Category: medical

Nice, sunny and cool.

Yesterday was cool to start, without much sun, then got hot and sunny, but turned into a picture postcard evening. Comfortable and a pretty pink sunset, with breezes for cooling. Nice.

I got a couple of things done moving toward having a work area in the back corner of the garage. Moved some stuff out of the way (20+ coleman lanterns of all fuels and vintages), and added some plywood to the back of a shelf. The plywood will be a tool board eventually. It’s all a bit fussy and low criticality, but that’s about all I’m feeling up to at the moment.

I did cut the grass, and was soaked through when finished. Looked at the gardens a bit, but don’t have the weekly report until tomorrow.

Breakfast was instant hash browns with a BB date in 2016, seasoned and served under fried eggs… yum. Also chocolate chip muffins from mix. Dinner was one of the ready to eat main courses from Costco. We eat a lot of the lamb shanks, but this time it was mexican grilled chicken thighs. Added half a can of corn, a can of beans, and some tortillas for a nice and low effort dinner. I freeze the main courses so it takes a bit longer than 7 minutes in the microwave, but they last much longer that way.

The news that several sailors tested positive for Covid-19 after having previously tested negative more than once, and returning to duty, is alarming to say the least. We’ve had other reports of similar cases, but there was always a way to deny it. They are arm-waving that the tests may not be good, etc. but it looks like pretty strong evidence you CAN get this a second time, or that it doesn’t go away but just goes dormant for a while. This is very bad if that is the case. Think about what will happen if it becomes undeniable that we WON’T get immunity, and that the second time can be worse (as we see in Korea and China). Pretty much everyone’s plan for getting back to normal involves immunity in one form or another. We don’t currently have a lot of time with the people who have recovered to see what long term or even medium term consequences might be. We might be in for some more unpleasant surprises in the coming months.

Which means, keep prepping. Lots more bad stuff can be coming down the pike. This is a pretty good rehearsal and test of our systems. While the trucks are still rolling, and the system is still mostly intact, restock, stock up, and keep stacking.

nick

Warm to hot, sunny and damp.

Yesterday got pretty dang hot, 103F in the driveway. Sunny for most of the day too, when it wasn’t threatening and overcast.

My neck and shoulders were really stiff and sore, so I was moving kinda slow.

Did math with Kid2. She was so frustrated by 3 digit long multiplication, mainly because she wasn’t keeping the columns straight. She thinks long division is easy, but multiplication gets her. Other daughter had trouble with columns running off to the side too, despite gridded paper. Once we got some precision in her writing, it got better. Kid2 does a weird thing, she makes all her numbers moving the pencil backwards. She starts at the end and bottom, and draws the number upwards. They look ok, and she’s FAST, but it’s weird.

Got almost all the medical resupply I ordered. I’m good on bandaids and bandages for a while now. Still waiting for wound wash. Bandaids, tape, and vet wrap will all age out. The adhesive or non-adhesive parts will change and they’ll become much less useful than they were. I can’t recommend stocking cases under normal expectations, because you’ll just never use it. Aesop reminded me that ACE bandages can be washed and reused many times and might be a better choice than Kerlix and tape. Of course, I’ve got some ACE bandages too. The kerlix sure is more comfortable in our climate though.

Did more work in the garage. It’s like playing one of those sliding number games with 15 filled squares out of 16, and to move a number around you have to slide all the other numbers around too. I can see progress, I just can’t quite see the end. I keep finding useful things, so that’s a plus. I’m not pulling much OUT but I’m stacking it and restacking it and at least I have a fresh idea about what’s there. So much stuff that needs to get sold. One long delayed project got done. I’ve been meaning to put together a simple and basic tool kit for each vehicle, not a ‘fix it on the side of the road’ kit, but a couple of tools so you aren’t stuck with nothing if you need to turn a bolt, take the legs off something you bought, or similar. I’ve been collecting the bits, just never put them together. I built two today. A tall tin can with a lid, had Japanese bar mix snacks in it (it’s an inch or so taller than a soda can, and very sturdy tin). 6 in 1 screwdriver, basic wire strippers, small vice grip pliers, disposable knife with the ‘snap off’ blade, small adjustable wrench. Small box of strike anywhere matches, one trash bag-rolled, and six feet of duct tape wrapped around the can. Surprisingly there is still room in the can for a Powerbar or another tool, but I can’t think of much that would be good but not overkill. A small Channelok plier would be nice, but the vise grip should be sufficient. In any case, I don’t have a small Channelok to add to the cans so they’re done for now.

