Am I the only one not overly worried about Covid19?

[Pen]

8 hours ago, Murphy101 said:

I mean. I care just as much as I care about flu, which overall is a lot worse than Covid19.  We get our annual flu shots. We take our supplements and try to maintain general health and hygiene practices to reduce spread or contact.  I also keep enough meds and sick stuff for a household 1-2 week illness bc no one wants to go to the Walmart when they are sick.  But no one ever says “OMG literally thousands have died from flu this year so start canceling everything and closing shop and no handshakes!”

 

 

See @kand post below.  Hospitals are built to deal with typical yearly flu. They may be stretched — but not typically utterly overwhelmed by 10 or 100 or 1000x more serious and critical care infectious  cases than there are beds at any one time.  

Cancelling things so as to slow the spread can help avoid that . 

 

 

8 hours ago, Murphy101 said:

But I still have no idea wth everyone is losing their minds about this. 🤷‍♀️

 

 

This is the sort of statement and tone that feels to me like it is you bashing those of us who are concerned, though you may not intend to be coming across that way.   You Murphy come across to me as somone who thinks she maintains her perfect sanity while “everyone” else is “losing their minds”.       “Everyone else” those are your words.  That you were asking because you figured there must be some other sane person like you does not take away from that impression. 

 

5 hours ago, kand said:

There are a number of good articles showing the difference that can be made during a pandemic by taking various measures to reduce the spread, and especially the speed of the spread, so that the healthcare system can keep up. China built multiple 1000 bed hospitals in ten days time. I don’t see us achieving that, so we better do what we can to slow it down, which means all the social distancing measures we can. Here’s one article on how different cities fared during the Spanish flu based on what measures they put in place when:  https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/health/17flu.html Seattle waited almost a week to start doing some of this stuff. Hopefully that was early enough, since this has a longer incubation.

 This chart shows the difference in how St Louis and Philadelphia after in 1918. The difference was that St Louis started canceling things within a couple days. Philadelphia waited two weeks, and had a parade during that time  
 

 

 

[Murphy101]

1 minute ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I don’t think we’d have the finance to keep all that stuff on hand just in case.  Inhalers I try but they really limit how much you can buy anyway.  

They limit your prescription?  My husband has always purposely calculated for a bit more than he needs for insulin so he doesn’t have to run the risk of running out before the next shipment arrives. I do the same for our inhalers.  Our doctors know it and understand.  For non prescriptions I buy a little bit every month no matter our health, so I “try” to always have enough on hand for all of us to be sick for 2-3 weeks.

[Pen]

3 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

And yet you haven’t informed me of a single thing to do about it that is any different than what should be done during flu season anyways. 🤷‍♀️

 

I have stated what I do, which is obviously very different than what you do. 

Several people have tried to explain to you the importance of social distancing and cancelling events, which you seemed not to understand. 

I don’t think it is my job to tell you what you should do, or should not do.  The CDC and other places have lists. 

You may do much of it anyway.  

 

[Ausmumof3]

3 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

They limit your prescription?  My husband has always purposely calculated for a bit more than he needs for insulin so he doesn’t have to run the risk of running out before the next shipment arrives. I do the same for our inhalers.  Our doctors know it and understand.  For non prescriptions I buy a little bit every month no matter our health, so I “try” to always have enough on hand for all of us to be sick for 2-3 weeks.

Yes.  Some doctors will give out more repeats than others.  But normally you won’t get more than 2.  We don’t have regular medication other than inhalers for asthma which are actually non prescription.    But some pharmacists won’t give it without a letter from the doctor anyway.

maybe it’s because they are paid by public funding not health insurance?  Or to prevent people buying prescription pain killers etc and selling them illegally.

[Ausmumof3]

So yes the only way to get extra inhalers for my son is to go to the doctor every month and I’m not doing that.  More chance of getting sick by being there for no reason.  Luckily his asthma is related to seasonal allergies so there’s only three months we really need it.

