COVID-19: Coping and Social Distancing

[oldsk8er]

I will second that about the masks!!!

 

[TallyT]

On twitter someone (sorry, I've lost the reference) put up photos of their Yuzu-costume-inspired mask probably really really impractical but oddly cheering. I think it would be a nice isolation hobby lovely for fans - if they or could get had the materials - to do (most of the men would be easy, grab the nearest black fabric and go for it).

As I said, masks are rare here but I would happily buy some for the Korean costumes - okay, probably not use them, just to keep.

 

[TontoK]

On twitter someone (sorry, I've lost the reference) put up photos of their Yuzu-costume-inspired mask probably really really not practical but oddly cheering. I think it would be a nice isolation hobby lovely for fans - if they or could get had the materials - to do (most of the men would be easy, grab the nearest black fabric and go for it).

As I said, masks are rare here but I would happily buy some for the Korean costumes - okay, probably not use them, just to keep.

My wife just crocheted a novelty mask that looks like Yoda. The outside is purely decorative... yarn isn't an effective barrier... but it has a real mask insert, or it goes over a mask, or something like that. I don't rightly remember because it's not something I was terribly interested in, other than it amused her to do it.

If "masking" becomes a new social norm, I suspect someone is going to come up with functional "fashion" masks sooner or later so the "haves" can strut their stuff in a $500 Gucci mask.

 

[Ducky]

My wife just crocheted a novelty mask that looks like Yoda. The outside is purely decorative... yarn isn't an effective barrier... but it has a real mask insert, or it goes over a mask, or something like that. I don't rightly remember because it's not something I was terribly interested in, other than it amused her to do it.

If "masking" becomes a new social norm, I suspect someone is going to come up with functional "fashion" masks sooner or later so the "haves" can strut their stuff in a $500 Gucci mask.

Oh, that's already happening with a lot of the more boutique clothing lines: Reformation, Alice & Olivia, Kes are all making masks for sale. And of course there are tons of designers on Etsy selling their own.

Christian Serrano has his couture sewers working on making PPE masks for hospitals, and Brooks Brothers is converting factories on the East Coast so that they can focus on producing PPE gowns and masks as well.

 

[CoyoteChris]

My grandfather and great uncle got the Spanish flu. Both survived, but nearly died and were sick for months. My grandma did not get it, despite taking care of my grandad.

So yes, some people just did not catch it, and must have had natural immunities.

During the centenial two years ago, PBS did a great program on the pandemic. Plus the local newspaper did reprints of the daily flu coverage, all of which re-kindled my interest in that pandemic.. Then, its was more the young people that died...the old people that actually lived through 60 years of flus had some immunity, like getting a shot for flu today with an imperfect match. It helps anyway. It will be interesting to see if the vaccination numbers for flu in Oct 2020 go up. I am always first in line for the high does "old folks" shot. With our compromised immune systems, a bigger "Jolt" is needed to activate them.

 

[CoyoteChris]

I will second that about the masks!!!

One thing I learned new about mask that I was not taught in training in the state patrol was that the N95-N100s (at least) are shipped with an electro static charge to help catch things. It decreases over time so there are expiraiton dates, but there are two other ways masks catch things....

In times like these, where quality "User protecting" masks are very hard to get, I take off a mask after getting into my car and sanitizing my hands, and stick the mask in a zip lock bag for 10 days before re-using it. Not many people in the store at 10 am.

 

[CoyoteChris]

This just in. The cat is our of the bag. Two cats living with two separate families in NY state have tested positive. One of the families seems to have no positive members. There is still no proof (they say) that cats can infect people, but there is circumstantial evidence after SARS 2003. Also, Asia seems to have reported cats becoming infected. I certainly wouldnt let a cat out at night in any case but certainly not at this time till we know more.....
Chris the bird lover

 

[oldsk8er]

One thing I learned new about mask that I was not taught in training in the state patrol was that the N95-N100s (at least) are shipped with an electro static charge to help catch things. It decreases over time so there are expiraiton dates, but there are two other ways masks catch things....

In times like these, where quality "User protecting" masks are very hard to get, I take off a mask after getting into my car and sanitizing my hands, and stick the mask in a zip lock bag for 10 days before re-using it. Not many people in the store at 10 am.

Thank-you for your service.
Yes, We use N95 respirator masks for patients under/with droplet precautions along with gowns and gloves. We too put our masks in zip lock baggies with our names on them and have to be fitted once a year
ie: We put a hood on and an aerosol is sprayed inside while we do different activities( bending,walking,talking) if at anytime we can taste the aerosol then we know our mask is not fitted properly.
If they don't fit you it defeats the purpose.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Thank-you for your service.
Yes, We use N95 respirator masks for patients under/with droplet precautions along with gowns and gloves. We too put our masks in zip lock baggies with our names on them and have to be fitted once a year
ie: We put a hood on and an aerosol is sprayed inside while we do different activities( bending,walking,talking) if at anytime we can taste the aerosol then we know our mask is not fitted properly.
If they don't fit you it defeats the purpose.

Exactly. Our training officer released a fragrant big molecual into the air and if we smelled it, the mask was not fitted correctly. The nice thing about the N100 is that it has a nice wide neopreane type seal.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Breaking news...the UK vaccine trial is under way. Have good thoughts for the outcome. The telly said that if it works, they could be in rapid production by September. It is very interesting how they make the vaccine....
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/health-52394485

 

[karne]

By some miracle, Australia may have got away with this. Our number of new cases each day is slowly decreasing.

