Oh to be in Germany!

[nineveh_uk]

Where trained medical students chat to people at home with coronavirus and if necessary a team pops round in a taxi to make sure people really are all right and sometimes finds that they are not and takes them into hospital. And thus people who are moving from mild to serious cases are identified, treated, and fewer die. My boss asked if I needed medical treatment, and I didn't quite type *hollow laughter*, but it was tempting. No, I don't need medical treatment, but it would be nice to be not making judgments entirely on ones own with the only option of not doing so being sudden severe breathing issues. Though at least I am lucky because I haven't got any breathing issues, and thus not only is that good in itself, but I could easily tell if I suddenly got worse, something rather more difficult for people who've been having more severe issues for a week or more. As for recovery, there's basically nothing on the NHS website at all about that as a process. It's all "if you've still got a temp after 7 days stay in isolation, otherwise go about your business!"

I suppose the ability to feel irritated is a good sign. The big sign that I'm not well is that I'm not up to doing any ironing, which is my chosen activity to feel virtuous when I've got a stinking cold.

Meanwhile the PM is in intensive care and the government is still downplaying it. Not on a ventilator, apparently, but given that he was apparently doing just fine yesterday morning and running the country from his hospital bed, I'm not inclined to take Michael Gove giving a positive spin as 100% the truth. On a larger scale, I think such downplaying is genuinely unhelpful for population health. The message going out at the moment should be "if you are ill, look after yourself and rest as much as you can to get better" not "if you are ill, soldier on and do everything you can until get worse." Watching TV or sitting in the garden reading light fiction is a civic duty when the alternative is popping to the shops and spreading infection, or making yourself worse so that you need additional resources.

Comments

[mountainkiss]

I so very strongly agree with your last paragraph.

[nineveh_uk]

Hurting yourself to no end is not in fact a good thing!

[mountainkiss]

Also do not make decisions affecting other people when a long way from full strength. It is irresponsible.

[nineveh_uk]

YES!!!!

[lilysea]

The message going out at the moment should be "if you are ill, look after yourself and rest as much as you can to get better" not "if you are ill, soldier on and do everything you can until get worse." Watching TV or sitting in the garden reading light fiction is a civic duty when the alternative is popping to the shops and spreading infection, or making yourself worse so that you need additional resources.

Especially since it sounds like COVID can be remitting-relapsing - people feel a lot better, do a tiny bit of activity, and end up in hospital.

[nineveh_uk]

Yeah, while I don't seem to be on the hospital end, it's clear that this is not a bug to mess about with, given the prospect of all three of the direct effects, the immune system going barmy, and secondary infection. When you end up on a ventilator, you will not be glad you sent that last email!

[pensnest]

I worry about my bro-in-law, who lives alone and is a little more fragile than average in terms of health. We're keeping in touch, and I'm sure he is avoiding all human contact as far as he can, but it would be so reassuring to have qualified people checking up on him!

Yeah, perhaps the PM should have handed over his duties a little bit sooner. I think we could all do with a bit more information on what to *do* when we get the virus, beyond 'stay away from people' and into 'these things will help you not to feel too bad/will be good for you'.

[pensnest]

PS That Random icon function is brilliant.

[nineveh_uk]

Yes, I feel that for people whose health or general condition is already below average, this sort of light intervention could be so important in just keeping an eye on their condition. Not just for people getting more serious, either - it would surely be an immense relief for someone in a higher risk group to be being told "It sounds like you're doing just fine"!

[alithea]

Joining the chorus of agreement with your last paragraph. Honestly presenteeism is awful for people's health at any time - my ex-boss expected folks to work while sick and all it does is mean more people get ill and mistakes get made because being ill trashes your concentration even when you aren't risking hospital by not taking it easy.

[nineveh_uk]

My work are ok about it at least on paper, but even so it is really hard to beat one's own programming and too easy to think one is doing the right thing by just trying a bit harder. I once fainted at lunchtime (virus) and went back to work afterwards, a pro presenteeism boss must be horrendous. And as you say, the result is not good quality work!

[antisoppist]

Today I have read a book in the garden.

I hope once this is over we can finally ditch "keep calm and carry on" as the defining identity of the nation or at least edit it to add BUT NOT WHEN YOU ARE ILL.

And yes I know I am really bad at it but that is to do with being self-employed.

