Experiences of Teh Plague

[ElyDave]

sounds very like a flu-type bug BP, we had one here a few years back that went through the house, with very similar symptoms, particularly the feeling that "my skin hurts"

[Lightning Phil]

A good friend of mine, living in Belgium, had Coronavirus. 40s,cyclist, fit and regularly training. He regularly got around big Alpine rides .
He’s now awaiting Heart surgery to deal with Coronavirus damage. He’s a medical science professional, and is obviously taking a big interest in “ long Covid” - and reports that there is a growing body of evidence about how widespread and serious this is.

https://apple.news/AKkGVW4toS5ml20wxoMHFFg On predicted increase in heart problems

[sojournermike]

I fear that once the death rate falls our government will want to open up as quickly as possible. Certainly Shiny Sunak^TM is likely to push for it, along with the ECRG (who rather than researching to find things out seem more eager to push their already established options on everyone). Given the incidence of Long Covid I have seen, including lung scarring in people aged 30, this could be catastrophic for a lot of our population and create real additional economic challenges in the future.

It’s a very insidious disease - as well as long Covid, the recent work at Leicester identified a significant proportion of people (c.12.5%) that had been admitted to hospital (possibly ICU, but not necessarily ventilated) died 3-6 months after discharge. Of course, these people won’t be counted in the ‘28 day’ measure, any more than those who sneak past 28 days before dying. Back in March/April Mrs S noticed a pattern of elderly patients discharged from hospital to her setting who developed coughs and stuff - no testing - who then went home after getting better and had strokes or heart attacks. Now known to a be a consequence.

I was talking to a colleague this evening and we have both had identical conversations with deniers/under players this week where the d/u told us that the 100k death numbers was grossly overstated and our response was that if you actually look at all the data sources and stats then it’s hard to conclude anything other than that 100k is an understatement of the actual number of UK Covid deaths to date.

With the real world confirmation from Novovax and Johnson and Johnson that their vaccines were only half as effective in the SA testing, which was feared following lab work in the SA variant, we already have a semi- vaccine escape variant and are look like spending 2021, and possibly longer, chasing down mutations.

Professionally it’s fascinating, but tbh I’d rather have an ordinary life.

(Mrs S was vaccinated with AZ last Friday as a front line health worker. She was pretty rough for the weekend, but hopefully that will give her some protection and also her patients and ‘us at home’.

Mike

[ElyDave]

Social care have funded us to have lateral flow testing for a month while they sort something out. Twice a week, and anyone coming for interview, or entering the house can be done before they are allowed in.

All tested negative after last weeks fun.

[rafletcher]

We had 9 cases at work over the course of the first week back after Christmas.  All bar one person is now back, none of them with any notable issues thankfully. The one guy is due back next week, he’s had it quite rough, as has his wife.

[fd3]

The advice is....buy a pulse oximeter.

Being NotAMedicalDoctor I went onto Amazon to do just this.  Apparently they are all excellent AND don't work properly at all - if you believe the reviews.  Has anyone bought one that actually works?

[Wowbagger]

The advice is....buy a pulse oximeter.

Being NotAMedicalDoctor I went onto Amazon to do just this.  Apparently they are all excellent AND don't work properly at all - if you believe the reviews.  Has anyone bought one that actually works?

Wouldn't you have to buy a few and judge them by their consistency with one another?

I bought one almost a year ago. It just told me that my oxygenation level was 97% and my pulse was 46. That pulse reading is pretty consistent with my Fitbit, which reckons I have a resting heart rate of 45. The Fitbit doesn't give an oxy reading.

[hellymedic]

Buy one (she says but has bot yet bought one for herself).

It will almost certainly count your heart rate correctly but you can check this using a watch or other device.

Pop it on a finger to check oxygen saturation. Nail varnish and pigmentation can alter accuracy. It's usually over 95% in health.

Check it detects a drop in saturation by seeing what happens if you put a tight elastic round the base of the finger - not so tight to stop all blood flow but enough to make your finger a bit blue.

If it detects this, it's working and you can  get a baseline for your normal saturation on that machine by taking repeated measurements.

Then put the machine away for a rainy day but make sure you always have spare batteries to hand; Murphy's Law dictates batteries will be flat whenever you REALLY need a device...

[sojournermike]

Just been invited to book my first vaccine dose. I’m 55, so they seem to be cracking on around here.

[rafletcher]

Just been invited to book my first vaccine dose. I’m 55, so they seem to be cracking on around here.

This puzzles me - I thought the principle was to "even out" vaccination by moving vaccine supplies to areas that were behind, and thus make those that were ahead (presumably due to local demographics) wait a bit. We're in line with BoJo's prediction - groups 5 & 6 starting this week.

