Covid-19 pandemic

[San Bernardhinault]

"This year even fewer people are being offered the vaccine. Last winter, all over-50s could have one. Now it is only the over-65s, unless you are in an at-risk group."

Um? What? What the fuck is wrong with Britain? Why the fuck don't the authorities want everyone vaccinated? Surely even the most rotten, cynical Tory scumbag still wants their indentured peasants to be able to work their fingers to the bone rather than be stuck in bed getting sick pay or in the office infecting all their other peasants and making them also unable to work for a pittance?

[Nocturnal Submission]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67726685

[Janik]

And Covid still kills. The main physical danger remains that direct one. It’s just that it also remains somewhat unpredictable who it’s a danger for.

From the Office of National Statistics for week 44 (ending 3rd November) of 2023 on UK deaths - 332 mentioning Covid, of which 230 had Covid as the underlying cause. Excess death number for that week was 409.

[Janik]

That isn’t the reason put forward about why the late 2020 cold that went around was heavier than normal which I’ve encountered. Almost the exact opposite in fact - more that immune systems were underworked during lockdowns, so had got a bit out-of-condition* (that fits better with those who hadn’t tested positive also being floored). A period of reduced social interaction being followed by worse-than-usual variants of diseases when socialising picks back up again is very standard stuff.

* - metaphorically. Immune systems are resource-heavy. Bodies only devote what is necessary to them. If a body isn’t getting infected much, resources (i.e. t-cells and the like) are not replaced as readily when they age and die off.

[Sam]

Hope CS feels better soon, and glad to hear steveeeeeeeee is largely out of the woods. I get the impression from reading stuff by people more expert than me that the main physical danger of it at this stage is, as steveeeeeeeee suggests, more to do with the damage covid does to our immune systems – it basically totally fucks them, leaving us much more vulnerable to whatever next hits them. So a lot of those colds people started catching in (depending when their country opened up / how adventurous they were personally) late 2020 or any time in 2021 that felt 'much worse than any cold I had before but we've all probably just forgotten what having a cold feels like because we've avoided people for so long LOL' actually probably were hitting much worse than before, because if you'd had covid at that point your immune system was much weaker (although this isn't a perfect reason, because some of us had still avoided it at that point and then caught colds, still testing negative for covid, that still floored us).

That's the main physical danger, as I say. The neurological damage it does is another matter entirely. And we're not going to have any sort of measure of the full extent of either for a long time yet,

[S. aureus]

To echo the covid still affecting you even with mild symptoms thing, though much less delibilitatingly - last year I caught covid, felt very tired one day and slightly tired for another couple and that was it as far as symptoms went. Weeks later I had a CT scan of my sinuses and they were still noticeably inflamed, even on the non fucked-up side.

[steveeeeeeeee]

And all the best CS, I'm sure you are doing everything you should be doing and I hope things improve rapidly for you and your wife.

Don't push yourself, if you need to lie down, from my experience your body is telling you it needs more oxygen, so just lie down and give it a chance to recover.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Had another visit to the lung doctor today. He believes I caught covid, felt ok and then whilst doing normal things, contracted pneumonia, which is where all the damage has occurred. Makes perfect sense as I remember feeling fine 3 weeks ago and taking my daughter out to a very crowded shopping centre to get an ice-cream. It was the day after that when we both felt awful.

My big problem now is the damage the pneumonia has done to my lungs, which will recover, but if I were to get another pulmonary infection now, I would not cope with it well at all. So, I'm masking up everywhere I go for the next few weeks.

So, the moral of the story is that even though you might think your covid symptoms are mild, it clearly makes you more vulnerable to any other bugs going around, especially at this time of year. So, don't be a fool like me and think you're invicible: stay at home, rest, drink liquids and if you still feel awful after 2 weeks, get to a doctor, don't wait 5 weeks like me.

[Crystal Staples]

Thanks for the kind and supportive messages. Intended to return to work today but wasn't feeling it when the alarm went and called in sick again, correct decision as I was unable to stay awake early afternoon. First days off since 2018 as an upside to all the risk averse living is that I haven't been ill with anything at all. Mrs S is 2-3 days behind me with this and has symptoms worse than I did, I'm gutted she's had to miss her sister's 50th and a London show tonight she'd been looking forward to for a long while.

[San Bernardhinault]

Bad luck, CS. I hope that you lasted disease free for long enough that the strain has become less harmful and the vaccines have taken to edge off what might otherwise have happened.

[Moonlight Shadow]

An odd thing to report but since I had my septum correction on the 16th of October which involved the lining inside my nose being detached then reattached, I have not caught any bug. My wife had a very nasty bout of lurgy/covid that knocked her out a fair bit, colleagues at work full of lurgy/covid coughing and sneezing near me...nada, i just sail through it unscathed.

I do wash my nose with saline solution regularly and up until recently used an antibiotic ointment in my nostrils.

Long may it continue....

[blameless]

That's really unfortunate CS, and I hope you and your good lady come through this relatively unscathed (fingers crossed).

However, you also have to remember you live in a country run by narcissistic kleptocrats, in which public safeguards against catching the bug were abandoned far too soon for political expediency - it's incredibly difficult to function to any degree in the UK and not catch Covid at some point. So try not to berate yourself too much.

