The whole thing is just getting so mysterious and scary. Oh get this, Trumps son-in-law was put in charge of a group of corporate workers who volunteered their time to try to acquire masks, gowns etc for caregivers. Problem was not one of them had any contacts, or understood purchasing, the acquisition process etc so they got like 75 masks - it was supposed to be more like 75,000 - we are in such short supply it's insane. I had influenza H1N1 a (mutation) a few years ago and was hospitalized and in ICU for 2 weeks. They sent be home when I was only in "fair" condition because of the fear of catching something else. The amount of gowns and masks the nurses go through just caring for one person is astronomical. I got an immune booster shot about 2 yrs ago (it cost my insurance company $38,000) frankly I wonder sometimes why bother? I'm completely disabled and don't contribute one bit to society other than I really don't want to die. I have "end-stage" COPD a disease caused by smoking (of course) as well as a large chemical spill when I was in graduate school of an industrial pesticide. So at my stage I have what is called an FEV1 of 20% (forced expository volume - meaning how much can I blow out of my lungs compared to somebody my age and size. At my age 70% would be normal, nobody has 100%. When I had H1N1 I went from 36% down to 20% and was put on oxygen for the rest of my life. Can you imagine me surviving COVID-19? And I live in total fear of being placed on a ventilator. For this illness - once your placed on a ventilator 88% of people die on them. You get treated like **** with this illness- -worse than the obese and those with diabetes who also did it to themselves - they get more compassion than ex-smokers. I quit 15 yrs ago - that's how long I smoked and I was a light smoker. I quit wondering why it happened to me. I was going to get on a transplant list but you have to live within a 2 hour drive to a transplant center and have someone who can care for you for 2-3 yrs (criteria which are hard to meet) Nearest transplant center is a 5 hour drive and I have nobody to give up their entire life and take me there for such a long time. Insurance doesn't cover the cost of housing, cost of home health care except for about 20 hours a week.
Oh and note the number of mutations - virologists pay close attention to how viruses mutate so they can create a vaccine that only attacks those parts of the virus that have shown to be least likely to mutate. If they guess right then it will cover the original virus as well as most of the mutations now and forever ideally.
Good luck at not getting sick - I don't leave my house very often - have my groceries delivered, i hired a friend to help clean the fish tanks. I was "lucky" you could say in that my husband died 2 yrs ago (he had experienced 8 heart attacks, was diabetic had been a heavy smoker but little COPD but had kidney failrue) so we buy a car and he's out there moving things from one car to another. They had parked the cars in an area where the ice had not been cleared and he slipped and fell and hit the back of his head; Got home, ate dinner and suddenly he couldn't walk or move his left side so I called 911. But the time I got to the hospital he could barely speak or move and was in a semi-coma where he remained until I decided to "pull the cord" - he died 30 minutes later. Unlike the virus, at least he could be held by his wife and children as he died. I was awarded a decent sum of money (attorney took 40% of it) but at least I had enough money to live well after he died - I also get part of his social security and his pension so I just invested the rest of it and haven't touched it. I have a large life insurance policy plus his money to leave my daughter (who is expecting a baby boy any day) - so I consider myself very lucky but miss my husband very much but if I die from this virus she will be a very wealthy woman.
edition.cnn.com
