#flu symptoms vs coronavirus

[covid19globalupdates]

Coronavirus outbreak: How can you tell the difference between the flu, allergies and COVID-19?

Coronavirus outbreak: How can you tell the difference between the flu, allergies and COVID-19?

Coronavirus outbreak: How can you tell the difference between the flu, allergies and COVID-19? - Dr. Ahmad Firas Khalid clears up misconceptions and answers frequently asked questions surrounding COVID-19, including how you can tell the… (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();

https://covid19globalupdates.com/coronavirus-outbreak-how-can-you-tell-the-difference-between-the-flu-allergies-and-covid-19/

allergies or coronavirus differences, corona virus, coronavirus, coronavirus flu symptoms, coronavirus health news, coronavirus or allergies, coronavirus symptoms, COVID-19, flu symptoms vs coronavirus, flu vs covid-19, how can you tell difference between flu and covid-19, how to tell the difference between flu and coronavirus, influenza vs coronavirus

[hummingzone]

Flu Recovery Tips: Suffering from the flu? Top ways to recover faster

Flu Recovery Tips: Suffering from the flu? Top ways to recover faster

Flu is a major respiratory infection wherein symptoms start to come up 2-5 days post contraction. Now, while most of the symptoms are very similar to that of a cold, allergies, or even COVID-19, the symptoms in itself could linger on for 5-7 days. In more severe cases, wherein an individual might be suffering from a pre-existing, immunosuppressant condition, it could take considerably longer to…

[news99alert]

Severe signs of viral illness and flu you should not ignore

Severe signs of viral illness and flu you should not ignore

Viral illnesses tend to cause severe symptoms when the immune system isn’t well-equipped to fight off pathogens and viruses naturally, which can happen to those who are 65 and older, or have limitations which compromise their immune functioning. Over an age, immune strength starts to wane and weaken down, which can make infection cases severe and complication risk double up. Suffering from…

[newsupdated]

Flu or COVID-19? Major differences you need to know

Flu or COVID-19? Major differences you need to know

As the COVID-19 cases continue to rise, comparisons between influenza (flu) and COVID-19 symptoms have been drawn. Flu and COVID-19 share many characteristics, but there are some key differences between the two. With the flu season fast approaching, have you ever wondered the difference between flu and COVID-19 virus?

Similarities between influenza and COVID-19

Influenza (Flu) and COVID-19 are…

[superjaysons]

Going on vacation amid the coronavirus outbreak? Here’s what to know

Going on vacation amid the coronavirus outbreak? Here’s what to know

[ad_1]

With March break around the corner, the risk of catching the new coronavirus is likely to cross the minds of many Canadian travellers.

More than 82,000 people around the globe have been sickened by the virus since it was first identified in late 2019. Mainland China remains ground zero for the outbreak, but there are new countries of concern. Cases have soared in South Korea, Italy and…

[newsfromstolenland]

A compilation of tweets on recognizing COVID-19 symptoms vs allergies/colds/the flu

[wayfaringmd]

COVID-19 killed 168 people in 24hrs here in Italy yesterday. Making it the 2nd greatest cause of death for our country that day. Our healthcare system (one of the best in the world) is buckling under the strain. Drs are comparing the sheer number of casualties to a bomb detonating every day. We’re changing ORs into ICUs, creating makeshift ICUs in corridors. In 3 weeks we went from a handful of cases to a nationwide lockdown. But sure... keep dismissing this by comparing it to seasonal flu

Check my post again, greyface. I didn’t compare Coronavirus symptoms or severity to the flu. And I didn’t dismiss Coronavirus. I was simply pointing out the disparity between media coverage in the two vs. their relative mortality rates.

For example, the state of South Carolina has about 5 million people, which is less than 10% of the population of Italy. Per CDC data, They had 138 flu related deaths last week alone. But there are no school closures or states of emergency being declared for the flu. Over 2000 have died in SC this flu season, and estimates for the whole US is 20-50,000 deaths. I’m not seeing that publicized heavily.

My point is not to belittle COVID or dismiss it as nothing. I recognize that it has had some terrible effects. But I also recognize that there have been many more people who contracted it who fought it off. Freaking out over it does us absolutely no good. We need reasonable responses to public health crises.

My point was simply that flu does the same or worse damage every year and because we are used to it nobody seems to care or take it half as seriously. People are scrambling for a COVID vaccine but they’re the same ones who won’t get flu or HPV or MMR vaccines. The idea behind comparing COVID response to flu response is to gove some perspective so people can react more reasonably to what they see on the news. People in my neck of the woods are acting like it’s Ebola or something, and we have had zero cases anywhere near me.

I’ve admitted plenty of kids and elderly and sick people with the flu and have watched a few die. I have worked in the hospital when we were making all rooms double occupancy and still had 30 people waiting for beds in the ER. Where was CNN then? Why weren’t they warning people how dangerous the flu could be? While COVID is certainly concerning, the incidence in the US has been nowhere near flu levels. Let’s all try to be more level headed in our responses to epidemics.

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

I’ve been thinking about data comparisons in terms of Coronavirus cases between now and earlier in the year, and one comparison I thought of was people being hospitalised now vs positive tests then (unfortunately you can’t directly compare hospitalisations with early March as they weren’t reported in England and Wales until 19th March).

This is based on the idea that the only way you could really get a test then was often being fairly seriously ill. It’s a very crude comparison, but possibly interesting.

