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Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19) and Tinnitus

I find the current situation very stressful, especially now that a UK-wide lockdown has gone into effect.

Yesterday, we got an ambiguous email from our CEO that suggests they are "reviewing company roles". There was also a comment saying that this month's payroll would go ahead - the implication being that there had been a possibility that it wouldn't. I am for practical purposes the sole breadwinner for our family and even vaguest notion of my losing my job terrifies me. We are in the process of paying off a number of debts. My wife is a bank (think zero-hours contract) nurse who doesn't keep well at the best of times and who is currently self-isolating. She had been treating COVID patients prior to becoming ill and is now scared of becoming so unwell that she would need to be taken into intensive care.

I woke up after a couple of hours sleep on the sofa tonight with the loudest ringing in my ears I have ever known. I know that stress has always made my tinnitus worse but this is off the chart. But, then, the stress I am feeling is off the charts. Hence, I'm now at the computer typing away rather than trying to get back to sleep.

I've read somewhere that it is common for tinnitus to be very loud upon waking - possibly due to the stress hormone cortisol. So, hopefully, this bout will subside. Today, in terms of the recent spike that I have been experiencing was actually quite good. I hardly gave it a moment's thought.

This is a very stressful time for us all. I hope everyone who reads this is doing well and is managing whatever stress they might be feeling.
Your tinnitus will settle down.

Have a mental rest from COVID-19 news and do some self caring activities.
 
Latest information I have is that a security guard died at the hospital after contracting Covid-19. He was in his 30's and was otherwise fit and healthy. This isn't a rumour, it's been verified and is really tragic.

One of my students got in touch with me earlier so I told him about my mom. He said he is going to check in on her and make sure she is ok and then is going to get back to me. By sheer coincidence, he is working on the same ward this afternoon that my mom is on.

I feel blessed that I know people on the inside as it's the only way that I can find out how she is doing in detail. I can't get through on the main ward phone as I believe the demand is so high. I've been ringing all morning and I can't even get a dial tone. My student said it will be incredibly hard to get through as everyone is ringing it like crazy.
Symptoms now...

Screwed immune system from Lyme...

Tested today with work. Results in 24 hrs.
 
How long will this shit last? (Best estimate).
It might last anywhere between 2 weeks and 2 years!

The tourism industry might take a long time to recover. If many people don't travel even after the restrictions are lifted, some airlines and hotels will go under and it is possible that the cost of flights and hotels will go up to the point where the middle class will no longer afford travel...
 
As of right now 60 deaths in the US which over a 3 month period compared to 34,200 deaths during the 6 months of the 2018-2019 Influenza season. We've yet to experience this supposed "exponential growth" that we keep hearing about.

Right. :facepalm:

upload_2020-3-24_17-40-46.png


Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
 
Sounds like the most promising news on the coronoavirus treatment front so far. I can't help but think they'd get even better results if they upped the amounts administered. -- Snippet from article below the link.. -- @Ed209, are you and your family supplementing with Vitamin C?

New York hospitals treating coronavirus patients with vitamin C
By Lorena Mongelli and Bruce Golding - March 24, 2020 | 5:04pm | Updated

Seriously sick coronavirus patients in New York state's largest hospital system are being given massive doses of vitamin C — based on promising reports that it's helped people in hard-hit China, The Post has learned.

Dr. Andrew G. Weber, a pulmonologist and critical-care specialist affiliated with two Northwell Health facilities on Long Island, said his intensive-care patients with the coronavirus immediately receive 1,500 milligrams of intravenous vitamin C. -- Identical amounts of the powerful antioxidant are then re-administered three or four times a day, he said.

Each dose is more than 16 times the National Institutes of Health's daily recommended dietary allowance of vitamin C, which is just 90 milligrams for adult men and 75 milligrams for adult women. -- The regimen is based on experimental treatments administered to people with the coronavirus in Shanghai, China, Weber said.

"The patients who received vitamin C did significantly better than those who did not get vitamin C," he said. -- "It helps a tremendous amount, but it is not highlighted because it's not a sexy drug."

A spokesman for Northwell — which operates 23 hospitals, including Lenox Hill Hospital on Manhattan's Upper East Side — said that vitamin C was being "widely used" as a coronavirus treatment throughout the system, but noted that medication protocols varied from patient to patient.​
 
I posted that comment on 03/15/20. As of that date the death toll in the US stood at 61.

