Today in Corona Virus News

Today in #CoronaVirus chronicles, RantWoman is weighing a balance between privacy and responsibility. RantWoman realized that she needs to be responsible about one issue and that means also giving up some privacy in the interest of data and community awareness. RantWoman has written an email about some of what is on her mind; the email was basically well-received and further followup is pending. RantWoman has also set this to post a few days after it was written so Thangs May Have Shanged!

Bandanas: 

Part of RantWoman's New Look
when she is out of her apartment

Bandanas cost $.99 or something. RantWoman lives in a building full of very vulnerable people, some of whom are probably already at high risk of shedding virus and do not realize it. Even if there were masks about and available to the general public, most of RantWoman's neighbors would not be able to access them. RantWoman, for herself, actually went rummaging in supplies picked up during long ago Disaster Preparedness / Voc Rehab midlife vision loss resilience and discovers she does have a mask. RantWoman has decided though on a different path, bandana all the time outside her apartment. RantWoman though is not even going to try to implement quite yet for other people.

The mask RantWoman will save for now
in a Ziploc bag with bandaids, gauze, tape

RantWoman wonders whether "universal precautions," trying to get everyone to wear bandanas, cowboys and indians style would make a difference about how badly #CoronaVirus is likely to ravage the community.

RantWoman realizes.thinking about question would probably also require thinking about droplets in the air and whether viral longevity under laboratory conditions translates into longevity on surfaces such as controls on machines in a shared laundry room. Or is it sufficient just to keep washing one's hands, no matter how sore and chapped they get? RantWoman is not going to think about any of this anymore tonight.

The View from Twitter

RantWoman has been spending too much time on Twitter.

--RantWoman would like to be reading accounts of the 80% of patients who survive the disease with only mild or moderate symptoms and no need for hospitalization. RantWoman notes a voice in one of her media streams: that 80% is a very wide range from barely sick to pneumonia but not in need of hospitalization.

--RantWoman would like to be reading accounts of what happens between when someone contracts #COVID-19 and when they start to get really sick

--RantWoman would like to be reading about how much of an exposure it takes before one achieves a positive test.

--RantWoman would like to be reading accounts of people with big fat antibodies.

Instead, RantWoman is reading and considering:
--Accounts in daunting medical-ese of cases that can get really bad  really suddenly and then stay that way for a long time, like 10-12 days, and not just among elders with underlying conditions but among younger, seemingly healthy people with no known travel or contact history.

--Accounts of how long people wind up on ventilators, accounts that make RantWoman just want to walk gingerly up to questions about people's living wills.

--Unsettling accounts about which parts of RantMom's medical history besides age put her at higher risk for serious illness.

--Endless gripes about people trying to get tested, going through bureaucratic runaround. RantWoman shares outrage about lack of preparedness and numerous other disastrous policy decisions but emphatically appreciates the Seattle scientists who were able to roll discovery of local #Covid2019 issues into their flu study. And RantWoman wants all the people wanting to be tested to please get a grip.

--thoughts that not every contact with someone who has tested positive is going to turn into #CoVid19. RantWoman wonders whether the President getting tested and coming up negative MIGHT calm the nerves of some people who so far have had the kind of brief in passing contact that the President seems to have had. RantWoman is interested in the current Chinese system of take everyone's temperature often precisely because RantWoman thinks a negative result just creates a false sense of reassurance for a situation prone to change.

RantWoman recommends from data nerd point of view with specific past experience related to health care but no medical credentials of any kind:

Not every cough is Corona Virus. Even if the cough is corona virus, a positive test, RantWoman thinks, going to complicate your life and not necessarily add value. A positive test is not going to change how the symptoms are treated. If someone you know tells you they know they have been exposed to corona virus do the following things:

   --Consider asking about the length of time in contact and more details about the contact. Consider just collecting data about that.

--Consider asking whether they have contacted their primary care provider or a community clinic and whether the provider has recommended testing for them. If the answer to either question is no, don't panic. Keep breathing. If the person has contacted their provider and has been tested, but is negative, don't panic. There is plenty more corona virus in the air attached to other people.

   --Go Home.

--Self isolate the best you can. The CDC has solid recommendations about what that means. Think of it the joyous way Seattle embraced this winter's snowstorm.

