I don't have any statistical data to share, just some anecdotal information, so $0.02, and all that.




I ended up in the ER Wednesday.  I should have gone in sooner, but being the stubborn jackass that I am, I had to wait so that I could make things worse.  Naturally.  For a bit of background, I had gotten a tooth extracted just over a week prior, and had been taking ibuprofen for the pain.  As it turns out, my system does not play nice with ibuprofen--it seems that it triggers an autoimmune response that really is no fun.


I went in because my entire neck and back were in excruciating pain, and the pain had gotten to my chest as well.  One of the common reactions with my autoimmune disorder is bone pain (which I am really bad at expressing), but this was affecting muscles and everything else, too.  Moving was a nightmare.  Getting up out of bed to take a piss?  10 minutes of hell.


The ER was swamped.  The nurses were doing an impressive job of keeping the numbers in the waiting room down, but there was a LOT of shuffling.  And there were hardly any beds available, as a good portion of them were occupied by covid patients. 


With the chest pain, along with my medical history, they wanted to get me in for a CAT scan to make sure I didn't have any clots running loose.  I was on board, as the last think I want is another pulmonary embolism.  That's no fun at all.


The orderlies had to help me get situated on the bed for the scan.  I wasn't able to roll over and lay flat on my own, so they did the thing where they use the sheet to turn you, and I think my back popped, and I saw stars.  Probably would have said a few choice words if I had been capable of putting any together at that point.


Eventually, they get me back to a bed, and see a doctor.  Turns out that completely separate of any symptoms I was feeling, I have pneumonia.  Got some pain meds, some antibiotics, and referrals to an immunologist and a pulmonologist, both of which I will be seeing as soon as I can schedule an appointment.


What seemed 'funny' to me is that when I tested positive for Covid, I was given a script for azithromycin to try to avoid getting pneumonia, and I took my meds dutifully.  I was also given antibiotics after my tooth extraction, which I also kept up with.  Still got pneumonia, but I haven't been coughing, or having ANY respiratory problems--even with the benefit of hindsight, I don't see how we could have recognized that I had pneumonia any sooner.  Meanwhile, my wife, who tested negative, and apparently just has a cold, has been coughing a lot, and just sounds awful.  I'm not sure how that works, but it doesn't seem fair. 


In the meantime, I have been working to manage the autoimmune reaction (getting some benadryl in the IV helped, which indicated to me, at least, that a good deal of my pain was autoimmune related; I wonder if the ER nurses are still wondering about the patient that responded better to benadryl than to morphine  ), and at this point, while I still have a lot of pain, it's mostly focused in a few muscle groups, and I am starting to get around a lot better.


Either way, I think I'm in this for the long haul...


This article has some decent information, in case you know of anyone who has similar symptoms.

I've been remiss and haven't given you a meaningful UK update for almost a month now.

Here's the situation for us, as of Monday October 11, 2021.

Family:
We're *still* all clear. I'm splitting my work week between home and the office, mostly meeting the same half-dozen of my colleagues when I visit the building. Mrs Sheddi is self-employed, works from home and mostly keeps herself to herself but she has had a few visitors in recent weeks. My kids are 17 and 15, and both in school; the eldest's school seems to be coping quite well but the youngest's school has a bit of a COVID problem. I mentioned a week or so ago that the youngest's 5 best friends were all out at once with positive PCR tests; the school is stepping up control measures and has asked pupils to take LFT tests four times a week 

Local area:
The local case rate is 409 cases per 100k people, up 11% from a week ago. A lot of this most be due to schools. In principle vaccinations are available to all over-12s but in practice the local schools aren't planning to start vaxxing their pupils until early November    so the situation in schools could get worse before it gets better.

83% of eligible 12+ in my area have had one dose of vaccine and 78% have had two doses.

Mask wearing and social distancing is definitely in decline, despite the rising case rates. I went shopping on the local retail park on Saturday. In the supermarket maybe 40% of shoppers were masked, and 30% of staff; in the clothes shop it was slighly worse; and in the sportswear shop it was less than 20% masked (I was hoping to buy a new pair of shoes but bugged out before finding a style I liked).