61² = 3721

https://abcnews.go.com/US/coronavir...s-stuck-long-lines-airports/story?id=69602911

As of March 14th it was 59.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/coronavir...ronavirus-pandemic-stimulus/story?id=69593951

As of March 13th it was 48.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/coronavirus-live-updates-trump-europe-travel-ban-begins/story?id=69575114

As of March 12th it was 40.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/coron...es-issued-globally-pandemic/story?id=69551458

As of March 11th it was 38.

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-11-20-intl-hnk/index.html

As of March 10th it was 32.

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/coronavirus-updates-cases-fears-deaths-us-latest-2020-03-10/

As of March 9th it was 26.

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/coronavirus-updates-cases-fears-deaths-us-latest-2020-03-09/

As of March 8th it was 22.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/08/world/coronavirus-news.html

As of March 7th it was 19.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/1st-coronavirus-case-confirmed-utah-nba-tells-teams/story?id=69451679

As of March 6th it was 15.

https://www.usnews.com/news/nationa...dock-as-us-coronavirus-death-toll-rises-to-15

As of March 5th it was 12.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/coron...er-cases-linked-cruise-ship/story?id=69405170

As of March 4th it was 11.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...irus-as-death-toll-rises-in-u-s-idUSKBN20R28H

As of March 3rd it was 9.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ises-to-9-more-travel-curbs-seen-virus-update

As of March 2nd it was 6.

https://abcnews.go.com/Internationa...irus-outbreak-nears-3000-us/story?id=69330366

As of March 1st it was 2.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/global-de...eaches-3000-confirmed-cases/story?id=69319279

As of February 29th it was 1.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/1st-coronavirus-death-u-s-officials-say-n1145931
 
I thought the following article was interesting (snippet below). He talks about death rates possibly being lower than the flu, but we don't know simply because we don't have access to reliable data. -- I do think he presents some pretty good arguments for not letting our response to this totally upend the world economies for an undue amount of time, because at present, we don't have the data to justify doing that.

The current coronavirus disease, Covid-19, has been called a once-in-a-century pandemic. But it may also be a once-in-a-century evidence fiasco

The data collected so far on how many people are infected and how the epidemic is evolving are utterly unreliable. Given the limited testing to date, some deaths and probably the vast majority of infections due to SARS-CoV-2 are being missed. We don't know if we are failing to capture infections by a factor of three or 300. Three months after the outbreak emerged, most countries, including the U.S., lack the ability to test a large number of people and no countries have reliable data on the prevalence of the virus in a representative random sample of the general population.

This evidence fiasco creates tremendous uncertainty about the risk of dying from Covid-19. Reported case fatality rates, like the official 3.4% rate from the World Health Organization, cause horror -- and are meaningless. Patients who have been tested for SARS-CoV-2 are disproportionately those with severe symptoms and bad outcomes. As most health systems have limited testing capacity, selection bias may even worsen in the near future.

The one situation where an entire, closed population was tested was the Diamond Princess cruise ship and its quarantine passengers. The case fatality rate there was 1.0%, but this was a largely elderly population, in which the death rate from Covid-19 is much higher.

Projecting the Diamond Princess mortality rate onto the age structure of the U.S. population, the death rate among people infected with Covid-19 would be 0.125%. But since this estimate is based on extremely thin data -- there were just seven deaths among the 700 infected passengers and crew -- the real death rate could stretch from five times lower (0.025%) to five times higher (0.625%). It is also possible that some of the passengers who were infected might die later, and that tourists may have different frequencies of chronic diseases -- a risk factor for worse outcomes with SARS-CoV-2 infection -- than the general population. Adding these extra sources of uncertainty, reasonable estimates for the case fatality ratio in the general U.S. population vary from 0.05% to 1%.

That huge range markedly affects how severe the pandemic is and what should be done. A population-wide case fatality rate of 0.05% is lower than seasonal influenza...
 
That's not what the data is telling us, which is the whole point of this argument.

If you start you computation assuming that the death rate is 2%, your computation of the death rate will unsurprisingly be 2%. :facepalm:
No, not quite.

If I start assuming the death rate is 2% it won't give a 2% rate.

For example: 100 active cases, 50 deaths, assuming 2% death rate in my computation:

(50+100*0,02)/(100*0,98)=0,53 so 53%.

That doesn't give 2% as a result.:dohanimation:
 
Your tinnitus will settle down.

Have a mental rest from COVID-19 news and do some self caring activities.
Thank you. It turns out that the CEO chose his words very poorly. He had to make a subsequent statement to the effect that there was no question about salaries being paid in the months ahead. He - unintentionally - spooked an awful lot of people in the organisation through a hastily-written email.
 