--Get plenty of rest, fluids, sleep

--Use your search engine to read up on signs that the situation is really bad. Call your doctor if any of those things occur. If you are into nutritional and alternative approaches read up on things that might help.

--Keep washing your hands.

--At the end of your 14-day self-isolation if you have not developed more marked symptoms, congratulations. But Corona Virus is still out there. So don't ease up on either prevention efforts or attention to indicator changes.

--Lather, Rinse, Repeat with the next person who shares such news for as long as this plague lasts

Does Not Want

RantWoman does not want to get tested for #CoronaVirus unless she gets sick enough to need to call 911 and advise the dispatcher of her situation.. RantWoman especially does not want the reason RantWoman has specifically been advised to contact her primary doctor about testing and has done so. Yes, rantWoman has a primary care doctor! No, despite some underlying medical conditions, RantWoman is too healthy to qualify for testing or for anything more than the instructions above. This is called good news. Now back up a few pages.

RantWoman did not want, when she called RantMom to ask about the last name of RantMom's debate watching buddy to hear that it matched the name in the email announcement.from RantMom's retirement community about a resident dying of #CoVid. RantWoman did not particularly want to need to join a conference call to families of residents but was grateful for care, honesty, and news that all residents who consented would be tested later that day by UW researchers who came to the facility.

Lab results that come back sooner than expected are not necessarily great news either, and getting the news on a bus is, um, also seriously awkward though handled probably as gently as possible. RantMom was one of 3 residents besides the man who died and another in the hospital who tested positive. The retirement community wanted to send people who tested positive straight to the hospital; the hospital determined that testing positive but being asymptomatic does not earn anyone a hospital admission. Bad News / Good News. RantMom so far has no symptoms. She is in isolation in her apartment. It sounds like infection control protocols are being meticulously followed. A nurse takes her vitals 3 x / day. Her spirits are good. The RantSisters both call her several times / day. There is a social worker available. A friend from church was able to leave some reading material and a friend from Little Sister's church was able to leave flowers and some fruit to supplement the meals. So that is RantMom.

RantWoman was out for a short shopping trip Wednesday March 11 when the early news about lab results came in a phone call. Social distancing meant the buses RantWoman rode were much emptier than RantWoman is used to. RantWoman did her errands, went home, and called her clinic. RantWoman and clinic connected the next morning. The verdict: self-isolation. RantWoman did not specify and the nurse did not ask some details about RantWoman's living situation. RantWoman wonders how many renters get to try to do self-isolation in buildings with, say, shared laundry rooms. RantWoman hopes it does not become necessary to discuss RantWoman's living situation with the nurse again. Then RantWoman's oldest child complex sense of responsibility kicked in and RantWoman thought about realities from several angles. Stay tuned!

The Debate-Watching Buddy story and timeline detail

RantWoman is not quite sure how RantMom and Debate Watching Buddy connected but they watched several of the Democratic debates together. It was really fun to hear RantMom talk about the debates and how she saw things. for one thing RantWoman did not watch. Television is not RantWoman's favorite visual experience and RantWoman thinks the debates would have made her want to throw things. So much better to ear about pizza and good conversation. Little Sister said Debate Watching Buddy told her he liked watching debates with RantMom because she was interested in the issues not just in chattering about other things.

Debate Watching Buddy joined RantWoman and RantMom a couple times when RantWoman had dinner with RantMom on Sunday evenings. Debate Watching Buddy was affable and like to make the rounds talking to a number of people in the dining room.

The last time RantMom and Debate Watching Buddy watched a debate was the one on February 25.

The last time Debate Watching Buddy joined the RantWomen was February 16. He sat next to RantWoman and across from RantMom. RantWoman is sure of this because she wrote notes elsewhere about the story of why Date Watching Buddy and his late wife moved to Boise to retire: they checked out something like 90 other places and then bought one-way tickets to Boise and were pleased with their choice. 

The last time RantWoman had dinner with RantMom was Sunday March 1; Little Sister and Nephew visited RantMOm on March 2 and 3 respectively.  Debate Watching Buddy died March 4 or 5.

Little Sister, Irrepressible Nephew, and RantWoman have all visited RantMom within the last 14 days. Little Sister and brother in Law have many worse medical issues than RantWoman. Little Sister got family booked for testing. All results are negative.