National:
The national case rate is 348 per 100k (up 7.8% on the week). There have been 5200 hospital patients admitted in the past week (flat) and 785 COVID-related deaths (flat). Vaccination numbers are now 85% of 12+ with at least one dose and 78% with two.

Also in the news, one-sixth of the UK's ECMO patients are unvaxxed pregnant women with COVID:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/11/one-in-six-most-critically-ill-patients-are-unvaccinated-pregnant-women-with-covid

This is not exactly a good start to the winter. Flu is expected to make a comeback too and the UK is rolling out a flu vaccine programme to try and keep that under control:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/biggest-flu-programme-in-history-to-roll-out-for-winter-2021

Quote from: Mr. E. Monkey on October 10, 2021, 12:07:29 PM
I ended up in the ER Wednesday. 

The ER was swamped.   occupied by covid patients. 


With the chest pain, along with my medical history,
the last think I want is another pulmonary embolism. 

.........................

I think I'm in this for the long haul...

That's aweful, Mr. E. You just can't seem to catch a break right now.

I do hope that you're feeling at least a bit better since you posted here last.

Quote from: sheddi on October 11, 2021, 03:17:36 AM

Here's the situation for us, as of Monday October 11, 2021.

Family:
- We're *still* all clear.

- [My] youngest's 5 best friends were all out at once with positive PCR tests; the school is stepping up control measures and has asked pupils to take LFT tests four times a week 

Local area:
- up 11% from a week ago. A lot of this most be due to schools. In principle vaccinations are available to all over-12s but in practice the local schools aren't planning to start vaxxing their pupils until early November    so the situation in schools could get worse before it gets better.

- Mask wearing and social distancing is definitely in decline, despite the rising case rates.

National:
- The national case rate is 348 per 100k (up 7.8% on the week).

- Also in the news, one-sixth of the UK's ECMO patients are unvaxxed pregnant women with COVID:

- Flu is expected to make a comeback too and the UK is rolling out a flu vaccine programme to try and keep that under control:

Not looking swell. Dang. And if things follow as they have been during this we'll be right behind you over here in a few weeks.


Thank goodness your family is still holding so far in the midst of all that! 

Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Kansas
my county's 14 day rolling average

- ↘ (just barely)  Average daily case count 23.93
- ↘ (just barely)  Average positive rate 4.4%
- ↘ (only down one)  Current active cases. 495
- ↘ Current hospitalized. 8 (out of 24 ICU beds)
- ↗ Total deceased 105
- ↘ (just barely)  Incidence rate per 100,000... 278.49

I still wonder what the numbers are really. Still too high a probability of the vaccinated asymptomatic passing it around to make me comfortable with the reporting numbers.

Now, as is necessary at this point, we've switched to living with it. Unfortunately, high numbers of humans here seem to read that as 'it's over, no contagion here'.

As in: Was hanging back at the probably 7'X4.5' elevator to see if the second person getting on was gonna put that mask in her hand on or just use it as a hand accessory. She turned to me, saying, 'there's room'. 

The friend I was originally getting on the elevator with said 'she won't get on if someone isn't wearing a mask in here. She got huffy saying 'I've had both shots, I don't need to.' She was standing next to a sign that said Mask Required In This Building, had passed two other signs just like it to get to that elevator.

I don't know where these people get their data on this. They give me a headache.

Quick status for Norway: We reopened three weeks ago, and so far so good. Statistics are generally not reported daily anymore, and it's no longer a big thing in the media.

Total population about 5,4 million.
4,2 million vaccinated 1 dose (91% of population over 18)
3,7 million vaccinated 2 doses (86% of population over 18)
433 per day new case average last seven days, down from 472 the previous seven days. 195 000 total infections. Most new cases are in schools, large cities and among unvaccinated people.
93 in hospital as of yesterday, numbers are declining steadily here too.
Can't find any recent deaths right now, I think it's been a couple of weeks.

