The main thing I took from Heneghan today was the amplification of the pcr test. I knew already that the test, as being used is purely qualitative, either positive or negative. He said though that it can be used to distinguish between dead and alive viral RNA (I know dead and alive are not the correct terms), and therefore those who are infectious or not. These are crucial details.
The wonderful Pam Ayres...now 73 years old and penned her latest ode ~ to coronavirus... I'm normally a social girl I love to meet my mates But lately with the virus here We can't go out the gates You see, we are the 'oldies' now We need to stay inside If they haven't seen us for a while They'll think we've upped and died They'll never know the things we did Before we got this old There wasn't any Facebook So not everything was told We may seem sweet old ladies Who would never be uncouth But we grew up in the 60s - If you only knew the truth! There was sex and drugs and rock 'n roll The pill and miniskirts We smoked, we drank, we partied And were quite outrageous flirts Then we settled down, got married And turned into someone's mum, Somebody's wife, then nana, Who on earth did we become? We didn't mind the change of pace Because our lives were full But to bury us before we're dead Is like a red rag to a bull! So here you find me stuck inside For four weeks, maybe more I finally found myself again Then I had to close the door! It didn’t really bother me I'd while away the hour I'd bake for all the family But I've got no flaming flour! Now Netflix is just wonderful I like a gutsy thriller I'm swooning over Idris Or some random sexy killer At least I've got a stash of booze For when I'm being idle There's wine and whiskey, even gin If I'm feeling suicidal! So let's all drink to lockdown To recovery and health And hope this awful virus Doesn't decimate our wealth We'll all get through the crisis And be back to join our mates Just hoping I'm not far too wide To fit through the flaming gates
I'm changing nothing as I've been careful so far without being over the top, it's worked so far. I couldn't take isolation without a very good reason...
Just seen the BBC news report from Liverpool hospitals which is pretty scary. Liverpool seems to be in the worst position at the moment. The staff were begging for people to follow the rules. The positive test numbers might indeed be very misleading if they include non infectious people, and if these make up a large proportion of the total. But it is hard to deny that there is a rise in hospital admissions, and admissions to ICU and ultimately deaths as well, but the deaths aren’t actually what is driving the government response, it’s managing NHS capacity. The COVID patients admitted are genuinely sick, they need treating, along with all the other people with various debilitating and life threatening illnesses. They estimate that without action hospitals will be refusing to admit patients, no matter what they are ill with. I suppose that the argument is that this projection is based on modelling including non infectious positive tests. Trouble is, we will never know who is right. If hospitals don’t reach capacity the pro lockdown people will claim the measures worked, and the anti lockdown fans will say the measures were never necessary. If hospitals do collapse the pro lockdown faction will say that we didn’t do enough early enough, and the anti lockdown people will say that lockdowns made no difference and we should have just soldiered on and protected the economy. Circular stuff.
No apology needed mate. We're all so frustrated with this ****ing thing! I genuinely don't know who or what to believe, although I believe the virus is very real and that I really don't want to get it. As Sooper says, I will carry on taking the precautions I've been taking since April. Luckily I can continue to work. Mrs Rangercol is a Pre school manager and that is a worry, as she's dealing with lots of people, all be it, socially distanced ( not the kids obviously).
Mass voluntary testing to be undertaken as a trial in Liverpool, which sounds encouraging, but what is the incentive for someone with no symptoms to volunteer?
I don’t really get this, and I think it’s where some of the stuff that Woody has posted from Heneghan comes into play. If you test positive but are asymptomatic what do you get but a possibly unnecessary spell of isolation? I’m assuming that asymptomatic people aren’t infectious as they aren’t coughing on other people and have a low ‘viral load’ or whatever anyway. What are they going to do with the information? It would seem to me to make more sense to do frequent tests for key workers, rigorously retest those who tested positive with symptoms, and do mass antibody testing. Hope yesterday wasn’t too unpleasant.
I’d have thought you would still be infectious. Less so than someone spluttering everywhere but surely the exact sort of person who should be isolating who otherwise wouldn’t know to do so. Still not much help if it’s going to stop you making an income and you can’t afford to go a couple of weeks without one.
Be nice if a scientist could tell us one way or another, and for other scientists to agree with the first scientist. Having, reluctantly, put a bit of effort in, I think I was wrong, asymptomatic (or sometimes pre symptomatic) people can and do infect others, and could account for 40% of all infections. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/198833/whole-town-study-reveals-more-than-40/ Intense and very localised testing would seem to make sense if you have a plan to use the data collected. The Italian approach which worked, in Veneto, was big on testing and tracing, perhaps not currently one of our strong points.
It wasn't too unpleasant at all really, and I had decided to go without any sedation so that I could get away as soon as possible. The procedure was much longer than anticipated though, because they found a load of polyps to remove - nine of the buggers. They told me it would probably take 20-25 minutes, but it was nearly an hour. It wasn't the colonoscopy that I was concerned about anyway, rather what they might find. Every time the doctor took out a polyp, he would say 'Adenoma, high confidence' and I was thinking 'Adenoma sounds like cancer', but it turns out that these are normally benign polyps. They've sent them all for testing though, and I get the results next Tuesday. Still a bit scary. I have to say that the whole process, from getting the screening test to this stage, has been handled brilliantly by all concerned. First class.
Another interesting article on Long Covid, written by a GP in Glasgow... https://inews.co.uk/opinion/long-covid-symptoms-impact-coronavirus-patients-lives-744958 His final paragraph sums it up nicely... The best defence against long Covid is to not contract Covid in the first place and to do that we must all be in this together. We must wear masks, wash our hands and maintain social distancing. We must enforce the rules that we have and after the full lockdown we must return to simple and clear rules, so that we all know what to do. Let us work together to stop the spread of the virus.
That sounds hopeful Stroller, fingers crossed for an all clear. You are one brave man to do it without sedation though.. hats off to you
