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The Corona Virus

63 Replies

Many of us on this forum are understandably interested in this virus.

I have just watched Contagion: The BBC 4 Pandemic. It was on BBC 4 at 10pm on tues.

It is an experiment into how it spreads, what exactly makes it difficult and how we could stop it.

A really interesting and informative watch.

63 Replies
skischool profile image
skischool

Yes i also watched Contagion and it was a very interesting programme and certainly food for thought given the potential implications of this virus says Ski's who hid in the corner of Radiology today awaiting his appointment,i didn't notice any heightened infection control measures in the hospital amongst either the staff or patients perhaps we may have a rude awakening in the not to distant future.?

in reply toskischool

I fear that we may, given that flights are still coming from China and other Far Eastern countries where we really don’t have the true picture of what is going on. It only takes one super spreader as shown in the the programme.

2greys profile image
2greys in reply toskischool

I have an appointment tomorrow and I will be using the stairs, as I always do. Making use of the sanitiser on the way out, again, as I always do. My biggest concern will be with using the bus, but then it always is. Pleased to be going now, before things might possibly get bad though.

Fingers crossed, if all is well, my next appointment should be in 6 months time, when I will re-assess the situation. I feel sorry for those of us that will have to attend on a regular basis.

skischool profile image
skischool in reply to2greys

The virus will spread within the uk and i think most medical experts are in agreement with that,fortunately most of my appointments are within the respiratory dept of my treating hospital on clinic days where the clientele are visitors already diagnosed and undergoing routine revisits,thankfully i don't have to use public transport.

As for a planned but not appointed LVRS procedure i will have to assess the situation as it unravels?

Lindy-loo1949 profile image
Lindy-loo1949 in reply toskischool

Was talking to Mel asking him how you are... he said something about more procedures for you. What really worries me is that you're only able to take broth! Soon youll be carried away by the breeze to a nice mountain top just outside of Vernon and dropped off on a gleaming white ski hill. I hope your doing as well as can be expected. I do see you've not lost your sense of humor yet. Always keep that my friend. Grab yourself some N95 masks when you go into the hospitals. Your fortunate you dont have to travel transit! I do and it scares the heck out of me!!

skischool profile image
skischool in reply toLindy-loo1949

The lovely Lindy-Loo what a breath of fresh vancouver air with all these germs blowing around.how nice to hear from my friend in B.C that has made my evening and i will celebrate with a steaming bowl of broth. :) xxx

P.s i should be here this time of the year. :)

bigwhite.com/mountain-condi...

Lindy-loo1949 profile image
Lindy-loo1949 in reply toskischool

Yes dear Skiis you should be visiting every single mountain that has snow abounding! It's very beautiful to be standing down here looking up at the mountain tops of North Vancouver. 🥶 You take very, very good care now. 💕

skischool profile image
skischool in reply toLindy-loo1949

I do hope you and your wheelchair are free of rust my dear and that the robins still visit your balcony and you feed them well to keep of the chill. :) xx

Lindy-loo1949 profile image
Lindy-loo1949 in reply toskischool

Chickadees galore and 2 wee hummingbirds. A tasty treat for Scruffy. Will send pics as soon as this dastardly weatherstops

Lindy-loo1949 profile image
Lindy-loo1949 in reply toskischool

Wheel chairs ok, but I need some WD40!!! Went on an adventure over town today, I will wear a double mask next time. I have never noticed the amount of sickos out there before this virus came along!!

skischool profile image
skischool in reply toLindy-loo1949

I am just your man as usual Lindy and i have some WD40 plus an electric wheelchair,gosh i must be catch of the month lol. not sure if the battery will get more all the way to B.C though. :) xx

Lindy-loo1949 profile image
Lindy-loo1949 in reply toskischool

Hey!!! You joined the co-chair club! You know, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and just get a different mode of transportation! 🙂

To be honest, I'm so glad you have one. It's your new ticket to freedom. No more struggling to catch your breath walking . Do you have a decent bus system there where you can take the chair on the bus? That makes all the difference in the world. Well, except when you're not dealing with this damned virus. Stay safe my friend!! This is a bad one. No!! Scruff cannot have my birds.

skischool profile image
skischool in reply toLindy-loo1949

Lovely lindy,i don't use the chair at the moment,it was the one i bought for my dear wife but it may well become useful as my condition worsens,as for the public transport system there is no way i would get it on a bus,it probably weighs a 100 kilos or more and here in the UK we are not very well geared up for people with disabilities in wheelchairs. :(

Stay warm my love and keep feeding your feathered friends,they sure do need a few offerings this time of the year. :) xx

Lindy-loo1949 profile image
Lindy-loo1949 in reply toskischool

I cannot remember how to send pics. Please remind me

skischool profile image
skischool in reply toLindy-loo1949

You have to open a new post Lindy to input a photo i believe as you can not insert one in a reply? :) xx

Lindy-loo1949 profile image
Lindy-loo1949 in reply toskischool

Ok I'll try that!