Total for the whole pandemic is 884 dead, 195 000 infected.

All in all we're doing pretty good, here's hoping the rest of the world will catch up sooner rather than later. It's sad to see how much some countries struggle that should not.

(Oh, and no cases in my family so far, none at my work, and as far as i know nobody I know have been infected.)

Quote from: Ever (Zombiepreparation) on October 14, 2021, 01:39:06 AM
That's aweful, Mr. E. You just can't seem to catch a break right now.

I do hope that you're feeling at least a bit better since you posted here last.

Sometimes you get to play 'kick the can.'  Sometimes, you are the can. 




In all seriousness, though, it could be a lot worse.  If I hadn't gotten vaccinated, who knows if I would be here to type this?  Maybe I would have been "lucky" enough to end up on a ventilator.  Maybe I would have gotten a serious case of pneumonia, and not what seems like walking pneumonia (seriously, I've had virtually no symptoms, and would have had no idea I even had it if I hadn't gone to the ER for other issues).


It's been rough, and I could really go for a little break, but it beats being dead.  I just need to remind myself of that every now and then, when I start to complain. 






Local numbers seem to be tapering off a little.  CDC's 7 day metrics show: 
112 new cases in the last 7 days, which is an almost 8% drop. 
They may  not be getting full info on the deaths, but are currently showing <10. 
12 new hospitalizations, and 45.8% vaccinated.   

Quote from: Asparagus on October 14, 2021, 05:15:45 AM
Quick status for Norway: We reopened three weeks ago, and so far so good. Statistics are generally not reported daily anymore, and it's no longer a big thing in the media.

Total population about 5,4 million.
4,2 million vaccinated 1 dose (91% of population over 18)
3,7 million vaccinated 2 doses (86% of population over 18)
433 per day new case average last seven days, down from 472 the previous seven days. 195 000 total infections. Most new cases are in schools, large cities and among unvaccinated people.
93 in hospital as of yesterday, numbers are declining steadily here too.
Can't find any recent deaths right now, I think it's been a couple of weeks.

Total for the whole pandemic is 884 dead, 195 000 infected.

All in all we're doing pretty good, here's hoping the rest of the world will catch up sooner rather than later. It's sad to see how much some countries struggle that should not.

(Oh, and no cases in my family so far, none at my work, and as far as i know nobody I know have been infected.)

👍 Pretty dogon awesome!

Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Kansas
my county's 14 day rolling average

- ↘ Average daily case count 20.43
- ↗ Average positive rate 5.4% (from4.4%)
- ⬇ Current active cases 421
- ⬇ Current hospitalized 5 (out of 24 ICU beds)
- ↔ Total deceased 105
- ⬇ Incidence rate per 100,000... 237.76

annnd... fall is beginning to hit its stride here so cool temperatures and changing leaves are like the siren call.

I'll take it while I can get it.

The n95s make all the difference in personally feeling safe traversing hallways, stairs &/or elevators, lobby, double door exit/entrances just to get there and back again. That's a plus for me staight from Delta data on masks differences. The n95s don't just protect the other from me, they are significant in protecting me from the other. So, were all pandemic to end today I'd come out the better for cold and flu season. I will have more safe, comfortable mobility this season than I've experienced in a couple of decades. n95s rock.

I am gathering, restocking a bit here and there in case of still unclear possibilities that could play out, because am finding current reports from England a bellweather since my 20 month experience w this pandemic generally sees us just two, three, steps behind them.