On 1st October, 448 people with coronavirus were admitted to hospital within the UK. This is very loosely comparable to 17th March, when 407 people tested positive.

If you look at deaths, there were 48 reported on 1st October and 52 on 17th March- which is interesting I think (although of course you can join any two points in a straight line).

But just think about where things were on 17th March, and where we were a month later. Do we want to be having 800 deaths a day plus winter flu in mid October?

Actually, by doing this comparison, I do think the numbers of serious cases and deaths are increasing more slowly now than they were in March. And I think we could perhaps reasonably infer that the number of cases in the community is increasing more slowly than it was then, as well.

You’d expect this, because we are mask wearing. We are practising social distancing to a greater or lesser extent. There are no large events.There are various restrictions on socialising and travelling around the country. Schools and unis are functioning differently and some are partially closed. Many people are still at least partially working from home. Test and trace exists and has a level of functionality. People are self isolating with symptoms or when in contact with a positive test. I do think everything we are trying is having an effect.

The problem is that effect is probably not enough. There is a steady, but sustained increase in the number of people going into hospital since the end of August. There has been a markedly noticeable increase in deaths each day during the same period. We’re not halting or reversing this trend, and we certainly aren’t reducing the numbers of new cases seen each day.

So, at some point, we will have to consider more extreme measures- whether that’s another national full lockdown, I don’t know, but given the fact that test and trace is basically broken, it’s something that needs to be considered. And usually, if you lock down early, you can do it for a shorter amount of time. Nobody wants six weeks of lockdown over Christmas, right?

[news99alert]

Flu and viral fever cases rise across India: Can COVID-19 measures reduce your risk?

Flu and viral fever cases rise across India: Can COVID-19 measures reduce your risk?

Besides the fact that they are caused by viruses, both the flu and COVID-19 have some overlapping symptoms that can make it difficult for a person to differentiate between symptoms and illness at this point. Both diseases can cause fever, muscle aches, cough, cold, congestion, headache and fatigue. However, there may be some symptoms that may be different, and can act as clues to differentiate…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Pluralistic: 27 Mar 2020 (Mar-a-Lago Virus, plutes cash in on stimulus, postal voting vs USPS collapse, "civility" and the Confederate playbook, Bojo has covid, reasonable covid food-safety advice, SF cocktail delivery, flu pandemic photos, free hi-rez covid stock art, Warren campaign frees its software)

Today's links

The US is now the epicenter of the pandemic: Trump has murdered millions.

Plutes cash in on stimulus: $170B for real-estate tycoons.

States prep for postal voting: But the GOP has all but murdered the USPS.

"Civility" and the Confederate playbook: The right's call for "civility" has a long, dishonorable history.

Boris Johnson has coronavirus: He greenlit national pox-parties, now he has it.

Reasonable covid food-safety advice: Sanitize your hands and your cart, practice social distancing, and…you're done.

San Francisco cocktail delivery: Courtesy of the DNA Lounge.

Flu pandemic photos: Mask-slackers beware!

Free hi-rez covid stock art: Make your pandemic more visually varied.

Warren campaign frees its software: Free, open and universal campaigning tools.

This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019

Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

The US is now the epicenter of the pandemic (permalink)

The US is now the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic, henceforth known as the Mar-a-Lago Virus. It has the highest number of infections of any country in the world.

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

There have "only" been 1,000 US deaths so far. The "only" is there because there are so many more to come, when the vast number of incubating cases start manifesting symptoms and begin to die.

Trump wants the country to go back to work by Easter, because in his version of the Trolley Problem, the most important thing is saving the trolley.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/25/21193670/trump-easter-coronavirus-isolation-relax-rules-economy-social-distancing

We had so much warning. But the president said it wasn't anything to worry about.

Now, a lot of people are going to die.

Most of the dead will be old – from the demographic most likely to have voted for Trump (which isn't to imply that only Trump voters will die, or that they deserve to die – only that Trump chose to put his base at risk).

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/24/grandparents-optional-party/#turkey-shoot

Many will have contracted their infections by deliberately seeking out crowded public places as the pandemic started spreading, because Fox News told them that doing so was a way to own the libs.

Fox News viewers – who skew elderly, even by the standards of TV watchers – are also disproportionately at risk from coronavirus. Fox News is now a suicide cult.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/19/gb-whatsapp/#fox-cult

But so many people will die because of this. Old people. Young people. People with disabilities. People who just had very bad luck. Kids.

And that's before you get to all the people who have car wrecks or heart attacks or slip-and-falls and can't get treatment in overloaded hospitals.

When Hoover fucked up by giving in to plutes and crashed the economy, he got tent cities, or "Hoovervilles."

Trump's fuckup will end with mass graves. Trump Mausoleums? Mar-a-Plague-Pits?

We will get through this. But Trump will have murdered so many of us before it's over.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/26/21196267/coronavirus-usa-cases-covid-19-pandemic-china-number-positive-trump

Plutes cash in on stimulus (permalink)

The stimulus package that the GOP Senate passed has the largest-ever giveaway for real-estate plutes in US tax history: $170 billion in tax-cuts over 10 years for couples with more than $500K in annual capital gains.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/business/coronavirus-real-estate-investors-stimulus.html

The President who will sign the bill into law is a real-estate investor who stands to make a fortune from it. His inner circle is packed with similarly situated rentiers.

