COVID-19

[Asmodean]

That's one thing, I think. Tragic in itself, yet there is some bliss to being totally oblivious. Imagine not being that far gone though. You know that your kid used to come and visit you, other people too. Now though... And sometimes you may even understand why that must be, but then before long, you are just... Abandoned. For all you know, you are.

I think if I were in such a situation, my worst fear would be knowing in those moments of clarity, that they would pass.

I know I project an uncharacteristic amount here, but I must admit, stories like these, told plainly, without flare or drama, they move even my cold, dark psyche.

[Dark Lightning]

My mother in law is in hospice care. We can't go into the facility anymore because of Covid-19. Visitors have to sit outside the room on a patio and look in.This is especially hard on my wife. We know she is dying, and she can't even provide a little comfort like holding her mother's hand any more. 

[billy rubin]

shit fire

that sucks

[Magdalena]

My mother's 50-something year old cousin on her mother's side passed away from the virus recently. She was the prime caretaker of her father, who is just under 90 years old. Now an elderly man is likely infected and on his own.

I didn't know either of them personally, but I feel bad for my maternal grandmother, who lost a niece and is likely to lose a brother as well.      

My deepest sympathy, xSilverPhinx.

[Magdalena]

My mother in law is in hospice care. We can't go into the facility anymore because of Covid-19. Visitors have to sit outside the room on a patio and look in.This is especially hard on my wife. We know she is dying, and she can't even provide a little comfort like holding her mother's hand any more. 

I'm sorry to hear this, Dark Lightning,
that's sad.

[hermes2015]

My mother's 50-something year old cousin on her mother's side passed away from the virus recently. She was the prime caretaker of her father, who is just under 90 years old. Now an elderly man is likely infected and on his own.

I didn't know either of them personally, but I feel bad for my maternal grandmother, who lost a niece and is likely to lose a brother as well.      

I am very sorry to hear this sad news, xSilverPhinx.

[xSilverPhinx]

Thanks guys, and sorry to hear about the in-laws, Tank and DL.

[Recusant]

A primer on the differences in outcomes to infectious diseases by sex. I think the author may not give smoking enough weight as a factor. In the older generations that are more susceptible to COVID-19, a very high percentage of the men were smokers. Probably the genetic susceptibility is more significant, but habitually inhaling gases from a tube of burning plant material is not to be discounted.

"Why do more men die from coronavirus than women?" | The Conversation

All over the world – in China, Italy, the United States and Australia – many more men than women are dying from COVID-19.

Why? Is it genes, hormones, the immune system – or behaviour – that makes men more susceptible to the disease.

I see it as an interaction of all of these factors and it isn't unique to the SARS-Cov-2 virus – the different response of men and women is typical of many diseases in many mammals.

The grim figures

In Italy and China deaths of men are more than double those of women. In New York city men constitute about 61% of patients who die. Australia is shaping up to have similar results, though here it's mostly in the 70-79 and 80-89 age groups.

[. . .]

One major variable in severity of COVID-19 is age. But this can't explain the sex bias seen globally because the increased male fatality rate is the same in each age group from 30 to 90+. Women also live on average six years longer than men, so there are more elderly women than men in the vulnerable population.

[. . .]

The X chromosome bears more than 1,000 genes with functions in all sorts of things including routine metabolism, blood clotting and brain development.

The presence of two X chromosomes in XX females provides a buffer if a gene on one X is mutated.

XY males lack this X chromosome backup. That's why boys suffer from many sex-linked diseases such as haemophilia (poor blood clotting).

The number of X chromosomes also has big effects on many metabolic characters that are separable from sex hormone effects, as studies of mice reveal.

Females not only have a double dose of many X genes, but they may also have the benefit of two different versions of each gene.

This X effect goes far to explain why males die at a higher rate than females at every age from birth.

And another man problem is the immune system.

We've known for a long time that women have a stronger immune system than men. This is not all good, because it makes women more susceptible to autoimmune diseases such as lupus and multiple sclerosis.

But it gives women an advantage when it comes to susceptibility to viruses, as many studies in mice and humans show. This helps to explain why men are more susceptible to many viruses, including SARS and MERS.

