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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @02:44AM (5 children)
There's been some indication that vitamin D might help, but it's best to get it outside. The work was preliminary and pretty much based on the observation that where people were getting the sickest and who was getting the sickest had some degree of correlation with which people had more or less vitamin D. The young, those with lighter skin and those closer to the equator would likely have more vitamin-D whereas the elderly were less likely to get out, those with darker skin would get less exposure for any amount of sunlight and same goes for those further south of the equator at the time.
As far as I know, that's still preliminary and there's still legitimate questions as to whether there's something real to that or if it's just a correlation without any particular underlying cause. At any rate, if you can get outside you probably should, just as long as you can stay far enough from other people that you don't up your exposure.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @02:57AM (2 children)
I thought it was only safe to budget for 8 hrs of outside time per week. The rest should be spent isolated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @04:11AM (1 child)
This is the first I've heard of an outside time budget.
It doesn't make any sense. I could easily spend 8 hours
outside in one day in the woods. I'm more likely to get
a tick-borne disease than Covid (we still have to be careful
of all the other dangers).
It's the quality of the outside time that matters,
not the quantity. I easily spend over 8 hours a week
in my yard tending the garden, but nobody else
goes back there so it might as well be a bunker
as far as Covid is concerned.
A protest, OTOH--I don't go to those, and at this
point it's been run into the ground. So maybe give the
protests a rest, or budget those with much caution, wear
a mask, and sanitize like crazy because you're not by yourself
in the woods there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @11:40AM
While you may be safe outside, on average people will end up congregating with each other more. That is why outside time should be limited.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @04:05AM (1 child)
The same thing happened with vitamin D and protective effects against several cancers.
Folks with low D levels were doing worse than folks with normal D levels.
But, it turned out supplements didn't have a protective effect. The current thought is that it is sun exposure is protective (don't overdo it), and vitamin D was just a marker for sun exposure.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @11:51AM
Yes, like I said, it still needs actual research to determine whether it's a fake correlation, results from some other cause or if it's an actual real effect.
But, that being said, few people that have been diagnosed with covid 19 have gotten it outside, there's maybe a couple percent of the total caseload at most. And as long as you wear a mask and keep to the sixish feet recommendation, the likelihood is virtually zero. Plus, it's generally important to get enough vitamin D and getting it from the sun remains the best way.