Covid-19 Discussion (Non-Political Only)

[Bengalholic]

This thread was suggested by one of our members and will be meant as a place for Covid-19 discussion that isn't political --- facts and stats, updates, instructions and concerns, personal experiences and stories...and anything else related strictly to the topic. 

Please refrain from any political thoughts or statements in this thread. Keep those in P&R.

[Bengalzona]

Two experiences.

1) My wife's father passed away after acquiring COVID-19 in Europe earlier this week. We was a stroke victim and had been bed-ridden in a care home for several years. So, his passing was not entirely a shock. Just a bit earlier than expected.

2) A high school friend of mine in Chicago has a 14-year old son who has acquired the virus. He has asthma and his immune system was previously compromised. When his breathing difficulties became worse than normal, they took him in and at the hospital he was tested and came up positive. Fortunately, he is at a hospital and has excellent care and equipment. But even then, they are not sure. They can only treat symptoms as there is no cure yet for the disease.

[*bengalfan74*]

(03-21-2020, 06:48 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: Two experiences.

1) My wife's father passed away after acquiring COVID-19 in Europe earlier this week. We was a stroke victim and had been bed-ridden in a care home for several years. So, his passing was not entirely a shock. Just a bit earlier than expected.

2) A high school friend of mine in Chicago has a 14-year old son who has acquired the virus. He has asthma and his immune system was previously compromised. When his breathing difficulties became worse than normal, they took him in and at the hospital he was tested and came up positive. Fortunately, he is at a hospital and has excellent care and equipment. But even then, they are not sure. They can only treat symptoms as there is no cure yet for the disease.

May he rest in peace.

Wishing him a speedy recovery. 

[jfkbengals]

(03-21-2020, 06:48 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: Two experiences.

1) My wife's father passed away after acquiring COVID-19 in Europe earlier this week. We was a stroke victim and had been bed-ridden in a care home for several years. So, his passing was not entirely a shock. Just a bit earlier than expected.

2) A high school friend of mine in Chicago has a 14-year old son who has acquired the virus. He has asthma and his immune system was previously compromised. When his breathing difficulties became worse than normal, they took him in and at the hospital he was tested and came up positive. Fortunately, he is at a hospital and has excellent care and equipment. But even then, they are not sure. They can only treat symptoms as there is no cure yet for the disease.

(03-21-2020, 07:25 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: May he rest in peace.

Wishing him a speedy recovery. 

X2

[CKwi88]

I have it better than most. A lot of people losing jobs, others can work from home. I'm currently at home not working, with pay. Said until April 3rd, but the governor (I'm in CT) is shutting down from the 23rd of March to the 22nd of April.

It's odd how that even with an absurd amount of free time (as much free time as I can have with a 7 month old in the house) life feels very directionless. It's almost as if the world has been put on pause. Very surreal.

Just trying to enjoy the time with my wife and son as best I can, mixing in some exercise and studying.

[SunsetBengal]

And for your quarantine entertainment viewing pleasure..

[samhain]

(03-21-2020, 07:57 PM)CKwi88 Wrote: I have it better than most. A lot of people losing jobs, others can work from home. I'm currently at home with pay. Said until April 3rd, but the governor (I'm in CT) is shutting down from the 23rd of March to the 22nd of April.

It's odd how that even with an absurd amount of free time (as much free time as I can have with a 7 month old in the house) life feels very directionless. It's almost as if the world has been put on pause. Very surreal.

Just trying to enjoy the time with my wife and son as best I can, mixing in some exercise and studying.

My wife got told that her workplace was shutting down on Tuesday and has been battling the que for unemployment filing.  I worked my last day yesterday, and am getting two weeks with pay, best case scenario going back on April 6th.  

I'm not freaking out just yet, but l am a bit uneasy about what will happen when half the country is unable to pay bills when this goes on for longer than we expect.  I feel like the virus will eventually be something we have to cope with until a vaccine is developed, and that's a long wait.  They can't shut everything down for a year.