[Murphy101]

4 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

See @kand post below.  Hospitals are built to deal with typical yearly flu. They may be stretched — but not typically utterly overwhelmed by 10 or 100 or 1000x more serious and critical care infectious  cases than there are beds at any one time.  

Cancelling things so as to slow the spread can help avoid that . 

 

 

 

This is the sort of statement and tone that feels to me like it is you bashing those of us who are concerned, though you may not intend to be coming across that way.   You Murphy come across to me as somone who thinks she maintains her perfect sanity while “everyone” else is “losing their minds”.       “Everyone else” those are your words.  That you were asking because you figured there must be some other sane person like you does not take away from that impression. 

 

 

But hyperbole is not unusual around here.  I’m not bashing to say “everyone” seems to be losing their minds because there is a lot of panic-acting people out there.  Otherwise Costco wouldn’t be sold out of toilet paper. If that’s not you? Great.  But obviously it IS a lot of people.  Also obviously it is not literally everyone.  But it is enough people to make a gal, such as myself, start to wonder if there’s anyone else thinking like her about this and to post in hopes they wouldn’t mind sharing their bubble of calm with her.

If it matters, yes hospitals have been that overrun with flu in my area.  17/18 flu had all our hospitals on divert.  They had people on gurneys up and down the halls and were curbing anyone they possibly could as fast as they could for about a month. It was awful. 

[Murphy101]

3 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

So yes the only way to get extra inhalers for my son is to go to the doctor every month and I’m not doing that.  More chance of getting sick by being there for no reason.  Luckily his asthma is related to seasonal allergies so there’s only three months we really need it.

Well that sucks.  I have three of us on inhalers, and don’t even get me started on my husband’s  diabetes. Thank God every day for Canada mailing us our prescriptions. We’d be screwed if we depended on local sources here. 

[Terabith]

24 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

But hyperbole is not unusual around here.  I’m not bashing to say “everyone” seems to be losing their minds because there is a lot of panic-acting people out there.  Otherwise Costco wouldn’t be sold out of toilet paper. If that’s not you? Great.  But obviously it IS a lot of people.  Also obviously it is not literally everyone.  But it is enough people to make a gal, such as myself, start to wonder if there’s anyone else thinking like her about this and to post in hopes they wouldn’t mind sharing their bubble of calm with her.

If it matters, yes hospitals have been that overrun with flu in my area.  17/18 flu had all our hospitals on divert.  They had people on gurneys up and down the halls and were curbing anyone they possibly could as fast as they could for about a month. It was awful. 

Part of my concern with this is that because we run hospitals with such small margins, there isn't any good way to deal with a sudden mass influx of people with coronavirus.  But even bad flu seasons, like 17/18, weren't hospitalizing anything remotely close to 20% of people who contracted it.  

[Melissa in Australia]

33 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Yes.  Some doctors will give out more repeats than others.  But normally you won’t get more than 2.  We don’t have regular medication other than inhalers for asthma which are actually non prescription.    But some pharmacists won’t give it without a letter from the doctor anyway.

maybe it’s because they are paid by public funding not health insurance?  Or to prevent people buying prescription pain killers etc and selling them illegally.

I think mostly to reduce the amount of prescription medicines that paid by public funding, there for reducing the cost being bought locally then sold overseas 

[sassenach]

6 hours ago, kand said:

There are a number of good articles showing the difference that can be made during a pandemic by taking various measures to reduce the spread, and especially the speed of the spread, so that the healthcare system can keep up. China built multiple 1000 bed hospitals in ten days time. I don’t see us achieving that, so we better do what we can to slow it down, which means all the social distancing measures we can. Here’s one article on how different cities fared during the Spanish flu based on what measures they put in place when:  https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/health/17flu.html Seattle waited almost a week to start doing some of this stuff. Hopefully that was early enough, since this has a longer incubation.

