Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Sheilbh]

I think that's a pretty safe plan.

It's the best I can do because despite my best efforts postponing Christmas to spring was not going to happen as my mum made abundantly clear

I mentioned in the other thread but a lot of my friends are doing something similar. Basically all on personal lock-down/self-isolating and then drive to family for Christmas.

But as I say this is not the environment I'd be wanting before everyone starts moving for the holidays:


Especially not when we're on the cusp of mass vaccination

[Sheilbh]

I think that's our first celebrity vaccination Prue Leith the 80 year old co-judge of Great British Bake Off shared a picture of her getting the vaccine on her instagram:


I was incredibly cynical about the whole celebrities get the vaccine and share it to encourage confidence in the safety of the vaccine. But it's just occurred to me it's all going to be celebrities over 80 who are universally national treasures in some way or another and I actually think it could work. Getting Mary Berry, David Attenborough. Ian McKellen, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench etc to say they've been vaccinated could work in a way that Little Mix getting it might not.

It's the nation's grandparents in a way

[The Brain]

The Queen?

[Sheilbh]

The Queen?

I don't know why but I feel like it'd be weird seeing the Queen with her sleeve rolled up getting a jab. Maybe Charles and Camilla?

[Threviel]

It's bad in Sweden right now. Several hospitals have been forced to close for new patients. At the present there is spare capacity in other hospitals. The regions mostly affected are the ones that got away cheaply the first time, which right now means that my part of Sweden is quite badly hit.

Health care is far more efficient and far more survive now than in the spring, but many are dying nonetheless.

My niece got it, she was horribly sick for a few weeks and lost all taste and smell. She is 24 and works as a training instructor. This was a few weeks ago and she is still weak and gets fevers when trying to do administrative stuff at work. She got it when her boss returned from a holiday in Spain and promptly gathered 8 employees in a small conference room. 7 of the girls got it.

The sense of helplessness for my brother and his wife felt must have been horrible, they could only leave food at her door and hope that she would be strong enough to go get it... They could not be with her.

[The Brain]

She got it when her boss returned from a holiday in Spain and promptly gathered 8 employees in a small conference room.

WTF

[Threviel]

She got it when her boss returned from a holiday in Spain and promptly gathered 8 employees in a small conference room.

WTF

Yeah... She's still got breathing issues. Hopefully not for life, but who knows.

[Tamas]

 

[Sheilbh]

My niece got it, she was horribly sick for a few weeks and lost all taste and smell. She is 24 and works as a training instructor. This was a few weeks ago and she is still weak and gets fevers when trying to do administrative stuff at work. She got it when her boss returned from a holiday in Spain and promptly gathered 8 employees in a small conference room. 7 of the girls got it.

The sense of helplessness for my brother and his wife felt must have been horrible, they could only leave food at her door and hope that she would be strong enough to go get it... They could not be with her.

God I hope she gets better soon - absolutely horrible and yeah I can't imagine what it was like for the family not being able to visit a loved one who's not well

And that's incredibly reckless by her boss - really awful behaviour

[Threviel]

Yeah, shitty boss. To even go to holiday to Spain this year is stupid enough, to not even bother about any kind of quarantine is beyond stupid. All this happened in October, so the second wave wasn't in full swing here at least, but still.

[celedhring]

Not even I went to Spain in October and I live in it 

[Threviel]

She apparently has an apartment.

For myself I've been thinking. I had an awful cold in early February and I still feel some effects from it. I have a dry cough that comes and goes, especially when going outside if it's cold and/or wet. I feel a constant pressure on my chest and it feels like I can't breathe properly. My eyes also run a bit.

I've been thinking that it was just a cold and the breathing is probably stress or so from being fired last year and starting a new quite hectic job. But I have no other stress symptoms and I like my new job so I don't really know anymore.

I looked at my medical journal from february. I had an eye infection and Sinusitis, fever and very high erythrocyte sedimentation rate pointing to inflammation. This and the early timing is just a so-so match for Covid-19, but my damn lungs are making me wonder what the fuck kind of cold I had.

[mongers]

Northern Ireland's health service in danger of buckling under the Covid-19 pressure:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-55316063

Covid-19: Ambulance queues 'at all NI emergency departments'

Ambulances are queuing outside all NI hospital emergency departments as they struggle to cope with covid pressures, the ambulance service has said.

Doctors treated patients in ambulances outside Antrim Area Hospital due to the hospital operating beyond capacity.

At 17:00 GMT on Tuesday, 17 ambulances were queued outside, although this had dropped to four by 20:45.

Amid the pressure, politicians have been urged to urgently rethink loosening covid rules over Christmas.

Northern Health Trust operations director Wendy Magowan said it was the first time she had witnessed such a situation at Antrim Hospital.

Dr Nigel Ruddle, medical director of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, said: "All of the emergency departments in Northern Ireland are seeing ambulances queued outside to various degrees.

"We are seeing the pressures right across Northern Ireland."

Health minister Robin Swann confirmed he would bring new proposals about restrictions to Thursday's executive meeting.

The meeting will see ministers look at options to manage the spread of Covid-19 in Northern Ireland.

A further six Covid-19 related deaths were reported in Northern Ireland by the Department of Health, taking its total to 1,135.

There have been 59,121 positive tests after another 486 were recorded.

There are 87 outbreaks of the virus in NI care homes, while hospital occupancy levels are at 104%.

The reproduction rate of the virus in Northern Ireland remains at or slightly above 1, according to health chiefs.
'Numbers are rising'

Northern Trust executive Ms Magowan said: "This has never happened in Antrim hospital before in my memory, never.

"We got to a situation last night that we had so many people waiting in ED to get into beds that we simply had no room left.

"We haven't got out of the second surge, in fact, our numbers are rising. We have the highest number of inpatients today that we've ever had with Covid.


Pat Cullen from the Royal College of Nursing told the BBC's Evening Extra programme that nurses were exhausted from working "excessive hours".

She said hospital nurses were treating patients in the back of ambulances and along corridors as well as on the wards and in the emergency departments, while the district nurses were trying to cope with "60% vacancies" in their workforce. [/b]

She said: "Speaking to many of our nurses today, there's no doubt that this is the closest I've ever seen nurses to being totally burnt out.

"Exhausted isn't even a word to describe how the nurses feel.

"At this moment in time, a 12-hour shift almost seems a luxury to them - they're working well beyond that."

[Barrister]

She apparently has an apartment.

For myself I've been thinking. I had an awful cold in early February and I still feel some effects from it. I have a dry cough that comes and goes, especially when going outside if it's cold and/or wet. I feel a constant pressure on my chest and it feels like I can't breathe properly. My eyes also run a bit.

I've been thinking that it was just a cold and the breathing is probably stress or so from being fired last year and starting a new quite hectic job. But I have no other stress symptoms and I like my new job so I don't really know anymore.

I looked at my medical journal from february. I had an eye infection and Sinusitis, fever and very high erythrocyte sedimentation rate pointing to inflammation. This and the early timing is just a so-so match for Covid-19, but my damn lungs are making me wonder what the fuck kind of cold I had.

Early February makes it exceedingly unlikely you had Covid unless if you had some kind of known exposure.

[Zoupa]

The virus was circulating in France in december 2019, so anything is possible.