Category: COVID-19

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Checklist

Runny nose — Check
Headache — Check
Fatigue — Check
Sneezing — 60%.
Sore throat — Check (minor, from drainage; progressed to major, for a few hours until ameliorative effects too hold)
Persistent cough — Check (Well, intermittently persistent *heh*)
Hoarse voice — Check (But that’s pretty normal from time ti time nowadays; progressed to full-blown laryngitis, but that’s been a lifelong likelihood with such illesses)
Chills or shivers — Check
Fever — Check
Dizziness — Check
Brain fog — Check (Or is that Olde Pharte Syndrome?)
Muscle pains — Check
Loss of smell — Nope. (Just slightly dulled)
Chest pain — Check

So, pretty much a Winter cold. Fever was pretty bad last night, but broke this AM (somewhere between 0444 and 1038 — I got back to sleep between those times, so can’t pin down the time any better).

Is it Omicron? I do not care. Apparently, I’m going to survive a Winter cold. Who knew? Been doing that for 70+ years, so there was a decent chance I’d live through it.

Oh, earaches, but again, those are pretty much normal for me with colds. Lil warm olive oil, cotton balls. Worked a charm.

One week beyond the above: I see to have mostly seen the back of this checklist, apart from muscle aches and fatigue, which are still very much hanging on, but I understand from my primary care doc that I should expect a slow recovery from those symptoms. My blood oximeter readings are not all that encouraging, falling below both my own norms and what is considered a baseline optimum of 95. Deep breathing exercises seem to ameliorate this, though.

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A Lil “Not-an-Experiment” Quasi-Semi-Sorta Experiment

No protocols for measurement of results, just a combination of procedures from different well-designed-and-conducted (IMO) experiments as presented in several papers downloaded from PubMed, as well as info posted directly on CDC site (no link here; anyone who’d “smarter than a third grader” can find the info for themselves with a simple web search. Not gonna hold hands and be “internet crossing guard” for adults):

Took a used disposable N-95 and (per CDC) subjected it to 170°F temps for 20 minutes (CDC says 165 for 15 mins), after having soaked it in a solution comprised of 75% ethanol, 25% concentrate of a medical-grade disinfectant (compatible with ethanol) that remains after ethanol evaporates.

Stored in disinfected (with above ethanol solution) vacuum sealed bag for use as filtration media–in place of HEPA filtration media-as supplementary filtration in a simple two-layer cloth mask that has the exterior treated with a hydrophobic compound to resist moisture (“droplets” anyone?)

This will be a very slight step down from the HEPA filtration media. . . but is plenty for allergy season. 🙂

N.B. Will also be just fine for wearing into those stores that “can’t” stay open w/o “masked bandits” for customers.

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Sense Amid All the Nonsense About COVID-19

Just a couple of observations from my own amateur reading of research papers from PubMed, et al. . .

The severity of illness from a virus depends, to a VERY great extent, on how many viral particles one is exposed to at any one time. A large number of viral particles accumulated over a short period of time usually results in a more severe illness, while a small number of viral particles accumulated over a long period of time usually results in a much less severe illness, often with few or no symptoms expressed at all, with an immune system then able to ward off future infections by that virus.

This is why lowering viral load and spreading that lower viral load out over time is a more sensible strategy than foolishly attempting absolute prevention of infection by a virus (which is impossible unless one LIVES in a Level 4 biohazard lab, with absolutely NO infectious agents present–even in yourself).

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Unpreparedness

Some site (no, no link, because I don’t think the info is all that reliable, just. . . moderately interesting as a viewpoint to take off from) suggested that the following list was what grocery stores ran out of quickest at inception of the recent pan(dem)ic. *shrugs*

Pasta and tomato sauce
Yeast
Flour
Sugar
Milk
Eggs
Butter
Rice
Beans
Peanut butter

So, folks weren’t already stocked up on staples. Had NO idea how to bake w/o commercial yeast? *yawn* I have bought exactly one of those items in the last six weeks. Had all I needed of the rest (didn’t need any milk, but I’ll admit to buying a couple of gallons of cream. . . ) Grocery stores ran out/low on only one item on my own replenishment list, and I had alternatives for that. But then

1. We have a pretty well-stocked pantry and
2. Our diet is not normal. *heh*

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Affliction Becomes Benefit

Some folks are more prone than others to vertical ridges in fingernails as they age. Oh, anyone can experience them because of nutritional deficits or some physical malady, but mine are apparently age and genetics related. I can recall as a young boy times spent with my maternal grandfather’s mother. Spending time with Great Grandmother was an enriching experience for me in many ways, but one lil thing has remained fascinating to me over the years: her hands. She was always doing interesting things with her hands: needlework, paging down pages in her Bible as she read (sometimes aloud for me, though I was close and reading along), sharpening her always-at-hand pen knife, and even trimming her nails with that very sharp pen knife.

And then there were her nails. Yep. Ridged just like mine are now, like Dad-Dad’s (maternal grandfather) were, like my older sister’s are. I have dealt with mine by checking my nutrition (no problems there), by making them less brittle with applications of different kinds, and. . . by trimming them as short as possible in order to minimize the real problem with ridged nails: frequent splitting and chipping.

And how has this become a benefit in recent days? Ease of keeping things really clean under my fingernails (because there’s hardly any “under my fingernails” to clean, for one thing).

So, a lil piece of heritage coming around to being a benefit.

Sweet!

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Too Little, Too Late

Almost helpful info from “ready-dot-gov.”

First of all, it seems this page was posted sometime after the pan(dem)ic went, urm, viral, so the section, “Before a Pandemic” seems a bit useless, at this time. Then, there’s the actual content of the section beginning with,

  • Store a two week supply of water and food.

TWO WEEKS? That’s not preparation for any sort of emergency. It’s just menu planning for a couple of weeks. And “Store a two week supply of. . . water”? At a bare minimum of one gallon/day per person, that’d be 28 gallons for two people. And then what? Nope. Have multiple ways to purify water and a continual supply source available ( for example, know where a relatively clear natural water source is to start with and have filtration and purification means on hand).

  • Periodically check your regular prescription drugs to ensure a continuous supply in your home.

Yeh, no help for most folks on prescription meds because of restrictions on refills (small amounts covering short time frames, typically a month if not a schedule 1 drug, often less if it is). If an emergency lasts more than a couple of weeks, folks could start dropping like flies, cos no refills on essential meds.

This is good, though–and could apply to homebound (for health reasons) or elderly folks you know on top of family:

  • Talk with family members and loved ones about how they would be cared for if they got sick, or what will be needed to care for them in your home.

The section on “During a Pandemic” is useful, especially for folks who missed out on their ration of common sense, ‘cos they thought they hears “fitty cents” and skipped getting any.