The SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 pandemic has been with us for over six months. A recent check of https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ reveals just over 13 million cases, with over a half million deaths, and 4.9 million of which are listed as active. On a positive note, 7.6 million are listed as recovered.
Unfortunately, recovered does not necessarily mean being back to the same shape someone was in pre-infection (see below).
Statistically, there are bound to be some Soylentils who have been infected (or had friends or family members who were).
I'd like to offer an opportunity for us to pull together and share our collective experiences. If you've made it through, telling others of how it went can be helpful both for the one who shares, and also for those who were recently diagnosed. Fears, doubts, and worries act to drain energy better directed to recovery.
NB: Please be mindful that "the internet never forgets". I encourage all who respond to make use of posting anonymously.
With that caution, what has been your experience? How long between time of infection and onset of symptoms? How bad was it? How are things now? What do you know now that you wish you knew earlier? What did you hear about earlier but didn't realize they meant that?
Penultimately, I realize words are inadequate, but I sincerely wish and hope that all can be spared from this malady, and those who have been afflicted may have a speedy and full recovery.
Unfortunately, it looks like that may not be as likely as we would all hope and wish for...
Ars Technica has results of an analysis of COVID-19 victims' recovery. Be aware it was from a relatively small sample of patients who had been infected and then deemed to be recovered. Two months after infection, COVID-19 symptoms persist:
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues unabated in many countries, an ever-growing group of people is being shifted from the "infected" to the "recovered" category. But are they truly recovered? A lot of anecdotal reports have indicated that many of those with severe infections are experiencing a difficult recovery, with lingering symptoms, some of which remain debilitating. Now, there's a small study out of Italy in which a group of infected people was tracked for an average of 60 days after their infection was discovered. And the study confirms that symptoms remain long after there's no detectable virus.
[...] Roughly 60 days later, the researchers followed up with an assessment of these patients. Two months after there was no detectable virus, only 13 percent of the study group was free of any COVID-19 symptoms. By contrast, a bit over half still had at least three symptoms typical of the disease.
The most common symptom was fatigue, followed by difficulty breathing, joint pain, and chest pain. Over 10 percent were still coughing, and similar numbers hadn't seen their sense of smell return. A large range of other symptoms were also present.
Journal Reference:
Angelo Carfì, Roberto Bernabei, Francesco Landi. Persistent Symptoms in Patients After Acute COVID-19 [open], JAMA (DOI: 10.1001/jama.2020.12603)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @12:33AM (29 children)
Remember that if enough do "freedom exposure", then your hospitals will be backed up such that if you get some random illness, you may be SOL.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @12:48AM (23 children)
Hospitals probably currently hurt more people than they save anyway, that means people are dying less often due to medical error.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/22/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death-in-america.html [cnbc.com]
If you include bad public health advice like the food pyramid and narrow spectrum suncreen the healthcare industry is likely the biggest threat to Americans health by multiple orders of magnitude. Covid doesn't even register.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday July 14 2020, @01:07AM (13 children)
which organisations have pushed narrow spectrum sun screen? Mayo Clinic [mayoclinic.org] doesn't..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @01:17AM (12 children)
All of them until 2010 or so. Blocking UVA is a new thing, u til recently "wear sunscreen" amount to advice that you should prevent your bodies way of telling you to get out of the sun (sunburn) while doing nothing to block the UVA that causes skin cancer. That's why now there is a skin cancer epidemic, especially melanoma in office workers who don't get a tan (but not outdoor workers).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Tuesday July 14 2020, @01:33AM (11 children)
wow.
Australia has been pushing brad spectrum since at least 1983 [standards.govt.nz]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @01:40AM (10 children)
Couldn't get the link to work. But it was definitely not common until recently: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12839580/ [nih.gov]
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday July 14 2020, @02:46AM (9 children)
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @03:01AM (8 children)
Not seeing anything about broad spectrum in 1983.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday July 14 2020, @03:31AM (7 children)
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @03:39AM (5 children)
Not even sure where that text is coming from but anyway it still doesn't say anything about how common broad spectrum sunblock was in Australia in 1983. I'd be surprised if it was common since the research on the UVA problem really only came out 2000-2010.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday July 14 2020, @04:08AM (4 children)
was from
https://infostore.saiglobal.com/preview/293355528983.pdf?sku=117193_SAIG_AS_AS_245202 [saiglobal.com]
Also see this [saiglobal.com]
Australia was regulating use of broad spectrum sunscreen as far back as 1983, and has been tightening the definition ever since.
