Coronavirus Personal Experience

Have any of you already gone through the Covid 19, or think that they have (if not tested)?

Please share your experiences. We can help each other and learn from each others’ ways of dealing with it.

Stay safe.

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My sister in law is in isolation because her partner was confirmed case in Paris. Paris police dept. My best friends tax guy just died on pneumonia, which had a high probably of covid.

Close friend’s family are all from Verona, Italy. At last report a few days ago he had a number of relatives hospitalized with it and an aunt and uncle in their 60s had died. Gotta say, this account in the NYT from a 26 yr-old sounds pretty scary:

On Sunday, I started to feel better and my fever was gone. I felt thankful that even if this was coronavirus, I’d most likely be able to ride it out at home, as I’d heard people like myself had little to worry about. I began planning the work I’d catch up on the next day, and the much-needed shower I’d take.

That night I woke up in the middle of the night with chills, vomiting, and shortness of breath. By Monday, I could barely speak more than a few words without feeling like I was gasping for air. I couldn’t walk to the bathroom without panting as if I’d run a mile. On Monday evening, I tried to eat, but found I couldn’t get enough oxygen while doing so. Any task that was at all anxiety-producing — even resetting my MyChart password to communicate with my doctor — left me desperate for oxygen.

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Very scary, for sure. Seems to worsen very quickly.

A thing I remember from reading The Hot Zone, about (mainly) ebola decades ago, is that when viruses break into a new species they tend to be very virulent, actually too virulent for their own good, because killing the host isn’t a sustainable survival strategy. So they tend to mutate toward less severity with time. A high death rate is actually the sign of an immature, less successful virus. Small consolation though that is.

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That makes sense, but costly :frowning:

I remember reading The Hot Zone. An extremely interesting read. And completely made sense.

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Listen to your local police radio on the internet. I think we are seeing slight increase in gun crimes and robberies. Also, suicides seem to be MUCH higher.

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wash your hands and be healthy! don’t just go out on the street it’s dangerous!

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Welcome!!

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Just had 4 days off then my work required me to come to the office for my 4 days of 10 hour shifts. Desks are spread out the required 6 feet apart. Everything is wiped down every 6 hours. We eat at our desks and only have access to the bathroom and drinking fountain. Call receivers have been working from home in waves as equipment becomes available, but us dispatchers don’t get that privilege. I don’t have any savings of any kind and not much sick or vacation time accrued, so can’t afford t go home without pay. If I DO get it, I must wait a week to go on short-term disability with 66 2/3 pay. That’s what working for a company past 500 people is like. Sucks.

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I am worried about a friends husband. About 4-5 days ago he had sever abdominal pain, then started a fever with no other symptoms. The pain went away but the fever keeps going up and then dropping. She said it looks like the lungs might be starting to be affected now to. He’s very weak and his heart rate is high.

She’s a nurse that had a medical issue she has just barely been recovering from but is still home because of it. She used to teach other nurses. So luckily she knows what she’s doing.

But what astounded me is she lives in Washington and he has been having a fever off and on of 101/102. Had a heart attack a few years ago and is on meds still for it. He’s 67. He is immune suppressed too. But when she called the doctor he told her to keep him at home, not even to try to get tested, and don’t bring him in, the hospitals are overburdened already and if it wasn’t covid he would be exposed to it with whatever he has. I guess he probably has faith in her ability to care for him still and he is better off than in a hospital. She is on edge and is trying to judge when she might have to take him in.

Saying prayers that he will be okay.

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@Marie20 – That is worrisome. I hope your friend and her husband can manage at home and that both of them can pull through this.

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If he needs hospital care, it looks like they might be able to go along one of these routes. They should call first, though, and give hospital warning and find out where they have the resources to accommodate. Windows open. Good airflow. She should isolate and use gloves when getting gas - pay at the pump. They could sleep in the car. Maybe he promises to stay outside the hospital and they bring workers to him for IV fluids or anything, she could administer. She could try online consult, although I’m sure she knows that. I am very worried about my friends in Spokane.

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I don’t have it, but a 30-ish member of a local club has it. We had an online (instead of in-person) meeting tonight of two dozen members, and he video’ed in from his hospital room at Johns Hopkins. He was in worse shape a couple days ago with a very gnarly cough but is doing pretty well today.

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Eastern Washington hasn’t been hit like Western Washington yet.

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She’s just up above Seattle in a more rural area. But not far at all from the very hard hit areas. Hence the hospital being a possible worse option.

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The WA state cases tracked by the health department are here:

There are links for each county, which will give you or your friend a few resources, including how and where to get tested. The county web site where I live north of Seattle (Snohomish County) also lists the number of people hospitalized for Covid (63 on 3/25).

I am not sure I understand your friend’s doctor recommending not to get tested (is it that she thinks he might not have covid but would catch it in the hospital?)

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Yes, the thinking is he might not have covid. But some kind of virus and since he’s high risk and immune suppressed getting near a hospital will definitely expose him to covid if that’s not what he has.

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Wonderful information @John58 Thanks! I passed it on.

EDIT: She said to say Thank You for the information, she was happy to get it!

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