My tinnitus became very loud lately. I think this might have to do with the coronavirus stress as I'm always kind of anxious regarding such things. The fact that half of my company is at home office, apart from me, doesn't make it better. Hard times I guess.
 
But, isn't that a graph of cumulative deaths?

A graph showing exponential deaths would show the deaths for each day with an upwards curve.
The derivative of an exponential function is the exponential function itself. On this plot, we see that the increases each day appear to get larger.
 
Sounds like the most promising news on the coronoavirus treatment front so far. I can't help but think they'd get even better results if they upped the amounts administered. -- Snippet from article below the link.. -- @Ed209, are you and your family supplementing with Vitamin C?

Not particularly, no. Taking vitamin c supplements orally will make little to no difference, in my opinion. We are trying to eat well, however, so are eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, etc.
 
@linearb, there's an article on Sky News today talking about viral load. I'll post some of it below even though it's stating the obvious:

What does that mean in practice?

So, if the amount of virus in your blood at first infection directly relates to the severity of the illness you will suffer, it is obviously best to reduce the risk of exposure.

For example, if you are in a pub or another crowded space and a large number are infected with coronavirus but not showing symptoms, you will be breathing in a lot of respiratory droplets which are thought to spread the disease.

This will mean you will absorb a high viral load, which could be so great as to overrun your immune system and cause serious illness.

By contrast, if you sit with only one infected person, you would get a smaller viral load and your immune system will have a better chance of fighting off the virus.

It has been suggested this is why coronavirus is most widespread in London, where people are more likely to congregate in large groups in confined spaces - such as the Tube - and got a large initial viral load.

They could then have gone home and infected their family and friends if they did not follow advice on social distancing.

The rest of the article can be read here:

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavi...-and-why-does-it-matter-for-covid-19-11963393

 
Taking vitamin c supplements orally will make little to no difference, in my opinion.

@Ed209 -- Regarding the article I linked to in an earlier post [New York hospitals treating coronavirus patients with vitamin C] There's a very interesting paragraph toward the end of it.

"... vitamin C levels in coronavirus patients drop dramatically when they suffer sepsis, an inflammatory response that occurs when their bodies overreact to the infection."
I understand your perspective that oral Vit. C may make little difference, as it's absorption rate is only about 20% or so, compared to 90%+ with IV Vit. C. But it appears a considerable number of people with the coronavirus are dieing of sepsis, which has been shown recently to be treated effectively with IV Vit. C.

Even though oral C isn't as effective as IV C, it would seem it could still go a long way toward taking some stresses off the body. I speak from experience; I got into the habit many years ago of taking several grams of Vit C orally whenever I got some kind of cold or flu. It always helped me feel better and kept my energy levels higher than they would normally be.

Not trying to unduly influence your health care decisions, but thought I'd chime in one last time with a bit of information you may find helpful. -- Again, all the best to you and your family!
-
EDIT: I just read something I hadn't been aware of. It's apparently easier to maintain high levels of Vit. C in the body by frequently taking it orally. In comparison, levels of C from IV C can dissipate within a few hours.
 
But, isn't that a graph of cumulative deaths?

It is.

A graph showing exponential deaths would show the deaths for each day with an upwards curve.

Indeed. The deaths for each day keeps increasing (that's what leads to the cumulative curve shape). Here it is:
upload_2020-3-25_7-29-49.png


I'm not saying that we aren't experiencing an exponential growth in deaths by the virus but a graph showing cumulative figures doesn't provide the evidence for that.

It does when it looks like an exponential curve, by definition: the first derivative (which is represented here by the daily deaths) keeps increasing. If the first derivative wasn't increasing and was constant instead, the cumulative curve would be a straight line.

Technically, if the cumulative curve was an exp(), then the first derivative should be an exp() too. In our case, it looks more like a growth in straight line, which means the cumulative looks more like a squared() curve than an exp() at the moment, but for all practical purposes, it's the same dramatic trending.
 
No, not quite.

If I start assuming the death rate is 2% it won't give a 2% rate.

For example: 100 active cases, 50 deaths, assuming 2% death rate in my computation:

(50+100*0,02)/(100*0,98)=0,53 so 53%.

That doesn't give 2% as a result.:dohanimation:

You see nothing wrong with your computation? All of your cases have resulted in death, every single one - nobody has recovered, and somehow your math leads to a death rate of 53%...

Do you look at that and say "thumbs up, my math is correct: nobody has survived this thing yet, so it's about half and half chance to make it"?