[HarleyDog]

(03-21-2020, 06:48 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: Two experiences.

1) My wife's father passed away after acquiring COVID-19 in Europe earlier this week. We was a stroke victim and had been bed-ridden in a care home for several years. So, his passing was not entirely a shock. Just a bit earlier than expected.

2) A high school friend of mine in Chicago has a 14-year old son who has acquired the virus. He has asthma and his immune system was previously compromised. When his breathing difficulties became worse than normal, they took him in and at the hospital he was tested and came up positive. Fortunately, he is at a hospital and has excellent care and equipment. But even then, they are not sure. They can only treat symptoms as there is no cure yet for the disease.

Damn BZ. Sorry for your loss. Hope your friends son gets through this ok.

Life right now is upside down for much of the nation. My wife works for the schools so she is off with pay. As for myself, I am in transportation so I go to work everyday. The government has relieved driver from HOS rules also, which lets drivers work as long as they safely can to keep providing goods and fuel to the people. Kind of stressful to be honest.

I had a driver come to me yesterday and ask if they shut the state down if we had to work? I told him it doesn’t matter what shuts down, we must continue providing fuel and food.

[George Cantstandya]

@Bengalzona I'm sorry to hear that this has affected your family and friends directly.

@HarleyDog Tell your drivers we appreciate their hard work keeping the supply chain going. I imagine this is a very stressful time for them. But things would be much worse if they didn't work so hard to keep supplies flowing.

As for things here. I posted in the original thread in P&R before this one was made. My VA outpatient clinic called me yesterday and they are shutting down until further notice. They are moving most of the staff to the main hospital.

Went to Kroger today and they are doing a good job keeping things stocked the best they can. They even had a pallet of TP and people were not rushing to grab it so I think maybe that has settled down a bit. The canned meat aisle was empty aside from Skyline Chili. I think they have a distribution center near here so that may be why. Plenty of eggs but limited to 2 cartons per person. There was a fair amount of ground beef and fresh produce. The pasta aisle was barren aside from pasta sauce. Overall they had plenty of food but maybe not what people prefer to eat. You can kind of tell what people don't like based on the supply.

People are still not getting the whole social distancing thing though. I had a number of people get rather close to me while grabbing items they wanted.

My mom has been really stressed out and I field calls from her several times a day about this. She gets a lot of misinformation though because she spends a lot of time on Facebook. So I end up talking her down from a panic state about some post she read on Facebook. I've tried to convince her to take a break from it but she is a bit stubborn. Her husband is a lung cancer survivor so he is at risk and he is stubborn as well. I'm having a heck of a time trying to convince him to avoid going out in public when he doesn't need to. Overall I am just doing what I can to keep them both calm and healthy. I'm glad I can be there for them tough.

I put some of my Christmas lights back up in the front of my house. I read an article the other day where people are doing it as a message of hope and to try to add a bit of cheer. So I figured why the heck not? I actually kind of like having them back up. Only one other house on my street has done the same so far. I hope it catches on.

[SunsetBengal]

Personally, my life hasn't changed much. (aside from not finding things at the grocery, when I want to find them there) Work for me is unfazed, as I work for an Engineering firm, in the Surveying department. Our major clients are strong enough to endure this temporary economic setback, and just signed new contracts as of this past week. Our main office is in Charlotte, but I work out of the satellite office just East of Raleigh.

There are only 3 of us currently based out of the satellite office, and we all are capable of working independently, as well as remotely. About 60% of my time is spent in the field (the great outdoors) and I really don't need to appear in the office much, as I'm equipped with a loaded out laptop and VPN to access the company server from home to do drafting or research.

My wife, on the other hand, isn't doing as well. She is a special investigator for Child Protective Services, on a specialized unit dealing with severe injury and sexual abuse cases. She and her coworkers generally gather a lot of emotional support from team members in the office setting. (as you might assume, it is extremely draining to deal with those types of situations) Anyway, her entire building has been assigned to work remotely while this entire situation runs it's course.