 This chart shows the difference in how St Louis and Philadelphia after in 1918. The difference was that St Louis started canceling things within a couple days. Philadelphia waited two weeks, and had a parade during that time  
 

 

Quote

 

But an effective prevention program without a vaccine can leave enough people uninfected and still susceptible to the virus to start the epidemic again as soon as the controls are lifted. This is what happened in St. Louis. On Nov. 14, 1918 — in high spirits three days after the armistice that ended the war, and with influenza cases declining — the city reopened schools and businesses. Two weeks later, the second wave of the epidemic struck, this time with children making up 30 percent to 40 percent of the infections. Controls were immediately reinstituted.

The study examined the course of the epidemic in 23 cities: San Francisco, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Kansas City, Mo., had the most effective prevention programs, and time was of the essence. If restrictions were introduced too late or lifted too early, success rates declined substantially....

....“What our study shows,” he continued, “is that interventions even without a vaccine can be effective in blocking transmission. What’s much less certain is whether society is prepared to bear the costs of implementing such intrusive and costly measures for the months that would be required to manufacture a vaccine.”

 

Interesting article and graphic!

Quote is from the article.

I don't know that our current society or economy would tolerate shutting down for months. I just don't see that happening.

 

 

[annandatje]

No, you are not the only one.  I allegedly have a significantly compromised immune system and I guess I am technically elderly , yet still I do not catch other people's bugs .  On the few occasions that I do contract something, it is a much milder version.  I wash my hands less than what CDC recommends. Never wore mask even when my oncologist recommended it.  Coronavirus has made its way to my state.  At work a shot nurse administers annual flu vaccines which I did start taking couple years ago at urging of oncologist.  I doubt I have ever had the flu.  Apparently my immune system is adept at fending off viruses, but not so much the bigger scarier diseases.

[SKL]

I'm in the "it's not time to panic" group.  Thus far, we've done nothing differently in response to this event, other than postpone our plans for visiting East Asia this summer, and follow the progress of the disease online.

The death rate is not concerning for the age groups in my immediate family.  I certainly would not want to spread it to more medically fragile people, but there have been other more dangerous bugs going around in recent months.  My normal rule is that any of us feels sick, we stay away from compromised people.

I am hoping my kids will improve their atrocious handwashing habits though ... so far no luck.

My sister took her kids (including one somewhat immunocompromised 8yo) on a cruise in late February.  She said the cruise company gave her enough confidence that it was safe ... and it was.  Good for her, because she can be a bit over-anxious at times.

[Murphy101]

Last week, I booked a trip to Curacao for May.  Here’s hoping flu and Covid19 are done by then.

[Pen]

 

Quote

For example, there’s laws that say I can’t buy more than so much Sudafed within certain time frames. And for most of our marriage dh wasn’t around - so I couldn’t just call dh to bring stuff home from work.

 

Last week, I booked a trip to Curacao for May.  Here’s hoping flu and Covid19 are done by then 

 

Laws are not the same everywhere. 

Pseudoephedrine, if that’s what you mean rather than phenylephrene, cannot be purchased in my state without a prescription. And it’s almost as hard IME to get a prescription for it as for an opioid. 

And I am a single mom by adoption so it’s always all on me. 

———-

I do hope the Covid-19 situation is over by May too—for reasons far beyond your trip.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Pen

[Murphy101]

12 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

 

Laws are not the same everywhere. 

Pseudoephedrine, if that’s what you mean rather than phenylephrene, cannot be purchased in my state without a prescription. And it’s almost as hard IME to get a prescription for it as for an opioid. 

And I am a single mom by adoption so it’s always all on me. 

———-

I do hope the Covid-19 situation is over by May too—for reasons far beyond your trip.

 

 

I’m aware laws differ in medications of all kinds. I was simply explaining why I have to make sure to stay in stock in advance of an illness for my family. 

And of course I hope flu/Covid19 season passes quickly for more reasons than my trip too.  I’m just saying I’m optimistic that it will and thus okay with planning for life post Covid19.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Murphy101

[LarlaB]

No I am not overly worried.  

