Covid has hit home for me

alloy

alloy

Dan, Retired old fart
H-M Supporter Gold Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2014
Messages
2,772
We have an old guy (older than me if you can believe that) that walks his little dog past our place all the time.

Last night there were two ambulances at his place and the neighbor said he was taken in for covid. Thats just two houses down from me.

I know its all around, but I didn't think it was that close.
 
Its everywhere, until we get an effective vaccine it will remain with us for a very long time.
IF we get an effective vaccine it will still be with us form all the brain dead anti vaxers around.
We have a very low infective rate in Aus probably due to our closures and social distancing measures but it will not die out from the vast numbers refusing to take the test.
Take care and wear a GOOD quality mask irrespective of what a lot of tossers think is a conspiracy.
 
I feel you. We hear of it all over the news yet I have only heard of one person I know test positive for it who didn't have major issues & recovered already. He retested & came up negative. Other than that luckily I haven't heard of any of my family or friends getting it.

I picked up an order from MSC yesterday & my sales guy was telling me that the owner of a local deburring place that he dealt with for a long time just passed away from Covid, 60 yrs old.
 
Covid is a very nasty form of pneumonia. There is no doubt about that. But from what I have been able to decipher it is nowhere near as bad as it is being made out to be. I have been all over this because I take care of my elderly mother. She will be 102 years old in August and is in excellent health for her age.

Nobody that I know has tested positive for Covid.

There is more misinformation out there than you can shake a stick at. Even the CDC has different numbers in different places on their website. I found a page on the CDC's website that is based on the listed cause of death on death certificates. It is updated daily. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm Even the info on that page is convoluted due to double counting. You would think that the numbers should add up but they don't. It took awhile for me to figure out how the numbers were being manipulated. Here are today's numbers as recorded by the CDC from death certificates with the double counting removed. Even these numbers are suspect because in the fine print and footnotes the Covid-19 numbers include "presumed" Covid-19 deaths. No breakdown on actual and presumed Covid-19 deaths. In all likely hood the Covid-19 deaths are slightly overstated.
Covid-19 62,989
Pneumonia 74,405
Influenza 5,540
Covid-19 & pneumonia 48,772
Covid-19 & influenza 939 This number is not listed and was calculated so the numbers would add up to the total
Total 192,645

The wearing of masks is a false sense of security. Again from what I have been able to determine is that wearing a mask doesn't prevent you from being infected. The masks help to prevent a person who is infected from spreading Covid-19. According to testing of large groups 50% of the people who test positive never show any symptoms and never get sick yet can still spread the virus. I wear a mask whenever I am out in public places. So does my elderly mother.
 
Have recently had a friend die of covid. Went into the hospital for a minor heart issue, and never came out. I'm afraid Savarin is right on point. This thing is going to be around for longer than any of us would like, and it will kill you if you don't pay attention. I would normally be going back to the Caribbean in November, but no plane rides for me this year. Should help me get caught up on all my shop projects. Mike
 
alloy - I hope your neighbour is ok.

mickri - the best way to get a sense of how many deaths there are from Covid-19 itself, complications from it or even indirect deaths (not getting cancer treatment due to overwhelmed hospitals) is to look at the "excess deaths" statistic. Looking back over a number of years gives us a pretty accurate idea of how many deaths occur normally in any given time period. Anything over that are "excess deaths". Here's a good explanation and user configerable graphic:

Excess Deaths Associated with COVID-19

Figures present excess deaths associated with COVID-19 at the national and state levels.
www.cdc.gov www.cdc.gov

As you put so well yourself, wearing a mask is to reduce transmission to others. It's an altruistic care-for-thy-brother deal. There's plenty of data out there showing how mask wearing reduces transmission, much of it case studies and anecdotal as there's no way to ethically run a proper trial. Mask wearing can also reduce the risk of becoming infected - not as much as they reduce the risk of infecting someone else if you're infected (20-30% vs. 60-80%) but it all helps. Mask wearing is a no brainer - uncomfortable, irritating and absolutely essential to controlling this disease.
 
Getting COVID-19 is a matter of probabilities. The only way to have zero probability is total isolation. Anything other than that adds to the risk of contracting the virus. Wearing a mask doesn't absolutely protect one from the virus. It reduces the probability. The N95 mask itself only claims to filter out 95% of a 5 micron or greater airborne particle. Initially, homade masks were discouraged as they were not as effective as the N95 masks. Now they are recommended because any barrier to an invading virus is better than no barrier.
 
I know/knew two people directly that have died of COVID. Unfortunately every bit of COVIUD news, stats, and advice is now fully and completely politicized. By the rules, this is a non-political forum... one of the reasons I've been hanging here more lately. I get bombarded with the "news', crap, and outright lies from both sides every place I turn on the web. I will not stand for someone spouting off one side and calling the other side derogatory names here. Doesn't matter if I agree or not. savarin, congrats on being the first on my block list.
 
RandyWilson said:
I know/knew two people directly that have died of COVID. Unfortunately every bit of COVIUD news, stats, and advice is now fully and completely politicized. By the rules, this is a non-political forum... one of the reasons I've been hanging here more lately. I get bombarded with the "news', crap, and outright lies from both sides every place I turn on the web. I will not stand for someone spouting off one side and calling the other side derogatory names here. Doesn't matter if I agree or not. savarin, congrats on being the first on my block list.
Click to expand...

LOL. Savarin didn't have any political comments in his post. He was merely stating facts. And he is correct about the anti-vaccine folks. If they had their way, polio would begin running rampant again.
 
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