It's the second-biggest giveaway in the stimulus package, and it will also give windfalls to wealthy oil and gas investors.

The House is expected to vote on it today.

(Image: Rich Brooks, CC BY, modified)

States prep for postal voting (permalink)

States are scrambling to prepare for a postal ballot-based election next November.

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/03/23/states-begin-prep-for-mail-in-voting-in-presidential-election

Postal ballots tend to benefit Democrats, whose voters are disproportionately unable to get off work to vote, and who are more likely to live in regions where GOP statehouses have closed polling places, adding long drives and long queues for in-person voting.

That's why Red States often have state laws that prohibit unrestricted postal voting, insisting that voters must provide a "good reason" for their desire to exercise their franchise to a bureaucrat who gets to decide whether or not they can participate in elections.

Of course, if Trump throws hundreds of thousands – or millions – of (disproportionately GOP-voting) seniors into the coronavirus volcano to appease the market-gods, the survivors may be gunshy about voting in person, even if they continue as fully paid-up Trump cultists.

There are serious challenges to reorienting towards a largely postal election, including mobilizing printing resources during a lockdown.

But even more challenging is the post office itself, which is on the verge of collapse.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/23/coronavirus-postal-service-june-145683

The USPS is a miracle of self-funding resilience, a universal, small-d democratic institution that serves the whole nation. But its existence is a thorn in the side of shareholders UPS and Fedex, who donate lavishly to Congressjerks who fuck with the post office.

Requiring the post office to fund pension liabilities for workers who aren't born yet is transparent fuckery. Combine that with a sharp decline in mail usage during the lockdown and the service is now on the brink.

That would be bad news, and not just for elections. The USPS is key to America's emergency preparedness, and has been since the Cold War, when it was projected to serve as a survivor-counting/corpse-hauling service after nuclear armageddon.

It's the only institution that could deliver covid meds to every household in America in a single day.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/25/national-emergency-library/#going-postal

"Civility" and the Confederate playbook (permalink)

You may have heard conservatives insist that the reason they stick up for eugenicists and other cryptofascists is that they're standing up for "civility" against the "social justice mobs."

This rhetoric isn't new: it's literally the same thing that slavery apologists said in the runup to, and aftermath of, the Civil War: "we're not in favor of slavery, we're just opposed to the shaming and social exclusion of slavery advocates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/08/29/conservatives-say-weve-abandoned-reason-civility-old-south-said-that-too/

When we learn about the antebellum slavery debate, we hear about slavery's defenders – but the mainstream debate over slavery wasn't about its merits, it was about the incivility of abolitionists, and how that compromised the free speech of enslavers.

Slavery advocates were cast as a disfavored minority, shouted down by mobs who refused to hear them out. But discrimination against slavers was a funny kind of discrimination: half the millionaires in America were slavers in a single southern town.

Likewise, the right-wing figures who today claim that they are censored and cast out by the intolerant left are millionaires who fill arenas and appear regularly on Fox News, the most popular cable network in America.

They publish books with Big Five publishers and go on multicity tours. They're courted by "progressive" news outlets as paid on-air commentators to provide "balance." If that's discrimination, sign me up.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, professed love of Black people, and claimed he was animated by anger at the suppression of honest debate on racial politics, unable to share "my thoughts or sentiments" about slavery in polite society.

Slavers cast anti-slavery rhetoric as "orthodoxy" and cast themselves as realists who were willing to speak truth to power.

Does that sound familiar?

The abolition movement – including Lincoln – focused on these slavery apologists, understanding that they provided the cover for the continuation of slavery.

Lincoln insisted that Douglas go beyond lamenting the angry rhetoric of abolitionists and instead describe what he stood for – beyond his support of slavers' right to "choose how they wanted to live."

He demanded that Douglas go beyond his campaign speeches against "mob rule" and state plainly whether he wanted an America with or without slavery.

In her Washington Post op-ed, Eve Fairbanks suggests that we do the same for the "reasonable right" – pin them down. Sure, you don't like "cancel culture," but what do you stand for? What kind of world do you want?

(Image: Anthony Crider, CC BY)

Boris Johnson has coronavirus (permalink)

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has coronavirus.

https://twitter.com/borisjohnson/status/1243496858095411200

Under Johnson's leadership, the UK pursued a month-long plan to turn the nation into a giant pox-party, hoping to attain quick "herd immunity."

He was following a promising strategy devised for less-lethal, less-contagious flus, which was manifestly unsuited to coronavirus, as experts argued at the time. As a result, infections now rage out of control in the UK.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fnl0n6/im_a_critical_care_doctor_working_in_a_uk_high/#fla1iq6

During the planning of this "herd immunity" strategy, Johnson's chief advisor Dominic Cummings acknowledged that it would likely murder elderly people: "if that means some pensioners die, too bad."

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/24/grandparents-optional-party/#death-panels

After Johnson tested positive for coronavirus, Cummings was seen fleeing Number 10 Downing Street at a dead run.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/dominic-cummings-seen-running-no-114514496.html

(Image: Think London, CC-BY, modified)

Reasonable covid food-safety advice (permalink)

There's a viral (ugh) video going around in which an MD in scrubs (at home!) shows you what you should do when you come back from the grocery store. It's frankly terrifying. It's also wrong.

