How has COVID-19 affected you personally?

Andrew Swales said:
I am so sorry to hear of your losses and send my sympathy - but that is disgraceful!
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Just what can be the motive of the media and the authorities for this type of miss-information? At the moment they have support, but once personal stories like this become known more widely, and the trust is lost, it will make 'containing' the public very difficult.
 
Brum said:
My grandmother passed away during the week. The cause was an (untreated and missed) infected gall bladder, and a long standing case of pneumonia. A friends father died after being hit by a car and getting complications following the surgery. Both showed no signs of COVID-19 infection, (my nan contracted pneumonia in Jan, long before the pandemic spread, so was sent home as it was more easy to control who she had contact with.), lo and behold both are now "officially" victims of the coronavirus, and both had no sign of the illness. I'm not one for conspiracy theories but I do wonder just how many "confirmed" cases are like the two that have affected me and mine recently...
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Oh no, I'm so sorry :(
I recently lost my great-grandfather in similar circumstances, though before the pandemic had really started to spread across the globe.
Do you think she might have made it if the resources of hospitals weren't so channelled into treated Coronavirus? The saddest thing about that is it sounds as if it was avoidable :(​
 
amur leopard said:
Do you think she might have made it if the resources of hospitals weren't so channelled into treated Coronavirus?
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Nope, we were told by the paramedics that it didn't look good and were told by a doctor at the hospital that if she had the virus or not then it wouldn't make any difference as she was too weak to fight off the infection.

amur leopard said:
The saddest thing about that is it sounds as if it was avoidable :(
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It could have been avoided, if she'd bothered to tell us about the pain she was in. But she tried to ride it out and then it was too late... :(
 
Brum said:
It could have been avoided, if she'd bothered to tell us about the pain she was in. But she tried to ride it out and then it was too late... :(
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That is SO common, I have been there myself twice with both of my parents. You never know what is going on in someone else's head, but it is almost as though they are wanting it to happen. Very sad, and so, so difficult and frustrating for those who are left.
 
Andrew Swales said:
That is SO common, I have been there myself twice with both of my parents. You never know what is going on in someone else's head, but it is almost as though they are wanting it to happen. Very sad, and so, so difficult and frustrating for those who are left.
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Thanks for being so understanding, and as you say it's impossible to know what someone is thinking. She'd recently had a water infection so any pains she did have she put down to her previous infection. Unfortunately she was wrong, and really should have made a fuss.
 
Brum said:
My grandmother passed away during the week. The cause was an (untreated and missed) infected gall bladder, and a long standing case of pneumonia. A friends father died after being hit by a car and getting complications following the surgery. Both showed no signs of COVID-19 infection, (my nan contracted pneumonia in Jan, long before the pandemic spread, so was sent home as it was more easy to control who she had contact with.), lo and behold both are now "officially" victims of the coronavirus, and both had no sign of the illness. I'm not one for conspiracy theories but I do wonder just how many "confirmed" cases are like the two that have affected me and mine recently...
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Andrew Swales said:
Just what can be the motive of the media and the authorities for this type of miss-information? At the moment they have support, but once personal stories like this become known more widely, and the trust is lost, it will make 'containing' the public very difficult.
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The thing with mortality reports during any outbreak is that it is hard to get accurate numbers between:

1) "died of X but were undiagnosed at the time of death"
2) "died of Y but were suspected to carry X at the time of death"
3) "died of Y but were confirmed to carry X at the time of death" and
4)" died of X and were known to carry X at the time of death".

True figures only become clear in the aftermath, with retrospective analysis. For instance, immediately after the 2009 Swine Flu pandemic, the confirmed death toll was around 18,500, but once undiagnosed cases were taken into account the WHO adjusted this figure to around 575,000.

At the moment, reports are including the latter three categories but not the first category (for obvious reasons)..... but the factor which has a bearing on this specific question is the fact that it is hard to prove whether or not someone who died due to a non-Covid19 reason, but is suspected to have been carrying Covid-19 (even if asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic) would have lived or not in other circumstances. Someone with an undiagnosed heart defect may catch CV-19, and this may be enough for the defect to kill them - Covid-19 wouldn't necessarily be the cause of death, but it is possible the defect would have never killed them without the presence of the virus.

Once this storm has passed, it will be possible to work out how many "avoidable" deaths from non-CV19 causes are included in the figures (these would be retained) and how many would have occurred no matter what (these would be removed), and also how many undiagnosed deaths occurred and need to be added to the total. From what @Brum says above, his grandmother will end up being classified in the middle category and will be removed from the official total in time.
 
