First of all - a warning: this link is quite detailed and if you are squeamish or anxious please think about whether you want to read it or not. For those who are interested it includes a description of how the immune system producing inflammatory substances (including the IL-6 we are so familiar with in PMR/GCA) - someone did ask.
I have to emphasise that this is early days in establishing exactly how it works and it may turn out that Covid19 is a bit different. 15% of cases of the common cold are caused by a corona virus of some sort - and we do know you can't develop an immunity to the common cold but at the same time it doesn't usually kill, not even in over 80s unless they already are pretty sick. However - we are all familiar with elderly people dying when bronchitis turns to pneumonia, long known as the old man's friend. If my husband gets ordinary flu and develops pneumonia on top it is a long journey until the damage is gone.
Covid19 favours the lungs - and in people with preexisting lung problems it can be overwhelming, In some patients it appears this cytokine storm is the thing that kills them. None of us have any existing immunity to it and while that may not be too much of a problem for young healthy people with strong immune systems, they can spread it to the vulnerable. And THAT is why social distancing is so important. It is the equivalent, for the moment at least, of widespread vaccination. The virus can only spread when it has a new host to invade in which to multiply. If it can't get to other people, it can't spread - so keep your distance from everybody and wash your hands.
Thank you. I have read so much medical info over the last two years that I decided I would just read what you and others were writing as it gives a good cross section of opinion. Good sound science advice from you and generally sensible comment from others.
Oh goes to hospital for blood tests tomorrow before his chemo tablets on Tuesday. Followed in two weeks by a full day for infusions again. Going to ring haemotology later .
He is doing well and we hope patch found on lung will be part of non Hodgkin's and not anything else. We are all in the same boat but we are aiming for land over the horizon. Take care .
Thanks Pro. As OH always gets pneumonia (he cant just settle for man flu like other men) its nicer knowing some details than being in the dark. Pre armed!! YBB
This makes sobering reading - gives me some respect for the human body though if most can fight off this onslaught. One thing it seems to dismiss is mother to baby transmission which must be contradicted by what happened here recently. See
It isn't clear yet whether this is vertical transmission in utero or just mother and baby contact post partum as there must be virus in bodily fluids you would think.
What I actually find far more concerning is that they hadn't thought about barrier nursing sooner - how many NHS staff are now missing while they self-isolate? They aren't routinely testing contacts, even in the NHS. Which does make me worry about a potential shortage of tests being the reason for not doing more widespread tests as recommended by the WHO.
What puzzles me about self isolation is, so I get the virus, OH dosen't, I stay in bed, dining room, he in lounge, but how do you avoid contact in the kitchen??.....drinks/meals have to be made......it can be passed on utensils etc.....just can't see how passing it can be avoided!.....or am being dopey and missing something??...😕
The advice I read says one at a time in the kitchen, make your own drinks and meals and eat in isolation. Wash all worksurfaces, drawer handles, door handles before and after use. Obviously wash up your own crockery etc.
All tissues double bagged and left in tbe patients room until they decide what the disposal method will be. Now don't ask me where I read it....that was last night!!! 😴😴😴
Years ago I got a dreadful flu, no way could I get out of bed for food or drinks, so this is what I have been thinking.....and it's supposed to worse than flu in many respects....impossible in my view.....😏
Yes. It's hard to imagine isn't it! Like you say if it is like flu you don't want people even talking near you nevermind agreeing on food and drink. Last time I literally drank water and had ice lollies. I was in bed for 8 days and for at least a week if that food held no interest. Let's keep our fingers crossed.... But try not to share a bed if it happens. That's coughy splutter times!🌻
You aren't supposed to share items they mentioned. But given the closeness of contact, I think it is a bit unlikely that you would get it and he wouldn't. More to the point is whether you'd be well enough to do anything!
My husband is the family and friends joke, he is never ill, catches nothing......had flu when he was 14, that's it.....never even a cold!!....our doctor has never seen him!....refuses all tests available....his explanation.....I refuse to catch anything..😱...he thinks the world is being hysterical.....oh dear, methinks he's in for a shock. Writing this he doesn't sound human!!....😉
I agree. It's the memory of some awful bouts of flu that makes me have the flu jab every year. I live alone. My eldest daughter lives close by but I'd hate to give her the burden of looking after me if I caught it.
I had fortunately bought a pack of water bottles which I never do but was going to a cottage the next month. I put them next to my bed when the chemist dropped meds off. That's all I could face for days anyway.
If you are still out and about get some water in, or full a proper non plastic bottle and get some isotonic drinks and just keep them by the bed. A box of tissues etc and you are away. I live alone and my family live away. I remember the dog bring miserable but it was all. I could do to crawl to the door. I flagged neighbour who ki dlu bought me 3 boxes full of ice pops and that was my lot.
2 weeks ago I did buy plastic bottled water, iso drinks, lime cordial and paracetamol with 2 boxes of tissues. These are next to my bed. I have tried to get all my prescription drugs in. Just in case.