Lindy-loo1949 profile image
Lindy-loo1949 in reply toskischool

100 KILOS!! That's a heavy chair. But then I guess when I think about it my chairs pretty darned heavy as well

skischool profile image
skischool in reply toLindy-loo1949

The beast.

sunrisemedical.co.uk/powere...

xx

Lindy-loo1949 profile image
Lindy-loo1949 in reply toskischool

Funny, I have the quickie chair in apple green. A tilt too.

skischool profile image
skischool in reply toLindy-loo1949

So are we the quickie kids :) xx

Lindy-loo1949 profile image
Lindy-loo1949 in reply toskischool

I'm sorry to hear your bus system is poor over there. I feel very fortunate that I can just zip on and off with no problems. Although with this virus running rampant my traveling days may come to a grinding halt! Did you hear Trump as quieted the government from speaking out about the virus. About the infection rate (trump thinks it's no worse than a cold) jerk. This is a type of Sars... great. The CDC will not test new cases so no one knows if they have the seasonal flu or Carona. The idiot will allow many people to die b/cause he wants to be reelected!! He thinks if he can try to quieten scientists and doctors that he can manipulate his "base" to vote him In. I dont think it will happen. Once people start to drop, people will get that hes been lying to them! God hell us all.

jmsutt73 profile image
jmsutt73 in reply to2greys

Stairs...good idea! Elevators are about like airplanes, everyone is breathing same air. J

Lindy-loo1949 profile image
Lindy-loo1949 in reply toskischool

Went for blood work today and there they were ... all garbed up in everything except haz mat suits. Such a comfort to be greeted by that team!! A bit of over kill at this point!! 🥴

cofdrop-UK profile image
cofdrop-UK

ersnet.org/the-society/news...

Cx

cofdrop-UK profile image
cofdrop-UK

I didn't see it unfortunately but I have saved a video of the 1918 flu pandemic The Flu That Killed 50 Million. Schools and theatres were all closed during this pandemic. There were clues in the memoirs, they hope will inform us how to behave in the next pandemic. Sadly it killed 10 times as many as were killed in the war. It stated in the USA from a wild bird. The superd spreader, being a soldier in the kitchens came into contact with many soldiers.

In March 1918 Ships docked in Brest and flu broke out in the trenches.

Seeriously ill in France were sent back to Britain. Human hosts. June 1918 first case in Manchester.

The more crowded north of Manchester was affected worse. Closed schools but some people thought it was an over-reaction!

Docs were wearing masks. Staff were dropping like flies.

Government response. Sir Arthur Newsome prepared memo - advice - same as today really. Didn’t distribute memo as he thought the needs of warfare justified (carry on) -

Spain was neutral and so it was discussed openly. That’s why it was labelled the Spanish Flu. Many recovered.

August 1918 pandemic receding. Medical Officer of Health in manchester was a mathmetician and worked on statistics. The war government felt justified in censoring news.

In Sep flu virus returns and has mutated. Flu starts in barracks in the States. Dr. William Welch is called in. Said camps should be isolated but he was overruled. Blinkered officials failed to contain the virus. 2nd wave more deadly-better at infecteing humans.

American ship stacked with infected soldiers set for France. Hundreds of these men died. 200 nurses were also on the ship.

Spreading to the rest of the world. Pandemic in India starts in Bombay and killed about 17 million - 4 times greater than in GB. Viruses are much smaller than bacteria and they didn’t have but the basic equipment.

2nd Wave reaches London. End of Oct first death of nurse followed by 3 more.

People are wearing masks.

Australia takes drastic action. Oct 1918 they seal the country off from the outside world. Ships are kept in quaranteen. First international attemtp to stave off the flu.

Armistace is dec lared 11 Nov 1918. Huggisng and kissing made it possible for the Spanish flu to spread. First time 2 woman doctors were engaged in the Infirmary in. The pandemic brought in more women doctors into hospitals and led to the creation of the Minstry of Health.