A couple of my V8 staple products are missing in my grocery, with no labels of where they were or might be again.   A small but daily taste and nutrient content I've come to enjoy and find comfort in. I've found no equal substitute and would be sorry to not have some stock in case of in case.
👵

Quote from: Ever (Zombiepreparation) on October 20, 2021, 05:21:36 PM
A couple of my V8 staple products are missing in my grocery, with no labels of where they were or might be again.   A small but daily taste and nutrient content I've come to enjoy and find comfort in. I've found no equal substitute and would be sorry to not have some stock in case of in case.
👵

I love some spicy V8.  I've found the Kroger version to be a pretty decent substitute.  I'm not sure about the non-spicy variants, but it might be worth a try.

huh. I had been wondering about this, the Wednesday average positive rate jumping a % point in the midst of everything else falling:  (↗ Average positive rate 5.4% (from 4.4%) )

Wondering about that, this building's quick turn towards decreased mask use by more tenants, guests, delivery people, hired workers on the fire remediation. Plus the best current supported data I could find on Moderna efficacy after eight months.

And, again, that point jump, along with the scheduled in-house third vaccine shots not coming until close to mid-November, nearly a full two weeks (that magic lag time in a recognized rise) after our massive national gathering with people we know and don't know: Halloween. Which would be followed on the heels by Thanksgiving.

Did the math, and got my third shot today. Giving it two weeks to fully activate before all this holiday gathering and spreading gets going good. Next week I'll get my fully loaded high dose old people's flu shot. Hopefully giving me a preemptive jump on our annual Season Of Sick People spreading the gifts that keep on giving. 👵

Just checked today's reported stats. Once again with the codicil of slow reporting data dumps that could also be in play with these numbers.

Friday, October 22, 2021
Kansas
my county's 14 day rolling average

- ↗ Average daily case count 21.21
- ↗ Average positive rate 5.6%
- ↗ Current active cases 436
- ⬇ Current hospitalized 3 (out of 24 ICU beds)
- ↔ Total deceased 105
- ↗ Incidence rate per 100,000... 246.90

More ↗↗ than I had expected.  I'm glad I went ahead and began prepping.


fwiw: vaccine fever has begun. Comfortable, but with fever chills. 👍  Go immune system!! Geez Louise, edited typo:(I'm a big supporter of the data on fevers, so I only challenge one if-or-when it reaches 108° 100.8°, or it's moving up fast)

<facepalm>

May, indeed, have been a slow data dump on Friday, which suits me just fine. Though, coming Friday or Monday's report will give the better picture.

Monday, October 25, 2021
Kansas
my county's 14 day rolling average

- ↘ Average daily case count 20.71
- ↔ Average positive rate 5.6%
- ↘ Current active cases 406
- ↗ Current hospitalized 5 (out of 24 ICU beds)
- ↗ Total deceased 108
- ↘ Incidence rate per 100,000... 241.08

Was over the Moderna half vax reaction in 36 hours, the first 24 being fever up to 100.8, but I had been here before so just burried myseif into the bed & blankets with only my face exposed, for comfort, listened to (not watched) bland tv shows on hulu and dosed in and out of sleep. But at temp 100.8° I took two Tylenol, which did lower it to 100.2 to 100.5 for the duration.

One thing that was new during that was a tiny bit of unsettled stomach which I treated with sips of room temperature V8 until that part passed. 👍

The fever broke a little after 24 hours and I began moving around a bit. Water, the very thing I needed to be increasing, or at least drinking during the fever was Yuck City. But after the fever broke I. Was. Thirsty. and made up for lost time.

During the next 12± hours I tried to eat soups and broths but that was Yucky.

Then all of a sudden (so it seemed) I was right as rain again. Like it had never happened.
😎

Now, the injection site had been increasingly sore but I just kept gently rubbing and now even that is only a memory.

There was no one else to talk about this with, but it was an experience I needed to verbalize.  And I figure that's one of the pluses of talking on the internet.... nobody has to read it if they don't want to. 😂

Laters.

Quote from: Mr. E. Monkey on October 20, 2021, 07:21:40 PM

Quote from: Ever (Zombiepreparation) on October 20, 2021, 05:21:36 PM
A couple of my V8 staple products are missing in my grocery, with no labels of where they were or might be again.   A small but daily taste and nutrient content I've come to enjoy and find comfort in. I've found no equal substitute and would be sorry to not have some stock in case of in case.
👵

I love some spicy V8.  I've found the Kroger version to be a pretty decent substitute.  I'm not sure about the non-spicy variants, but it might be worth a try.

