General Coronavirus chit chat thread - non-travel specific

[Denali]

Anyone had to register a car ?
Our third car which stays with son is up for rego in a few weeks
I wonder if rules will change on that ?

My car due end of May, waiting for rego papers as not sure if I need pink slip inspection this year but think I do.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

and reason 3/ My daughter works in a Respiratory Ward. They fortunately only have one Covid 19 patient at present. Such patients only go there because they cannot breathe. ie would be dead otherwise.

My daughter and her colleagues want all the tools they can so that they can treat those that need it. And there is a flow on to others as for example if cases mount the longer that CV 19 person ties up a ventilator, the more it means that another person such as a road crash victim may not get a ventilator and will die.

For sure. But the advantage to using this as a prophylactic would be that a vastly reduced number would potentially end up needing any care, let alone a ventilator. That could possibly be a far greater saving on all our resources in the long run. And of course, much safer for the health of our care workers.

 

[drron]

I don't know if people remember, but I was very ill when I arrived back from HKG / Taiwan / Macau on 1st Jan. I had a dry cough, fever, difficult breathing for about 2-3 weeks.

Normally when 'man-flu-like' I had a non-dry cough, so wouldn't be surprised if I had something very similar. Was battered for about 4 weeks, but recovered in the end.

And if you were in China in Feb you would have been diagnosed as having the corona virus.
In fact it is very likely that is what you had.The Chinese certainly knew about it in early December.

A Wuhan doctor says Chinese officials silenced her coronavirus warnings in December, costing thousands their lives

"He made me feel that I alone had ruined the future of Wuhan. I was in despair," Ai Fen said after being rebuked by Wuhan Central Hospital officials.

www.businessinsider.com.au

Of course even in the middle of February some health lawyers thought restricting travel from China was not only immoral but illegal.Here are some Canadian geniuses.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30373-1/fulltext

 

[Quickstatus]

C'mon. This drug won't kill you

1)It will make the drug scarce as toilet paper
2) People who really need it will not get it or cant afford it because supply and demand pushes the price up.
3) Come back when Plaquenil causes you to lose your sight or wreak havoc on your bone marrow.

I don't know if people remember, but I was very ill when I arrived back from HKG / Taiwan / Macau on 1st Jan. I had a dry cough, fever, difficult breathing for about 2-3 weeks.

Normally when 'man-flu-like' I had a non-dry cough, so wouldn't be surprised if I had something very similar. Was battered for about 4 weeks, but recovered in the end.

Selfdiagnosis tends to be laced with a large dose of Confirmation Bias.

But IIRC the first case of Covid in Hong Kong was 23 Janaury, unless you were the first

 

[drron]

For sure. But the advantage to using this as a prophylactic would be that a vastly reduced number would potentially end up needing any care, let alone a ventilator. That could possibly be a far greater saving on all our resources in the long run. And of course, much safer for the health of our care workers.

But we really don't know that.Most of the real life usage has been in infected patients.
Much less experience with prophylaxis.It may be it would just prevent mild illness and severe cases remain much the same as now.
And when do you stop prophylaxis?

The other major problem is drug supply.To all intents and purposes chloroquine is unavailable in Australia.Can be ordered on line from India-but the Indian government has taken some steps to stop that.
If you use Plaquenil (hydroxychloroquine) usage as you support would very soon mean a problem with supply and people who really need it - for example autoimmune disease - would almost certainly find it difficult to get supplies of an important part of their treatment.

Any drug that is off patent is basically now made in India or China.

 

[tgh]

Quinine is available in many forms.
One can buy the bark (tick..done)
One can buy the tincture and other derivatives from compounders or herbalists (tick..done)
One can buy High Quality Indian tonic water (tick..done.. now where is the Gin ? )
One can be lucky enough to have Quinine sulphate tabs (prescribed for Cramp )….. ( done.. but we don't have a lot )
Finally.. (perhaps better done initially… ) one can read up on the side effects of quinine and make a value judgment on the prophylactic value - v the risk of serious illness

edit : … of course the efficacy of the various forms of the substance are still unknown…it's all a guessing game ..

 

[Quickstatus]

Any doctor can write a private script for the drugs but most will not write a PBS script.

$1300 private script for Kaletra

 

[MEL_Traveller]

But we really don't know that.Most of the real life usage has been in infected patients.
Much less experience with prophylaxis.It may be it would just prevent mild illness and severe cases remain much the same as now.
And when do you stop prophylaxis?

The other major problem is drug supply.To all intents and purposes chloroquine is unavailable in Australia.Can be ordered on line from India-but the Indian government has taken some steps to stop that.
If you use Plaquenil (hydroxychloroquine) usage as you support would very soon mean a problem with supply and people who really need it - for example autoimmune disease - would almost certainly find it difficult to get supplies of an important part of their treatment.