Anyway 

[tiermat]

Just been invited to book my first vaccine dose. I’m 55, so they seem to be cracking on around here.

This puzzles me - I thought the principle was to "even out" vaccination by moving vaccine supplies to areas that were behind, and thus make those that were ahead (presumably due to local demographics) wait a bit. We're in line with BoJo's prediction - groups 5 & 6 starting this week.

Anyway 

They can only do that if the pack (of ~1000 jabs) has been kept at it's storage temp.  If it has been kept at a higher temp (as in getting ready to be used) it then can't be moved any great distance.  If it has been brought up to fridge temp it has to be used in 5 days, or disposed of.  If it is at room temp then it has to be used that day.  If the pack has been opened, even if it has been opened at it's storage/transport temp then it can't be transported subsequently.

It's all very confusing and thankfully the Oxford/AZ, J&J plus others are the more easily handled "Keep it at fridge or (normal) freezer temp" variety

[rafletcher]

I understand that, but I'd be amazed if any area were so small that 1000 (Pfize) vaccinations would cover (as it would need to in this case) groups 5,6 and 7 and get to group 8.

[sojournermike]

 North Yorkshire - not that small.

I was surprised, as I was expecting mid to end April - unlike the players from Chesterfield AFC... However, I had to confirm my date of birth to make the appointment and I just booked the first available. Given it is Saturday morning, it is still relying on supplies coming in or already in storage.

Tbh, I’m a bit relieved. Sue works in frontline healthcare - in the community and in an area with higher infection rates than here. Although she’s had dose 1 and does lateral flow tests twice weekly the immune escape variants do seem to be encroaching and the evidence suggests vaccination probably reduces serious illness if not preventing infection. Add in that the youngest will likely get dragged back to the local spreading centre school at some point, I’m relieved to have some potential protection. Still a bit surprised by the timing.

[Polar Bear]

It appears to me that vaccination is a bit of a postcode lottery, or perhaps even a political heartlands lottery. 

To say that it is an utter mess here would be to downplay it somewhat.  There seems to be no real prioritisation going on for who gets an invite. 

I expect to get my first jab (age 58) in 2023 at this rate!

* This post may contain traces of sarcasm.

[rafletcher]

It appears to me that vaccination is a bit of a postcode lottery, or perhaps even a political heartlands lottery. 

We're in the True Blue heartlands here, so I don't think it's that.  It may have to do with the number declining the invitation, thus freeing up doses for others.

[Davef]

I understand that, but I'd be amazed if any area were so small that 1000 (Pfize) vaccinations would cover (as it would need to in this case) groups 5,6 and 7 and get to group 8.

Probably not untypical for a GP surgery to have say 1100 in group 5 and 6 and 1100 in group 7 and 8.

[MattH]

Before Christmas Mrs H caught it from school - it's an SLD school, so distancing is practically impossible when e.g. there's two adults toileting a kid, and you can't go full-on PPE all the time without distressing the kids. It was annoying as it came from someone who didn't tell anyone that she'd been for a test, which came back positive.
I was on my way home from working away for a week in a very small isolated team, so knew I was clean. Mrs H called to say that they'd all been sent for tests. Hers and one other from the team of six came back negative. I returned home and brought our youngest back from uni - who had just had the two lateral flow test to say he was free to travel back.

A couple of days later Mrs H was feeling rough and took another test, which came back positive. Youngest and myself didn't feel right, a few days later we got positive tests. Luckily I'd only been in to the office the day after returning from working away, then hadn't been back in due to weekend then waiting for Mrs H's second test results. So I didn't spread it there.

Youngest had very mild cold symptoms and a headache for a day or two - only went for the test as I was going.
Mrs H was hot, coughy, lost smell/taste and ached, was breathless.
I was breathless, mild coughs, but a very, very sore throat for a few days.

Luckily none of us ended up in hospital, but it probably took a month for us to get back to being able to do normal levels of exercise. A couple of months on now, Mrs H still doesn't have proper smell or taste, though they are gradually returning. My figures on the smart turbo trainer are equivalent to what they were prior to The Dark Mistress of the Plague (as Mrs H is now affectionately known) brought disease into the house.

Doubly annoying is that due to the care setting at work, all front line staff at her school (including Mrs H) have now had the first vaccination jab. If she'd lasted another few weeks we'd probably have escaped it as my work environment, even in the office, is pretty safe.

[toontra]

I was breathless, mild coughs, but a very, very sore throat for a few days.

That's interesting.  Last January I had a raging sore throat - really painful to swallow which went on for days.
I suspected at the time it was coronavirus as it was so unlike anything I'd suffered before, apart from a viral infection contracted in Morocco a few years earlier.

