Interesting. I’ve always said my breathlessness felt like a gaseous exchange issue, it certainly didn’t feel like a fitness thing. It would also explain the tachycardia, which can occur in anaemia too.
Grandchildren coming to visit. Ages 15 and 18. 15-year-old just spent the weekend in a national park with 40 person family reunion. The 18-year-old has a summer job in the hospitality industry hosting many people from all over each day. This grandmother said, no visit without testing first as I do not want it period but as I am about to have a heart procedure in a week, extra careful. Looking forward to a safe visit on the screened-in porch.
I think asking for tests before they arrive is sensible. Cases are shooting up in the UK due to more people doing sociable things, so it's best to be safe.
I've seen one or two staff members at a local Co-Op wearing masks - they may well be vulnerable, of course - and a few Tesco people whilst they're in the aisles working on the shelves, but none of those behind the tills are masked (at least, whilst I've been in the store).
As @Sarasa says, cases are increasing in the UK, and the worst is probably yet to come in the autumn and winter - hospitals are under severe pressure already.
We're of course in mid-winter, and a few cold and wet days - so high risk time. Nothing more we can do as we're keeping away from shops as much as we can.
Well, I’ve succumbed to Ye Plague. Day 9 , hopefully over the worst of it, though head splitting and someone appears to have stuffed all my limbs full of cardboard and cotton wool. And I’m so tired.😴. Is 4.15 pm too early for a nice hot bath and bed? What do you think?
People starting to mask a bit more here, or maybe I'm just hanging round too many medical spaces. We're clearly in a surge, though nobody mentions it. Hoping to stay free of it for a bit as I'm traveling for the first time since the damndemic started to Washington state. Of course there'll be no masks on the plane except for me and perhaps a few sane others...
Is 4.15 pm too early for a nice hot bath and bed? What do you think?
No. Sounds good to me if that's what you feel you need. I hope you feel much better very soon.
I see the occasional person in a mask round here and confess that I've stopped wearing one too. I kind of felt we were in the safest part of the year here in the UK, with the warmth and the open windows and more people outdoors, but clearly not so. It's rife in certain places - our church for one and we were planning to go tomorrow. I think I might take a mask in my bag.
I still wear one on public transport, but I confess I've stopped wearing them in shops apart from chemists (which count as healthcare facilities) - and I still have to wear one if I'm away from my desk at work. Having said that, the tannoy in Tesco's today said please wear a mask if you can, so maybe the guidelines are tightening up again.
I still wear one on public transport, but I confess I've stopped wearing them in shops apart from chemists (which count as healthcare facilities) - and I still have to wear one if I'm away from my desk at work. Having said that, the tannoy in Tesco's today said please wear a mask if you can, so maybe the guidelines are tightening up again.
If guidelines are being tightened up, Scotland and Wales will be ahead of England, I daresay...
I don't suppose the *government* (if we still have one) will take any notice, but how concerned should we be? Basic safety precautions might be needed again, at the very least...
Well, that was a fine how do you do. I was scheduled for a pacemaker which ended up getting canceled for other reason but for the pre-op I had to have a Covid test. No, it can not be done at home, or at your local pharmacy. Fine I guess they want to make sure it is done correctly. When I arrive at the lab, they hand me a bag which they mark with my name and tell me to go on the patio, open the bag, read instructions, take off my mask and give myself the test. I do so along with 4 other people doing the same thing on the small patio. They have no idea if I did it right. My test is negative, but the next day I get a message from the center for disease control that I have been exposed to a person with Covid and to stay inside for 5 days wear a mask around my in-bed hospice husband, and do a home test on day 5 or sooner if I have symptoms. The good news is I did not get it, but really my local pharmacy is much safer coming to your car, masked and gowned than the lab sit up.
I toddled along to get my second booster shot. This time, after having had to catch 2 buses for the original two shots, and one for the first booster I just needed to walk 10 minutes down the road. Very handy.
What did surprise me was being given a $25 gift voucher from the local supermarket. While it will come in handy, I wanted to say, " I really don't need to be bribed, I'm doing this to protect myself, as well as other people - and to do my bit towards the hospitals not being overwhelmed during winter" (a battle I fear has been lost already ).