Jan 1919 flu starts to decline. 500 days after the flu starts the pandemic is ending. Viruses slow down the longer they are with a new host as it gives them a better chance of survival. Many folks are now immune. It mutated into a normal type of flu,

Could the killer return 100 years on?

There is a Pandemic Inflenza Response Plan 2014. Impact could be a 1918 type or it could be a mild virus but they must be prepared.

Flu in the here and now travels faster by plane. Medicine has improved enourmously and would not be paliative as in 1918, Antibiotics for the pneumonia which killed most of the infected as a seconary infection,

1918 3% of flu victims died. A worst case modern pandemic could be 1% but hopefully not with antibiotics, antivirals and quaranteen.

Cx

in reply tocofdrop-UK

That is really interesting.My grandparents used to talk about it. Strangely in both of their families nobody caught it. I am going to make a plan of the spread from that info and compare it with how this develops.

cofdrop-UK profile image
cofdrop-UK in reply to

Just wondering if you can still view it somehow. It’s The Flu That Killed 50 Million and the recording is dated 25/9, not sure if that was last year or the year before at 21.00 on BBC 2.

Cx

in reply tocofdrop-UK

Oh I think it was recently because they mentioned it when Contagion was finishing. Thanks I will look for it.

in reply tocofdrop-UK

Found and downloaded BBC 2 11.15pm on 11/2 for anybody interested.

Many thanks again.x

deejames profile image
deejames in reply tocofdrop-UK

Interesting piece of history. This is a virus and surely antibiotics can't help

in reply todeejames

True, they can’t unless a secondary bacterial infection develops.

cofdrop-UK profile image
cofdrop-UK in reply todeejames

You’re right but many died of a secondary pneumonia infection. I always have a secondary bacterial infection following a virus.

Cc

in reply tocofdrop-UK

Absolutely agree. My exacerbations virtually always follow virus infections.

derrylynne profile image
derrylynne in reply tocofdrop-UK

Yes same for me. For that reason I take antibiotics when hit by the common cold. Will not do anything for the cold but will stop a pneumonia. We can only be prepared and hope for the best.

in reply toderrylynne

I keep my abs on hold when I first get a virus. Interestingly I haven't had a head cold since starting to take vit D on prescription in 2016. If I get a chest virus I can easily tell if the bronch is taking advantage of it to start a party. Then I take the abs. For myself, I have found that the bigger the gaps beween taking them the more effective they are. This is where we have to work out what suits us best as individuals.

Aslangal profile image
Aslangal in reply tocofdrop-UK

Currently in hospital with a bronchiectasis flare up ... no one asked me had I had any foreign travel 😱 Watch Pandemic on Netflix. Very interesting. What is an N95 mask cos I’m going to ask the Nurse for one while I am here! lol (normal face masks though are useless right?). I’m even using towels to open toilet doors in here.

World Health Organisation link: who.int/emergencies/disease...

cofdrop-UK profile image
cofdrop-UK in reply to

Thank you for this Bkin.

Cx

in reply to

Thank you

LifeVitality profile image
LifeVitality

Last year the flu infected 35 million in the US alone, 35,000 died, if that were Corona infections it'd probably be closer to 500,000 or 1 million..

It's a concern for those of us with immune issues. I have IBD.

Sparkywoo profile image
Sparkywoo

I am really struggling to control my anxiety levels around my health with regard to this virus. I haven’t been out all week and don’t want to. Try as I might I’m scared. It makes me think about every person you might meet, where have they been? Who have they been in contact with?

Sorry, I try to remain positive but right now it’s all made made worse by the fact I have a chest infection right which is always a stark reminder of how miserable my lungs can make me.

My hands are like dried out chicken skin I’ve washed and hand sanitised them so much and much of this moring’s shopping delivery was disinfectants and vitamin c 😂

in reply toSparkywoo

I do sympathise. With so much talk and conjecture it is difficult to keep our anxiety under control. However, I am not too concerned about this virus in the general population. After all 8000 people per year on average die of the flu in the UK. We take our precautions against that and most of us chesties have had our jab.

My concern for myself lies in the fact that I guide at a tourist venue in Stratford upon Avon so we get large groups of visitors from the affected countries. This concentrates the potential for infection if one of them has it. Up until now no tourist has infected anyone it seems. I am going back to work on tues but not on shifts when they have groups from the FE.

It is a balancing act but I hope that you can get it in perspective in your mind.

in reply toSparkywoo

I didn’t mean it to sound as though the jab covers against corona virus. Of course it doesn’t.

