@@ November thread - covid/rsv/flu and general

[waverly]

Nov 7, 2022 13:09:34 GMT -5 lucybrown said:

Nov 7, 2022 8:27:37 GMT -5 lucybrown said:

Our 11yo has COVID again. The rest of us are negative so far, but DS (4) has a cough that is very barky sounding. No fever. I’m debating taking him in to make sure it’s not pneumonia. H and DS have had colds for a week or so, but seemed to be on the upswing.

November 2020 and 2021 were complete shitshows. I feel myself involuntarily bracing for the worst. Circumstances are better now, but the fatigue is higher.

Update: DS tested positive for Covid this morning and quickly went downhill. High fever, barky cough, fatigue, aches, zero appetite. I’m still concerned about pneumonia, but don’t want to take him in unless absolutely necessary.

Barky Cough makes me think croup like.  If you have a nebulizer already, you may want to use it.  We had one from all the reactive airway stuff after viruses.  

[Poeticxpassion]

All 3 of us are still sick here. I have a cough that won’t stop, DH has cold like symptoms and DS has a cough and runny nose. I kept DS home for 4 days last week. The winter will be so long and hard for us.

I can’t wait to get our truancy letter for missing more than 5 days of school.

[pixy0stix]

My kid starts a new daycare tomorrow, and now I'm worried I should put him in a bubble before our trip in 2 weeks.

[okla]

My H is just getting over Norovirus, so I guess there’s that to worry about too.

[starburst]

Daycare is closed tomorrow for the second day in a row because of a flu outbreak in both staff and students.

A student threw up in my classroom today.

A teacher had to leave her classroom to throw up today, but she had to stay and teach the rest of the day because there are no subs.

How is this sustainable?

[georgeglass]

My son just tested positive for flu, along with tons of his friends. Homecoming dance was Saturday night. Interestingly, he tested positive for flu B when most around us are flu A.

During the exam, they asked to take an oral temp and he didn't know how to use an oral thermometer. I had to show him how to lift his tongue. He is 18.

I told him about the glass thermometers when I was little and he said, "yeah, I've seen those in cartoons."

[noodleoo]

Hugs to everyone dealing with sick kids. We’re on the tail end of whatever virus we all had. DD2 ended up with an ear infection a week after the virus and I’m curious if it was RSV. W didn’t get her tested so who knows but it seems to be going around and her cough was worse than her usual colds.

I’m beyond passed off that my work chose *now* to mandate we all come back to the office. I have a WFH agreement signed off my by manager and HR earlier this year, but suddenly our ExCo decided with one weeks notice they are canceling all of them. Never mind that no one I work witb is local anymore. 🤬 We’re mandated to come back 3 days a week asap, oh but also don’t come to work sick. Which is it because someone in my house is probably going to be sick until about May. The way they shit on parents of young kids is so frustrating.

[pixy0stix]

Nov 7, 2022 19:19:12 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Hugs to everyone dealing with sick kids. We’re on the tail end of whatever virus we all had. DD2 ended up with an ear infection a week after the virus and I’m curious if it was RSV. W didn’t get her tested so who knows but it seems to be going around and her cough was worse than her usual colds.

I’m beyond passed off that my work chose *now* to mandate we all come back to the office. I have a WFH agreement signed off my by manager and HR earlier this year, but suddenly our ExCo decided with one weeks notice they are canceling all of them. Never mind that no one I work witb is local anymore. 🤬 We’re mandated to come back 3 days a week asap, oh but also don’t come to work sick. Which is it because someone in my house is probably going to be sick until about May. The way they shit on parents of young kids is so frustrating.

This seems like a good way for them to lose their workforce.

[lillaguma]

DD woke up this morning with a barky, awful cough and sounding like she could barely breathe. I could not miss my work day so DH stayed home, and took her in to our pediatrician's walk-in hours. She tested negative for covid, negative for flu (her teacher told me flu A is going around the classroom) but they sent her over to the ER to have an xray done on her lungs. Turns out she has pneumonia. It's crazy - she was not sick AT ALL yesterday. Nothing. Not even the beginnings of a cold, nothing that we noticed. She's doing ok and has started an antibiotic, but dang. It came on so fast.

[seeyalater52]

Nov 7, 2022 19:19:12 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Hugs to everyone dealing with sick kids. We’re on the tail end of whatever virus we all had. DD2 ended up with an ear infection a week after the virus and I’m curious if it was RSV. W didn’t get her tested so who knows but it seems to be going around and her cough was worse than her usual colds.