A friend who is a PA and her husband an ER DR, posted on FB yesterday that 150 infants died from the flu in the last month.  No, I didn’t ask for citations.  She was making the point that this flu season alone has sickened at least 19 million across the U.S. and led to 10,000 deaths and 180,000 hospitalizations.  

my point?  Im just as concerned about the flu as I am CV.  Same precautions.  
 

BUT I do feel the reaction to CV will be considerably more, already proven by toilet paper shortage and epic threads here on WTM , than the flu which is active and all around. ETA I didn’t finish my thought.... I think the response is proving to be profound and will likely have impact on most large cities, which impacts me. 

Best article in terms of psychology behind of all of this....  

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200304-coronavirus-covid-19-update-why-people-are-stockpiling

Edited March 7, 2020 by LarlaB

[Pen]

8 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

I’m aware laws differ in medications of all kinds. I was simply explaining why I have to make sure to stay in stock in advance of an illness for my family. 

And of course I hope flu/Covid19 season passes quickly for more reasons than my trip too.  I’m just saying I’m optimistic that it will and thus okay with planning for life post Covid19.

 

I also am prepared in advance for the typical problems my family is likely to encounter , but apparently with very different things. 

Personally, I think it’s possible that in May 2020, Covid-19 won’t yet have significantly affected Curaçao.  I strongly doubt it will be over that soon. 

 

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, LarlaB said:

BUT I do feel the reaction to CV will be considerably more, already proven by toilet paper shortage and epic threads here on WTM , than the flu which is active and all around. ETA I didn’t finish my thought.... I think the response is proving to be profound and will likely have impact on most large cities, which impacts me. 

 

The main difference between flu and COVID-19 is that the supply chain is disrupted. Medical supplies are being “hoarded” for healthcare personnel. India is keeping medical supplies for themselves instead of exporting as China is unable to export. So there is a high chance of drug shortages. 

ETA:

I have to worry about xenophobia as well. 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Arcadia

[Murphy101]

48 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

I also am prepared in advance for the typical problems my family is likely to encounter , but apparently with very different things. 

Personally, I think it’s possible that in May 2020, Covid-19 won’t yet have significantly affected Curaçao.  I strongly doubt it will be over that soon. 

 

I actually super surprised Oklahoma is being hit before Curacao. Given that it’s on cruise routes and also that the majority of people going there are from Europe and Asia. 

[Liz CA]

We don't minimize impact but it is what it is. I still see clients all day long, some are sick, perhaps just with the cold. I and just about everyone else at the office had some kind of respiratory illness during February. Someone in our healthcare division said it is the worst year for colds and flu in decades - not to mention the coronavirus issues.

We wash hands constantly, disinfect work areas, etc but there is only so much you can do. We have been through the swine flu, the bird flu and who knows what other flu strains over the last few decades and I view this no different at this point.

Agree with media hype - nothing new here. Factual information is much more helpful and tends to give people a sense of what they can do instead of panicking. I have an international flight planned in 2 months and I hope by then we are past this but if we are not, this could potentially impact everyone on a larger level - justifiably or not.

[Frances]

15 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

I actually super surprised Oklahoma is being hit before Curacao. Given that it’s on cruise routes and also that the majority of people going there are from Europe and Asia. 

It’s all about the testing though. Testing in many places is so limited right now that it is likely circulating in much larger numbers in most places than testing has confirmed.

South Korea seems like the example every country should be following. Their major testing efforts are resulting in significantly lower death rates. I would also think it helps to calm fears if people know they can get a drive through test if they have any concerns at all.

[Pen]

21 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

I actually super surprised Oklahoma is being hit before Curacao. Given that it’s on cruise routes and also that the majority of people going there are from Europe and Asia. 

 

They may have zero testing capacity in Curaçao. 