Aslangal profile image
Aslangal in reply toSparkywoo

Be careful with the toxins in disinfectants and hand sanitizers if you have a lung complaint. I’ve started switching out household cleaning products with natural products as the toxins in bleach and disinfectant can do us a lot of harm too.

Catlover432 profile image
Catlover432

Don’t forget the most important thing is hand washing and trying not to touch your face. I’m thinking of getting some disposable gloves to wear when touching surfaces such as door handles etc when outside the home

It’s all very worrying so keep vigilant

in reply toCatlover432

So true. My gel is my constant companion at all times.

Catlover432 profile image
Catlover432 in reply to

I’ve been a bit worried about gels, as some don’t work that well and others contain chemicals that contribute to producing resistant bacteria Not sure if it applies to viruses. I can’t find the article now, but will post the link if I can track it down.

in reply toCatlover432

The pharmacy will tell you the best one. We have an anti viral mousse at work.

Oldspark profile image
Oldspark in reply toCatlover432

I too have to be concerned about the types of gels, as I am on oxygen 24/7 so I cannot use any gels that contains any alcohol, which with my advanced pulmonary fibrosis, makes me more vulnerable to infections.

I avoid going out when ever possible.

sassy59 profile image
sassy59 in reply toCatlover432

Cuticura do a gel that kills viruses and 99.9% of bacteria. I bought mine from Boots. Xxxx

in reply tosassy59

It is out of stock on the Boots website but strangely, before I got your reply I was buying a dettol one and also an alcohol free bacteria and virus spray from ebay. Aren’t we good. 😉

sassy59 profile image
sassy59 in reply to

I spotted it a few weeks back now in Boots in Worthing. I’m not shocked it’s out of stock on the website as I got the last two bottles then.

I’ll get Pete to look on eBay.

We’re totally amazing I think. Xxx 😘

jmsutt73 profile image
jmsutt73

My goodness! Someone tell me if I am wrong, but isn't it correct to believe that London is a first destination for an American on a European tour? Therefore, regarding the C-virus I'm thinking that it does no good to restrict travel from the U.S. To China unless we also restrict travel to Europe?

in reply tojmsutt73

I can understand that could be your concern especially as the UK do not seem to be restricting flights from China and in fact, we don’t actually know how many cases are actually in other FE countries from where they are travelling all over. I am trying not to catastrophise it in my mind and am going back to my guiding job but only if no groups from FE booked in.

DeborahBlythe profile image
DeborahBlythe in reply to

If your tour guiding is done outdoors, wouldn’t that mean very low risk of transmission? I can understand you might not want to be in crowded rooms with visitors, but outdoors?

in reply toDeborahBlythe

How tough do you think I am? 🤣I guide inside Shakespeare’s Schoolroom which means that I am up close and personal for the whole time that visitors are in there.

DeborahBlythe profile image
DeborahBlythe in reply to

Thanks for reply but sheesh, hold your hair on. I pictured you roaming the streets of Stratford and executing sidesteps when anyone coughed. I’m sure it would be worrying to be in the schoolroom with dozens of visitors keening to hear your words. I suppose a face mask wouldn’t really help would it?

megshafer profile image
megshafer in reply toDeborahBlythe

Well, yes, I guess I am changing the subject. Is that your Border Collie in your avatar? My friend has 4, all under the age of 3...I go out to her home in the country to visit regularly...oh...I visit her, too...lol I adore them, very well behaved and wonderful dogs.

Meg🐶🐶🐶🐶🐕🐕🐕🐕

DeborahBlythe profile image
DeborahBlythe in reply tomegshafer

I envy your friend. My dog picks and chooses his times to behave. 🤨🤪

megshafer profile image
megshafer in reply toDeborahBlythe

They are really amazing well behaved. And, are very friendly and sweet. Do you think it could be the treats I take? 🐕🐕🐕

Take good care of you and your buddy!!

🐶🐶🐶🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑

jmsutt73 profile image
jmsutt73

This is just too sad... News here is our gov't has offered to send to China our very best medical specialists, and they have not accepted the offer. I wonder if they are accepting any offers of help from other eastern nations. My understanding, just from reading about research on my issue, is that Japan has some of the real 'smart guys,' in the sort of research that will be required to beat this virus....J

Inamoment profile image
Inamoment in reply tojmsutt73

There are several groups in various countries developing vaccines because china released the virus genetic data. I can't think what would be gained by american specialists turning up, they have the data.

Aslangal profile image
Aslangal

What is an HN5 😷? I’m in hospital. Going to ask for one ☝️ lol

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