According to our local news, our home town has a possible case of COVID-19. A 46-year-old woman tested positive at the county hospital on Wednesday. Apparently there have been some problems with the tests, so the official determination won’t be made until the CDC reviews the results. That is not particularly reassuring.
The woman had what was reported to be mild symptoms last week, but they were apparently serious enough that she went to the county hospital emergency department on Saturday. They sent her back home at that time, which is not particularly reassuring. When her symptoms got worse, she came back. According to the reports, she did not meet the criteria set by the state health department for testing, but the doctor who examined her was sufficiently concerned that he insisted on a test. That she did not meet the criteria for testing but still tested positive is not particularly reassuring.
Everyone at the hospital who came into contact with her on Saturday is supposed to be self-quarantined. Her family, too. But, of course, there is almost no way to tell who else might have been close enough to her to get infected over the past few days. And that, too, is not particularly reassuring.
She had recently traveled to Washington, DC, which is not on the list of areas with active cases. No one seems to know where she might have been infected, assuming she is. Local officials here are reassuring everyone that this is not a community-based transmission. Community transmission would mean that the virus has infected enough people who have not reported their condition, that there is no way to identify the source of the transmission.
At this point, no one has been able to determine where she was infected, so insisting that there is no community transmission might perhaps be a hard position to defend. Still, maybe they could trace it, given enough time. And also, the test might not be confirmed by the CDC.
Leah and I went to the grocery store Friday night to pick up a few items. I was curious about hand sanitizers, so I looked for them. The shelves were empty, just as the news media have been reporting in other areas. I thought, well, what about homemade sanitizer? So I did an online search and found a couple of sets of instructions. They all use isopropyl alcohol, which is still on the shelves, but the other ingredients were out of stock. I guess I’m not the only one who thought of that.
We are not particularly worried about the virus right now. We probably still won’t be too worried if the positive result is confirmed. Young and middle-aged people seem to handle the virus pretty well. Unfortunately, we fall into one of the groups most at risk for complications, the elderly. I don’t like calling myself that, but apparently the cutoff is 60, so we both quality. On the other hand, we don’t have any underlying heart or lung conditions that also make people more vulnerable.
At this point, the virus seems to be out in the wild, and almost certainly will be around for a long time.
Such chaos with this virus. It’s pretty wild to watch it unfold. There was one case here locally, but it was probably three weeks ago and the patient was sent home to self-quarantine. We wash our hands like people with obsessive compulsive disorder, only venture out to the co-op and back. We were supposed to drive 700 miles to southern California for my nephew’s wedding next Saturday, but have decided not to take the chance. Roger absolutely fits the criteria for vulnerability. What a crazy time we are living in. CRAZY! Stay healthy and sane there!
We just had our first confirmed cased in my community this week. The woman reported she had felt ill when she was shopping at the wholesale food club, and now they don’t offer free samples any longer!
All I can say is don’t panic, what will be will be, your more likely to be killed by the flu. The media is spreading panic and they are the ones who should get it
Robin — My biggest concern now is whether the government is telling us everything. We have had two reports in our county, but the state health department does not show that. In fact, they stopped showing the number of confirmed and presumed cases, and are not updating the numbers even for the news media. Our governor is a big Trump fan, so it seems like he’s decided to follow the lead of the executive branch.
Paul — I had heard of other wholesale food stores that stopped offering samples. I haven’t checked our sole wholesale grocery yet.
Bill — At this point, the flu kills more people every year, but we aren’t at the end of the novel coronavirus outbreak. A health policy expert whose blog I read thinks the impact of the response to this outbreak may ultimately be worse than the outbreak itself. On the other hand, if I were in a vulnerable group (which by virtue of age I may be), I would be careful to follow recommendations on things like hand washing and avoiding large gatherings in areas with confirmed cases.