life with coronovirus around

[watervole]

 I personally  know three people in my town who are self isolating as they believe they've caught it.  Given my relatively small social circle, that's fairly high.

Oswin's friend Sam's dad has it, so she won't be able to play with him for a couple of weeks.

We haven't done any panic shopping.  We don't eat much in the way of ready meals (can't remember when we last had one, if we ever have...) so just relaying on our weekly veg box delivery and our usual supply of tinned beans.   Have not bought any toilet paper...

Our main response to the virus has been to update our wills. Saw the solicitor this morning - probably her last face to face appointment -and gave her all the details. She'll email us a draft and we'll work from there.

My morris team has stopped practice for the duration, but my sword dance team is a much smaller group - max of six dancers (three of whom are living in the same house) - so we've decided to carry on for now as the risk in such a small group is low - and exercise is important for maintaining health.

Next week will be a big change in our lives, as Oswin will no longer be able to go to school, so she'll be with us much of the time.  That means thinking about teaching her as well as playing games and going out for walks.  Luckily, she's already a fluent reader and enjoys learning about things. How many kids can be bribed to eat their tea with - "Eat that bit and I'll talk about anything you ask me" and it can be anything from owls to canals, with many interesting digressions to all kinds of things.

Lack of contact with other children is concerning me - not sure what to do there, but she's certain going to miss her friends.

Comments

[feng_shui_house]

I have hope that the situation will ease after social distancing slows the spread enough so medical facilities aren't in as much danger of being overwhelmed.

If it's any comfort, this article speculates that children may be better able to fight the disease- they can contract it, but for whatever reason it doesn't usually hit them as hard.

They say that children have a different immune system response- that they have a more active 'innate' response that immediately attacks foreign pathogens, but in an adult, the 'adaptive' response is more active, and it takes time to recognize specific pathogens before fighting.

https://www.livescience.com/why-kids-missing-coronavirus-cases.html

[watervole]

I suspect many children will never know they've had it. Which is actually a problem, because we don't know if they've had it or not and hence whether they can transmit an infection or not.

eg. Can I catch it from my granddaughter?

[feng_shui_house]

I *suspect* that you can catch it from someone who isn't showing any symptoms, but I doubt they've had a chance to find out whether it's true or not.

So far, they seem confident that the MAIN source of contagion is being exposed to sneezes/coughs, but who knows?

*virtual hugs and best wishes*

[watervole]

I'm pretty much assuming that I'll get it myself. I have mild asthma, so I'm at risk, but my overall fitness levels are pretty good, so I rate myself at 99% survival chance. I'm aiming to do a lot of walking....

[kotturinn]

I believe (but I can't find the reference now) that there's a case (or cases?) where testing and contact tracing have found a cluster where the source was someone asymptomatic. Which isn't, I realise, particularly reassuring. And as certain countries are not doing extensive testing & tracing.....
Higher risk of course, like other viral infections, is of transmission before someone shows symptoms (e.g. common cold https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/common-cold/). Speaking purely selfishly this is the aspect that most concerns me and is why I've been 'social distancing' and being more careful with hygiene for some time before orders from on high went out (I'm a 1957 'flu survivor but it's the lifelong effects of that on my immune & respiratory systems that make me in a higher vulnerability/risk category).

I hope you, Oswin, and the rest of the family, stay safe.

[ranunculus]

I think I must have had the Asian H2N2 virus when I was about 5 or 6. In my family of 3 we were all extremely sick. I remember someone was kind enough to drive the 3 miles out a terrible dirt road to bring us a big pot of chicken soup which got us through the worst of it.

[watervole]

I'm lucky enough to have family locally, but there are so many people living alone now.

I know my daughter's fellow posties are keeping an eye on their vulnerable regulars.

[kotturinn]

It's community responses that are so encouraging.
This time, round here, the mutual aid group (which includes activists from a range of organisations) and the local churches are already working together and have responded to help requests (the local council is only just getting its act together, lets hope it goes for collaboration!). It's kind of interesting to see variations e.g. some areas are 'up and running' others seem to be finding it harder to get a core group together. I'm involved in a 'back office' way with our local area group. We also have a road-based group which started with just some of my immediate neighbours but now has people they know from elsewhere in the street.

[watervole]

I remember reading about asymptomatic carriers. It's a very real problem - and I've no idea (and don't know if anyone else has) whether children fall into this category.

I don't see how we can test everyone. That would require tests in the millions, and we'd have to keep retesting all the negatives. I think we're past the stage of clusters - it's too widespread in most countries now (though I think there are some places where it would still work)

It's easy to think that if we catch it and recover, we'll be fine, but I note what you've said about the long term effects from the '57 flu.

[kotturinn]

True - the most reliable analyses will come later, possibly not until not only this first wave but the second/third waves are past. We have no real idea of how many are infected etc.

At present I simply know that friends & acquaintances who work in medical/medical related areas are taking this extremely seriously and have been for some time before the general population. One thing about living with a major hospital and various research centres locally is the number of people working in relevant fields. It's both scary and reassuring!

Please take as much care as you can. A family in my street, where one parent is a research virologist, are currently in a self-imposed self-isolating period, not because any of them are showing symptoms but because they wish to short circuit any risk of their school age children being transmitters.