[madteaparty]

I’m not at all worried about it. I am more worried about racism and xenophobia and ugliness and just general overreaction than this virus.

i read about it and had a look at what we do and I already do much for our health just as part of daily life. There isn’t more I could possibly do, so I won’t. I have offered my house as a quarantine if schools get closed (my sister and DH both work in hospitals). Not sure what sort of freak out is required  of me, I already wash my hands.

i’m sure someone will tell me to check my privilege (done. I know.)  I’m not a public health official with fiduciary duties. this is asking if *i* am worried about *this* virus and I am not. 
I am rather sick over what’s happening in Greece and Lesvos specifically though, but maybe because I spent time there. It’s not even in the news anywhere.

I’m scheduled to travel April May and June, if the flights leave, so will I 🙂 there is worse fate that getting stuck in Rome, I’ll perfect my Italian. 

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by madteaparty

[Murphy101]

49 minutes ago, Pen said:

They may have zero testing capacity in Curaçao. 

Curacao is not 2nd or 3rd world country. They have plenty of testing capacity and modern medicine services.  They had better services options there than I have here in Oklahoma. It is not like in Jamaica or Dominican Republic. 

It may still be that they aren’t testing, but it’s not bc they don’t have the ability. In some other Caribbean islands I’d say they aren’t bc they don’t want their main source of income (cruise ships) impacted.  But that’s not the case for Curacao bc their economy is not based on that.  I’m sure it would hurt, but it wouldn’t cause them to collapse. 

[Pen]

20 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

They can choose not to read.  In fact that’s what many people do.  That’s ok.  We’re all adults and we can choose what info we want to pay attention to.

 

Yes. Totally agree.

(Rare situations may be completely out of personal control.  But maybe not entirely. Even if it is going on over a TV at place of work, for example,  where there isn’t personal control, one can do one’s best to direct attention away.  Or ask a boss to please not play it as it is distressing.  Perhaps.  )

[Katy]

5 minutes ago, Dotwithaperiod said:

Is there any way of knowing, of the thousands of flu deaths/year, how many were from people who did not get the flu vaccine?

I know there are diff types of flu, and some can’t get them for a variety of reasons, etc. I just wonder if we know how many lives could be saved if we stressed the need and reduced or eliminated the cost of one.

 

No, there isn't.  The death count related to flu is very controversial.  I believe that if you have been diagnosed with something else that is fatal (lets say HIV or cancer) but flu is what finally ends your life, the flu is not counted.  But if you don't have the flu and you die from pneumonia your death will likely be called the flu.  Many elderly people who fall and break a hip get bed bound.  Then they get hospital pneumonia about 3 days later which is from reduced circulation from being suddenly forced to be so still.  If they die from that pneumonia THAT will be called flu even if it has nothing to do with the flu virus.

[Murphy101]

And to be fair, the ways death causes are attributed and calculated can be VERY different, not just in every state or every county, but literally from one hospital to the next.  And then you have people reading through those to figure various stats who also interpret those attribution in various ways depending on what they are looking for.  It’s a hot mess many times and no small part of why getting genuine accurate data on studies can be so difficult and time consuming even for experts. 

[Pen]

 

3 hours ago, madteaparty said:

 

I am rather sick over what’s happening in Greece and Lesvos specifically though, but maybe because I spent time there. It’s not even in the news anywhere.

 

What is happening?

 

[Elfknitter.#]

16 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

 

What is happening?

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/world/europe/greece-turkey-migrants.html

[Murphy101]

2 minutes ago, Elfknitter.# said:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/world/europe/greece-turkey-migrants.html

can’t read without subscribing. 

[Pen]

3 minutes ago, Elfknitter.# said:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/world/europe/greece-turkey-migrants.html

 

I thought @madteaparty said something happening that isn’t in the news. 

[Ottakee]

My friend, who is a doctor, posted a link to this FB page.  She said that she agrees with the author's position.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2809958409125474&id=100003340269924

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Ottakee

[Lanny]

First, I believe COVID-19 is serious.  Secondly, I believe the regular flu, which kills tens of thousands of people in the USA, each year, is also serious.      I suspect the COVID-19  will become more common until there is a Vaccine to protect against it.

