The Human Aspects of COVID-19

[NationalTitles18]

The human aspects of COVID-19 could encompass nearly anything; but with threads already on political, economic, and other aspects of the pandemic I thought we could use one with a more directly "human" feel.

This thread is about the lives affected by and the deaths caused by COVID. It's the stories of people. It's about turning statistics back into people.

I'll start with this article:

Nobody Accurately Tracks Health Care Workers Lost to COVID-19. So She Stays Up At Night Cataloging the Dead.

www.propublica.org

 

[TIDE-HSV]

It's just one case, but our friend who had an early case (plane ride from Chicago beside an Italian native with a persistent cough) will never be the same. Her lungs are severely impacted. Otherwise, she seems to have recovered. Conversation is a problem...

 

[NationalTitles18]

We have a friend, whom Mrs NT17 met in nursing school, whose father is on a vent right now.

 

[92tide]

we have a few folks in our extended friend group who have gotten it, but as far as we have heard, everyone of those folks had symptomatic, but mild, cases with no lingering after effects.

our next door neighbor is an oncology nurse (northside hospital) and she mentioned that she has several co-workers who have gotten it and a few co-workers that have lost spouses/close relatives

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Our friend, who is a retired RN, isolated herself. There was practically no testing here in early March, but she tested negative for flu, and, initially, for everything else. She had severe double pneumonia of "unknown origin." She had the rest of the now well-known symptoms - body and headaches, persistent fever, GI upset, etc. She's mid 70s and she was lucky to have survived, having had it so early in the cycle...

 

[NationalTitles18]

Another family acquaintance - many of you would know of them if I said the name or what they did - lost a family member to COVID-19 recently.

There's a good chance we had it back in Feb/March. I was sick for 5 weeks and missed a week of work. I'm the guy that has to be sent home when he's pale and can barely stand, so that's something. There were several times I almost went to the hospital. It took 2 months to feel like I had a modicum of energy. It wasn't until August 1st I noticed I could stand without getting dizzy (I've had BPPV once before, which coincidentally or not showed up again when I got sick).

I still haven't had the guts to ask our friend if her husband died from it. She hasn't said directly, but everything about his illness points to it including being on a vent and ECMO as well as having a PE and stroke.

Another friend was hospitalized and released and a few acquaintances or their family have had it, some dying and some surviving.

And still, people believe it's overhyped.

Were this 1918 - without antibiotics, ventilators, and other modern advances in medicine - I dare say the death toll would already surpass that of the Spanish Flu.

There's also a lot of long haulers out there and people left behind who have lost mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, and others.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

FWIW - I just got a call from my brother (the news producer).

His wife (age 35) has been taken by ambulance to the ER with suspected Covid-19. She works in a nursing home and in the last week their cases have quadrupled. Bear in mind they have TWO autistic children, one of who is 4 years old and has a vocabulary of maybe 20 words.

I may punch the next person who compares this to the seasonal flu.

 

[Go Bama]

I have six patients with Covid. None have been hospitalized. Two are husband and wife with whom I go to church. Both have multiple comorbidities, but both seem to be recovering.

A colleague's hygienist's husband in the next town north has been hospitalized.

At this point, there are seventeen dead in Gibson county. 2.5% of the people in the county either have Covid or have tested positive.

So far, my family has been unaffected. It's like walking through a mine field.

 

[Go Bama]

FWIW - I just got a call from my brother (the news producer).

His wife (age 35) has been taken by ambulance to the ER with suspected Covid-19. She works in a nursing home and in the last week their cases have quadrupled. Bear in mind they have TWO autistic children, one of who is 4 years old and has a vocabulary of maybe 20 words.

I may punch the next person who compares this to the seasonal flu.

Prayers for your SiL, your family, and you, Selma. What a nightmare this has been.