The thing is, sore throat never appeared on any list of published symptoms, certainly in the early days (this may have changed more recently).  I therefore assumed it wasn't CV as I didn't have a fever or other symptoms.
 
Having taken part in the Novavax trial (placebo as it turned out), I'm hoping at the end of the trial follow-up they may be able/willing to tell me if my blood tests showed whether or not I had antibodies pre-trial.  Wouldn't tell me when/where I'd been exposed but would re-inforce my suspicions.

[MattH]

Yes, sore throat has only recently been added to the list of symptoms. That was the only thing that really affected me - being unable to swallow is horrible. I was using anaesthetic sprays and lozenges to make it tolerable. It was nice to get back to not having to take a breather after climbing the stairs, too.

The smart trainer was useful to see some of the impact. I obviously did nothing on it until felt close to being right, but it gave a stark measurement of how bad I was as I was unable to complete even the easier programmes. It also charted my recovery and shows that I am now back to about full fitness - that measurable improvement in a reasonably well controlled environment was a good morale booster, rather then just thinking "well, I think I'm getting better".

Youngest offspring was a little miffed that he'd managed to avoid the lurgy whilst at Uni, and without days of coming home and not leaving our house was infected.

Eldest son and his other half don't live with us. They were useful for dropping off bits and bats we needed that we couldn't get delivered (though we used Amazon Fresh for the first time - order stuff an it's delivered within a couple of hours and no problem getting slots). Those two have now had the first vaccine injection yesterday, as they get involved in some close contact support work around the infected and potentially infected.

[hatler]

I had a sore throat like I've never had before, it felt like someone stabbing me in the throat (OK, slight exaggeration) for about four days. Felt really rotten.

Except that this was October 2019.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Just been invited to book my first vaccine dose. I’m 55, so they seem to be cracking on around here.

This puzzles me - I thought the principle was to "even out" vaccination by moving vaccine supplies to areas that were behind, and thus make those that were ahead (presumably due to local demographics) wait a bit. We're in line with BoJo's prediction - groups 5 & 6 starting this week.

Anyway 

They can only do that if the pack (of ~1000 jabs) has been kept at it's storage temp.  If it has been kept at a higher temp (as in getting ready to be used) it then can't be moved any great distance.  If it has been brought up to fridge temp it has to be used in 5 days, or disposed of.  If it is at room temp then it has to be used that day.  If the pack has been opened, even if it has been opened at it's storage/transport temp then it can't be transported subsequently.

It's all very confusing and thankfully the Oxford/AZ, J&J plus others are the more easily handled "Keep it at fridge or (normal) freezer temp" variety

It looks as if ongoing studies are showing that the Pfizer can be stored at more easily achieved temperatures:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-pfizer-idUSKBN2AJ1CJ

In general I get the impression that Pfizer has adopted a much more precautionary approach to claims made about their vaccine during the rollout compared to AZ.

[ian]

The AZ/Oxford vaccine platform is well-characterized, the MO of the Oxford group is to produce vaccines that are practical for the developing world (so cheap and easy to distribute).

Pfizer and Moderna had to be precautionary about everything, their aim was to get the successfully approved in as short a time as possible (hence the timing between doses, if they'd gone for twelve weeks in their trial, they'd still be collating results now).

[Chris S]

Pfizer and Moderna had to be precautionary about everything, their aim was to get the successfully approved in as short a time as possible (hence the timing between doses, if they'd gone for twelve weeks in their trial, they'd still be collating results now).

The tome you get handed at a Pfizer session is testament to that. "If you even feel slightly weird... DON'T SUE US!"

[sojournermike]

Pfizer and Moderna had to be precautionary about everything, their aim was to get the successfully approved in as short a time as possible (hence the timing between doses, if they'd gone for twelve weeks in their trial, they'd still be collating results now).

The tome you get handed at a Pfizer session is testament to that. "If you even feel slightly weird... DON'T SUE US!"

[Polar Bear]

It appears to me that vaccination is a bit of a postcode lottery, or perhaps even a political heartlands lottery. 

To say that it is an utter mess here would be to downplay it somewhat.  There seems to be no real prioritisation going on for who gets an invite. 

I expect to get my first jab (age 58) in 2023 at this rate!

* This post may contain traces of sarcasm.

So, a quick trawl through contacts and it's a strange picture.  We know of twins, one of whom is scheduled for his jab, the other who hasn't even had an invite.  The latter is in an at risk category whereas the former is not.  Age 57.

A friend in his sixties who has heart conditions and is classified as at risk:  no sign of a jab yet.  A friend in his sixties with a longstanding blood disorder is yet to be invited.

All other acquaintances in the sixties and older have been invited or actually jabbed.

Some sub 60 at risk have been jabbed or invited for jab.  There are exceptions though as stated above.