@JustaMom5465 - I saw that article too. How sad. (We still have a digital subscription to the Courant even though we moved away 1.5 years ago.)
Just found out an old HS acquaintance lost BOTH parents over the weekend. They were older, of course, but healthy before. Just cannot imagine.
OMG, this thread is so sad.
The President of the water board my husband serves on died this morning. He had been on a respirator for a couple of weeks. they tried taking him off it a couple times but had to put him straight back on.
My husband was in a water board meeting with him just days before he fell ill. Luckily no other members have come down with it.
Last time his wife saw him was when she took him to the hospital. She wasn’t allowed in the building with him and they came out to tell her he had it. That’s maybe the saddest thing about this - no goodbyes.
A 33 yr old women who grew up in my town (parents still live here) died alone in her apartment in NYC from CV-19. (: She had no underlying conditions. Perfectly healthy before being infected.
Just heard from my cousin that my aunt, who’s around 85yo and lives in Queens, probably has the virus. She says that it was a mild case and that she’s feeling better, but at her age anything could’ve happened. She’s a very active woman who still works part-time, so she could’ve been exposed almost anywhere.
I just saw the obituary for a friend’s aunt this morning. The notice said she died of complications of Covid19. My friend had been very close to this aunt. So sad.
First the the sad news- that bread elsewhere that the NYT obits today were 3 full pages of the small, 3-4 line notices. No big notifications, just box after box… for 3 full pages.
Now down the good news- my friend’s 70 yo. BIL, who has been in ICU for 28 days and they were told at the outset to expect the worst, is off the vent, breathing on his own and conscious! It’s a miracle!!!
I did talk with my son earlier and thought I’d update in case anyone mistakenly thought folks could get tested if they had symptoms (in NC). He went to the hospital today because he was getting more shortness of breath and his headaches wouldn’t go away. Because he didn’t have a fever, they took him inside to do some basic tests. One of those was a chest x-ray. He told me before the x-ray the nurse only had basic protective gear (mask) on. After the x-ray the nurse and doctor were totally suited up. They did not show him the x-ray (or explain anything from it - so who knows?), but said he had a lower respiratory viral infection.
Then they told him they weren’t officially testing anyone who didn’t have an underlying condition (age, high fever, heart issues, etc), thus he didn’t qualify, BUT he likely had it. They gave him a note for his employer keeping him out of work for 7 days (he works from home so this wasn’t needed) and told him when to come back in if things get worse. They also told him to expect it to get worse over the next 2-3 days, but then it should get better. He got tylenol for the headache (said it didn’t work) and told to isolate at home for at least 7 days.
So… testing is supposed to be free. That’s what he went for. What do you suppose the bill will actually be? 5-10K? I’m guessing…
I had texted him that testing was supposed to be free so if he felt the need to go in, he should. If he needed treatment, we’d help with it as he’s uninsured (since he left his last company last Nov). Now I expect we’ll be paying quite a sum of money AND HE NEVER GOT TESTED.
Not only am I concerned for his health and wondering if DIL will start showing symptoms or not, I’m pissed. Seems NC wants to keep their numbers low - or tests aren’t as “out there and available” as some say they are.
At least I feel better with someone he’ll listen to explaining to him what to expect and when to return if things don’t improve.
Sadly, I suspect the idea that they want to keep numbers low could be correct. Hope I am wrong, though.
Just found out that the father of a young man I know well is in critical condition with Covid19. He is in a hospital in Queens, and of course, the family can’t be with him. That makes it so much more difficult.
@Creekland, you have to stay to update us on your son’s condition. (I read the post where you announced that you would be leaving.)
Thoughts are with you. It has to be very difficult being so far away. Totally identity with your anger. I’m sure he will be fine, but we will all feel better when he recovers.
Our friend is being induced today @5. Because of covid-19, only her spouse can be present and he has to be there until she’s discharged or he’s not allowed back. She feels grateful he can be present.