As Don Schaffner, a food microbiologist, notes in his thread, not only is this advice wrong, it could make you very sick — either because you ate the soap that you washed your food in, or because you left your groceries on your stoop for 3 days.

https://twitter.com/bugcounter/status/1243319180851580929

There's no evidence that washing your food with soap will kill coronavirus, and even less evidence that you can get the virus from eating. There is, however, millennias' worth of evidence that you can die from food poisoning.

Schaffner's advice for groceries boils down to: wash your hands before and after grocery shopping. Wipe down the cart handle. Shop efficiently. Keep your distance from other shoppers.

You know, common sense.

(Image: Lyza, CC BY-SA, modified)

San Francisco cocktail delivery (permalink)

Hey, San Francisco! Craving a cocktail? The DNA Lounge will deliver a mason jar's worth (~3 servings) of Black Manhattan (w/Slow and Low honey & orange infused rye), Sazerac, brown sugar margarita (w/a little orange) or lavender lemonade gin cooler.

https://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/log/2020/03/26.html

The DNA is a San Francisco institution, one that runs on a shoestring and is continuing to pay its employees, even as other SF venues (snapped up by predatory corporate behemoths) shut down.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/22/preppers-are-larpers/#help-dna

They've also got a bunch of livestream events coming up, including a benefit for the Gay Gaming Professionals, a Death Guild set, and Hubba Hubba Revue's Burlesquerpiece Theatre.

Flu pandemic photos (permalink)

During the 1918 flu pandemic, California went on lockdown. The governor ordered statewide shutdowns, and "mask slackers" who refused to wear masks faced arrest.

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/f/flu/0030flu.0009.300/1

The California Sun has rounded up an amazing set of images of California life during the 1918 flu from libraries, museums, and other sources," in gorgeous hi-rez.

Free hi-rez covid stock art (permalink)

If this image seems familiar, that's because it's one of the only open-licensed images of the novel coronavirus, courtesy of the CDC. It's been used millions of times in just a few weeks.

https://tinyurl.com/u457y2d

An effects house called Covert has stepped in to fill the visual gap with a collection of gorgeous,crazy hi-rez covid renders: "No licensing, royalties or any credit is required for their use."

https://wearecovert.com/free-covid-19-animations-renders-images/

Warren campaign frees its software (permalink)

Elizabeth Warren's campaign has released seven of its sophisticated campaigning tools as free/open software.

https://medium.com/@teamwarren/open-source-tools-from-the-warren-for-president-tech-team-f1f27d2c7551

The Warren campaign had a large cohort of software developers and created a suite of outstanding tools, as well as making improvements to standard tools, including improvements to the texting tool Spoke that reduces the cost of using it by ~97%!

https://www.wired.com/story/elizabeth-warren-campaign-open-source-tech/

The projects are hosted on Github:

https://github.com/Elizabeth-Warren/

This isn't just an opportunity for campaigns, but also for small shops that provide integration and support to them. Obviously election campaigning is in a mess at the moment, but this is seismic.

This day in history (permalink)

#15yrsago Nepali media crackdown thwarted by bloggers https://web.archive.org/web/20050328204722/http://insn.org/

#10yrsago LibDem MPs won't fight for debate on Digital Economy Bill https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2010/lib-dems-tories-and-labour-pledge-to-ram-disconnection-through

#5yrsago Top homeland security Congressjerk only just heard about crypto, and he doesn't like it https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150327/07312030462/congressional-rep-john-carter-discovers-encryption-worries-it-may-one-day-be-used-computers-to-protect-your-data.shtml

#5yrsago NSA-proof passwords https://theintercept.com/2015/03/26/passphrases-can-memorize-attackers-cant-guess/

#5yrsago Welfare encourages entrepreneurship https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/welfare-makes-america-more-entrepreneurial/388598/

#5yrsago Here's the TSA's stupid, secret list of behavioral terrorism tells https://theintercept.com/2015/03/27/revealed-tsas-closely-held-behavior-checklist-spot-terrorists/

#5yrsago San Francisco Sheriff's Deputy ring accused of pit-fighting inmates https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/S-F-jail-inmates-forced-to-fight-Adachi-says-6161221.php

#1yrago Elizabeth Warren's latest campaign plank is a national Right-to-Repair law for farm equipment https://medium.com/@teamwarren/leveling-the-playing-field-for-americas-family-farmers-823d1994f067

#1yrago Mystery solved: why has a beach in France been blighted by washed-up parts for toy Garfield phones for more than 30 years? https://www.lemonde.fr/big-browser/article/2019/03/27/l-affaire-des-echouages-de-telephones-garfield-en-bretagne-enfin-resolue_5442290_4832693.html

#1yrago McDonald's will drop opposition to increases in the federal minimum wage https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/26/mcdonalds-lobbying-minimum-wage-1238284

#1yrago Front-line programmers default to insecure practices unless they are instructed to do otherwise https://net.cs.uni-bonn.de/fileadmin/user_upload/naiakshi/Naiakshina_Password_Study.pdf

#1yrago Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez schools Republicans on the true costs and beneficiaries of the Green New Deal https://twitter.com/briantylercohen/status/1110700996282343424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources: Naked Capitalism (https://nakedcapitalism.com/), Slate Star Codex (https://slatestarcodex.com/), Kottke (https://kottke.org), Advertising Pics (https://advertisingpics.tumblr.com/), Fipi Lele.

Currently writing: I'm getting geared up to start work my next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation.

Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes's forthcoming Afterland: it's Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it's amazeballs. Last month, I finished Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs"; it's a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I'm getting really into Anna Weiner's memoir about tech, "Uncanny Valley." I just loaded Matt Stoller's "Goliath" onto my underwater MP3 player and I'm listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: Data – the new oil, or potential for a toxic oil spill? https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/23/data-the-new-oil-or-potential-for-a-toxic-oil-spill/

Upcoming appearances:

Quarantine Book Club, April 1, 3PM Pacific https://www.eventbrite.com/e/quarantine-book-club-cory-doctorow-tickets-100931360416

Museums and the Web, April 2, 12PM-3PM Pacific https://mw20.museweb.net/

Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we're having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531

"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583

This work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commerically, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net.

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When live gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla

[firespirited]

eeh

If everything’s super close cropped this week it’s because my hand looks like it’s gone moldy (I don’t bruise usually) and that’s the blood draw that went well, I couldn’t use my right arm for two days my elbow muscle was so messed up. Nurse M forgot to use the baby needle and I was too low blood pressured to remind her.

The blood draw happened 3 months to the day since, mid-“really bad cold” my extremities swole up and I went slightly yellow, so I wasn’t expecting much from the COVID test, it pinged but not enough for a positive. I’ve searched the internet re: efficiency of a c19 antibody test and official websites are like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 30-50% correct. Thanks, should have had a lab tech consult their tea leaves for me instead.

As for the rest: kidneys are fine thank goodness but liver and pancreas are damaged. Coronavirus tests being what they are, we may never know if this was covid or a short sudden bout of autoimmune hepatitis. Though um seriously the odds of your pancreas and liver crapping out in the middle of a “bad cold” with shortness of breath and extreme fatigue about a week after being exposed to a ill helper exposed to a dying covid19 patient vs random autoimmune attack that hasn’t hapened before unless you count the thyroid 20 years ago makes you go hmm. I’m just so grateful exposure was minimal and things havn’t been worse.

Helper C had just taken two weeks to isolate but felt ill when she arrived, went down with a nasty flu like thing the next day. Sis and I got the same fluey thing shortly after but a few days in, I got a bunch of distinctively not-flu symptoms (massive feral hunger, no appetite, weight gain of 8kg in just over ten days, sallow skin, extremities swollen, cold and purple, dark circles under the eyes, blue lips and eye sockets). We all tested negative for C19 but hers was post exposure but pre-symtoms and ours was 3 months later.

Pancreatic levels don’t show a huge change but when you’re already chronically ill it doesn’t take much to tip the balance. I can remedy this by going on a taking all sugar out of my diet as it kinda crept back there in this year, I’ve been using sugar as a crutch to get stuff done when exhausted... And switching to whole grain carbs to keep it at bay. Gonna ask to be re-tested in a month see if going sugar free does the trick.

No idea how I’m going to help my liver. Health websites say my results are consistent with alcohol abuse which is like yep I have a bad vinegar on salad habit, tell me I’m pregnant next LMAO. Fatty liver would come with different results so changes in diet are not going to be the cure all. I’m already on a low fat diet with just a couple of things I can remove just to help a little. Pretty sure the Dr is gonna ask me to just wait and see if it doesn’t recover on it’s own. Again I really want a follow up test as an autoimmune hepatitis leaves IgG mess, if it was a one time thing I can leave it to rest, if it’s ongoing I need targeted treatment. I don’t know if my white blood cells being right up is old standard sinusitus or autoimmune crapola because it’s not specific enough. In any case, it all has to wait three weeks as our Dr is on vacation.

Sis is OK, she had a rough ride, she had breathing trouble but used her inhalers, steam and sleep apnea machine to cope. Seems to not have had major organ damage but is generally just knackered. We both spent most of march barely moving from our beds and have felt more worn down than usual since.

Isolate if you can folks, wear masks (learn to use properly and change them regularly) and sanitize everything.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Sick Leave

One of the things I notice about the whole coronavirus thing is that the Americans are now talking about unionising to get paid sick leave so that people won’t go to work sick and spread this stuff.

Speaking from a country that has mandatory statutory sick pay ... it doesn’t help.

There is still the corporate culture that probably comes partly from the American monoculture and partly from that ‘stiff upper lip’ bullshit wherein you are expected to come into work unless you literally cannot get out of bed. The rallying cry is “Take some Lemsip; you’ll be fine!”

This happens in hospitals. One of my colleagues went into work with what was probably the flu or at the very least something viral and unpleasant that wasn’t ‘just a cold’ - she could barely speak above a croak, all sniffling and sneezing and obviously suffering, and there she was, working in a hospital, where a lot of the patients probably don’t have the strongest immune systems. Yeah, they have the signs saying that if you should stay home if you have any of the symptoms of norovirus (basically the technical term for stomach flu), and these days there are warnings about coronavirus (particularly since the outbreak in Canary Wharf) but anything else - like, anything else - you’re encouraged to power through it regardless. In fact, you’re often bullied if you don’t come in to work when you’re ill. “Surely you could have just downed some Lemsip and come in regardless?” “Oh, it can’t be that bad, surely! Just power through!” “Oh, maybe just try a half-day and see how you feel!”

Having the option to take paid sick leave is a good step, but it’s not the only one that needs to be taken. Before anything else, we need to snuff out the idea that the companies and faceless entities by whom we are employed are more important than our physical health; that we owe our lives to our employer above and beyond all else. Right now, we’re treated as disposable cogs to be worked as hard as possible for as long as possible and then replaced.