And some fruit too - I had an orange, as well as a bottle of water. I think its a measure of the desperation to limit hospital numbers.
Other differences this time were the the security guard patrolling the area and the anti-vaccine posters stuck on shop windows in the vicinity. I peeled 5 off the Community Library where I volunteer, as well as one on the Salvation Army Op Shop. There is obviously money in the opposition to the vaccine movement. All their posters were in full colour and printed on thick, glossy paper - which proved their undoing as the were easy to remove.
NZ has really pushed vaccines. There was a huge Vax The Nation Day that was like a nation wide party. Fortunately I had already been vaccinated by then. A few months back Christchurch had an adult vaccination rate of 99%, but of course immunity wanes over time and different strains are gamechangers.
I think the vouchers were a donation from the owner of the supermarket, rather than the Health Department. On the vax The Nation Day businesses donated goods and services that were subject to a lucky draw. One family walked off with over $1,000 worth of electronic equipment.
You don't understand Piglet - vaccination is an evil procedure, which allows "them" to inject all sorts of chemicals into your body, some of which will allow easy tracking of your whereabouts.
When the pacemaker was fitted in April, I was totally shocked at the number of hospital staff off With Covid.
And at the total chaos caused by having to isolate patients in hospital for other unrelated reasons , Who Had Covid.
The staffing situation was horrendous and I simply don’t know how they were able to cope.
At one point our floor level only had One receptionist/ ward clerk/ whatever they are call now!
Instead of one per ward.
Resulting in patients having to sit and look at the signs saying
“Please wait, a nurse will be with you shortly”
And nurses having to stop what they are supposed to be doing and pop out to check if anyone was waiting.
The staff All looked shattered. I saw more than a few in tears. The pressure on the remaining staff who have not already left, totally burned out after that horrendous first wave, is very obvious.
And apparently we have no problem?
Listening to a nurse patiently explaining Yet Again
“Please wear this mask if you possibly can for just another day.”
Broke my heart.
I have been in and out of hospitals now since May and am facing going Back to same hospital for an MRI asap.
Then treatment of some as yet undecided sort at some as yet undecided hospital.
If people let this wretched thing rip through our society, our society will be affected.
Simples.
Food, health care, education, public transport, then everything go else.
My flabber has been gasted of late.
I don’t understand some people At All.
And
After deciding that folk are unwell enough to see a gp, face to face, to have to sit in a practice waiting room and listen to fellow patients bragging that they are not going to be told to wear a mask by anyone and they just won’t………
……….. fine.
Last time I had a problem with my lungs I had what amounts to a bronchial haemorrhage In Public.
Literally
This could happen to me again.
I have a cold. I have not tested positive for Covid-19, so I assume that what I have is only a cold, rather than anything nastier. I've been pretty miserable for a couple of days, but it's getting better, very much like I expect.
I've been working from home, and have just decided I'm not going to church on Sunday. Pre-Covid, I wouldn't have done either of those things. Pre-Covid, I'd have been downing acetaminophen and pseudoephedrine every four hours, gone to work, and got on with it, and would probably have gone to church on Sunday whilst telling people "I'b got a gold. Do'd gome too close."
I completely agree and am pleased that the flexible working - in some quarters at least - means that one can continue work while under the weather without the risk of infecting others.
Well ranted, @Ethne Alba - and I suspect things are likely to get worse when autumn/winter arrive...
It's winter here and things have got worse, added to which it's school holidays and all the little disease vectors are running loose. Pleas from the Director General of Health regarding masking are meeting with a mixed response, although in retail and at the library they are enforced by Security people, on buses some people wear them beneath their noses.
People over 65 - like me - can lodge a prescription at the pharmacy for anti-virals to be uplifted as needed. We are desperate to keep people out of hospital. My oldest bro had to go to the emergency department as he dislodged his indwelling catheter and waited 10 hours to be seen, which is an indication of how desperate things are. My youngest brother who accompanied him said it was a nightmare, but the staff were fantastic.
