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Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

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Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#281

Post by jacquesm »

Hnrobert42 wrote: post #265
rp00 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with your sentiment about preppier mentality strongly. For me, it’s not about prepping to survive like THIS is a world-ending event, it’s about not getting caught in a rush to get supplies or stampedes when people panic. Tbh, that’s more of a concern than the disease. That said, the serious complication rate is higher than the flu. The r0 is much higher than the flu. The disease is spread asymptomatically.…

Either A. the r0 is much higher due to asymptomatic spreading OR B. the serious complication rate is higher. It’s likely not both. If A. is true, the serious complication rate is likely overstated because there are lots of asymptomatic people who are getting counted.

The serious complication rate is ~20% or so of confirmed cases, that's pretty high.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#282

Post by cycrutchfield »

Recursing wrote: post #251
cycrutchfield wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think of it this way. You are currently living in Wuhan circa mid-to-late January. Extrapolate from there.

Mortality in the west is way lower than what's been reported in China, healthcare and hygiene are very different, as is the distribution network. Even in wuhan the situation is stabilizing

Mortality in the west is way lower because the scale of the disease has not yet reached outbreak proportions. When it reaches outbreak proportions, such as what we saw in Wuhan, hospitals get completely overrun. There are not enough ICU beds or ventilators to support patients. Mortality rate spikes.

You are totally mistaken if you think that this cannot happen in the West. But by all means continue to bury your head in the sand.

By the way, you are in a country where the cultural norm is to greet one another with cheek-kissing. You're really in no place to lecture anybody else on hygiene.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#283

Post by titzer »

ravenstine wrote: post #216
ryan-allen wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What fasting method do you practice? It sounds interesting!

I don't have much of a specific method, but usually I try to go at least 48 hours and limit myself to a 1 hour eating window. The key is getting your electrolytes. It's amazing how big a difference they make. Otherwise, I just take fasting day by day. I try to be conscientious and recognize whether I'm genuinely hungry or just desiring food because I'm bored. If it's the former, I'll break my fast. I eat pretty healt…

48 hours is about the most that I have done.

Even at 24 hours you begin to recognize how much of modern life revolves around eating. Trying taking a stroll through the city while fasting. Within 10 seconds you see people eating icecream, candy bars, cokes, a zillion restaurants, convenience stores, not to mention alcohol.

With fasting I found I had low energy and would be really, really bored. There was a lot of temptation to fill time with just munching on something.

I also found that when I broke my fast, I didn't eat as much as I expected to. No huge pigout meal or anything.

I am not religious, but I think Ramadan is an example of a really healthy religious practice because it reminds people of their relation to food.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#284

Post by heavyset_go »

For those of you who think the odds of dying from this outbreak are low: you're probably right. However, rolling the dice with any kind of pneumonia is a bad idea. Viral pneumonia opens you up to potentially acquiring a secondary bacterial pneumonia infection, which have much higher mortality rates. Bacterial pneumonia has a 30% mortality rate.

I had pneumonia in the past, and that experience was the only time I truly believed that I might die. It's a truly incapacitating condition.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#285

Post by the_watcher »

Someone1234 wrote: post #2

I'm not. There's no meaningful preparations for avoiding what is essentially a really dangerous variant of the common cold at an individual level. Now governments and the medical field should be preparing for it. But most of that is logistical problems (e.g. number of hospital beds, preparing quarantine plans, test kits, etc). You can order a bunch of masks if it makes you feel better, but countries with common mask…

I don't think OP is asking about preparing for or avoiding actually getting the disease. OP is asking about preparing for potential shortages of goods if quarantines are ultimately deployed in the US (which is what's already happening globally).

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#286

Post by jacquesm »

gonehome wrote: post #105
dfsegoat wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this to be pretty alarmist. "If the pandemic hits" ... the virus has already hit. The WHO itself has backed off the Pandemic classification [1]. The virus has an overall 98% survival rate, and most diagnosed cases in the US, are not actually showing any symptoms (which itself is a cause for concern re: spread). The annual Flu, MERS and SARS were far far worse. The flu kills between 26,000 and 52,000 annually i…

I think the Flu mortality rate is 0.1% and Coronavirus is 2%? That seems pretty dramatic, the earlier article about the disease in China stated that some percentage of people that get infected require ICU attention to oxygenate their blood or they die (and it doesn't seem like it's limited only to old or at risk people). That seems a lot worse than the seasonal flu? With SARS and MERS we got lucky because they didn't…

The higher mortality rate of SARS and MERS - counterintuitively - helped to contain it, as well as the fact that it was only spread by people showing symptoms.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#287

Post by heavyset_go »

kaffeemitsahne wrote: post #255
heavyset_go wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, and the process is hard on the kidneys.

Which one, muscle or fat burning?

Breakdown of muscle tissue releases proteins that are damaging to the kidneys. It's called rhabdomyolysis. Excessive exertion, infections and starvation can cause it.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#288

Post by jacquesm »

hunta2097 wrote: post #128
dfsegoat wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> more lethal than flu/MERS/SARS WHO reports a 34% fatality rate for MERS, while at present it is around 2.4% for COVID-19 [2]. So it would be helpful if you provide sources when throwing down comments like this. I'll admit it's more contagious, as they state below, but again, most US cases are asymptomatic. 1 - https://www.who.int/emergencies/mers-cov/en/ 2 - http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/study-…

The mortality rate is likely to increase of health services get overwhelmed. This happened in China, hopefully current measures can prevent breakout infections. I worry what will happen if the outbreak reaches densely populated areas in India.

This is spot on. As long as ICU capacity is not overwhelmed this can be dealt with.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#289

Post by [deleted] »

disabled wrote: post #259
Buttons840 wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was just an idea. You're right that it may have adverse effects. Yet I wonder: Viruses live longer on a "clean-looking" doorknob than they do in a towel, for example. This was very counter-intuitive to me. So when it comes to a virus, would they live longer on skin or on a bandage or piece of tape?

Thank you for acknowledging this. I really appreciate it. The issue is that the adhesive from tape is a form of glue. It attracts and keeps hold of germs. Plus, it is extremely hard to get fully off in terms of disinfection purposes. I had a central line (dialysis catheter) in my chest for 4 months for a procedure called plasma exchange. You cannot take a shower with an exposed central line. A single drop of water on…

[deleted]
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