the majority of infections are younger people. If Coronavirus hadn't gotten into a nursing home over here it's likely our death rate would be much lower atm.

So few people have fully recovered in the west so far it's hard to say for sure the death rate is going to stay low. Maybe we'll get lucky. But even in the best case scenario, long hospital stays with severe pneumonia for a lot of people is not fun to look forward to.

 

[carhill]

CA stands to get hit hard by COVID-19 and I was surprised Newsom spoke well of Trump regarding response. After more federal bucks? 👍

[sothereiwas]

I wonder if the total case count is low so far simply because those who are not very sick are not being tested for a variety of reasons. Unless I misunderstood, a lot of people who get this never get very sick, with about 15% actually getting as sick as a bad flu. Being one of the top 15% isn't good I guess. 

[Beendaredonedat]

There was four more cases here in Toronto and around the Greater Toronto Area.  All were people who have recently travelled.  I wonder if it's time to consider closing all borders?

[Gaeta]

Beendaredonedat: I think it's more than time. I cannot understand in my Province we do not ask people landing from Italy to stay home for 2 weeks. Maybe Trudeau will start acting now that he's been exposed himself during a speech in Sudbury. 

So, yesterday after a scare in the metro I decided to stop using public transportation and drive to work. This morning I am learning we have 3 new cases in town, people coming back from the Carribean and Dominican Republic. 

I understand healthy people under 60 should have little worries, but I worry about carrying this without my knowledge and giving it to my elder parents, my immuno-deficient friend, my uncle battling cancer...who wants to be responsible for giving this to someone who could die from it. 

 

[sothereiwas]

I completely over reacted and am now keeping the chublet home from school until next week at the soonest, just to see how things go. We have a case in town as of last weekend, and while I'm not that worried, a kid staying home and doing some 1st grade homework for a few days isn't going to be the end of the world. 

[Beendaredonedat]

28 minutes ago, Gaeta said:

Beendaredonedat: I think it's more than time. I cannot understand in my Province we do not ask people landing from Italy to stay home for 2 weeks. Maybe Trudeau will start acting now that he's been exposed himself during a speech in Sudbury. 

So, yesterday after a scare in the metro I decided to stop using public transportation and drive to work. This morning I am learning we have 3 new cases in town, people coming back from the Carribean and Dominican Republic. 

I understand healthy people under 60 should have little worries, but I worry about carrying this without my knowledge and giving it to my elder parents, my immuno-deficient friend, my uncle battling cancer...who wants to be responsible for giving this to someone who could die from it. 

 

I know... I had my family over for dinner on Sunday and was worried just because I had coffee with my neighbour who had been on a cruise leaving from Porto Rico.  It's worrisome.  

[Gaeta]

It's official, WHO declares this a pandemic. 

[Redhead14]

Yep, I read it too . . .

[2BGoodAgain]

On 3/10/2020 at 10:10 AM, Elswyth said:

This sounds like a lot, but the mortality rate for the flu is 0.1%, so 20x of 0.1% is 2%.

From the most recent WHO writeup:

While the range of symptoms for the two viruses is similar, the fraction with severe disease appears to be different. For COVID-19, data to date suggest that 80% of infections are mild or asymptomatic, 15% are severe infection, requiring oxygen and 5% are critical infections, requiring ventilation. These fractions of severe and critical infection would be higher than what is observed for influenza infection.Those most at risk for severe influenza infection are children, pregnant women, elderly, those with underlying chronic medical conditions and those who are immunosuppressed. For COVID-19, our current understanding is that older age and underlying conditions increase the risk for severe infection. Mortality for COVID-19 appears higher than for influenza, especially seasonal influenza. While the true mortality of COVID-19 will take some time to fully understand, the data we have so far indicate that the crude mortality ratio (the number of reported deaths divided by the reported cases) is between 3-4%, the infection mortality rate (the number of reported deaths divided by the number of infections) will be lower. For seasonal influenza, mortality is usually well below 0.1%. However, mortality is to a large extent determined by access to and quality of health care

 

True, in a sense. I mean, realistically, if you are between 18-60 yo, not pregnant, and have no underlying medical conditions... you are at very, very low risk yourself. But people still need to take it seriously, because they will be carriers, and transmit the virus to the people who ARE at risk. I think Italy did the right thing by closing schools and public events.