Brum said:
It could have been avoided, if she'd bothered to tell us about the pain she was in. But she tried to ride it out and then it was too late... :(
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Andrew Swales said:
That is SO common, I have been there myself twice with both of my parents. You never know what is going on in someone else's head, but it is almost as though they are wanting it to happen. Very sad, and so, so difficult and frustrating for those who are left.
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Same with my grandmother, some years ago. She basically gave up when my aunt passed away about 8 years ago, and stopped telling us when she was unwell until things got really bad - ostensibly because she was toughing it out, but there was always some speculation that she welcomed it :(

Just one of those awful, sad things really.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
ostensibly because she was toughing it out, but there was always some speculation that she welcomed it :(
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My grandmother went a similar way, stopped eating whilst maintaining she was hungry and wanted dinner, speech pattern going and blaming it on tiredness, not being quite as honest as she should with the nurses/carers... But we just don't know.

Worst thing is, we don't know what the funeral will be like. Hell, we're not even sure how to organise it at the minute...
 
TeaLovingDave said:
The thing with mortality reports during any outbreak is that it is hard to get accurate numbers between:

1) "died of X but were undiagnosed at the time of death"
2) "died of Y but were suspected to carry X at the time of death"
3) "died of Y but were confirmed to carry X at the time of death" and
4)" died of X and were known to carry X at the time of death".

True figures only become clear in the aftermath, with retrospective analysis. For instance, immediately after the 2009 Swine Flu pandemic, the confirmed death toll was around 18,500, but once undiagnosed cases were taken into account the WHO adjusted this figure to around 575,000.

At the moment, reports are including the latter three categories but not the first category (for obvious reasons)..... but the factor which has a bearing on this specific question is the fact that it is hard to prove whether or not someone who died due to a non-Covid19 reason, but is suspected to have been carrying Covid-19 (even if asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic) would have lived or not in other circumstances. Someone with an undiagnosed heart defect may catch CV-19, and this may be enough for the defect to kill them - Covid-19 wouldn't necessarily be the cause of death, but it is possible the defect would have never killed them without the presence of the virus.

Once this storm has passed, it will be possible to work out how many "avoidable" deaths from non-CV19 causes are included in the figures (these would be retained) and how many would have occurred no matter what (these would be removed), and also how many undiagnosed deaths occurred and need to be added to the total. From what @Brum says above, his grandmother will end up being classified in the middle category and will be removed from the official total in time.
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Yes, TLD a careful and logical reply - and spot on, of course. My concern is that such an explanation would not be either understood or tolerated by much of the public, whose trust and support is vital. Our authorities and media are walking a very narrow tight-rope....
 
Brum said:
Worst thing is, we don't know what the funeral will be like. Hell, we're not even sure how to organise it at the minute...
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One of our senior staff has had two family deaths and funerals since lock-down. In both cases only two people were allowed to attend. Memorials will be organised at some stage in the future.
 
Just so everyone in the UK knows that the police are taking lockdown restrictions seriously then here's a personal story lifted straight from my personal Facebook feed -

"So I've just been out to grab some milk as ours has gone off (with days to spare...) and on the way home was followed by a police helicopter, and then ambushed by two police officers on motorcycles who knew where I'd already been. Brief questioning later and I was allowed on my way, except the helicopter decided to make sure I really was going home... I've never felt like such a criminal, and all because I like my milk when it isn't on its way to turning into cheese!"

Little bit odd to be followed home by the police, especially since I'm no longer a 15 year old chavvy scumbag... (And yes, 20 years ago I was (unfortunately) a bit of a chav....) :rolleyes::p:D
 
Brum said:
Just so everyone in the UK knows that the police are taking lockdown restrictions seriously then here's a personal story lifted straight from my personal Facebook feed -

"So I've just been out to grab some milk as ours has gone off (with days to spare...) and on the way home was followed by a police helicopter, and then ambushed by two police officers on motorcycles who knew where I'd already been. Brief questioning later and I was allowed on my way, except the helicopter decided to make sure I really was going home... I've never felt like such a criminal, and all because I like my milk when it isn't on its way to turning into cheese!"

Little bit odd to be followed home by the police, especially since I'm no longer a 15 year old chavvy scumbag... (And yes, 20 years ago I was (unfortunately) a bit of a chav....) :rolleyes::p:D
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I have read stories of police offers being reprimanded by politicians and their superiors and being lambasted by the public on social media in one case for suggesting they would start checking people's shopping trolleys to see whether they are buying only truly essential and legitimate products, and in another case for telling off a family that let their children play in their own front yard, despite the lock-downs laws not regulating what food people can buy or banning the use of private gardens. I'm sure there's other examples out there, but those were the two I read. So I'm not all that surprised that they would be doing something this seemingly excessive.

