Mar 13, 2020 09:03AM missouricatlady wrote:

thank you for that link. We have a case now in Springfield, MO, where my dad lives. He drives delivering drugs to hospitals (he is 84 years old) and my stepmom has told him to use alcohol wipes on his hands before eating his sandwich for lunch. Our local college has closed, classes are all online, no visitors to campus allowed. I work with a lot of people who are just beginning to realize the situation is real.

Mar 13, 2020 09:45AM flashlight wrote:

This report is from a local hospital. According to the chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Beijing, Zunyou Wu, MD, PhD, the transmission rate of COVID-19 was 1%-5% among 38,000 Chinese people in close contact with infected patients. The rate of spread to family members – the driver of the infection in China – was 10% early in the outbreak, but fell to 3% with quicker recognition and isolation. The overall numbers are lower than might have been expected, and an important insight for clinicians trying to contain the outbreak in the United States.

Patients were most infectious at the onset of symptoms, when they spiked a fever and started coughing, but their ability to spread the infection dropped after that. Transmission from pre-symptomatic people is rare; shedding persists to some degree for 7-12 days in mild/moderate cases, but 2 weeks or more in severe cases.

Dr. Wu said the numbers in China are moving in the right direction, which means that containment efforts there have worked. Essentially, the entire population of China (more than a billion people) was told to stay home for 10 days to interrupt the transmission cycle after the virus spread throughout the country in a few weeks, and almost 60 million people in Hubei were put behind a cordon sanitaire, where they have been for 50 days and will remain "for a while," Dr. Wu said.

It's led to a steep drop in new cases and deaths in China since mid-February; both are now more common outside China than inside, and international numbers are lower than they were at the peak in China.

Mar 14, 2020 09:05AM reckless wrote:

We are WFH on an alternate weeks starting Monday, on a split team basis. 50% WHF during week 1, then from the office during week 2. I did not have chemo or rads. But I had lupus and took immunosuppressants for 10+ years, so have a compromised immune system, I think. I am going to ask to WHF 100%. I work in finance in NYC, use subway to commute to work.

Mar 15, 2020 01:37AM - edited Mar 15, 2020 01:48AM by wc3

I live in a densly populated area but just happened to be out of town when the outbreak there began to ramp up. I do not do well with influenza; it puts me in bed for the duration with a fever in excess of 103F and I relapse or develop pneumonia. Genetic susceptibility I guess. Influenza A landed my mother in the hospital. My WBCs also remain supressed 1.5 years PFC and I have had breathing/lung issues in the past. So anyway I doubt I would be able to weather COVID-19 . I have not returned home yet and am holed up in a 400 square foot apartment with two other adults right now with no toilet paper and 9 days of tamoxifen left. I guess I could have the prescription transfered but I'm not sure that I could reasonably stay here for the duration of the outbreak. It could be months and this virus could stay with us.

Mar 15, 2020 04:26PM minustwo wrote:

WC3 - Call your doc or send a My Chart and ask for a new 'one time' prescription for the closest pharmacy to where you are. But I'd call the pharmacy first and make sure they have the meds. On the other hand, with no toilet paper already, you're not in for a good time where you are.

If you are prepared at your house to stay close or inside, I agree with flashlight - consider going home. Domestic flights are really pretty empty. San Francisco to Boston non-stop today had something like 25 passengers. Yes, the airports are a consideration, but maybe one you should think about braving.

Please let us know what you decide.