Glad stevetc is on the mend.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Jesus, that's grim. sorry to hear about that CS and Steveeee.

My sister went on holidays with her fiancee down in kerry in late august, and then came up to visit us, and brought it with her. She failed to transmit it to either me or my mam, somehow. Then in september, Mam went down to Kerry with her some retired people's group, and came back feeling a bit under the weather, then two days later tested positive. It took her the guts of 10 days to get over it, and she's still a bit effected, but is mostly over it. She had a serious wobble when she decided that she was tired of being unwashed, and tried to have a shower and wash her hair, and had a weakness, and we had to go to the hospital to get her oxygen and have her checked up. She took to the bed for another few days, and seems to broadly speaking be ok. The fucking miracle is that neither of them managed to pass it on to me, which is truly miraculous since every eight weeks I have to get injections to effectively beat my wonky immune system into submission.

Those vaccines really are fantastic. Not only in protecting me, but also in reducing the likelihood of my similarly well jabbed mam and sister passing it on. .

[diggedy derek]

Ah, man. I'm so sorry about that. Ultimately, you were trying to control something that could never be fully in your control, as I'm sure you know. I completely understand the mindset to avoid it and make adjustments at all costs, though. I've been there and we avoided it for ages and ages.

[Crystal Staples]

First time infectee here. Today is Day 5 of testing positive.

I've mentioned on a match-going thread on OTF at some point that I still mask up at games, and same for any other public place. We haven't really relaxed precautions in this household, my wife and I mask up in public indoor places and crowded outdoor ones, we still quarantine the mail for 24 hours, wipe down the shopping when it's delivered. We take a few calculated risks and have a mutual understanding on where the line is drawn, but we generally haven't gone back to pre-March-2020 normality.

For background to that, Mrs S already has three chronic health conditions which led her to being granted early retirement at 44 on health grounds. From the start of this pandemic, she's been absolutely adamant we will not get Covid-19, knowing this could exacerbate or compound her ill health.

I will have caught this at the away match at Aldershot 8 days ago where I took a few risks, some reasonable, some not. Unfortunately I've infected her and this is probably the most guilty I've felt about anything ever. This is the first day I've felt better than the previous day since catching it, so doing a lot of nursing and errands to assuage the conscience.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Feeling much better today. Still have the noise of a feral cat squealing inside my lungs, but overall have much more energy.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Stupidly got over confident yesterday and spent the whole afternoon out at the park with my wife and daughter and feel utterly awful today, When you are advised to rest, it's what you really should do. I've got 3 very overdue assignments to mark now, once that is done, I'm on the sofa.

[blameless]

We called the domestic doctor today after I passed out during a coughing fit.

I passed out and banged my head on the floor when I had Covid, scared the bejesus out of mrs b. It's one of the symptoms that never made it into the news, but has happened to a surprising number of folk.

[Gangster Octopus]

Hopefully you'll not get long Covid.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Mum not great, everyone else fine. Hospital visit was a quick one, my blood oxygen levels up 4% from yesterday so immediate impact and no need to be observed. Getting x-rays and scans done Monday, go back for final check, hopefully, on Wednesday and another injection of dexamethasone.

Has made me really consider how dangerous COVID is and there is no way I'd ever attend an event like the one I attended again. Interestingly, smokers at the party appear to have escaped infection, probably because they were in the garden regularly.

[Gangster Octopus]

Crikey, it sounds like a proper dose. How's the rest of the family?

[steveeeeeeeee]

We called the domestic doctor today after I passed out during a coughing fit. She gave me an injection of Dexamethasone, which worked wonders, I've also been given an inhaler, which really helps to relieve the constant croaky sounds in my lungs and some other pills to take for the next 5 days. My blood oxygen levels are low, so I have to spend tomorrow at the neumology unit of the local hospital for x-rays and tests, hopefully all will be ok. I feel much better since the doctor's visit/medication and as my wife likes to tell me, I should have called the doctor 2 weeks' ago.

My mum is still ill, I spoke to her today and she is going to book an appointment in the morning to see her GP. I think there's a general belief that when you get Covid, you have to just ride it out with rest and paracetamol. But clearly there are simple and cheap treatments, especially the dexamethasone injection, which was like turning a switch from feeling awful to feeling alive again.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Just read through my comments and I suggest earlier that I caught it while travelling on a crowded bus while in London.

In fact, we definitely caught it while at my sister's house party to celebrate her wedding. It was crowded, all windows closed due to the cold weather outside, most people were there 5+ hours. Almost everyone at the party caught the virus.

[steveeeeeeeee]

I think steveeeeee meant that it's better to get to that stage that when he had the dry cough not bringing anything up. It usually means the disease is progressing which means the end may be in sight.

Yes, that's correct. Had 2 massive vomit sessions yesterday evening that really scared my daughter, due to their severity. But since then, the expulsion of mucus has begun to calm down and my cough sounds and feels like a typical chesty cough. Definitely starting to feel like I am recovering. Definitely don't want to go through this again in a hurry.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Too nice, that's my problem.