There are at least 60 immune response genes on the X chromosome, and it seems that a higher dose and having two different versions of these gives women a broader spectrum of defences.

[Continues . . .]

[Icarus]

I am as old as dirt but not ready to cash in my chips.  I was a smoker for more than 70 years and sure as hell did my lungs no favors.  I do not have COPD but I am aware that my lungs do not work as well as they might have had I not inhaled all that poisonous chemistry.

When I was a teen ager it was an accepted, almost obligatory reality, that in order to become a man you had to smoke cigarettes.  While in the military, every one was issued smokes in mess kits. Airline passengers were given cigs, provided by tobacco companies, and it was normal to smoke while in flight. So of course I became a smoker.

Most of the girls did not smoke but they accepted the fact that boys were expected to do so, bad breath and all.

There is almost no question that the current mortality rate of men versus women has some correlation to the smoking habit.........especially for we older men.

A few years ago I ran out of cigs.  It was late in the evening.  I did not want to go down the street to the Bodega to buy cigs at that time of night.  In addition, the price of cigs had continuously increased to a prohibitive level. The next morning I did not go out to buy cigs and I have not touched one of those damned things in more than five years. Addictions do not give up easily.  I still have the nicotine craving. With my diminished lung capacity the Virus would surely kill me with a painfully gasping death.

[Icarus]

Interesting pictures that illustrate some of the effects of C19.   Who knew that something good could come as a result of a deadly pandemic?  Helluva price to pay however.

https://www.boredpanda.com/cities-air-pollution-coronavirus-lockdown/?utm_source=2181007_0_0_0&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=WebPush

[Recusant]

A primer on disinfecting surfaces.

"Biohazard Cleaner Warns We Often Miss This Critical Step in Disinfecting Surfaces" | ScienceAlert

To reduce your chance of infection, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends cleaning areas you touch often, like doorknobs, sinks, and toilets.

But cleaning a surface isn't the same as disinfecting it. The cleaning process involves scrubbing an area with soap and water, while disinfecting means applying a chemical to kill germs.

"The most important step is the cleaning step," Cory Chalmers, the CEO of the professional cleaning service Steri-Clean, told Business Insider.

His team specialises in biohazard cleaning for sites contaminated with infectious diseases. For the past month, the team has dedicated itself almost exclusively to scrubbing down places contaminated by the new coronavirus. That includes homes, cruise ships, offices, factories, and fast-food restaurants.

"A lot of people spray a surface and then wipe it around right away," Chalmers said. "But you're not letting the disinfectant do its job."

[Continues . . .]

[Recusant]

A good (also long) piece examining the public role of science in the pandemic, and how science and scientists have been affected by the pressure of the public desire for answers as well as the sudden prominence of certain scientific disciplines in public awareness. "In a normal news cycle, science gets like less than 1 percent of the coverage. But in today's news cycle, the only thing in the news is science . . ."

The shopworn adage "Good, Fast, Cheap. Pick two." gets sideways mention. Of course, it becomes more significant when lives are at stake.

Maybe it's just cynicism on my part, but I don't see anything particularly "ugly" or "dark" in this, despite the headline editor framing it that way.

"Science Has an Ugly, Complicated Dark Side. And the Coronavirus Is Bringing It Out." | Mother Jones

Bad science is a lot like a virus. It starts small, but if it's shared enough times, it can cause global disruption.

You may remember a kerfuffle last month over whether it is safe to take ibuprofen to treat coronavirus symptoms. It is a prime example of how a series of unfortunate errors can lead to bad health policy. It began harmlessly, when the Lancet Respiratory Medicine, a respected journal, published a 400-word letter from a group of European researchers that raised some safety concerns about the drug. It was an opinion piece that was, according to at least one of the authors, a hypothesis, not a medical recommendation. But much of the world treated the mere suggestion as if it were derived from the results of a clinical trial. Within a week, the French health minister, followed by a spokesperson from the World Health Organization, recommended that people with COVID-19 don't take ibuprofen. A day later, after pushback from doctors and scientists, the WHO backtracked, saying it did "not recommend against" the use of ibuprofen. The move sparked widespread confusion, and for an institution that we're all relying on for solid information, it was not a great look.

