The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

elaine241

Well saga continues! Youngest son, who tested positive last Friday has had the third test come back negative. Several phone calls from track and trace resulted in a consultant in public health ringing me. Apparently they had discussed our family (  we are interesting) and had decided that we should all isolate from the day of the positive test. Nice of them to include us in the discussions, typical top down approach! Anyway four days until we technically come out of isolation   we get told to isolate!! just a tad late there! ( I was under the impression that it was two weeks from the test but maybe it is two weeks from first symptoms. Apparently up to 30% of tests give false negatives ( scary!) but it is almost unheard of to get a false positive! But as I pointed out not impossible. Anyway we had already decided to stay home and avoid people. I am still showing symptoms, tight chest, cough feeling yuck, in some ways I feel worse today but I am thinking its the stress and worry added to the lack of good sleep! My youngest son has only left the farm twice in the likely infection period both of these were to his school for his two hours of education. Apparently the Environmental Health Officers have been to the school and had discussions with the head teacher ( again failing to communicate anything to us or discuss with my son who he interacted with). If they wanted a detailed picture of the possible infection scenario not talking to the family and child involved just beggars belief. Parents have "not been that worried" about the virus and it was decided not to send home letters or messages regarding any situations at the school. Words fail me that they can be that condescending to parents thinking we are not worried or up on the details of this pandemic! As I said to the consultant I really wish in this instance I was "thick" and "ignorant" concerning the virus as life would be a lot easier!!

greenbee

@elaine241 - isolation is 14 days from 1st symptom OR until you are symptom free. That's why I had 10 weeks in isolation. And honestly, as there only appears to be a 2 day period during which swabs are likely to be accurate, a positive followed by a negative isn't a huge surprise. Plenty of people who are swabbed as negative have clearly had/got the bug - maybe not a high enough viral load to give a positive swab result, or because symptoms are so varied, not being tested in the right window. Antibody tests are equally problematic as not everyone produces IgM or IgG antibodies (some are T-cell responders) and the antibodies themselves are mostly short-lived. It may be that you were past the window, but your son wasn't. All sorts of possibilities. 

It's worth remembering that we're all learning about this virus - it hasn't been around very long. Scientists have been studying coronaviruses for decades and struggling with them, so it's amazing how much we do know really. 

If anyone hasn't downloaded the symptom tracker, please do so and use it - this is one of the ways that scientists are gathering and sharing information. They're constantly adding new questions, and today sent out a warning that new rashes should be assumed to be a virus symptom. 

Floss

-taff said:

I don't think it needs one, it's not being used in clinical settings, just for joe public...

Which could be said for everything from an asthma inhaler to a new hip joint via the COVID antibody test & treatment drug remdesivir... MHRA approval is required for medicines & healthcare products, not just products used in healthcare. 

-taff

Floss said:

-taff said:

I don't think it needs one, it's not being used in clinical settings, just for joe public...

Which could be said for everything from an asthma inhaler to a new hip joint via the COVID antibody test & treatment drug remdesivir... MHRA approval is required for medicines & healthcare products, not just products used in healthcare. 

Hlafway down, Face coverings

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulatory-status-of-equipment-being-used-to-help-prevent-coronavirus-covid-19

Floss

-taff said:

Floss said:

-taff said:

I don't think it needs one, it's not being used in clinical settings, just for joe public...

Which could be said for everything from an asthma inhaler to a new hip joint via the COVID antibody test & treatment drug remdesivir... MHRA approval is required for medicines & healthcare products, not just products used in healthcare. 

Hlafway down, Face coverings

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulatory-status-of-equipment-being-used-to-help-prevent-coronavirus-covid-19

The concern is more the "covid-safe" claim than the face mask itself.

-taff

They thought the same thing...looks like they were trying to get it classed as PPE not a face covering but either couldn't match the standards or didn't comply, because, and I quote ' Is it a mask? Is it a face covering? Is it personal protection? '

Patently, it is a face covering because it doesn't look like a mask at all.

However, according to their blog, Dr Robert Lambkin-Williams [Mr Virology] appeared to say that the protein that covered their snood did work at a cellular level and deserved more research, which doesn't exactly make their claims legitimate, but doesn't undermine them significantly either. Who knows seems to be the answer. It can't hurt, and it may help. Not sure I'd buy one though....

Si_Clist

Meanwhile ...

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-skin-rash-can-be-only-covid-19-symptom-and-should-be-fourth-key-sign-study-finds-12029116?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter

and ref the second wave, it seems that the plan is for the Nightingale hospital at the NEC to be re-assembled and ready to rock in October.

-taff

I had my blood taken Tuesday, the nurse thinks in the winter too...I saw her winter and raised her a September but she wasn't bluffing, so she won

DigForVictory

I don't bet with nurses. Approach as supplicant, mostly. The local drop in centre knew I'd copped a head injury not just by the blood trickles but something in the way I walked to the desk. Happily past history & I have returned to my usual punctilious courtesy. How best to find out when the flu jab is expected in?!

elaine241

Hello All
Well I am feeling a lot better today after having a relapse yesterday and feeling awful, tight chest and the dreaded cough. I did the only thing I could think of and went to bed even if it was 5.30pm!! Twelve hours of almost unbroken sleep ( dog needed a pee!) I woke up this morning to feeling a lot more human. Not 100% but able to go pick peas and courgettes in the veg patch, make bread, pizza dough and boil up white currants for white currant jelly. One thing I learnt from the old MAFF book recommended on here, I bought a copy online, was to reboil the fruit pulp the next day to extract more juice and be a more economical use of currants. I have tried this today so I will see if it works.
I think I have overdone it a bit now as I am exhausted. Couldn't resist taking my horse for a ride round the farm as the weather here is lovely. 
I am determined to muck out the pantry as it looks like a bomb has gone off! Honestly you feel unwell for a few days and the house looks like a squat! I am going to remove all the jars of jam and fruit from there and just use it for staples. I am going to see if I can sort a jam and pickles cupboard on the farm yard and just bring what we need down to the house. I am definitely going to stock up on more bread flour as I seem to be making bread daily! Now I have got the hang of it it takes no time at all to make in the mixer with the dough hook. Really the only time is leaving it to rise.
Now the veg patch is starting to produce I am keeping a record of what I use or freeze to give me an idea of the quantities and variety of produce I am producing. It will be interesting to see how much I can actually produce. 
Hope everyone is OK, stocking up on masks, plague or otherwise, and hand sanitiser. I bought a litre of the alcohol based sanitiser on Amazon and refilled the pump spray bottles as it was more economical.