I do luv me some spicy V8 and keep a reasonable supply on hand.

Higher on my actual prep list is original V8 which I can alter for various uses. One of which is nausea. Room temp cup close for sipping as needed. For a hangover with sick stomach I add a shot-size amount of unfiltered apple cider vinegar. For illness comfort I replace the proverbial tomato soup with cups of hot V8. And if I have no V8 spicy in the larder I can add healthy amounts of cayenne, et voilà!

Fortunately for my covid preps, and now my flu season preps, original V8 quart size has not become scarce. (yet?) But, the 12 oz bottles have been missing in my small Dillions for weeks. I rely on this grocery because no auto and would be too anxious on public transportation during covid for something that trivial.

What I have relied on until the supply chain breakdown for additional health is green food powder mixed with the green veggie V8. Which has also been missing locally for weeks. And I wouldn't say I'm panicy going into the flu/covid season without that particular V8 because I'm well stocked with the green food powder which can be mixed with water to consume. It would just be more comforting to have it at this juncture of the 'whatever this stage is we're in with covid' and flu season combining again.

I drink their various fruit combo juices with carbonated water for a fun soft drink substitute, or hot or cold in tea during the flu season, and those have also been missing from the shelves for weeks.

Which wasn't really a problem to me until the reports here and world wide of how massive this breakdown is and could come to be. At which point I started haunting the V8 shelves daily! 😂

In weeks I've snagged a lone strawberry & bananna quart three times.  Just sitting alone on an empty shelf.

But today was big. I scored green!  Six of them. Alone on the shelf. Bunched together like they were lost.

For me, along with the three strawberry & bananna, and with belt tightening rationing, that means Nine Months of Comfort while the supply chain breakdown, covid, and the flu season play out! 🤗

👵

A short update from me - we're all still free of COVID.

Things in the UK aren't great, but seem to have levelled out at around 40k cases per day and 1000 deaths/week. Booster (third) jabs are being rolled out to anyone who had their second shot at least 6 months ago, and 12- to 16-yo's in my area will finally get their shots next month (they were meant to be offered in September but ...).

Mask wearing is patchy (signs still request them but they're rarely enforced) and case rates in schoolkids have been high (reportedly, at one stage recently 8% of kids were off school with positive COVID tests).

I will give a better update when I have more time.

Friday, October 29, 2021
Kansas
my county's 14 day rolling average

- ↘ Average daily case count 20.50
- ↘ Average positive rate 5.1%
- ↗ Current active cases 423
- ↗ Current hospitalized 6 (out of 24 ICU beds)
- ↔ Total deceased 108
- ↘ Incidence rate per 100,000... 238.59

So those were the stats Friday. Today is Halloween, meaning national gathering/mixing. Another national covid?, what's covid?, holiday.

Fingers crossed though. But remember June? This has all happened before.

Wednesday, November 3, 2021
Kansas
my county's 14 day rolling average

- ↘(just barely) Average daily case count 20.14
- ↗(only 1/10th of one % but I'll take it 👍)  Average positive rate 5.2%
- ↘ Current active cases 379
- ⬇ Current hospitalized 2 👍 (out of 24 ICU beds)
- ↔ Total deceased 108
- ↘(just barely) Incidence rate per 100,000... 234.43

We're holding.


Today, walking back from a nice long walk, no breeze, a chill in the air, passing a neighborhood bus stop. Someone's getting off... ah, good she's wearing a mask because our paths will begin to merge. Three feet from me takes it off and our respiratory systems pass within two feet of each other as she huffs up the energy to slowly pass me. 👎

School just let out and kids are on their way home. Two small groups. All masked, one even moves off the sidewalk around me giving me the thumbs up. Right back at cha little guys! And my thanks to ya.

I also think to say to the second small group my thanks for the masks. One of them says to me "we're from different families so we wear them because we're close to each other." 😎 👍 ❤ 🤗  And went on their merry way, talking, laughing.