Did facetime with D2 tonight and she looks much better and says her sense of smell is returning. Yay! Her case was “mild” but we worried about sudden crashing which seems to happen for mysterious reasons sometimes.
FWIW, she was never tested since it would be hazardous for her to leave her apartment. Incidence of this disease must be so much higher than the official numbers.
Someone who works for me thought he had the virus - cough, fatigue, but no fever per se. He just filled out a form and was able to get a drive through appointment for testing in a day. He was told it would take 3-4 days for the result to come back, but he got it within a day. It was negative. This was at Westchester.
@Creekland - hope your son recovers soon.
In our state, I believe you need symptoms and to have had contact with a confirmed case to get a test. I’m sure there are folks in the community who have it who aren’t being tested because they don’t meet that strict, narrow criteria.
What are people doing in terms of regular dr visits? Breast exams, mammograms? Physicals? Dentist visits? I have been delaying all.
I’m not in the mood to go to a medical professional right now. Mammo, dentist, physical? No thanks. My doctor’s office called and offered a tele-physical. I declined, because I couldn’t figure out what they could do with a tele-physical.
I have two telehealth visits. One was a FaceTime call with my lung doc in SF. The second was a video call with my allergist. My kids also had a chat and visit with her and she wrote Rx for many of our medications and it was our 1st “visit” in 18 months. If I ever have another telehealth visit with allergist, will ask her to run her software if she needs to but speak with us on phone—audio reception was very difficult.
My sister also had a telehealth physical with her internist last week. Mom will be having some telehealth visit with her geriatrician this coming week.
Most insurers are covering telehealth during the COVID crisis, whether or not they had been before, but check with your insurer to avoid an expensive surprise. Most dentists are having emergency visits only.
I did defer my local lung doc visit because it would have involved me being at their office and walking with a tech and then talking with my local lung doc. It didn’t seem urgent so was rescheduled until 5/15 and may be pushed further out.
My routine dental cleaning has been cancelled (by the dentist) and I’m delaying scheduling my mammogram until after the current crisis has past.
I had my annual physical a month ago so I’m good as long as I don’t get sick.
We believe our S20 has had the virus for the past 14 days. It began with a rough night of fever (comes and goes, shivering and sweating), which last for 2-3 days. He was very fatigued, all the time. Once fever subsided, he developed a headache (front of head, just above eyes); OTC meds didn’t help with it. He lost his sense of smell about day 7. His headache persisted, and is just now starting to subside.
About day 10 his eyes started to bother him (he looked like he had pink eye, but his eyes were not pink). He also has a persistent pain in his left abdomen.
Have had two telehealth calls with his doc. Son doesn’t qualify for a test, but given its course and symptoms, doc is pretty sure now he has COVID. Husband has shown no symptoms, so far. I have had GI symptoms (only 20% of COVId patients do) and I also have the weird eye symptom. No fever.
Because our son is young and healthy this didn’t freak us out, but it has been a pretty rough bug for him and 2 weeks is far longer than he has ever been sick. We have been very locked down since he first showed symptoms.
My timing is I think I am on day 6 or so. If I do have COVID, I am definitely in the mild category. The big mystery we cannot figure out is at what point can any of us assume we are no longer contagious. I have read wildly different estimates of that. I sure will want to get our antibodies tested to see if we did indeed have COVID and also to ensure we are immune.
Husband lost a colleague to COVID last week, and we had a relative come off a vent and make it out of ICU two weeks ago. Unaware of anyone else thought to have COViD, but we are 2 people who won’t show up in any counts anywhere. Certainly there are lots and lots of us.
I am a data wonk and neurotically check tallies constantly. Happy to see that today’s numbers in US and New York are headed in the right direction. The docs I know who are hospital-based are exhausted but report that things never got insane and out of control here (Cleveland). One is too many to lose but it doesn’t appear we ran out of vents or ICU beds.