Rather than having the rest of the staff to lean on for comfort/advice/support she now has to keep it contained. So, guess who gets to be the one to hear her vent all of her frustrations and emotions that build up throughout the day now??

Yes, I realize that my griefs are minor in comparison to other folks (1st World problems seems to be the modern term) But I also have genuine concern for the elder members of my family. I moved down to NC back in 2003, in order to remain close to them. I'd hate to lose any of them over this, and it's already looking like our family Easter gathering will be cancelled, at this point. (I usually make some fantastic country style bbq ribs for this gathering)

[jfkbengals]

(03-21-2020, 08:23 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: And for your quarantine entertainment viewing pleasure..

I've actually been walking around singing that for the last three weeks.  Usually it gets a chuckle from co-workers, and that 's the only reason I do it.  Not to make light of things, but to try and make people laugh for at least a moment of time.

My company decided Tuesday that we were going to 40 hours Monday through Thursday and the building is vacant, with no exceptions, Friday through Sunday.  Engineers and such are working from home, but as an inspector I have to be in the building to do my job.  Apparently the Board of Supervisors originally decided to shut down for two weeks (all unpaid) but changed their minds as there was a fear of not being able to make delivery dates, which could create liquidated damages based on the contracts.

[HarleyDog]

I got SAF two weeks ago. Felt fluish Friday evening, then Sunday felt so bad went to a convenient care. When I got there I had a fever of 101, so not horrible, but I’m kinda one of those wimpy guys that women make fun of that can’t function with a fever over 99. Anyway, my nose was swabbed (but not really. Barely touched a nose hair, I think the girl swabbing wasn’t trained correctly). Test came back negative for flu and even tho I was coughing like a madman, doc said my lungs sounded clear, but sent me to hospital for chest X-ray, which also came back clear. She prescribed me prednisone, cough suppressant and an antibiotic. I missed work M-T-W then went to work Thursday because I hadn’t had a fever in a few days (chest and stomach felt horrible due to the coughing). Thursday afternoon, left work early and went to family dr. He started treating me for pneumonia after listening to my chest. I missed work Friday as well. I was able to go to work last week, but the coughing is still bad. I have a huge bruise on my right side about 2x7 inches long which I can’t even imagine how it got there. Then Friday after work (2 days ago), in a coughing spree, it felt like someone hit my upper right back muscle with a spoon. The pain is real. Think I might have pulled a muscle.


My wife got sick 3 days after mine started with the same symptoms. Dry cough, fever, etc. She missed 4 days of work as well. I took her to the Dr. that Thursday and she tested positive for influenza A. She has been in so much pain it has brought her to tears (totally unlike her. Sickness doesn’t bring her down, but this time has floored her). I feel bad if I gave it to her, but also inevitable as we spend so much time together. She insisted on taking care of me before she got it, and as mentioned above, I’m a wimp when sick so wouldn’t have argued with her anyway. However, seeing her in so much pain made me feel horrible.

Fast forward to today, we both are still suffering from the cough. At least now it’s not always dry and can actually get some of that crap out of our lungs. With me not having a true diagnosis of what I had, and my wife being diagnosed with inf-A, I’m hoping that we both have already been infected with coved-19 (I’ve read about many cases of contracting both viruses at once - although not common). In both our cases, neither of us has ever been this sick before. If not, we both worry of getting it because we haven’t fully recovered from this one. She has low risk because she’s locked in at home. My risk is much higher due to my employment and the industry I work in. I guess we shall see, but in this house, there are two sets of fingers crossed.