How common? Australia's skin cancer rates [wikipedia.org] would suggest "still not common enough"..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @04:32AM (3 children)
I still haven't seen that they were worried about UVA in 1983 from your sources. But it's not like it was unknown, just people thought that was a "bonus". Now we know blocking only UVB is a big net negative because it removes the natural signal to limit sun exposure without offering protection against cancer. If you bought sunscreen before 2010 or so you were harmed by this.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday July 14 2020, @05:23AM (2 children)
same standard linked above
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @05:47AM (1 child)
That isn't from 1983...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @01:50PM
Yes, it references something from 1983, but laws regularly do that. Especially when they're being modified in one fashion or another, it doesn't say anything about what the standards were back then. You'd have to read the referenced item.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @04:24PM
Off topic, but love your sig. I am excited for the final book in the series to finally come out in August!
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Tuesday July 14 2020, @01:56AM (3 children)
From the linked:
Meanwhile, in about 4 months, the number of deaths by COVID in US, the number of deaths is 138,247 and the epidemic's strength is increasing [worldometers.info].
If Florida were a country, it would rank fourth in the world for the most new cases in a day [reuters.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @02:00AM (2 children)
Yep, how many of those were people who got unnecessarily put on a ventilator? Half?
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Tuesday July 14 2020, @02:13AM (1 child)
For a bit of extra fun, before joining the covid party, do yourself a service an get a "Don't put me on a ventilator" tattoo on your chest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @02:42AM
If you really want to be protected we already know it is vitamin c, a pulse oximeter, tobacco smoke and hyperbaric chambers (in that order of extremity). I have zero fear at all of this virus.
But no one is actually taking this seriously anywhere in the world, just a bunch of people trying to profit politically or financially from it and those safe and effective approaches don't suit their goals.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Opportunist on Tuesday July 14 2020, @06:59AM (4 children)
Yeah, trust your statistician: In first world countries, most people die in hospitals.
Also in the news, if you have to drive, drive far away, most traffic accidents a person has happen withing 30 miles of the person't home.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @11:46AM
Fortunately, the bankers are solving that second one by taking away as many homes as possible just as soon as the government lets them. With no home, the accident rates will drop dramatically.
Now, if we could just get all the people driving Toyotas off the road we might have a year with no car crashes.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday July 14 2020, @01:03PM (2 children)
Also in the news, the more firemen present, the worse the fire.
Defund the fire department!1!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Tokolosh on Tuesday July 14 2020, @03:10PM (1 child)
Fewer laws, fewer criminals.
Fewer police, fewer criminals.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @10:15PM
Not quite, you were doing fine until you equated fewer police with fewer criminals. There's no meaningful correlation there, more police likely means more people caught breaking the law, it doesn't mean that there's more people breaking the law. Breaking the law is what makes a person a criminal, not being caught.
It's the same BS as the folks saying that just because we haven't diagnosed covid-19 in people that they don't have it. If they haven't been tested, then we don't really know, it doesn't mean they haven't got it. And a bunch of people had to be diagnosed based only on symptoms as getting tested wasn't an option.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @01:15AM (1 child)
He fully subscribes to the "if you don't test, you don't get any positive cases" philosophy. There's no problem the sticking your head in the sand can't fix.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @03:00AM
If you never take a pregnancy test you'll never get pregnant.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday July 14 2020, @05:12PM (1 child)
The press where I live is going INSANE because case numbers are climbing and we all need to virtue signal our holiness by wearing the holy mask of infinite protection while we window shop at the mall for 8 hours every day (gotta keep profits up!)
What they carefully don't report is death and ICU use are way down far more than half the peak value (which was never very high) and test numbers are up 100x.
In the old days they only tested 1K people per day, all whom were already in the hospital with symptoms, of which about 10% died, and sometimes they "only" got 100 positives and it looks like the fatality rate is about 10% and like 10-20 people died every day.
Now they test 10K people, get 1K positives, and less than 3 people die per day. It seems the fatality rate is a small fraction of one percent of those infected.
With a side dish of a couple months worth of "you sinners just wait in two weeks there will be a spike". Yeah sure predict the end of the world every week and finally they might get it right, but they're turning into laugh stock now.
Of course these are the same propaganda people pushing Trump Derrangement Syndrome and Muh Russia and Hillary has 99% chance to win. Journalists are scum.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @05:45PM
You should fix your spelling of "derangement" in order to avoid giving people an easy attack on your points.
Journalists working for the MSM are scum, but they have to eat too. Luckily there are still instances of real journalism happening.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday July 14 2020, @10:34PM
No, not enough population density here. Very low risk.
Washington DC delenda est.