What is wrong with people?

[Big Insect]

Fingers crossed for your daughter and son-in-law Mark. A friend of ours had to have the ambulance out to him yesterday as they're pretty sure he has Covid-19. They gave him antibiotics (his chest was infected) and he seems to be on the mend, which is good..

Many thanks Steve - eldest daughter (in London) is now heading towards recovery - she said the weirdest thing was how it played havoc with her taste buds - at one point all she could taste was sweet things and then on a hyper-sensitised basis - she said she could put a tea spoon of honey in her mouth and it was a taste explosion - but she couldn't taste salt or chilli or sour.
Youngest & her hubby are in the grumpy, depressive stage of the virus - no taste - headache like a hang-over - and sneezing a lot - the sneezing appears to be a good sign as that was what happened when my eldest started to throw it off.

I have a pal, who's son-in-law had it badly - coughing up blood at one point - but then he is/was a very heavy smoker. He's made a full recovery thankfully.

Hope you & your lad are coping with the lock-down - as stated on Linked-In there are a whole host of people for whom a lock-down is a bigger challenge than for those of us more fortunate.

[toxicpixie]

Mostly excellent there Mark, I hope the best outcomes come out from where they are.

It's all getting a bit awkward.

[Big Insect]

Thanks - my 7 month old grandson seems to have come out of it best - threw it off in under 5 days - mostly coughing and fever and is now as right as rain.
So clearly his primary diet of stewed chard, coconut yogurt and falafels is to be recommended! 

[toxicpixie]

Yeah, kids seem to be (mostly) able to bounce through it better, which is good. At least for them!

Reminds me, I didn't get any lunch... to the highly nutritious crisp cupboard!

[jimduncanuk]

Can't believe it but my neighbours seems to have visitors including kids which we can hear/see from our back garden.

A few tennis balls have come over the fence but we are not throwing them back now as they may be a virus risk.

No strange cars in the street as everyone is home except the wifey two doors down who is an NHS employee.

[toxicpixie]

Good grief.

I can't say I'm surprised, it was a bit similar here - BUT people have taken it much more seriously this last week or so, I think...

[Steve J]

One of the not so local chavs has been roaring around on his motorbike which doesn't have a silencer, so obviously not following the government advice

[paulr]

He has at least admitted that he felt "like a complete dick" when he realised his mistake. There is a good chance that he will not stand for Parliament at the next election

Is... that an actual quote? If so, remarkable honesty, we could do with more of that!

...

Perhaps the idiots should have a word with a mate of mine, who is a dental technician (he makes amazing false teeth etc). He's been repurposed into a support nurse for COVID-19 cases. Training technically good, but he had a very sh*t day yesterday as it didn't cover what to do when your patients die. As they did.

Yes it is an actual quote, he said it on one of our national morning news programs
He has made it clear it was wrong and has not tried to offer any excuses

My thoughts are with your mate and all the health workers who are having to cope with a lot more death than most of us will ever be exposed to

My wife works as a support worker in the community and has attended way to many funerals of clients 

[flamingpig0]

I hope that  COVID-19 will mean in the future people  will not be so complacent and dismissive; I attended a wargames competition  a month back and one of the competitors who is very proud of his PHD was pontificating on  how COVID was no worse than the flu and it was all hysteria.

[toxicpixie]

We've seen that a lot, less so now the reality is obvious (and too late :/).

[Techno]

I attended a wargames competition  a month back and one of the competitors who is very proud of his PHD was pontificating on  how COVID was no worse than the flu and it was all hysteria.

It'll be interesting to see the figures, once COVID 19 is 'kicked into touch'......And bloody horrifying to think how many more would have died if we (by that I mean 'The World', and not just individual countries) hadn't taken the action, currently in place.

The WHO estimate that something between 290,000 & 650,000 people die from 'influenza' each year. ..But many, many people have some sort of 'immunity' to 'ordinary flu'....So that doesn't cause such 'a worry'.....and we can have 'jabs' for a lot of the strains....(I do, every year, now).

290-650,000 is still a pretty dire total.

COVID 19 is a real 'new kid on the block', and in 'realistic' terms no-one has any form of immunity.....That's why there's all the "hysteria"  from Governments

There'll be people at the end of this, who are likely to say, "Well....ordinary flu has been attributed to more deaths than COVID-19...so where was the problem ?"
Personally, I'm not 'frightened' by the thought of the 'ordinary' flu strains.....But COVID 19 is a completely different matter.

Hope that all makes sense.....You all keep safe....and those of you that are suffering in one way or another (personally or family members)....You know we all send you our very best wishes.

Cheers - Phil

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

I heard somewhere that there were fewer than normal deaths in China during the shut down as there was far less air pollution !

[toxicpixie]

Yes, I've seen that mentioned - the drop in air pollution is likely to mean a big drop in death and chronic conditions for related diseases.

From an anecdotal PoV it seems right - B'ham has *terrible* air quality (big city, traffic, industry, in a geographical "bowl"), and a few days after people started self locking down it improved massively, and my sinuses & lungs cleared right up.

And now we've entered pollen season which is an arse, as they've just locked right back up again

Stop having freaky plant sex, plants!

[paulr]

Stop having freaky plant sex, plants!

At least in toxicpixie's sinuses & lungs

[toxicpixie]

My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to concrete EVERYTHING and sanitise anything I can't with fire.

Note, before anyone mentions it, neither of those options include my lungs and sinuses

I'd rather the daily "Have I got Coronavirus? No, just asthma and allergies" dance than the "Have I... Yes. sh*t" one though.