I agree that we need to not be financially penalised for being too sick to work, but we need to agree that ‘too sick to work’ involves more than ‘maybe I should go to the hospital’ in terms of severity.

[livebloggingmydescentintomadness]

How likely is it that someone with asthma would have barely any symptoms is it more likely its just a cold because like yeah I really don't wanna get other people sick or anything and I get staying at home but I will legit go fucking crazy if I don't interact with people face to face a least a couple times a week like I mean suicidal and everything but like I don't want to spread the disease either but like all I've got symptom wise is a cough and the occasional sneeze like that's it but yeah

this chart compares the symptoms of COVID vs flu vs cold, but you also need to keep in mind that you can absolutely be a carrier of the virus while showing zero symptoms. that means you need to do your best to a) avoid large crowds, b) avoid contact with the elderly and immunocompromised, which includes people with cancer, autoimmune disorders, organ transplants, HIV, and many others. you could be asymptomatic but contribute to spreading the disease to those at risk.

however, you don’t have to sit in a room utterly by yourself and never speak to people, you just need to be really mindful of who you’re in contact with and how. you can visit your friends and chat with people face to face, but try not to touch hands, share food or drinks, and keep washing/sanitizing your hands. 

if you start showing worse symptoms, that’s when you need to stay completely isolated. and yes, that will absolutely suck, but if you KNOW you’re sick you HAVE to keep yourself away from others. try to video chat with people to get something close to face-to-face contact. even if it’s just a cold rather than COVID, you still don’t want to be passing it along.

since you have asthma, you’ve also gotta be really really mindful of protecting yourself here, because asthma ups the seriousness of the coronavirus if you do get it. COVID attacks the lungs, and your lungs are less than the healthiest. take every precaution possible not just for others, but for yourself. you don’t have to maintain zero human contact, just be smart about it. take care.

[popculty]

Surviving the Coronapocalypse: A Masterpost

Living in the current coronavirus capital of the U.S., I’ve been thinking a lot about how woefully unprepared my city was, and how I can help other people who will likely be in the situation we’ve been in within the next few weeks or months. There have been a LOT of posts - from memes to crap advice to solid advice to a misspelled hashtag that somehow blew up without anyone noticing. It’s been all over the place and kind of overwhelming, honestly. So instead of reblogging a million individual posts, I wanted to consolidate some of the most useful information/resources I’ve come across into one handy, update-able reference post. And because this a pop culture blog, there’s gonna be plenty of that sprinkled in. This isn’t going to be an exhaustive list, by any means - that would be impossible, considering how many angles there are to this thing and how quickly it’s evolving. But feel free to use this as a starter, and add to it as you come across other resources worth sharing.

First, protect your health:

1. I can’t believe in the year 2020, 150 years after germs were discovered, that we have to even say this, but: Wash your hands, people. This seems obvious, and we hear it constantly, and yet I keep seeing people use hand sanitizer like it’s the same as hand-washing. Not-so-fun fact: IT ISN’T. Not even close (so double fuck this guy!). First of all, it’s only effective against some types of germs. Secondly, it does NOT kill or remove those germs, it just temporarily neutralizes them, allowing them to resurface later. Hand sanitizer should only be used when hand-washing is not an option. It’s better than nothing, but is not a long-term habit that will save you. If you are going to use hand sanitizer, it needs to contain at least 60% alcohol to be effective. Alcohol, however, dries the fuck out of your hands, and germs love dry skin because they can hide in the cracks. So it’s important to moisturize afterward. But I’ll say it louder for the people in the back (esp. men who still haven’t figured out how bathroom hygiene works and then wonder why they’re dying at much higher rates from this): JUST 👏 WASH 👏 YOUR 👏 DAMN 👏 HANDS! 👏 Scrub for 20-30 seconds, like Kristen Bell told you. There are a million memes for this. Find one that speaks to you, or make your own, and use it.

2. “Social distancing” - By now we’ve all heard of this, and it’s a good thing for everyone to start doing right about now, regardless of whether or not you are feeling symptoms, because as Idris Elba just reminded us (bless), many people do not show symptoms, for weeks or even ever. So: try to stay six feet away from other people as much as possible. If you can’t avoid getting close to people, just make it quick. The latest info is that it’s not airborne (thank god), but transmitted via droplets (i.e. from coughing), so it really doesn’t matter whether you’re inside or outdoors.

3. And now a word from my infectious disease specialist mom who is working on the front-lines of this: 📣  If you have symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath), stay home and take care of yourself like you would if you had the flu. Do not go out in public unless you absolutely have to, (i.e. you are literally dying and require medical attention) and if you do, WEAR A SURGICAL MASK. IF YOU ARE NOT EXPERIENCING SYMPTOMS, YOU DO NOT NEED TO WEAR A MASK – THEY SHOULD ONLY BE WORN BY PEOPLE WHO ARE SICK/COUGHING (to stop those droplets), AND BY HEALTH CARE WORKERS. DO NOT HOARD MASKS FOR PERSONAL USE - THEY ARE ESSENTIALLY USELESS TO YOU AND IT DIVERTS THEM FROM THE DOCTORS AND NURSES WHO ACTUALLY NEED THEM. 📣 Thank you.

