Be careful, be ready!

[chapperz66]

Yes- hypertension - tick
Chronic asthma - tick.
Tachycardia - tick.

I can't imagine I will score very highly on the triage criteria.
Still,  it takes the edge off my chiari issues.

[Kenneth]

Hypertension - that's me buggered.

I wasn't aware of that one.  I'll be keeping a close eye on the spread, the UK government seem to be treating this as a way of fixing the pensions deficit.

Ouch. That's terrible. My thoughts are with you.

Thanks for the thread Alfredo.
Currently I'm sitting at about a 20% kidney function and have been for the past several years.  I know if I  happen to cross paths with this beast from hell I'm done for, at best full dialysis.
Anyhow all the best to everyone here, perhaps with the Spring coming and open windows,  etc. this thing will disappear.  I'm trying to be optimistic,  it's all we can do.

[Greeny (No longer active)]

I'm trying to be optimistic,  it's all we can do.

Optimism and gallows humour.

[Ferryman_1957]

Things looking bad in Italy, so best of luck Alfredo. I guess we have to wait and see what happens here. Probably the best time ever to sit in your bedroom recording music.......

[Jean Pierre]

Yes, a thought for our friend Alfredo ... I have just learned this morning on the radio that 60 million Italians have been quarantined, but is the situation the same in Sicily?

[alfstone]

Yes JP, everywhere in Italy. Schools, pools, gyms, every sport closed for 1 month, every movement outside of every town must be allowed, bars, restaurants, etc. close at 6 pm... it's a nightmare, believe me. The hope all this may have as consequense a more soft wave of the number of new cases instead of the terrible, actual spike.

Back from my studio, working with a FFP3 mask is not the top of life, but thinking about my colleagues in hospitals, after all I can't complain...

Alfredo

[Jean Pierre]

Back from my studio, working with a FFP3 mask is not the top of life,

at the same time you don't need an anti pop filter to sing...no I'm joking when the situation is not funny at all, after all the savoie is not far from the north of italy where the peak is and we are "late on you by a fortnight"...and we could very well be in the same situation in a few weeks time. I was working as you know in a reanimation centre for burn victims in Lyon and when I think about the number of masks we used every day (since we had to throw them away every time we left the room patient, or every time we left the surgical block I calculated: about thirty masks per person for about fifty people per day...that's 1500 masks per day for a big reanimation center!!!..I wonder if they are currently rationed...

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

Prenez soin de vous et soyez prudent cher Alfredo

[Flash Harry]

working with a FFP3 mask is not the top of life, but thinking about my colleagues in hospitals, after all I can't complain...

Do masks protect the wearer or other people Alfredo?

[alfstone]

working with a FFP3 mask is not the top of life, but thinking about my colleagues in hospitals, after all I can't complain...

Do masks protect the wearer or other people Alfredo?

Both. The wearer and the ones in front of. According to WHO, surgical masks are OK to avoid mostly from the infected people to the healthy ones (for this reason they are used in surgery: avoid infections to the ones who RECEIVE surgery) but also the wearer, but not completely. FFP2 are protective for the wearer at 75%, while FFP3 (N95 in the USA)  are protective at 95-98%. For normal people (I mean not doctors, nurses...) surgical are OK. FFP3 *should* be used for not more than 8 hours, since after that they aren't proptective any more, but...I actually have only  a couple of FFP3, a couple of FFP2 and nothing else. So...I hope. I can't do other than this. Of course I also wear gloves and  protective glasses. Everything bought with my MasterCard. Nothing from the Italian NHS. But we ALL GPs are exactly in the same situation. Today the first GP has died. Then My STRONG advice is - if still available - to look for FFP3 or FFP2 (N95) masks.

[Hilary]

Thanks for posting this Alfredo - I was wondering how you were getting on!

I work in a hospital - the only thing for sure it that it's going to be grim . . . and it was already grim before the virus!