I had already put on mine when the bus woman was debarking because -sidewalk with close proximity people. 👵 

All NH stats as of Friday can be seen here:
https://www.wmur.com/article/new-hampshire-covid-cases-map-graph/36731268#
26 cases in Colebrook.
That's a lot for this wee town!

Welp we're right at 'still holding' as of today. Some small up/down movement in the various categories.

Some stronger mask usage the past few days. Virtually all of the children I've seen in the grocery, virtually none of the college age people there.

Noticing a small rise in glove usage too. Might be because the flu is on the loose again and is more readily transferred at fomite points than is currently known to be for COVID.

I'm still haunting the grocery V8 section daily just in case some greens V8 shows up. It not been around in weeks.

A friend in Oklahoma is reporting a shortage of turkeys where he is. Not at my grocery yet. But I was assisting another friend who has physical difficulties shop there a couple of days ago and the turkeys we were looking at were only partially frozen. Which was odd in my decades of experience in the frozen section. A problem with the freezing origin? The grocery freezer? Just being wrapped and transported too fast? Local producers moving product faster than typical?  Anyway, different for some reason. Lots of Sorry notes up, more holes in products on shelves.

And I've begun binging peanut butter and crackers again. The last and only other time I did this was, I think, when covid arrived in my building on my floor and I bugged in for real. Maybe a comfort thing? Maybe a nutrient craving? Who knows, but this time I began adding honey after awhile. Then cinnamon to that. Today I began adding chopped jalapeño to the mix. (added another pound of honey to my preps because of this. Am going shopping for some serious chopped jalapeño preps soon.. just in case)

So I guess we're in the supply chain breakdown/flu  'stage' of the pandemic? And shortages, inflation. Then comes the measles outbreak I guess.

This Thanksgiving though my preps and n95s have moved up more than a notch or two on my long list of thanks in this turn of Events. Way bunch more freedom of movement during the winter shit storm of contagion than last season for sure, as well as if it was only flu season for me in a couple of decades! Yay!

👵

humm. An uptick. Will be able to tell more about this next week.

Friday, November 19, 2021
Kansas
my county's 14 day rolling average

- ↗ Average daily case count 21.36
- ↘ Average positive rate 4.3%
- ↗ Current active cases 416
- ⬆ Current hospitalized 8 (out of 24 ICU beds)
- ↔ Total deceased 108
- ↗ Incidence rate per 100,000... 248.57

Okay, maybe I don't have to wait to see.


COVID-19 found in wastewater from Lawrence, Kansas (in my county) raising concern.  Through the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors have been using wastewater as a way to predict coronavirus spikes.  If there's a high rate, they expect a surge in cases to follow.

In Lawrence, the rate of COVID-19 found in their wastewater is the highest it's ever been since the pandemic started.

University of Kansas Health System Dr. Steve Stites said "We know that the wastewater historically has predicted the rise in case counts."

"It's interesting because our cases are not the highest that they've ever been in the pandemic," Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department Director of Informatics Sonia Jordan said.

Jordan said last year at this time was actually their highest case count, at 82 new cases a day.

Right now, their 14-day rolling average is 21.

"It tells us potentially people are not testing, or maybe they're just having mild cases because they're vaccinated so they don't feel like they actually have COVID, it could be that people are using an at home test."

The vaccination rate among adults in Lawrence is at 71%.

Despite those numbers and experiencing a small dip in new COVID-19 cases, positive results are back on the rise in our region. After seeing the spike of COVID-19 in wastewater and the holiday ahead there is concern.

"When you start taking masks off and you go indoors, people are going to get sick again," Stites said. "And we're going to see that increasing rise of COVID-19 numbers."


Yeah. Contagion and indoor holidays. Bad recipe for the spread of flu. Much more so the spread of this shorter gestation period Delta with light cases in the vaccinated. Many of the vaccinated won't even recognize we're spreading it.

Merry Christmas hospital workers. (she typed sardonically)