4. If you can stay home, stay home. Simple as that. Sure, flights are cheap and we all love a deal but at what cost, Becky?? Just because you can fly (you’re young! you’re healthy! you’re feeling lucky! you *hair flip* just don’t give a fuck!), doesn’t mean you can’t show some goddamn personal restraint and concern for your fellow (elderly, at-risk) human beings. If you won’t listen to me, listen to Wonder Woman. Participate in the #stayhomechallenge and #dontbeaspreader.

5. Inform yourself. The news is doing a really good job of sowing general panic and not much else. And obviously, the situation is literally changing everyday, but here are the basics you should know, via handy infographics. To keep up with the latest, I recommend this interactive map and Science Vs., an investigative science podcast that is currently doing a series of episodes on the ever-changing COVID-19 situation. It does a really good job of painting a picture of how this virus actually spreads, who is at risk, and what a pandemic would actually look like. The “Pandemic” episode of Explained on Netflix is also proving incredibly prescient right now.

Be a decent human being:

The truth is, if you know the facts, coronavirus isn’t actually that scary. What is scary is uninformed people acting impulsively and selfishly. Like, there is no logical reason for the run on toilet paper (coronavirus doesn’t even make you shit!). The reason there is no toilet paper in your grocery store is because a handful of excitable people panicked and bought up all the Charmin they saw. Then other people panicked when they saw the empty shelf and thought, “I guess I should be stockpiling tp too ??” So they did. Then other people came to the grocery store, saw the empty shelves, and posted pictures of those empty shelves on social media. And now everyone in the entire world is freaking out about toilet paper, for no goddamn reason. This scarcity (of tp, of Purell, etc), is a human-created problem, not an outbreak-created problem. Whereas, if everyone had remained calm and bought only what they needed, we could have avoided this entire headache. But people are gonna people, I guess. (If you’re still freaking out about toilet paper though, you should really just invest in a bidet, which is far more sanitary and better for the environment anyway.)

All this is to say: Think before you act. Stop tweeting pictures of empty shelves - you’re only fueling the fire. And don’t use the climate of fear and uncertainty as an excuse to act like a shitty person. When things return to normal, your actions right now will be remembered by those around you. So:

1. Take a look at this graph. If you’re healthy and young (under 60), don’t be a dick. Before you snatch every last roll of toilet paper or bottle of cold remedy off the shelf, considering leaving some for the grandmother behind you who’s probably terrified and has only just now risked leaving her house for this one grocery run, only to find the shelves bare.

2. Moreover, instead of getting swept up into the panic-buying and selfish hoarding, consider buying/delivering groceries for the elderly and at-risk, who are unable to leave their homes. Find out what volunteer opportunities have sprung up in your community to specifically address outbreak-related needs.

3. Donate to food banks - People who have been furloughed from their jobs will have an even harder time putting food on the table, and kids that depend on free school meals will still need to eat if their school is closed.

4. Support local businesses. Big businesses will weather this just fine, but your mom-and-pop store down the street? Your local grocer? They’re hurting already and might not be able to survive weeks or months of low sales or even closing down for a period of time. So...

Buy from local stores rather than big chains as much as possible.

If you are eating/ordering out, choose local, and especially Asian restaurants, who are really hurting right now, and because again: YOU CANNOT GET CORONAVIRUS FROM FOOD. YOU’RE JUST BEING RACIST.

If you don’t want to eat out at all right now (probably advisable), buy gift cards to local restaurants for yourself or others – This will support struggling business now when they need it, and then you can cash in on them when things calm down a bit.

Likewise, if you have tickets to a play, show, etc that gets cancelled, consider not asking for a refund and instead making that a donation to your local stage company, independent cinema, arts center, etc.

If you live in a city where a large event with many local vendors gets cancelled, find out if there is an alternative pop-up event to support those vendors, or buy from them on Etsy. Many artists and craftspeople depend on one huge, annual event like a fair or Con for their entire year’s earnings, so having that event postponed or cancelled is a huge financial blow to them. For example, when Emerald City Comic-Con got pushed til August, this lovely Twitter thread popped up to support the artists.

Maintain your sanity:

The other big thing we are starting to realize is that this social distancing is going to cause a loneliness epidemic in countries that are already some of the loneliest in the world. We don’t know how long these measures will be in place, so we need to prepare ourselves, mentally/emotionally:

1. Take a breath - Even worst-case scenario, this isn’t the end of the world. Try to keep perspective. Apps like Happify, Calm, or any of these can help keep obtrusive thoughts at bay, provide guided mindfulness meditations and breathing exercises, and help center you when you feel like the world is spinning out of control. This is likely going to be a marathon, not a sprint, so pace yourself and be proactive about your mental health.

2. Stay connected – We have more ways to keep in touch virtually now than ever before.

FaceTime, Marco Polo, Discord – Use technology to check in with your friends and family.

Podcasts are a great way to feel connected to others right now. Death, Sex, and Money just did a listener call-in episode, which was a good reminder that this outbreak is affecting people differently across city, state, country, race, class, gender, and ability. Another one of my faves that is going to be applicable to more people than ever in these coming months is The Hilarious World of Depression, in which comedians like Rachel Bloom, Solomon Georgio, and Margaret Cho talk about mental illness and comedy. In one especially relevant episode, Mara Wilson talks about how people with anxiety tend to handle crisis much better than neurotypicals (which explains how I’m so zen right now...)

3. Keep busy - Not being able to go out and socialize like we are used to is likely to make a lot of us stir-crazy. But there are a ton of things you can do and see from the comfort of your own home.