[nineveh_uk]

Congratulations on reading your book!

STOP AND GET BETTER is a much better motto sometimes.

[azdak]

It has reached the point when I can't believe a word the government says. Why on earth did they lie about the PM being all perky and running the country from his hospital bed when they must have known there was an excellent chance the next 24 hours would force them to recant that? So now, when they claim he doesn't need a ventilator, I have to resport to kremlinology - that was very specific info about the ventilator, ergo it's on their radar, ergo it must either be a real risk or else he's already on one. The one thing I can't do is say "Phew, no pneumonia and no ventilator, I can stop feeling guilty about having wished him ill."

[nineveh_uk]

I think it's quite revealing of both Johnson's and broader cabinet and government culture. There have been several people who know him saying that Johnson despises people who are ill, as if it is a weakness of character, so obviously when he gets that, he and his cronies are terrified of being judged in the way that they judge others. And I wouldn't be surprised if this goes right back to school, the requirement not to blub when you are sent to boarding school, zero sympathy permitted between peers etc, but of course you also see it in their attitudes to disabled people, who don't deserve enough to live on. And now he is dropped into that category, and he's not an approved target. I think that some part of Johnson and his ilk genuinely don't understand that it the response of most people, seeing someone ill, is not to kick them in the head and call them a big girls blouse. But hence you get Raab saying the following:

"And I'm confident he'll pull through because If there's one thing I know about this prime minister: he's a fighter. And he'll be back at the helm, leading us through this crisis in short order."

But in addition, they obviously simply don't trust each other. When the Norwegian PM took time off with depression, he must have trusted his political allies not to use the opportunity to stab him in the back. Johnson clearly can't do that!

[azdak]

This makes so much sense - it would explain the constant refrain of "Is in good spirits", as if that was somehow reassuring when its actual effect is to make me believe he must be unconscious, otherwise they'd be able to come up with more than just one phrase - it's more bluff and bluster from people terrified of showing weakness. It doesn't make me any less sceptical about their announcements, though.

[nineveh_uk]

I'm assuming he's one stop short of a ventilator, and capable of a weak smile from time to time. Plenty of people are in good spirits when they are well aware that they on their death bed, of course, but Johnson hardly strikes one as having a personality capable of it - though OTOH we know he's great at denial.

[ankaret]

On the bright side, if he recovers, at least we won't get stuck with the scenario where the Tories immediately fast-track his brother (or I suppose his bereaved partner or his omnipresent father, but Jo Johnson is already an MP) to PM and they get another landslide in 2024 or whenever on a wave of sentiment.

[mrs_redboots]

I, too, was lucky in that my lungs were barely affected - my gut, on the other hand.... very nasty! Still not right; all I did yesterday, apart from a meeting with my financial adviser (using Zoom, which I hadn't used before), was make lemon barley water and cook supper, but this morning I was so wobbly I knew I wouldn't be up for going out for a breath of air, which I am so longing to do! It does seem to be very up-and-down, especially in the almost-well stage.

[nineveh_uk]

I was briefly worried by a bit of a cough this morning, until I realised that it was simply some minor throat irritation due to a little overnight sinus congestion, which is to be expected of me at this stage of any respiratory illness (indeed the great irony of not being able to smell much is that my nose is a lot clearer than usual! I can close my mouth and breathe through my nose for the required 5 mins before taking my temperature without discomfort, which is not always the case).

Sorry about the gastric symptoms, I am glad to have avoided those! They do add a lot to the feeling of being low. I have been managing to sit in the garden for a bit on occasion, but am really regretting that I am doing so on an Ikea folding chair, having decided that replacing the sun lounger could wait until spring. Well, fingers crossed for tomorrow, I hope you get about more soon.

[mrs_redboots]

I could wish that our comfortable garden chairs weren't in the motor home, which is off the road for the duration, and in its shed at my brother's place in Sussex!  The ones we have here aren't nearly so comfortable.

When my sense of smell was "off", I had the smell of freshly-washed linen in my nose, which was lovely!  My sense of taste is only just coming back to normal - I've managed half a cup of coffee today, which is huge progress, but it still tastes a little bit of fish....  One day I'll remember that I used to like cheese!  I'm properly dressed today (as opposed to pyjamas) and might try to go out for a very short walk later.