Indications are that another lockdown is unlikely, according to Jacinda Ardern, and Opposition parties are even more firm on this, and the tourism and hospitality industries would probably riot in the streets. Instead emphasis is on improving ventilation, access to anti-viral drugs and provision of free N95 masks as well as free masks being given to school children. Also the winter flu vaccine has been supplied free to a wider range of people and the Winter fuel Allowance has doubled. I have read a comment by a medical person that if we had followed the path that the UK had taken deaths would be in the vicinity of 16,000 rather than 2,000, which is a sobering thought*.
New cases in the weekly numbers yesterday were trending downwards so I hope it continues.
*I'm not sure how fair this is because we had a lead time before the virus hit our shores - sometimes being at the end of the world has its advantage.
One of the biggest problems for NZ is the lack of High Dependency and Intensive Care beds. Even before COVID hospitals were often stretched to almost breaking point in winter.
Thank you @Huia - I hope the downward trend continues. The *prevention is better than cure* policy is a sensible one, which this country would do well to follow.
After two and a half years of avoiding the plague COVID, my wife came down with it Tuesday night. We had flown from Washington to Wisconsin by way of Minneapolis and Chicago Sunday morning. Our son lives an hour north of Chicago in Kenosha, WI. Tuesday wife and I drove to Upper Michigan. That night, she started coughing. In the morning I encouraged her to take a home test. It was positive. We went to hospital in Escanaba, MI for a PCR test which confirmed the home test. So we returned to son's place in Kenosha and are quarantining. This afternoon her cough has abated. Looks like she is coming out of it. Will test again on Sunday.
Myself, so far I have tested negative. Next test on Sunday too.
One of my fellow volunteers at the Community Library has caught Covid from her daughter, which is the closest I have knowingly been to it. Case numbers are trending down here, but that may change when schools resume again next week, despite the increased masking.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield, the Director General of Health is resigning at the end of the month. I'm sure I won't be the only one to miss his presence.
(NZ Directors General of Health are appointed for a limited term, and although his term isn't completed he has decided to step down, initially to spend time with family, then to take up work elsewhere).
Comments
https://globalnews.ca/news/8950820/long-covid-canadian-researchers-causes-study/
https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.220492
Very few people are wearing masks in shops now, at least in England.
In our small part of Sydney, almost all customers are wearing masks in shopping centres and areas, but not as many staff are.
As @Sarasa says, cases are increasing in the UK, and the worst is probably yet to come in the autumn and winter - hospitals are under severe pressure already.
No, a nurse. You can only see a doc with a missing leg.
I'm sure a doctor can still be very effective even if they are missing a leg.
People starting to mask a bit more here, or maybe I'm just hanging round too many medical spaces. We're clearly in a surge, though nobody mentions it. Hoping to stay free of it for a bit as I'm traveling for the first time since the damndemic started to Washington state. Of course there'll be no masks on the plane except for me and perhaps a few sane others...
Seconded - and 415pm is not too early for bath & bed, if you feel the need...although will it make it harder for you to sleep at night?
I see the occasional person in a mask round here and confess that I've stopped wearing one too. I kind of felt we were in the safest part of the year here in the UK, with the warmth and the open windows and more people outdoors, but clearly not so. It's rife in certain places - our church for one and we were planning to go tomorrow.
Strangley I noticed in asda yesterday a few more people were wearing masks and wondered about it.
Though still not very many,
Maybe the fact that cases are increasing is actually being taken seriously? Not a bad thing if it is.
If guidelines are being tightened up, Scotland and Wales will be ahead of England, I daresay...
Several Shipmates have mentioned that they have caught Covid recently, and I saw this in today's Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/13/calls-for-more-covid-control-measures-after-uk-death-toll-passes-200000
I don't suppose the *government* (if we still have one) will take any notice, but how concerned should we be? Basic safety precautions might be needed again, at the very least...