Good science requires time. Peer review. Replication. But in the past few months, the scientific process for all things related to COVID-19 has been fast-tracked. While that is, of course, understandable on some level—thousands are dying worldwide every day, after all—it's not necessarily safe. What was once a marathon has been compressed to a 400-meter dash: Researchers race to deliver results, academic journals race to publish, and the media races to bring new information to a scared and eager public. And, at the same time, unverified opinions circulate widely on social media and on TV from so-called experts, which makes understanding the situation all the more difficult.

[Continues . . .]

[Randy]

I came across this tonight. It's from CNN. I'll quote a part of it and then embed a link.

(CNN)The night Miguel Moran died from complications of the coronavirus, his 23-year-old son and four other family members put on their face masks and rushed to a suburban New York hospital to be at his bedside.
One by one, they donned a hospital-issued plastic gown, a head covering and gloves. They spent a few minutes each saying an emotional farewell to the lifeless body of the 56-year-old immigrant from El Salvador, a Pentecostal church goer who washed trucks to provide for his family.
His only son, Daniel Moran, said a bedside prayer at St. Joseph Hospital on Long Island. He squeezed his dead father's hand.
"One day we'll join you in heaven," he cried.
Sixteen days later, father and son were buried together.
Miguel Moran died of acute respiratory failure from Covid-19 on April 16, according to his death certificate. Eight days after praying over his father's body, Daniel himself was dead from the disease.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/12/us/new-york-father-son-coronavirus-deaths/index.html

What I don't understand is, they had everything covered up but their hands. Why weren't they given gloves?

[joeactor]

I came across this tonight. It's from CNN. I'll quote a part of it and then embed a link.

(CNN)The night Miguel Moran died from complications of the coronavirus, his 23-year-old son and four other family members put on their face masks and rushed to a suburban New York hospital to be at his bedside.
One by one, they donned a hospital-issued plastic gown, a head covering and gloves. They spent a few minutes each saying an emotional farewell to the lifeless body of the 56-year-old immigrant from El Salvador, a Pentecostal church goer who washed trucks to provide for his family.
His only son, Daniel Moran, said a bedside prayer at St. Joseph Hospital on Long Island. He squeezed his dead father's hand.
"One day we'll join you in heaven," he cried.
Sixteen days later, father and son were buried together.
Miguel Moran died of acute respiratory failure from Covid-19 on April 16, according to his death certificate. Eight days after praying over his father's body, Daniel himself was dead from the disease.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/12/us/new-york-father-son-coronavirus-deaths/index.html

What I don't understand is, they had everything covered up but their hands. Why weren't they given gloves?

I'm not sure... but in my experience, gloves (and masks to some extent) give people a false sense of security.

I've seen people with gloves touch a bunch of things, including handles, railings, shoes, etc... then take their mask on and off by the nose. Or touch their hair. Welcome to the infected.

[Magdalena]

I came across this tonight. It's from CNN. I'll quote a part of it and then embed a link.

(CNN)The night Miguel Moran died from complications of the coronavirus, his 23-year-old son and four other family members put on their face masks and rushed to a suburban New York hospital to be at his bedside.
One by one, they donned a hospital-issued plastic gown, a head covering and gloves. They spent a few minutes each saying an emotional farewell to the lifeless body of the 56-year-old immigrant from El Salvador, a Pentecostal church goer who washed trucks to provide for his family.
His only son, Daniel Moran, said a bedside prayer at St. Joseph Hospital on Long Island. He squeezed his dead father's hand.
"One day we'll join you in heaven," he cried.
Sixteen days later, father and son were buried together.
Miguel Moran died of acute respiratory failure from Covid-19 on April 16, according to his death certificate. Eight days after praying over his father's body, Daniel himself was dead from the disease.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/12/us/new-york-father-son-coronavirus-deaths/index.html

What I don't understand is, they had everything covered up but their hands. Why weren't they given gloves?

They were given gloves.