Go on a virtual museum tour, or see the Palace of Versailles.

Take a soothing, 8-hour virtual drive through Iceland.

Watch operas at The Met.

Explore NASA’s stunning media library.

Tackle your book list.

Start writing that novel (or finish that fic!)

File your taxes (Get that return!)

Do your spring cleaning.

Plant a victory garden to reduce the strain on producers and avoid crowded stores.

Binge the shows your friends keep telling you about (follow this blog and podcast for recs!)

If you have kids, here’s a list of all the free educational courses being offered right now.

Libraries may be closed, but you can still get free ebooks, music, movies and TV shows on the Hoopla app, and movies on Kanopy for free if you have a library card or are a student or teacher.

Some upcoming theatrical releases have been postponed (No Time to Die, indeed), but others, like Emma and The Invisible Man, will hit streaming platforms immediately, so you can still get your new movie fix.

So many things to do! Try not to see it as being confined, but rather as an opportunity to do all the things you’ve been putting off. If getting shit done makes you feel good, do it! But hey - remember that you really don’t have to be productive right now just because capitalism tells you to. This is also a great time to be still and relish doing absolutely nothing.

4. Perspective - Remember that this is not the only thing happening in the world right now (psst, the U.S. government is using this distraction to fuck with our privacy, AGAIN.) Also, this is not the first pandemic humanity has endured and it will be nowhere near the worst, so soothe yourself by reading about past pandemics and how we got through them.

Alright. Back to covering pop culture for me (we’re gonna need escapism now more than ever). I’m not gonna even try to update this regularly, that’s just too daunting. But I encourage you to add to this and share as needed in the coming weeks/months.

Stay safe out there, and

[rahavivarthani]

What is cold and how it is formed?

Cold is a very common and natural contagious disease that everyone will experience. The common cold is viral infection attacking the nose and throat, usually, it is harmless but it causes some discomfort. The common cold is expected to be treated on its own, it normally stays 7 days in the body. We can only reduce the risk of getting but cannot avoid completely. Cold is common during winter and rainy season. As of today’s situation, even common cold can threat people because it is a very common and prevailed symptoms of coronavirus.

What is the common cold?

the common cold is caused by many different types of virus and it is medically referred to as viral upper respiratory tract infection. they many difference for cold vs flu, but there are few common things too. people with flu or cold often experience this illness like runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, general fatigue, body aches. but flu causes few other major symptoms which differ abruptly from cold and flu are more severe than cold.

To determine whether it is flu or cold you have to properly consult a doctor they will go through the symptoms and determine the seriousness. if it is cold then you can treat it by over the counter cold medication, by staying hydrated and getting enough rest.

for instances, if it is flu, you will be benefitted by taking OTC flu medicine which you will find in online medicine delivery 24 hours along with rest and hydration.

Symptoms 

The common cold symptoms are 

Nasal symptoms like 

congestion

loss of smell and taste

stuffy  or running nose

sneezing

watery nasal secretion

sinus pressure

drainage in the back throat.

 head symptoms are

watery eyes

sore throat

cough

headache

swollen lymph nodes

 major symptoms include

body aches

chillness

low-grade fever

chest discomfort

breathing difficulty

however, the initial symptoms of cold are hard to find.

Does the common cold spread?

Yes, common cold spread. Cold is a contagious infection it spreads to people. It spreads via infectious liquid, mucus, or by the things that 

has been used by the infected person, sharing foods and through the usage of the same dress etc. 

It is better to use a tissue and threw it away after usage. Wash your hands frequently to prevent from cold. Normally a cold lasts for 7 to 10  days . it can be treated at home. It is not very much needed to take medication, it is guided to take medications only under severe conditions. 

We protect ourselves by washing hands with soap and water, avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth without unwashed hands, stay away from sick people.  

Common cold treatments 

A general practitioner can treat the common cold, for children you can prefer for paediatricians. there is no cure for the common cold, the common cold itself is self-limiting illness will resolve after 10 days, if not consult your doctor.

You can treat common cold by taking over the counter drugs like throat lozenges, cough drops, cough syrup, and decongestant drugs like pseudoephedrine or antihistamine can be used for nasal symptoms, the saline spray is highly recommended. You can get these from best healthcare service provider in India. 

Common cold treatment drugs include acetaminophen, ibuprofen, aspirin. but aspirin is suggested for adults, not for children. there are few alternative medicines like vitamin C, zinc, Echinacea and other home remedies.

Other complications

A cold can trigger an asthma attack, acute sinusitis in children or adult, it can lead to inflammation and infection, it can also cause other secondary infections like strep throat, pneumonia, and bronchiolitis, it also cause an acute ear infection.

Home remedies

Few home remedies for cold are staying hydrated, take enough rest , don't strain your eyes too much, soothe the sore throat by goggling with salt hot water, steam inhalation will also help a lot, drink hot water, use honey as much as possible.

Try drinking hot tea with honey, don’t take any antibiotic it will not help you. As everyone knows a healthy yoga exercise like pranayama will also help in curing a cold. It is very simple yet effective. We can also add pepper in our daily foods during cold it is also proven to cure a common cold and most followed home remedy in desi-family.

Conclusion 

Take care of your health always, colds make you feel miserable and discomfort, keep yourself and clean. these days it is necessary to care even about the small changes in body and health.