The stockpiling craze is bonkers though. Firstly nobody will die without toilet paper, and secondly it will NOT be an apocalypse, and nobody NEEDS to stockpile a whole bunker full of canned food and toilet paper. Take precautions, but be sensible.

well, pre existing conditions can be anything from asthma to high blood pressure/heart condition... now... what's the statistics of that group demographics who are 0-60? quite a bit, i think.

as for the crazy shopping... it might offset the global economic slowdown.... or at least, somewhat minimize the effects.. who knows....

[lana-banana]

Coworker's wife is a very likely case (travel to affected area + cough and fever) but she can't be tested because they don't have enough tests. Meanwhile, the administration has attempted to classify coronavirus discussions even though no one believes they should be classified, and the CDC has said they won't provide drive-through tests because they "don't want to interfere with the relationship between the individual and their providers." This is insane. ALMOST 30 MILLION Americans HAVE no health provider. Hell, plenty of insured people don't even have a primary care provider.

Everything about this has been handled in the absolute worst way imaginable. I don't think anyone can claim America is a first-world country after this.

[gaius]

There are people in Italy who are stuck in their apartment with the corpse of their loved one, their medical system is so overwhelmed they're now recommending doctors just let the elderly die, and we're not even screening travelers from there, let alone quarantining them.

Jail time for the health officials in charge of this response seems appropriate at this point. I'd even support impeachment and criminal charges over this but the Democrats are just as clueless unfortunately. There's no leadership from anywhere.

I just hope everyone remembers when this is all over that it didn't have to be this way.

[Beendaredonedat]

9 minutes ago, gaius said:

There are people in Italy who are stuck in their apartment with the corpse of their loved one, their medical system is so overwhelmed they're now recommending doctors just let the elderly die, and we're not even screening travelers from there, let alone quarantining them.

Jail time for the health officials in charge of this response seems appropriate at this point. I'd even support impeachment and criminal charges over this but the Democrats are just as clueless unfortunately. There's no leadership from anywhere.

I just hope everyone remembers when this is all over that it didn't have to be this way.

I haven't read or heard anything on the news about that.  I will ask my neighbor who has relatives there if that is actually going on and get back.  If its real, then it's pretty barbaric to say the least.

[gaius]

There's some minor celeb who's making Facebook videos with his sisters (who was 47) corpse in the background @Beendaredonedat. I guess the authorities won't come and pick it up until some deadline has passed. There's been one or two other reports of that as well, I'm not sure how widespread it is but it's probably happening. 

Doctors being advised to just let the elderly die is definitely happening though. They just don't have enough resources to take care of everyone.

Edited March 11, 2020 by gaius

[Beendaredonedat]

Maybe that's one of the reasons Trudeau has just pledge one billion to help other countries cope??????

[Gaeta]

5 minutes ago, Beendaredonedat said:

Maybe that's one of the reasons Trudeau has just pledge one billion to help other countries cope??????

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a $1.1-billion package of new measures in response to COVID-19, including increased health transfers to the provinces and territories, a boost in research funding and improved Employment Insurance sickness benefits for quarantined workers.

I think that money is for us. 

[Beendaredonedat]

Yes you may be right but I thought he had pledged some of that to other countries as well in an effort to help them stop the spread.?

[Beendaredonedat]

https://globalnews.ca/news/6659384/coronavirus-funding-trudeau/

My bad:  It was 50 million international aid.

"There will also be $50 million in international aid to help other countries fight the spread of the virus."

[Gaeta]

It's possible at the beginning he freed some money to help poor countries that have no infrastructures to test their population like African countries but I'd have to double check. Even with extra money Italy would still lack space and menpower.