I'm making soups, stews, chowder, chili, pasta sauce, broth etc. and freezing in individual portions. I'm blanching fresh vegetables and freezing them, too. I've already frozen individual portions of bread. Tomorrow I'll make compote for jarring, and bake some pies from excess fresh fruit that I'm afraid will "go over" before we eat it. Anything that doesn't fit in the freezer will be offered to neighbors (left on the porch), as will anything that might be approaching the end of its useful life that we can't eat as time goes along. (If you don't have the equipment for actual canning, cooked fruit lasts for up to a week in clean glass jars and up to a month in the freezer in plastic bags or containers. Make sure all food is cool before you seal it up and store it.)
Everything can be thawed in the fridge, and popped in the microwave to serve. There's not much to do to prepare, and not much to do to clean up.
As for washing up if one of you gets sick, I'm doing what my Mom and Grandma did when one of the kids was sick. Wash your hands before you start. Open the window. Fill the sink or basin with a gallon or so of hot water. Add a few tablespoons of bleach. Let the items sit a few minutes, drain the water, and then wash as usual with soap and water. Do the dishes in batches - utensils and cooking implements in one, glasses and cups in another, plates in another, and finally pots and pans. I've mixed up a gallon of water with 1/3 cup of bleach to use for cleaning the sink, faucets, drains, handles, knobs, key pads, buttons and light switches.. I wash my hands, dip a paper towel in the solution, and swipe away.
Remember not to mix bleach with anything except water. Don't use extremely hot water - it doesn't enhance the germ killing process - and you make fumes. You might want to crack open the windows before you start, and leave them open for a while after you're done.
The Lucky Dog always looks forward to days like this, as she gets lots of treats along the way.
Reminds me of our dish washing when we were quarantined with scarlet fever when I was a child. So many things about that time are coming back to me in these discussions. Good ideas, all around!
These methods were passed by my Grandma to my Mom, who had scarlet fever in the late 1930s.
Mom taught me when my little brother and sister came down with chicken pox (before the vaccine), and she was 6 months pregnant. She moved out for a couple of weeks, and left me in charge for the duration...The kids weren't very sick, and we had a blast being at home with no adults...
Hi Longtimer, we gave some thought to this as we are hoping one of us can stay healthy to look after our daughter. Our bedroom is on the top floor with an en suite bathroom. A sick person will live there for a week and meals will be brought to them with paper plates and disposable wooden cutlery (to put in a black bin liner). When the patient gets better he or she is given some cleaning products and they try to clean up the bathroom and the room as much as possible. The other person continues sleeping separately for a while. 🤞🙄
As an extra: here we are being told to have a separate triple layer tear-resistant bin bag for everything from the isolation area which should be disposed of daily - having been taped securely shut. It shouldn't be mixed with other household waste.
Thank you for that. I guess I could double up on the bin liners to a similar effect. Or use heavy duty garden bin liners.
We are somewhat behind on the daily collections. Our rubbish is collected once a fortnight in an attempt to encourage recycling (which does work I think).
I guess could call my local authority and ask whether they have bin liners they could provide (they already provide me with orange 60l ones as we refused to have giant wheelie bins in our small front yard).
They need to start dispensing the bags for this. Or here they can tell us to use one of the 3 bins which can then be sterilised. Recycling... That is a pause for thought.
At least you know.... I may have missed it in the fog of the last few days but they were still deciding how it would be disposed. Just said leave it inthe infected room! No doubt that's changed... Hopefully. Too tired to look so no idea how you must feel!! Shattered comes to mind.
Luckily you don’t have to content with gulls - latest info re waste from Dorset Council -
Waste: Guidance for people with confirmed or possible coronavirus (COVID-19) infection
Personal waste (such as used tissues) and disposable cleaning cloths can be stored securely within disposable rubbish bags.
These bags should be placed into a second bag, tied securely and kept separate from other waste in the room in which you are self-isolating.
Keep these bags aside for at least 72 hours before putting into your usual black wheelie bin.
People without wheelie bins who use authorised blue bags for their rubbish should place personal waste in a securely tied disposable rubbish bag (like a black bin bag) before placing in your blue sack. This also applies to those who use gull-proof sacks.
For those who think the young get off easily there was an interesting programme in the Our World series on BBC news this morning. It showed video diaries from some young people in Wuhan during the time it was closed down for isolation. Some worked nurses etc, some helped where they could, others were very sick. One trying desperately trying to find his wife a hospital bed while isolation nursing her. Worth watching, very chilling
Thank you for sharing. That was very interesting, even if a little scary. I worry for my daughter who has moderately severe asthma and already has difficulty breathing in the pollen season. It's wonderful to see the way the whole world is coming together to defeat this though. Maybe this is what we need to bring unity.
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Methotrexate and Steroids affect immune system does this mean we are more susseptable to Viruses.
Join the Virus Watch project ( in the UK)
So sad
Corona virus scared