However that doesn't mean it isn't really scary, as that is something that would only normally be seen in a full-on totalitarian police state. Things are starting to feel disturbingly like 1984 or Brave New World with these lock-down laws and with stories like these.

After two somewhat decent nights of sleep I had another bad one, which is also the reason I'm on ZooChat already at an hour I otherwise haven't been awake at for weeks. I continue to struggle with a lot of negative feelings with regards to the coronavirus crisis and its effects (on zoos and conservation, for example) and whether we will ever fully return to life as it previously was, and concerning what the future will be like when the current pandemic outbreak is under some degree of control, but the virus is still going to be around and there is a imminent threat of new spikes in the epidemic curve, or even a massive second peak. We are definitely not even close to being out of the woods with this virus yet, and we won't be for a very long time, if ever.

I must however recognize that I have it relatively good right now and that I shouldn't complain too much and try and make the best of it for the time being. To keep sane and as stress free as possible I have begun to actively avoid the coronavirus-related news and content as much as possible, consuming only the smallest possible amount I can stomach. Otherwise I am trying to keep myself distracted and relaxed, while trying to learn things in the process. I actually decided to buy a new interesting book (like I need more - and yes, I'll be careful with the package).

Later this week I will be leaving our premises for the first time in a month, as we have to go and buy new bags of chicken feed pellets. I will make sure to keep myself safe and to follow the rules.
 
Brum said:
Just so everyone in the UK knows that the police are taking lockdown restrictions seriously then here's a personal story lifted straight from my personal Facebook feed -

"So I've just been out to grab some milk as ours has gone off (with days to spare...) and on the way home was followed by a police helicopter, and then ambushed by two police officers on motorcycles who knew where I'd already been. Brief questioning later and I was allowed on my way, except the helicopter decided to make sure I really was going home... I've never felt like such a criminal, and all because I like my milk when it isn't on its way to turning into cheese!"

Little bit odd to be followed home by the police, especially since I'm no longer a 15 year old chavvy scumbag... (And yes, 20 years ago I was (unfortunately) a bit of a chav....) :rolleyes::p:D
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That does sound like a strange use of police and public resources...
 
Andrew Swales said:
That does sound like a strange use of police and public resources...
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The helicopter was flying over the local parks and open spaces, as I live in the far south of Birmingham then there are lots of fields, a country park, and lots of fairly large public parks. I think I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Why I was pounced on by the two on bikes is a bit of a mystery though...?
 
Brum said:
Just so everyone in the UK knows that the police are taking lockdown restrictions seriously then here's a personal story lifted straight from my personal Facebook feed -

"So I've just been out to grab some milk as ours has gone off (with days to spare...) and on the way home was followed by a police helicopter, and then ambushed by two police officers on motorcycles who knew where I'd already been. Brief questioning later and I was allowed on my way, except the helicopter decided to make sure I really was going home... I've never felt like such a criminal, and all because I like my milk when it isn't on its way to turning into cheese!"

Little bit odd to be followed home by the police, especially since I'm no longer a 15 year old chavvy scumbag... (And yes, 20 years ago I was (unfortunately) a bit of a chav....) :rolleyes::p:D
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This is exactly how I imagine hell...
 
Where I live there is virtually no police presence, lots of people are out walking, cycling and running. Most of my neighbours are taking advantage of the time they now have and the fact that there are few cars on the roads and, having not cycled in years, they are now undertaking mammoth bike rides halfway across the county and back.
 
Ned said:
Where I live there is virtually no police presence, lots of people are out walking, cycling and running. Most of my neighbours are taking advantage of the time they now have and the fact that there are few cars on the roads and, having not cycled in years, they are now undertaking mammoth bike rides halfway across the county and back.
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And then, oddly, no one sees them for days afterwards, yet a mighty chorus of groans went up in the neighborhood
 
Ned said:
New Where I live there is virtually no police presence, lots of people are out walking, cycling and running. Most of my neighbours are taking advantage of the time they now have and the fact that there are few cars on the roads and, having not cycled in years, they are now undertaking mammoth bike rides halfway across the county and back.
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Same here; our house lies next to a popular lakeside hiking trail. Therefore, I'm walking the dog even earlier in the morning and later in the evening than usual to avoid the constant flow of cyclists, joggers, hikers and nordic walkers...
 
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