Dinner was frozen pork chops, fresh zucchini saute’d in butter with Parmesan cheese, and stuffing mix from a bag. Meat was from 2019, zukes from the store several weeks ago, and the stuffing was either Thanksgiving or possibly Christmas. Not much from the ‘prepper’ pantry, but you can’t eat out of rusted cans and old cartons every day…

Today I’ll be doing more of the same, and heading over to my secondary with some stuff that I CAN get out of the house and garage. I note that TX has a small uptick in cases about 2 weeks since the first easing of restrictions. I’ll be wearing PPEs if I have to interact with anyone, count on that.

Latin America is starting to show a lot of cases. Can India and Africa be far behind?

Keep working on skills and stacking. Join the other 300M of us going through closets, kids rooms, and garages… you never know what you put away and forgot about.

nick

Warm and wet.

Light rain started last night, after a damp and overcast day. Some moments of clear sky and nice breeze, but generally threatening all day.

My AC is working again. It took several pounds of R22 to bring the system pressure back up. I’m hoping it holds for the season.

If you haven’t been reading comments, I encourage you to do so as that’s where the good stuff is. I think of the day’s post as a topic sentence for the day, but it often ends up something completely different. It’s always interesting and civil.

Also, please check out Aesop at https://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/ He’s on the front line of this in CA. I’m active in the comments over there too (if you’re interested).

After consideration, and some thought, PLEASE STOP GOING TO STORES. The curiosity factor will get you killed or sickened. All over the web I’m seeing people check in and admit they didn’t really need anything but were just curious. I admit I did it too, last week. But now, the freaking stores are full of people from the community. That’s where “community transmission” comes from! Read the Italian ICU report I linked late last night. The ONLY thing that will help when the ICU inundation starts is slowing the rate of contagion. The only thing that slows the spread is isolation.

Don’t even think about ‘get it now, while there are still beds’. Between the time to show symptoms and the normal time until it gets bad, you won’t beat the rush. Everyone with it NOW will beat you there.

I commented last night why you need at least 3 months of supplies, please take a moment and consider my timeline. If it doesn’t make sense, let me know. No need to tell me it’s overreaction, but do please keep sharing your honest thoughts. We all need to avoid any mania (beyond what some of you already believe we’re infected with, and if we are, we need to slow the spiral. If you change your mind, I’m not going to judge, I’m going to celebrate.) Getting your stock up to the three month level is about the only reason I can think of to risk going into a store at this point.

I’m also sure we are about to get some internal domestic travel restrictions. It’s already been mentioned in at least two official places. The Governor of Florida is calling for it. They will ground most of the planes at some point, the math insists on it. I expect one or both of my siblings to be stuck in FL but at least my mom will have company. No resources, but company. I don’t want to consider what that means for my family long term. No matter what YOUR belief about the validity and necessity of the measures is, this now has a life of its own, and shutting down air travel is the next step. They will likely wait until they have something they can point to for such a drastic seeming decision, so watch for that. It may be a ‘magic number’ of infected, dead, or occupied ICU beds, or it might be something external to the USA. There won’t be much if any warning, we’ve already BEEN warned. One, maybe two weeks minimum would be my guess, but it’s coming.

This sort of disaster is about the worst kind. It’s everywhere. There won’t be help coming in from outside the region, like most natural disasters. What help might be available because it won’t happen everywhere at the same time, will be held in reserve for what the outsiders know is coming to them. You are on your own. No one is coming to save you. The ONLY thing that will help is if you get immunity after having the virus. If that happens, the people with mild cases will be able to keep everything going and we’ll only lose those with acute symptoms. If you don’t get lasting immunity, or worse, get it bad the second time, better start praying for effective drugs. And soon.

With that in mind, start praying for an antibody blood test, so we can confirm who’s had it and is possibly immune. There are an increasing number of people sharing stories of having been sick in the last month, but not having the flu. Heck, I have been coughing for the last month. I don’t think I got the flu, as I never had any real fever, but I felt pretty bad for a while. It’s important to remember that there might already be, and certainly will be, a large pool of people recovered from the mild symptoms. As long as they have immunity we’ll get through this. Until we can identify them though, we need to keep everyone isolated. (and there was an article about the virus being present in lungs for 30 something days after recovery, that would be bad news if true.)

So, if you aren’t stocked up, get there. Stop going out. Time to pull it all in and hope for the best.

nick

Warm and damp.

Yesterday stayed overcast most of the day but then did have a bit of sunshine later.

I spent the am getting blood drawn and ‘wasting time on the internet with my friends’ and the pm running errands. I dropped off some respirators for an auction, went by my rent house and blocked up some holes where the possum was getting in, and went by my secondary location and brought some TP home. Also hid the paper products still there, and covered up some of the food and materiel as well. I don’t want it all here right now. It’s far enough away that if there were severe travel restrictions locally, I might be blocked from getting to it. That’s balanced by its purpose as a backup and offsite storage. Always tradeoffs.