 

[TexasBama]

A friend of ours tested positive and was asymptomatic and has since tested negative. My mother-in-law’s cousin was in a nursing home and tested positive and passed, but she was in really bad shape already. A friend’s mother went into the hospital around 3/1 for pneumonia and was discharged, then readmitted and ended up in ICU at MD Anderson. She survived and is doing ok. Luckily our family members have so far been unaffected

 

[Bamaro]

I have six patients with Covid. None have been hospitalized. Two are husband and wife with whom I go to church. Both have multiple comorbidities, but both seem to be recovering.

A colleague's hygienist's husband in the next town north has been hospitalized.

At this point, there are seventeen dead in Gibson county. 2.5% of the people in the county either have Covid or have tested positive.

So far, my family has been unaffected. It's like walking through a mine field.

What are generally the symptoms/threshold when patients become hospitalized?

 

[Go Bama]

What are generally the symptoms/threshold when patients become hospitalized?

I'm going to defer to @NationalTitles17.

 

[NationalTitles18]

I'm going to defer to @NationalTitles17.

Thanks..

Of course it depends, but (among other reasons that would usually lead to admission in these patients) generally anyone who needs help supporting normal oxygen levels will be admitted. Those who generally would not otherwise be admitted and who can hold their own will be sent home to isolate and self monitor.

No one asked this, but the early thinking was to get people on ventilators as soon as possible. It was thought that this gave the best chance for survival, based mainly on past experience in the medical community with SARS and later with MERS. Some very smart folks tried something different and kept people off the ventilator as long as possible by using noninvasive means like high flow nasal oxygen, venturi masks, non rebreathers, and BiPAP/CPAP. Their patients did better. Treatment protocols changed. Now the vent is a last resort (well, ECMO is the last resort). In the beginning, and based mainly on experience reported in China, steroids were avoided. We now understand that once the initial infection stage winds down and the inflammatory stage (cytokine/bradykinin storm) begins that steroids save lives. Other treatments have shown some benefit or are thought to help. There have been several advancements and still about 1,000 people a day die.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

She's being admitted and listed as "presumptive positive" pending actual return of the test.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Her breathing is better than it was - but she also said it's the absolute sickest she's ever felt in her life.

 

[MattinBama]

My wife has a coworker that was being extremely careful about this whole thing knowing his wife was at risk.

One of the other people in his department has been refusing to wear masks or doing the temp check station they have up. Not saying that’s who it came from but no doubt it’s from that type of stuff.

Weeks later his wife is still on a ventilator (3 weeks so far iirc) after he brought it home to her (his case was mild). He’s only been able to see her once since she went on. She has also been put on dialysis since she was a kidney transplant recipient. Things are not looking good but they’re still hoping.

To add to everything the weekend she went on a vent was the weekend they were supposed to be seeing their daughter get married.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Does he absolutely hate her? Anyone who would behave the way you describe and then come home to a wife with a kidney transplant deserves a special place in hell...

 

[MattinBama]

Does he absolutely hate her? Anyone who would behave the way you describe and then come home to a wife with a kidney transplant deserves a special place in hell...

The husband isn’t the one behaving that way. He was taking every precaution he possibly could and is absolutely devastated over the current state of things. It was one of the coworkers in his department flouting the rules. Also the department heads were able to decide for each department if they could work from home. My wife’s chose work from home, but the husband’s supervisor decided that his department had to be there every day.

Will have to check the wording on my initial post in case it wasn’t clear.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

The husband isn’t the one behaving that way. He was taking every precaution he possibly could and is absolutely devastated over the current state of things. It was one of the coworkers in his department flouting the rules. Also the department heads were able to decide for each department if they could work from home. My wife’s chose work from home, but the husband’s supervisor decided that his department had to be there every day.

Will have to check the wording on my initial post in case it wasn’t clear.

Your post reads clearly now...

 

[MattinBama]

‘We lost a hero’: Lake City nurse dies at 27 after battle with COVID-19

James White, a 27-year-old nurse working in Lake City, died Sunday after contracting COVID-19.

www.news4jax.com