What did surprise me was being given a $25 gift voucher from the local supermarket. While it will come in handy, I wanted to say, " I really don't need to be bribed, I'm doing this to protect myself, as well as other people - and to do my bit towards the hospitals not being overwhelmed during winter" (a battle I fear has been lost already
Just wow.
Other differences this time were the the security guard patrolling the area and the anti-vaccine posters stuck on shop windows in the vicinity. I peeled 5 off the Community Library where I volunteer, as well as one on the Salvation Army Op Shop. There is obviously money in the opposition to the vaccine movement. All their posters were in full colour and printed on thick, glossy paper - which proved their undoing as the were easy to remove.
NZ has really pushed vaccines. There was a huge Vax The Nation Day that was like a nation wide party. Fortunately I had already been vaccinated by then. A few months back Christchurch had an adult vaccination rate of 99%, but of course immunity wanes over time and different strains are gamechangers.
I can't understand why anyone would want to refuse vaccination - surely any side effects must be preferable to getting the disease?
And at the total chaos caused by having to isolate patients in hospital for other unrelated reasons , Who Had Covid.
The staffing situation was horrendous and I simply don’t know how they were able to cope.
At one point our floor level only had One receptionist/ ward clerk/ whatever they are call now!
Instead of one per ward.
Resulting in patients having to sit and look at the signs saying
“Please wait, a nurse will be with you shortly”
And nurses having to stop what they are supposed to be doing and pop out to check if anyone was waiting.
The staff All looked shattered. I saw more than a few in tears. The pressure on the remaining staff who have not already left, totally burned out after that horrendous first wave, is very obvious.
And apparently we have no problem?
Listening to a nurse patiently explaining Yet Again
“Please wear this mask if you possibly can for just another day.”
Broke my heart.
I have been in and out of hospitals now since May and am facing going Back to same hospital for an MRI asap.
Then treatment of some as yet undecided sort at some as yet undecided hospital.
If people let this wretched thing rip through our society, our society will be affected.
Simples.
Food, health care, education, public transport, then everything go else.
My flabber has been gasted of late.
I don’t understand some people At All.
And
After deciding that folk are unwell enough to see a gp, face to face, to have to sit in a practice waiting room and listen to fellow patients bragging that they are not going to be told to wear a mask by anyone and they just won’t………
……….. fine.
Last time I had a problem with my lungs I had what amounts to a bronchial haemorrhage In Public.
Literally
This could happen to me again.
Please, wear a mask in a health care setting
Sorry
End of rant
Xx
I've been working from home, and have just decided I'm not going to church on Sunday. Pre-Covid, I wouldn't have done either of those things. Pre-Covid, I'd have been downing acetaminophen and pseudoephedrine every four hours, gone to work, and got on with it, and would probably have gone to church on Sunday whilst telling people "I'b got a gold. Do'd gome too close."
I think the new way is better.
It's winter here and things have got worse, added to which it's school holidays and all the little disease vectors are running loose. Pleas from the Director General of Health regarding masking are meeting with a mixed response, although in retail and at the library they are enforced by Security people, on buses some people wear them beneath their noses.
People over 65 - like me - can lodge a prescription at the pharmacy for anti-virals to be uplifted as needed. We are desperate to keep people out of hospital. My oldest bro had to go to the emergency department as he dislodged his indwelling catheter and waited 10 hours to be seen, which is an indication of how desperate things are. My youngest brother who accompanied him said it was a nightmare, but the staff were fantastic.
Does your government @Huia have plans to enforce restrictions again by law, if the situation gets worse?
New cases in the weekly numbers yesterday were trending downwards so I hope it continues.
*I'm not sure how fair this is because we had a lead time before the virus hit our shores - sometimes being at the end of the world has its advantage.
One of the biggest problems for NZ is the lack of High Dependency and Intensive Care beds. Even before COVID hospitals were often stretched to almost breaking point in winter.
Myself, so far I have tested negative. Next test on Sunday too.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield, the Director General of Health is resigning at the end of the month. I'm sure I won't be the only one to miss his presence.
(NZ Directors General of Health are appointed for a limited term, and although his term isn't completed he has decided to step down, initially to spend time with family, then to take up work elsewhere).