[George Cantstandya]

(03-22-2020, 12:24 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: I got SAF two weeks ago. Felt fluish Friday evening, then Sunday felt so bad went to a convenient care. When I got there I had a fever of 101, so not horrible, but I’m kinda one of those wimpy guys that women make fun of that can’t function with a fever over 99. Anyway, my nose was swabbed (but not really. Barely touched a nose hair, I think the girl swabbing wasn’t trained correctly). Test came back negative for flu and even tho I was coughing like a madman, doc said my lungs sounded clear, but sent me to hospital for chest X-ray, which also came back clear. She prescribed me prednisone, cough suppressant and an antibiotic. I missed work M-T-W then went to work Thursday because I hadn’t had a fever in a few days (chest and stomach felt horrible due to the coughing). Thursday afternoon, left work early and went to family dr. He started treating me for pneumonia after listening to my chest. I missed work Friday as well. I was able to go to work last week, but the coughing is still bad. I have a huge bruise on my right side about 2x7 inches long which I can’t even imagine how it got there. Then Friday after work (2 days ago), in a coughing spree, it felt like someone hit my upper right back muscle with a spoon. The pain is real. Think I might have pulled a muscle.


My wife got sick 3 days after mine started with the same symptoms. Dry cough, fever, etc. She missed 4 days of work as well. I took her to the Dr. that Thursday and she tested positive for influenza A. She has been in so much pain it has brought her to tears (totally unlike her. Sickness doesn’t bring her down, but this time has floored her). I feel bad if I gave it to her, but also inevitable as we spend so much time together. She insisted on taking care of me before she got it, and as mentioned above, I’m a wimp when sick so wouldn’t have argued with her anyway. However, seeing her in so much pain made me feel horrible.

Fast forward to today, we both are still suffering from the cough. At least now it’s not always dry and can actually get some of that crap out of our lungs. With me not having a true diagnosis of what I had, and my wife being diagnosed with inf-A, I’m hoping that we both have already been infected with coved-19 (I’ve read about many cases of contracting both viruses at once - although not common). In both our cases, neither of us has ever been this sick before. If not, we both worry of getting it because we haven’t fully recovered from this one. She has low risk because she’s locked in at home. My risk is much higher due to my employment and the industry I work in. I guess we shall see, but in this house, there are two sets of fingers crossed.

I hope you and your wife get well soon.  

[cinci4life]

Ohio officially under a stay at home order until April 6. Nothing different from what we've been doing.

[*bengalfan74*]

(03-22-2020, 03:46 PM)cinci4life Wrote: Ohio officially under a stay at home order until April 6. Nothing different from what we've been doing.

I don't know ? Seems they may be expecting more nonessential business to close up shop ?

[HarleyDog]

(03-22-2020, 04:59 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I don't know ? Seems they may be expecting more nonessential business to close up shop ?

So many businesses are boarder line essential, depending on individual preference. Take a florist for instance. We could survive without it, but to a woman pinned up in isolation for several days, receiving some flowers would be good for the soul. That’s probably a bad example, but I think you get the gist.

[HarleyDog]

(03-22-2020, 03:46 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: I hope you and your wife get well soon.  

Thanks. I worry about her wellbeing. She’s an outdoor person. She’s always on the go and it seems her world has stopped. She has rearranged furniture and put it back again just to keep busy. Hoping for some nice sunny days for her so she can go in the yard and tinker like she loves to do. I’m very glad she hasn’t been grumpy.

[jfkbengals]

(03-22-2020, 05:52 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: So many businesses are boarder line essential, depending on individual preference. Take a florist for instance. We could survive without it, but to a woman pinned up in isolation for several days, receiving some flowers would be good for the soul. That’s probably a bad example, but I think you get the gist.

Not to be morbid, but the florist example makes me wonder how funerals are being handled at this point of time...

[SunsetBengal]

(03-22-2020, 06:01 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: Not to be morbid, but the florist example makes me wonder how funerals are being handled at this point of time...

Without getting into any specifics, I will say that I ran across an article or two this week that specifically addressed how not being able to hold traditional funerals is disrupting the typical grieving process for many people.

[HarleyDog]

(03-22-2020, 06:01 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: Not to be morbid, but the florist example makes me wonder how funerals are being handled at this point of time...

I don’t believe they have or even will do anything with funerals unless it gets real bad. Even then, that would be tough.