We are affected by the COVID-19 because DD had been contemplating going to China during May 2020, She is on Spring Break now and I told DW "I am glad her trip is in a charter bus and not in an airline jet"

[sassenach]

31 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

can’t read without subscribing. 

It’s about violence toward Turkish refugees. 

[sassenach]

26 minutes ago, Ottakee said:

My friend, who is a doctor, posted a link to this FB page.  She said that she agrees with the author's position.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2809958409125474&id=100003340269924

 

The author is worried that the olympics may get canceled? I can’t think of a rational reason why anyone wouldn’t think that it should at least be strongly considered. 
 

But I agree, the hoarding of toilet paper has got to stop!!

[Pawz4me]

1 hour ago, sassenach said:

The author is worried that the olympics may get canceled? I can’t think of a rational reason why anyone wouldn’t think that it should at least be strongly considered. 
 

 

I'm thinking the author's history education was a bit lacking. Canceling the Olympics wouldn't be anything that hasn't happened before (1916-summer, 1940--summer and winter, 1944--summer and winter). 

[Murphy101]

12 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I'm thinking the author's history education was a bit lacking. Canceling the Olympics wouldn't be anything that hasn't happened before (1916-summer, 1940--summer and winter, 1944--summer and winter). 

Yes.  Only at times of war.

That aside, I don’t think he was suggesting it had never happened before. He was pointing out that pulling a multimillion dollar good faith among rival countries event is a big deal, financially and politically, not to be taken lightly.  Which is exactly why literal war has been the only thing to cancel it in all these many years.

Personally I don’t understand or care about sports in general usually though I do enjoy the olympics due to ravellenics. 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Murphy101

[EmseB]

I have been on high alert for sickness since mid November when norovirus hit my family while DH was away and my youngest was five weeks old. I am mostly scared for what would happen if I got so ill that I couldn't care for the baby (exclusively breastfed) and DH was deployed. I have some plans and help I can call on but no one can nurse the baby for me. I also can't be in two places at once if one of my other kids got seriously ill and needed to be hospitalized for some reason. So I would say that covid is one of many things on my radar, but I can't do more than I'm doing, especially with little kid germ vectors in my house. 

[Murphy101]

2 minutes ago, EmseB said:

I have been on high alert for sickness since mid November when norovirus hit my family while DH was away and my youngest was five weeks old. I am mostly scared for what would happen if I got so ill that I couldn't care for the baby (exclusively breastfed) and DH was deployed. I have some plans and help I can call on but no one can nurse the baby for me. I also can't be in two places at once if one of my other kids got seriously ill and needed to be hospitalized for some reason. So I would say that covid is one of many things on my radar, but I can't do more than I'm doing, especially with little kid germ vectors in my house. 

I highly recommend choosing one or two small things of formula you think best to keep on hand if you can’t keep enough frozen breast milk at the ready for 3-4 days need to be met.  There’s no obligation to use it but if you are hospitalized whoever is caring for baby has something on hand you chose.

It’s my advice for all moms. I’ve had to cold turkey wean more than one kid unplanned.  My gallbladder suddenly landed me in the hospital for 6 days and that was the end of nursing baby 10. Life happens. 

[melmichigan]

2 hours ago, Ottakee said:

My friend, who is a doctor, posted a link to this FB page.  She said that she agrees with the author's position.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2809958409125474&id=100003340269924

 

I guess there are some who are in the medical field that will disagree with the statement that "it will not likely do much harm when it arrives."  Then again, the doctor is from Canada which has an entirely different health system than those of us in the US.

[NorthernBeth]

On the other hand, here is a different point of view written in Maclean's , which is our major news magazine:

https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/covid-19-has-the-potential-to-become-as-severe-as-the-spanish-flu/

[EmseB]

37 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

I highly recommend choosing one or two small things of formula you think best to keep on hand if you can’t keep enough frozen breast milk at the ready for 3-4 days need to be met.  There’s no obligation to use it but if you are hospitalized whoever is caring for baby has something on hand you chose.