Sanity check?
 
@linearb, there's an article on Sky News today talking about viral load. I'll post some of it below even though it's stating the obvious:

What does that mean in practice?

So, if the amount of virus in your blood at first infection directly relates to the severity of the illness you will suffer, it is obviously best to reduce the risk of exposure.

For example, if you are in a pub or another crowded space and a large number are infected with coronavirus but not showing symptoms, you will be breathing in a lot of respiratory droplets which are thought to spread the disease.

This will mean you will absorb a high viral load, which could be so great as to overrun your immune system and cause serious illness.

By contrast, if you sit with only one infected person, you would get a smaller viral load and your immune system will have a better chance of fighting off the virus.

It has been suggested this is why coronavirus is most widespread in London, where people are more likely to congregate in large groups in confined spaces - such as the Tube - and got a large initial viral load.

They could then have gone home and infected their family and friends if they did not follow advice on social distancing.

The rest of the article can be read here:

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavi...-and-why-does-it-matter-for-covid-19-11963393

Wearing a surgical mask will help to lower the viral load...
 
(50+100*0,02)/(100*0,98)
The denominator represents the number of people in the 100 active cases who end up recovering. The numerator represents the total number who die. The problem is that you are not taking into account the group of past active cases that had produced those 50 fatalities. Your assumption of a 2% fatality rate means that there were 50/0.02 = 2500 people in that group. To compute the fatality rate using your assumptions we would look at the total number of people who die 50+2 = 52 and divide it by all of the cases (2500 + 100). So we get 52/2600 = 0.02 or 2%. We assumed a fatality rate of 2%, and that's what we get - everything is consistent. I am not sure what (50+100*0,02)/(100*0,98) could represent.
 
Why are so few Germans dying from the coronavirus? Experts wonder

Snippet from article:

"The numbers we're getting from the other countries have probably overestimated the infection fatality rate, so that's Italy, Spain, France, the U.K. and the U.S., because there is not enough testing," said Miguel Hernan, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard.

"Having said that, the 0.4 percent we're seeing in Germany is strikingly low," he added, "when you compare it with other countries with similar health care systems and even more testing, like South Korea."

Despite its wide number of tests, experts still "believe there is a lot of underdiagnosis also in Germany," according to Sabine Gabrysch, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health. "We mostly only test those who had contact with confirmed cases or traveled to risk areas."​
 
"... vitamin C levels in coronavirus patients drop dramatically when they suffer sepsis, an inflammatory response that occurs when their bodies overreact to the infection."

Here's another (apparently) major issue with severe cases.

"They're not dying because their heart fails, they're not dying of shock," Rizzo said. "They're dying because they just can't get oxygen to their bloodstream, and that makes other organs fail, as well."

I'm fortunate to have a home mHBOT unit, which can literally flood the body with oxygen. No way I would go to a hospital and deprive somebody else of a ventilator if I would happen to get a severe case. Though I think that likelihood is quite remote.
 
@Ed209 -- Regarding the article I linked to in an earlier post [New York hospitals treating coronavirus patients with vitamin C] There's a very interesting paragraph toward the end of it.

"... vitamin C levels in coronavirus patients drop dramatically when they suffer sepsis, an inflammatory response that occurs when their bodies overreact to the infection."
I understand your perspective that oral Vit. C may make little difference, as it's absorption rate is only about 20% or so, compared to 90%+ with IV Vit. C. But it appears a considerable number of people with the coronavirus are dieing of sepsis, which has been shown recently to be treated effectively with IV Vit. C.

Even though oral C isn't as effective as IV C, it would seem it could still go a long way toward taking some stresses off the body. I speak from experience; I got into the habit many years ago of taking several grams of Vit C orally whenever I got some kind of cold or flu. It always helped me feel better and kept my energy levels higher than they would normally be.

Not trying to unduly influence your health care decisions, but thought I'd chime in one last time with a bit of information you may find helpful. -- Again, all the best to you and your family!
-
EDIT: I just read something I hadn't been aware of. It's apparently easier to maintain high levels of Vit. C in the body by frequently taking it orally. In comparison, levels of C from IV C can dissipate within a few hours.
Lane I know you have good intentions but you are flogging a dead horse here!

Majority of people are simply "main stream" and don't believe in anything that isn't main stream!

It's their choice and right.

My whole family is taking a looot of Vit C, D and melatonin.

It may not stop us from getting corona but it sure will help us be stronger to deal with it!

BTW I love your posts, some of it I already know but there's always something new to learn.
 

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