Between the Houston Rodeo cancellation, Trump’s travel restrictions, and the WHO finally declaring the pandemic, some people got a very rude shock today. Add in the later celebrity and sports stars that declared they have WuFlu, and you’ve got a very upset and angry populace.

I’m thinking 5 stages of Grief for some of them.

Some of us think it’s too little too late.

Today I’m taking the kids to get swabbed for ordinary flu, just in case. I don’t usually take them to the Dr, but it’s early enough that the Tamiflu might work. School sent the oldest home with a fever, the youngest came home too. The fever is worrying. Without it, no wuflu. With it, and the cough, and the other symptoms, there’s a possibility. Neither had fever when I sent them yesterday morning. So I’ve got them at home today. I’ve got lots of groceries to put away and stuff to do. I’m going to hunker down if I can. With the kids still in school, there wasn’t a benefit to me isolating, now there is. I’ll try to keep them home Friday too, and then for Spring Break. I just hope I didn’t pick it up somewhere.

Keep stacking. Start your isolation if you think it’s time. I think it’s past time, but we finally hit my trigger- confirmed person to person in town.

nick

(oh and for anyone crying about the Rodeo, the stupid F’ers were using VINEGAR to disinfect because they were told it does a better job on BACTERIA than bleach. I almost don’t believe it, but then the whole place is staffed with third worlders with no germ theory experience. So much fail in one place.)

Cold and clear today.

Cold yesterday. Clear and sunny but cold. Started at 37F with frost on the car windows. That’s pretty cold no matter where you are (Jenny laughs!)

Kids are home today. Water main broke and gave the ISD a reason to cancel classes. I’ve got a ton of running around to do and it will all go slower with the kids in tow. It is what it is, I guess.

WuFlu keeps on keeping on. China says it’s dying out, but I don’t think anyone believes that. Everywhere else, it is doing great. Cali has a case that looks like community transmission, although possibly a link to the flight crew or quarantine exists. Certainly casual contact if the patient can’t recall anything significant.

Iranians seem to be hit harder than others. Their death rate is pretty high. Italians too. Or at least people living in Italy.

For anyone who hasn’t internalized the numbers, Aesop breaks it down. If the lethality is 3% (which doesn’t SOUND that bad) and most people get it, one kid in every classroom will die. One or more people in most small businesses will die. 2 or more people in your family will die. 2 or more people in your circle of friends will die. 1 in every 33… That sounds a bit more ominous than “3%”. So no, NOT the FLU.

Pray it’s not really gonna spread, because just asserting that doesn’t seem like a winning strategy given the way it’s spreading. Pray that the big brains will come up with a vaccine that works on a virus that even when you have it and survive, you don’t get immunity. Pray that it’s not true that the second time you get it, your heart stops and you just fall down dead.

I’m not really much for praying, but that looks like a pretty good backup plan to me.

nick

Cool and damp. [65F and pouring rain at 6am]

Yesterday stayed coolish and damp all day with overcast skies. There was a bit of light misty drizzle around 9pm, but it never really rained.

In WuFlu news, China got sloppy with their lies and now everyone is catching on to the fact they’ve been underreporting infections and deaths. If you assume the virus is exponential in china, like it is everywhere else, the numbers are truly horrifying.

South Korea is F’d. Italy went from none to ~175 in a couple of days. Deaths are starting to show up too. To make it all even worse, there is evidence some guy developed it 27 days after contact. If true, none of the quarantine, for thousands world wide, can be trusted. Potentially infectious people have been returned to their communities.

Essentially overnight Italy closed schools, churches, and canceled public events. 10 or 12 cities are under movement control. Are you ready for something like that?

The next thing to be in short supply seems to be hospital grade disinfectants and cleaners. I spot checked some that are in my local auction, and at least one is completely sold out at the manufacturer’s site. Ebay still has it and prices don’t seem extortionate yet. I’ll be a bidder locally and hopefully a winner.

Besides masks, think about shoe covers or booties. You don’t want to be tracking stuff all over your house. Think about setting up an anteroom or entryway to leave your outerwear and shoes. If the longer incubation is valid, it’s already out in our communities and we just haven’t seen the cases yet.

Think about stuff you need that only comes from China and start getting enough of that. I ordered the cameras I have been thinking about and they shipped today from stock. That won’t be true for long as imported goods start selling out.

If your employment or business depends on large gatherings of people, you might want to look hard at a situation where that doesn’t happen. If I was still doing public events and corporate training conferences, and trade shows for a living I’d be looking for something else to do, BEFORE everyone else is looking too.

This is looking less and less like a nothing burger, and more and more like a world changer.

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And on a completely unrelated note, another whistleblower committed suicide. Hmmmmm.

Keep stacking.

n