Let's play Australia Apocalypse Bingo!:
January: devastating bushfires (with bonus super-destructive hail for some parts!)
February: devastating floods
March: the plague
April: locusts
May: ???

 

[Harriet]

By some miracle, Australia may have got away with this. Our number of new cases each day is slowly decreasing.

Let's play Australia Apocalypse Bingo!:
January: devastating bushfires (with bonus super-destructive hail for some parts!)
February: devastating floods
March: the plague
April: locusts
May: ???

Let's not get Biblical about this one! Death of the firstborn is on that list somewhere, and I'd rather not lose my sister and my niece.

The rain forecasts look good across SA and other drought-stricken areas for the next few months, which is something. And SA has had no new COVID-19 cases on 5 out of the last 7 days and only new 3 cases in total on the other days, despite having a repatriation flight doing its quarantine here. As my sister and her husband are both paramedics and have both done COVID-19 transfers before, you can't imagine how relieved I am that the recent testing blitz confirms that our community transmission rates are currently very low.

 

[karne]

Let's not get Biblical about this one! Death of the firstborn is on that list somewhere, and I'd rather not lose my sister and my niece.

I am the firstborn, so I have a vested interest in us not getting that one.

 

[iluvtodd]

Well, for those of us Jewish people who have just finished observing Passover a week ago (a 7-8 day holiday, 7 days in Israel, 8 for us), this outbreak is the eleventh plague! :eeking: for vaccines to end this scourge!

 

[karne]

If you're looking for something to do to stay fit, but don't like all the high-impact workouts, the Australian Ballet has Studios at Home - a series of ballet classes for adults, complete with beginner, intermediate and advanced classes.

 

[dorispulaski]

https://www.news-medical.net/news/2...py-improves-hypoxia-in-COVID-19-patients.aspx

This sounds promising from Brazil.

Heparin is given routinely in hospitals if you have any tendency to have blood clots, say after strokes.

Doctors in this study have compared 27 COVID hospital patients who were admitted to the respiratory unit while coincidentally on heparin to COVID patients who weren't on heparin.

Of the 27, over half never went on a vent and were released home in 7.3 days from admission to the respiratory unit.

In addition, half of the patients on mechanical ventilation were extubated within 10.3 days on average. The remaining patients demonstrated progressive improvement without any hemorrhagic complications or deaths.

This hospital was also administering other drugs, but with the same protocols to both groups.

The fact that this is a retrospective study without a control arm does not yet allow us to definitively conclude that heparin in tailored doses should be systematically employed in all COVID19 patients", caution study authors.

"Nonetheless, our findings in this early group of patients certainly provide food for thought and perhaps a rationale to justify using a readily available and well-known drug such as heparin to ameliorate the dim prognosis of such sick patients while we await the more solid data on this subject that could be provided by a prospective controlled study", they conclude.

However, in NYC, 80% -90% of intubated COVID patients die.
https://www.businessinsider.com/cor...ors-try-reduce-use-new-york-death-rate-2020-4
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/22/coronavirus-ventilators-survival/

That clearly was not happening for that Brazilian hospital.


It sounds like doctors are getting a better handle on how this virus works in the body. Knowing how it works is the most important step to defining more successful therapies.

 

[Ducky]

https://www.news-medical.net/news/2...py-improves-hypoxia-in-COVID-19-patients.aspx

This sounds promising from Brazil.

Heparin is given routinely in hospitals if you have any tendency to have blood clots, say after strokes.

Doctors in this study have compared 27 COVID hospital patients who were admitted to the respiratory unit while coincidentally on heparin to COVID patients who weren't on heparin.

Of the 27, over half never went on a vent and were released home in 7.3 days from admission to the respiratory unit.



This hospital was also administering other drugs, but with the same protocols to both groups.




However, in NYC, 80% -90% of intubated COVID patients die.
https://www.businessinsider.com/cor...ors-try-reduce-use-new-york-death-rate-2020-4
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/22/coronavirus-ventilators-survival/

That clearly was not happening for that Brazilian hospital.


It sounds like doctors are getting a better handle on how this virus works in the body. Knowing how it works is the most important step to defining more successful therapies.

Well, in NYC the patients who are getting intubated are already pretty far gone because we don't have enough ventilators to give them to patients as a preemptive step. Who knows what the survival rate would be if we had enough to put all those who needed them earlier on.

 

[dorispulaski]

That is likely true, but it is also pertinent that a number of the COVID caused problems seem to involve clots, like strokes, and heparin Inhibits clotting.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...0PADegQIChAT&usg=AOvVaw2O4E9CLq9NpgvH2zcPSwNj

Any increase in knowledge about how this "novel Corona virus" works is a step in the right direction.

 

[Ducky]

I appreciated the CDC's update of Covid-19 symptoms to include ::checks notes:: more common cold symptoms. This fall is going to be FUN.

Anyway, saw the Blue Angels fly over today from my apartment so that was kind of cool.

 

[CoyoteChris]

I appreciated the CDC's update of Covid-19 symptoms to include ::checks notes:: more common cold symptoms. This fall is going to be FUN.

Anyway, saw the Blue Angels fly over today from my apartment so that was kind of cool.

As an airshow junkie, I can tell you that seeing the T-Birds and the Blues in the same sky is very rare.....