Any drug that is off patent is basically now made in India or China.

Agree those are real issues.

I guess the more pressing issue, for me at least, is those that are sick and in hospital. It is frustrating that some in the medical field appear reluctant to consider treatment with these drug options until they've had their 6 month's of research. Totally frustrating to hear someone say they have two good drugs, but won't endorse/release/whatever either until they've determined which one is better. Seriously?

Thankfully this is where politicians can prove beneficial

 

[tgh]

Faced with imminent demise .. $1300 would be a no brainer...
Reality still says that even pob's like me can probably walk straight through it and the general state of community panic seems a bit overblown.

 

[Quickstatus]

Faced with imminent demise .. $1300 would be a no brainer...
Reality still says that even pob's like me can probably walk straight through it and the general state of community panic seems a bit overblown.

People facing imminent demise wont pay $1300. they will be getting it free while in ICU on a ventilator
The rest will just make it scarce as dunny rolls so those with HIV and those with ventilator Covid cant get it.

This is Toilet roll mentality

 

[Quickstatus]

Ive just had the Pink Slip done.
I was the only customer in the mechanic shop.

For those in 14 day isolation, you have in NSW 3 months after rego expiry during which you can just renew it. After the 3 months, you need a Blue slip.

 

[rainbowgirl]

I did self isolate for 3 weeks. More so though because I could barely get out of bed!

I'm wondering when they'll come up with a blood test that determines whether someone is immune to the virus because they have had it recently. This would make it easy to figure out who to let work with the high risk categories of people who haven't got the virus yet.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

People facing imminent demise wont pay $1300. they will be getting it free while in ICU on a ventilator ...

This is Toilet roll mentality

Unless they get told by their treating doctor that the drug hasn't been 'approved' yet for use, pending reasearch. In those cases, maybe the only option will be for people to offer to pay for it off-label?

The main - huge - benefit i see is that it offers hope. It means, all of a sudden, that if you are over 75 and get the virus that you aren't written off and that's the end. The elderly have already been terrorised enough being told they may not get access to ventilators and could be triaged to the extent they could be left to die... this actually says 'wait', there's treatment that might work.

Kate Langbroek speaking on the Project the other night relayed an anecdote...

Our parents and grandparents went to war to save our lives. All we need to do is spend two weeks on our couch to save theirs.​

There are photos of younger people still going out to pubs, still in crowds on beaches. And yet they're the ones being told they'll get priority for ventilators and medical care

 

[Flashback]

People facing imminent demise wont pay $1300. they will be getting it free while in ICU on a ventilator
The rest will just make it scarce as dunny rolls so those with HIV and those with ventilator Covid cant get it.

This is Toilet roll mentality

You mention HIV and I have a really terrible story to tell you about a friend of mine, but I feel I shouldn't because it would break so many people's hearts.

 

[Denali]

Friend arrived from the Philippines on Friday and hubby went over to his house today to drop stuff off. He said the neighbours could have heard them chatting as they kept their distance so basically shouted at each other.

 

[tgh]

$1300 private script for Kaletra

The toilet roll syndrome may have some relevance… but a quiet read about the usefulness of the drug should be sufficient disincentive for the deep pocketed seeking a magic pill

Anecdotal.. but a contact in Italy opined this morning that their death rate was not heavily skewed to age.
I think the youngsters need a bit of a heads up about the risks

 

[Quickstatus]

It does not matter whether an available drug is approved. Point is that once you start increasing demand whether off label or not there are serious unintended consequences.


Currently the Assumption that prophylaxis is going to work is at the level of speculation

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It seems some countries have moved to close schools, except for children of essential workers - health care, fire, police, etc. That seems like a potential solution to the current debate around the issue in Australia.

 

[Quickstatus]

Oh and if rego expires while in self isolation , just get an unregistered vehicle permit ($22 plus CTP) so you can drive it to mechanic for pink slip legally (and so that your car insurance remains current)

 

[Pushka]

1)It will make the drug scarce as toilet paper
2) People who really need it will not get it or cant afford it because supply and demand pushes the price up.
3) Come back when Plaquenil causes you to lose your sight or wreak havoc on your bone marrow.



Selfdiagnosis tends to be laced with a large dose of Confirmation Bias.

But IIRC the first case of Covid in Hong Kong was 23 Janaury, unless you were the first

Well, as someone who has been on Plaquenil for a few years now, that's a bit scarey. I knew about the vision issue but bone marrow?
I do know amongst the Lupus boards that there are significant concerns that their prescribed treatment will now be in short supply. And for me it has been a life changer.