It’s my advice for all moms. I’ve had to cold turkey wean more than one kid unplanned.  My gallbladder suddenly landed me in the hospital for 6 days and that was the end of nursing baby 10. Life happens. 

Oh, I definitely have some formula in the house. It eases my mind somewhat. My freezer stash has never been impressive but it's better than nothing. 

[Ausmumof3]

4 hours ago, Elfknitter.# said:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/world/europe/greece-turkey-migrants.html

I keep meaning to start a thread about this but haven’t been able to.  We had a prayer request from our church based on this.  Not publicised via media but according to local sources Turkey are paying buses to take people to the border.  The bus drivers get commission and are trying to round up refugees to take.  Some refugees have had their cars smashed or been bashed due to anti-Syrian sentiment after the Turkish soldiers were killed on the air strike.  On the other side of the border Greece is using tear gas to stop them.

[ktgrok]

3 hours ago, Fifiruth said:

 

Government agencies are working hard, businesses and schools are doing what they need to do to keep people away from each other in order to slow or stop the spread of the virus. The good news this week is that the Ebola virus (50% death rate) outbreak is over after a lot of hard work. The Middle Eastern Respiratory Coronavirus (MER-CoV) with a 37% death rate, SARS with a 20% rate, and H1N1 Flu back in 2009 with a 10% death rate were all overcome with a lot of effort and global coordination and medical dedication. Thankfully, this virus is staying down in the 3-3.4% death-rate range. 

 

 

 

H1NI definitely did not have a 10% death rate! It was about 0.02%, so we are looking at COVID 19 being 100 times more deadly. 100 times more deadly.  And has already killed more people than SARs - it is less deadly but more contagious. 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-flu-h1n1-pandemic/swine-flu-infected-1-in-5-death-rate-low-study-shows-idUSBRE90O0T720130125

[TravelingChris]

On 3/6/2020 at 9:27 PM, Murphy101 said:

See I can’t fathom chronic health issues and NOT having all that on hand at all times. I also keep vitamins and supplements and we try to keep all Rx at a 3-4 month stock.  Insulin, inhalers, thyroid, ... I don’t want to go where everyone is sick to get that stuff more than I absolutely have to and when we feel like crap, we want to just walk to the medicine cupboard not get dressed get in the car and go spread it everywhere at the dr office and pharmacy and Walmart - and also risk getting a secondary whatever going around.  And in my case, I can’t legally buy a large enough quantity to cover my entire large family in one outing either. For example, there’s laws that say I can’t buy more than so much Sudafed within certain time frames. And for most of our marriage dh wasn’t around - so I couldn’t just call dh to bring stuff home from work. 

What fi you mean that you keep a 3 to 4 month stick of prescriptions?  Icsn only refill something like 6 days early.  Since I have horrible memory issues when my cortisol drop to almost nothing, I do tend to have extras of some medications.But regular people who take prescriptions as prescribed do not.  It takes a long time to even build up a month supply of you can only refill five days early.  Some of my doctors write 30 scripts instead of 90.  My super expensive biologic vsn inky bd prescribed in 2 month scripts.  

How do you have s three to four month supply of all medications?

 

[TravelingChris]

9 hours ago, Katy said:

 

No, there isn't.  The death count related to flu is very controversial.  I believe that if you have been diagnosed with something else that is fatal (lets say HIV or cancer) but flu is what finally ends your life, the flu is not counted.  But if you don't have the flu and you die from pneumonia your death will likely be called the flu.  Many elderly people who fall and break a hip get bed bound.  Then they get hospital pneumonia about 3 days later which is from reduced circulation from being suddenly forced to be so still.  If they die from that pneumonia THAT will be called flu even if it has nothing to do with the flu virus.

That is super dumb.  I have had pneumonia at least 4 times and all for were bacterial.

