Coronavirus thread

[Caballoflaco]

I’m prescribing* every every last one of us sons of bitches to spend at minimum a half hour (more if you can) disconnected from electrons and news; and preferably outside if the weather abides doing something that brings you joy. Do it alone or with people you love (but not 250 people you love).

I’m not a doctor, but I do have an awesome mustache.

[Nephrology]

Question for the Docs-

Is this a reasonably accurate layman’s description of how ARDS works ?

I skimmed thru it but yeah close enough.

What this mean? I live on Flonase. Allergies, and that shit works.

Often MDs treat pneumonias with high doses of steroids (not flonase). Seems like it may not help with this bug. Not something to worry about.

[YVK]

Not sure if any doctors can confirm. Note this is not actual medical advice as I am not a doctor, just a dude on the internet.

I heard that a lot of the young people 20-40 yo in Iran/China that died not to ARDS but due to heart attacks from sudden exertion with underlying myocarditis. They would present with low or mild symptoms and recover quickly and treat it as a normal cold, and then upon over exerting themselves the myocarditis led to heart attacks. Hence the videos of people suddenly collapsing in the streets. If so that would suggest being extra careful to rest even after mild symptoms if it could be covid19.

Again for the doctors on this thread any confirmation or corrections could be helpful.

No information yet along any channels. I am sure I will know all there's to know about COVID19 myocarditis. In 3-6 months.
Based on what was described above, it is totally plausible. Symptoms of myocarditis could be perceived as residual respiratory symptoms. They wouldn't be dying from heart attacks but from arrhythmias. This is inline with the Facebook post that Nephrology linked to earlier.
Resting after mild symptoms wouldn't help, those arrhythmias are random electric events. Myocarditis manifests as shortness of breath and chest discomfort, I'd be looking for those symptoms.

[RevolverRob]

What this mean? I live on Flonase. Allergies, and that shit works.




I think it was you that stated this several days ago? I wanted to ask then, but why in the hell aren't the labs just doing it? Perhaps this should go in the political thread, but if there is a clearer example of getting .gov all the way the fuck OUT of healthcare, I can't comprehend it. But I'm still curious, is it regulatory, monetary, other? All? I get the impression that labs, clinics, etc. have been handcuffed and don't know the machinations.

As Grey said - regulations.

My lab could lose our permits to conduct research from the FDA and CDC, which means we could be shut down by any of those groups + OSHA + EPA + Regional/State agencies. We could potentially face fines and/or a suspension of grant funding (in particular NIH and NSF). While we have some private foundation backing, loss of funding and the ability to get funding would be the death of our research and facilities.

If NIH/NSF so choose - they can block us from receiving funds on a permanent basis.

This is why one of the clear difficulties in doing grant-based research is when you work at the intersection of politically divisive topics, you’re beholden to the political whims.

Then there was a tight lid on the test kits, primer sequences, and PCR protocols for a bit.

You also face healthcare regulations, where if a private lab conducts the test, healthcare coverage may choose to ignore it or decline coverage because it wasn’t “CDC/EPA/Whatever Approved”.

I firmly believe that one thing that should come out of this is an emergency system protocol. Whereby, capable labs can volunteer to be trained and certified to run these tests in times of emergency. It could be difficult, due to HIPPA, but not impossible to accomplish this goal.

In this way, labs that will be sitting idle for days/weeks could contribute to the control and spread of the virus.

Think about other things - could we not test everyone working in the lab, then quarantine them (on a voluntary basis), to do this work? It protects the lab and gets the results out there. We just need the Fed or County or whoever to pick up the bills on supplies - labor would be voluntary or hourly paid, non-profits can reap it back in good will.

There are other things - resources could be diverted to making N95s - etc.

[Spartan1980]

Thanks @Grey and @RevolverRob, that's pretty much what I thought. I just hold further comment because it's not germane to this specific thread.

[5pins]

People in Loudoun County, VA have just woken up to the news that their kids are not going to school for the next week. This was done so the schools can be deep cleaned.

In other news, kids go back to school after a week off for cleaning and completely contaminate them on the first day back.

[Stephanie B]

My siblings' kids' colleges are emptying the dorms and implementing "distance learning".

Since those kids are in STEM programs, I don't know how that'll work.

[Tensaw]

This isn’t aimed at Stephanie (seriously), but for those who believe that this can be as bad as forecast, we should probably quit thinking about trying to have business as usual and just come to grips with the notion that, for the next little while, our job is to avoid contact. Hey, catch up on some housework.

ETA: Also, the other day someone compared this to y2k with a bunch of people freaking out over what turned out to be nothing. Well, this ain’t that. This is like a hurricane. You know it’s there and it has the potential to be bad. BUT, we are looking at forecasts even still. Forecasts (especially early ones) are *always* wrong. We know it is coming to us, but we still don’t have a lock on duration, intensity, or timing. On the off chance this turns out to be overblown (God, please let this be overblown!) we should not get all disappointed. You have to act on the information you have at the time and be okay with that. For every hurricane that has come through and torn a bunch of shit up at my place, there are several more that went somewhere else or turned out to be a big thunderstorm. I have to be okay with having prepared for the non-events. So, do what you can to protect yourself and your loved ones and do not apologize for that.

[Cory]

On the virus and problems it causes...

For those who make a full recovery, do we know what that timeline looks like? Is reinfection possible?

My wife and I both have chest colds. I'm flu negative. I've had this for over a week. For those in good health, good shape, and the sweet spot age range how long is recovery? I'm guessing it varies with and without pneumonia

-Cory

[critter]

I'm firmly in agreement on all fronts.

My wife called it, "Shutting the barn door after the horses are out."

___

Like I said if we, as a culture, do not take this seriously, then we're truly beyond broad hope.

I agree to a degree. However, that paper upthread that Neph posted (re: Italy) indicated that, while slamming that door weeks ago would have been a magnitude better, waiting another three to four more weeks before shutting that door inevitably would have been exponentially consequentially worse. That was a long ramble for asserting 'better late than never.'

While I don't wish this upon anyone, it's also better that high visibility celebrities are in the spotlight testing positive. A thousand common schmucks like me can die in the back pages of the paper with no action forthcoming -- one celebrity, however, can cause a serious mobilization. It is what it is.