Coronavirus in Massachusetts (cable tv, fake, failure)

[bizcuit]

My brother was in the hospital with covid for over three months, three+ weeks of that time was in the ICU on a ventilator. He very nearly died and it now looks like he may be permanently disabled. He did have a heart surgery in January, which may be a contributing factor to his disablement, but he was actually bouncing back from that and planning to go back to work, when he got covid.

A coworker had it, came back to work (remotely), but was so compromised that he had to leave and go on disability. He has since left the company (not sure if he is able to work again).

Co-worker is in his 40s and my brother in his early 50s.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by bizcuit

My brother was in the hospital with covid for over three months, three+ weeks of that time was in the ICU on a ventilator. He very nearly died and it now looks like he may be permanently disabled. He did have a heart surgery in January, which may be a contributing factor to his disablement, but he was actually bouncing back from that and planning to go back to work, when he got covid.

A coworker had it, came back to work (remotely), but was so compromised that he had to leave and go on disability. He has since left the company (not sure if he is able to work again).

Co-worker is in his 40s and my brother in his early 50s.

Knowing many in the ED departments of various local hospitals, these age ranges are hardly on the fringes of the bell curve.

My wife and I, who both a tangential to the healthcare industry directly addressing this pandemic, are taking every precaution to not become a Covid-19 "beta tester". The new clotting findings are alone a reason to be cautious even as a 30-something.

[Urban Peasant]

A former graduate school classmate of mine caught the virus and spent 72 days in the hospital. A former coworker who also caught the virus has had multiple relapses of symptoms including fever, fatigue, and headaches. This virus is very real and very nasty folks so be careful out there.

[bohemka]

These accounts are absolutely tragic, and my heart goes out to all who have and are suffering. And I thank you for sharing them. We need to remain vigilant.

[BostonMike7]

I often wish the seriousness of the disease could be relayed better than what is often seen. Too many people I converse with truly think that 99.x% of people just get a sniffle, and the other <1% died. There is no middle ground it seems.

We've heard many stories of people who survive, but are in the hospital for weeks with lingering symptoms. Would be great to break that out in such a way that paints a better picture. Instead of them zeroing in on the deaths, you could see that 10% or so of people who get this suffer serious complications.

I know Worldometers right now is listing 7% of cases as "serious", but many countries don't report any serious cases at all, and every country has different criteria, so take that data with a grain of salt.

I wonder if you could convince more people to take this more seriously if they now knew they had a 1 in 10 chance of having some very serious, lengthy complications

[bizcuit]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

Knowing many in the ED departments of various local hospitals, these age ranges are hardly on the fringes of the bell curve.

My wife and I, who both a tangential to the healthcare industry directly addressing this pandemic, are taking every precaution to not become a Covid-19 "beta tester". The new clotting findings are alone a reason to be cautious even as a 30-something.

I'm not saying that they are. I am commenting back to the poster who stated that they didn't know anyone at all who had caught it and was perhaps insinuating that the virus is a hoax, or at least exaggerated, or only an issue for the very old. It just seems common that people have been posting ages of those they know who catch it. Also, it is good to be aware of lingering effects, sometimes is helpful to know the ages of the people involved.

[BostonMike7]

I didn't mention that one of the folks I knew that went into the ICU with Covid, and was on a ventilator for 2 weeks was only in his late 20's.

[bohemka]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I often wish the seriousness of the disease could be relayed better than what is often seen. Too many people I converse with truly think that 99.x% of people just get a sniffle, and the other <1% died. There is no middle ground it seems.

We've heard many stories of people who survive, but are in the hospital for weeks with lingering symptoms. Would be great to break that out in such a way that paints a better picture. Instead of them zeroing in on the deaths, you could see that 10% or so of people who get this suffer serious complications.

I know Worldometers right now is listing 7% of cases as "serious", but many countries don't report any serious cases at all, and every country has different criteria, so take that data with a grain of salt.

I wonder if you could convince more people to take this more seriously if they now knew they had a 1 in 10 chance of having some very serious, lengthy complications

I 100% agree.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I often wish the seriousness of the disease could be relayed better than what is often seen. Too many people I converse with truly think that 99.x% of people just get a sniffle, and the other <1% died. There is no middle ground it seems.

We've heard many stories of people who survive, but are in the hospital for weeks with lingering symptoms. Would be great to break that out in such a way that paints a better picture. Instead of them zeroing in on the deaths, you could see that 10% or so of people who get this suffer serious complications.

I know Worldometers right now is listing 7% of cases as "serious", but many countries don't report any serious cases at all, and every country has different criteria, so take that data with a grain of salt.

I wonder if you could convince more people to take this more seriously if they now knew they had a 1 in 10 chance of having some very serious, lengthy complications

I blame the news media for this.

[id77]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I often wish the seriousness of the disease could be relayed better than what is often seen. Too many people I converse with truly think that 99.x% of people just get a sniffle, and the other <1% died. There is no middle ground it seems.

We've heard many stories of people who survive, but are in the hospital for weeks with lingering symptoms. Would be great to break that out in such a way that paints a better picture. Instead of them zeroing in on the deaths, you could see that 10% or so of people who get this suffer serious complications.

I know Worldometers right now is listing 7% of cases as "serious", but many countries don't report any serious cases at all, and every country has different criteria, so take that data with a grain of salt.

I wonder if you could convince more people to take this more seriously if they now knew they had a 1 in 10 chance of having some very serious, lengthy complications

Any appeal to altruism or people coming together to fight this or "do a little more" is doomed to fail. If the solution relies on almost everyone doing the same thing, it's a nonstarter. They won't, they just won't, and there's nothing that can be said or done to change them. It's wasted effort trying to bring everyone around to a cause in this day and age.

If it were something like 1 in 3 chance of death, there's still going to be a lot of people willing to roll the dice because everyone's risk tolerance is different. You'll still have resistance.

There are people out there who literally said they voted for candidates in 2016 that they thought would most hurt their political enemies. These people will cut off their nose to spite their face, but we think they'll do a little more for the common good?

There are people out there who are convinced this is all a hoax, even as people die around them, and they will not be swayed. If people can ardently believe the earth is flat despite the data in front of them, they can believe millions sick around them is background noise and conspiracy theories, too.

I saw the poll that said if a vaccine were available today for Covid, enough people would refuse to get it that we'd fail to achieve herd immunity.

Convincing a supermajority of this country to comply with the CDC guidelines is like convincing a wolf to be a vegetarian. It is folly.