 

[Murphy101]

22 minutes ago, TravelingChris said:

What fi you mean that you keep a 3 to 4 month stick of prescriptions?  Icsn only refill something like 6 days early.  Since I have horrible memory issues when my cortisol drop to almost nothing, I do tend to have extras of some medications.But regular people who take prescriptions as prescribed do not.  It takes a long time to even build up a month supply of you can only refill five days early.  Some of my doctors write 30 scripts instead of 90.  My super expensive biologic vsn inky bd prescribed in 2 month scripts.  

How do you have s three to four month supply of all medications?

 

Our prescriptions are written for a bit more than we actually need.  For one thing, it can and has taken way more than 5-6 days for us to get a 3-4 month supply ordered.  If he got exactly 90 days script and can’t order more until 85 days in - there’s a good chance come day 91, he would be without insulin. To avoid this we calculated a bit more daily use into the script. So our 90 day script ends up being roughly 110-120 days actual use. After 9 months, we have 1.5-3 months “extra” accumulated.  And at no point do we have less than 1 month in reserve to hopefully get us through any temporary rough spots. Such as Covid slowing orders.  Such as job changes disrupting insurance.  It’s not a perfect plan and it hasn’t always be enough to prevent problems.  But it sure has helped more often than we would like over the years. 

I do the same for my asthma and thyroid.  When I open my second to last bottle of the 3 month order and there isn’t already another order on the way, I get anxious that anything could happen within the next 2-4 weeks and I might have a gap without medications.  Not as bad as my dh is he had to ration or do without insulin, but I like breathing so not something I’d be okay risking if I could avoid it.

Our drs know exactly what we are doing and have always been encouraging bc they see many patients who have gaps in medications bc they don’t plan for these things happening.  We aren’t hoarding bc there isn’t an unused or excessive stockpile, we are just trying to plan for any number of typical things that often cause temporary gaps or extra hardship in medication needs.

eta: Also, this is what we do with insurance orders. Without insurance, I don’t have to worry about waiting to place an order and just pay for it.  That’s what we do for his insulin.  We just mail the rx to Canada pharmacy and they mail it.  Anger inducingly enough considering the premiums, we do not use our insurance for his insulin bc even after the insurance it is literally hundreds of dollars more expensive than just paying entirely out of pocket for an order from Canada.  Thank god for Canada.  

Edited March 8, 2020 by Murphy101

[Ottakee]

7 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

That doesn’t work for controlled substances, unfortunately. The pharmacy will not fill the seizure meds too far out, so the only way we have ‘stockpiled’ any amount is requesting a second script to be filled at the pharmacy so we can have that supply as a backup.

Yes.  We have that too.  I have a good weeks worth but not much more than that.  I can't even get a 90 day supply of most of the meds my kids are on.  

I do try to fill them at the earliest possible date to get a few ahead 

[Lady Florida.]

4 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

That doesn’t work for controlled substances, unfortunately. The pharmacy will not fill the seizure meds too far out, so the only way we have ‘stockpiled’ any amount is requesting a second script to be filled at the pharmacy so we can have that supply as a backup.

Yes, ds takes meds for his ADHD and it's not possible for him to get it early or to get extra. Also, he has to bring in a physical prescription each month. There is no such thing as the doctor calling it in.

[Murphy101]

4 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

That doesn’t work for controlled substances, unfortunately. The pharmacy will not fill the seizure meds too far out, so the only way we have ‘stockpiled’ any amount is requesting a second script to be filled at the pharmacy so we can have that supply as a backup.

Yes I know and I did mention that it doesn’t work for all meds we use regularly or when sick.  Even for insulin and such, it takes a long time of planning ahead to build that back up supply.  The fact that it takes lots of time or planning ahead doesn’t make it pointless to me.  There have been times when we desperately stressed not having been able to do so and that’s why we try to do it when we can.  If you’ve never been in that situation then I’m genuinely happy for you.