dutch15 said:

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Reveille,

I posted previously, but not sure you saw it. How did China keep there numbers so low (relatively speaking)? Also, they are allowing people to go back to work because cases are on the decline, so how do they keep from having a relapse?

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12thmandy said:

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What are the recommendations for those of us with infants? I can't stay at home because I have a job that will likely not be able to close. If I'm exposed I'm afraid I'll easily pass it to my infant. Is there anything I should be doing other than the obvious washing my hands etc. to help keep her safe? Also, my mom (in her late 60s) usually watches her while I'm at work. Should I be thinking of another plan for that?

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eidetic78 said:

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Law361 said:

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Reveille,

With the prospect of having my 3 young kids at home for the next several weeks, my wife and i are trying to put a schedule together to help them get out of the house. We know that walks are a good idea, but what about public parks? Not talking about playing with other kids, just playing on the equipment. How long can the virus survive on an outdoor surface that doesn't get regularly disinfected? Thanks

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With respect to the duration a virus remains infectious on playground surfaces, it really depends on the local weather conditions. It also varies widely from virus to virus, but obviously we're talking about coronavirus here.

Based on previous SARS and MERS strains, this virus is stable for a relatively short period of time outside of the body. Weather conditions that lead to quick desiccation (warm / dry / sunny) and surfaces exposed to UV will render any virus present non-infections quickly. Within just a few minutes. Some of these reports about coronavirus being stable for many days on inanimate objects are under ideal conditions without any exposure to UV/water/heat/etc... They also are reporting ANY remaining detectable infectious virus. My point being once the virus is out of its host, the particles begin to degrade quickly. So even though there may be a few infectious particles after an extended time, the vast majority of the initial number are inert.

For public playground equipment, as you said those surfaces don't get "disinfected" regularly (or ever), but, depending on where you live, the normal weather can keep them fairly sterile. Specifically in the case of coronavirus, the more exposed surfaces will be safer. Overall, unless the equipment is currently or recently occupied with many kids, in my opinion it's a very low risk activity.

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TAMUallen said:

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Are there tips or easy to cite stats/projections to use for my very stubborn grandfather who is 80+ and has had multiple bypasses?

He is stubborn as a damn mule and my grandmother has Parkinson's so she stays home. Made progress with him not going to church this morning but he ****ing went to Costco this morn for FREAKING 3 things that weren't even needed.

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Mtn_Guide said:

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Did you get the Seattle ACEP update today?

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law-apt-3g said:

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Heard virus can't survive long with summer heat and humidity. @98.6 degrees and mostly water I am a walking summer. Is the summer hope wrong?

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ProudAg16 said:

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Rev,
This may be a dumb question, but feel the need to ask. At what point is shortness of breath a symptom that needs to be checked for the virus? I've been having to take deep breaths fairly often for a few days now and with all the talk of symptoms coming on slowly and effecting others, it has me a bit worried/curious. I don't have any other symptoms that I know of, but it's not a normality for me to have labored breathing.
Could it more likely be anxiety causing the shortness of breath? Kind of a lump in throat feeling as well.
Thanks!

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blazing7s94 said:

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So my step kids' father decided to continue on with taking them to Copper Mountain last week (Sun-Thurs) for spring break. They made it back home Friday night. Just saw a notice out of Colorado that if you had visited certain ski resorts in the last week (Copper Mountain being one) to "minimize social contact" because of a large outbreak. Does this mean we are now supposed to quarantine?

Guessing I'll be making a phone call into work in the morning to see what I should do.

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NC Ag said:

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Type 2 Diabetic - Trulicity once a week and Losartan Potassium (ARB) daily. Does this make me higher risk? If yes, what steps should I take to minimize my risk level?

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HowdyTXAggie said:

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Reveille,

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts/experience. I have a couple questions:
1) For school age kids, how much do you recommend they do/don't interact with other neighbor kids? Can they play ball together?
2) What about a teen babysitting other smaller kids at their house?

Thanks again

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fightingfarmer09 said:

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Live in a rural area of coastal Texas. We have seen 1-2 cases in surrounding counties.

At should we be concerned about daycare for our 9month old? Want to know if we should pull out all together.

I'm less concerned about the illness, and more about spreading it. Our daycare has implemented some stringent cleaning and entry protocols. But kids are filthy.

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CV said:

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I've lurked on TxAgs for years. Most of you guys are awesome and I'm a proud Aggie Mom. Reveille has motivated me to finally make an account because of his dedication to the Aggie community. I've joined because I'm requesting that we pray for him, his health, and family.

Reveille, take care!

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TAMUallen said:

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Reveille said:

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Most recent update

https://www.facebook.com/1998386763777604/posts/2641575666125374/?sfnsn=mo

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Date at top of write up says 2014 FYI

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BiochemAg97 said:

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Alta said:

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Sorry if I missed it but some other threads are alluding to how long this has been in the US? Out of curiousity have you seen an uptick this winter in things that make you wonder if it's been around awhile?

One reason I ask is in mid February I was in enough pain from coughing, very heavy breathing that I went to an ER (I felt bad enough that this was the first trip to a Dr. I had made in 17 years - which I know is horrible) and tested negative for the flu, strep, etc. I got Codeine cough syrup and a steroid shot and went on my way. I also had pink eye a couple days prior to this all starting which is the first time I ever had pink eye. After about 5 days it was gone and a week lady I felt pretty normal again.

Anyways - I don't want to be one of those folks who thinks I must have had it but I do kind of wonder what that was. That's why I wonder if once this all passes if I could go to a Dr. and see if they could do a test to see if indeed I ever did have it.

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The rapid flu test has a significant false negative rate. The longer more accurate test takes at least 4 hours to run on the machine. Most doctor offices do a rapid test while you wait. A hospital lab probably has the equipment to do the longer test, but you can probably figure out what you had by the time it took. Just because you test negative on the rapid flu test doesn't mean you don't have the flu.

Interestingly, I have seen doctors get a negative on a rapid strep test and say they were sending it off for a culture to verify. In my admittedly limited experience, I have not seen a doctor send a flu test off for the longer test to verify a negative result on the rapid flu test. I assume that part of the reason is by the time you send it off to the lab and get the results back a few days later, most people are through the worst of it and getting better already.

Also, there are a lot of things that cause similar flu like symptoms. People need to stop assuming that just because they tested negative for the flu they must have had Corona. The risk with that assumption is people thinking they are immune now they had it and then actually get it.

At some point, researchers are going to need to sample a population for antibodies to determine extend of exposure that was never identified to get a true mortality rate. That work won't need to be widespread. so it is unlikely to include all of us.

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