I’m beyond passed off that my work chose *now* to mandate we all come back to the office. I have a WFH agreement signed off my by manager and HR earlier this year, but suddenly our ExCo decided with one weeks notice they are canceling all of them. Never mind that no one I work witb is local anymore. 🤬 We’re mandated to come back 3 days a week asap, oh but also don’t come to work sick. Which is it because someone in my house is probably going to be sick until about May. The way they shit on parents of young kids is so frustrating.

Oh great idea to throw parents of little kids into the virus-soup of a workplace when there are no peds ICU beds in a 4 state radius and record numbers are being hospitalized for flu, covid, and RSV.

I’m so sorry. I don’t know what they think we are supposed to do.

[seeyalater52]

I’m sorry to everyone who is coping with the merry go round of illnesses. My kiddo has been sick on and off since August but thankfully nothing serious. He’s just perpetually snuffy.

I’m flying for work next week and dreading that I’m certain to come home with some sort of nasty germs.

[macmars45]

Hugs to everyone dealing with sick kiddos.

I got DS6 his bivalent vaccine appt for Veterans Day so he'll have 3 days to feel better from the side effects.

[lucybrown]

Nov 7, 2022 14:01:36 GMT -5 waverly said:

Nov 7, 2022 13:09:34 GMT -5 lucybrown said:

Update: DS tested positive for Covid this morning and quickly went downhill. High fever, barky cough, fatigue, aches, zero appetite. I’m still concerned about pneumonia, but don’t want to take him in unless absolutely necessary.

Barky Cough makes me think croup like.  If you have a nebulizer already, you may want to use it.  We had one from all the reactive airway stuff after viruses.  

That’s what I thought too. The bark is gone today, but he has definite retractions. I’m going to monitor for a few hours before calling the pedi for their opinion. I borrowed a pulse ox and numbers are good.

[lucybrown]

Nov 7, 2022 20:56:09 GMT -5 lillaguma said:

DD woke up this morning with a barky, awful cough and sounding like she could barely breathe. I could not miss my work day so DH stayed home, and took her in to our pediatrician's walk-in hours. She tested negative for covid, negative for flu (her teacher told me flu A is going around the classroom) but they sent her over to the ER to have an xray done on her lungs. Turns out she has pneumonia. It's crazy - she was not sick AT ALL yesterday. Nothing. Not even the beginnings of a cold, nothing that we noticed. She's doing ok and has started an antibiotic, but dang. It came on so fast.

I’m sorry. This has happened to us as well. Pneumonia seemed to come on out of nowhere.

I hope she feels better soon.

[litebright]

Well, we have joined the sick crew. DD2 crawled into bed with us sometime in the wee hours. I didn't even bother to take her temp, she was radiating so much heat -- I just gave her ibuprofen and we went back to sleep.

She tested negative for covid on Saturday b/c of a tickle in her throat, we are doing another covid test now and I'm taking her in for a flu test this afternoon. She has been sneezing like crazy the last few days, we thought with the 70-degree temps that her allergies were acting up again. The girls and I got our flu shots a week ago, so we're not quite at the full-protection mark.

Both kids are off school today anyway, for election day. But DH is supposed to leave Saturday for a weeklong work trip to do field testing in Hawaii. Hopefully he can stay healthy -- he rarely gets what the kids do, so fingers crossed.

[audette]

We don't have an non-kid thread for Covid stuff, so, figured I'd put this here...


www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/11/08/1134982401/new-va-study-finds-paxlovid-may-cut-the-risk-of-long-covid?utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR0H4tNvjfOtx0_guvNAmAq3cGg9jTj8kgPu5ofJRnaaCOo503Er7QGHo-I


It's not yet peer reviewed, but the VA has studied the records of patients that were Covid positive, and seem to have found that those who take paxlovid have a reduced chance of having long-Covid.  There are limits to the study, but it sounds like promising information.

[pixy0stix]

Nov 8, 2022 12:54:17 GMT -5 audette said:

We don't have an non-kid thread for Covid stuff, so, figured I'd put this here...


www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/11/08/1134982401/new-va-study-finds-paxlovid-may-cut-the-risk-of-long-covid?utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR0H4tNvjfOtx0_guvNAmAq3cGg9jTj8kgPu5ofJRnaaCOo503Er7QGHo-I


It's not yet peer reviewed, but the VA has studied the records of patients that were Covid positive, and seem to have found that those who take paxlovid have a reduced chance of having long-Covid.  There are limits to the study, but it sounds like promising information.

If only it didn't taste so bad.

[seeyalater52]

Nov 8, 2022 12:54:17 GMT -5 audette said:

We don't have an non-kid thread for Covid stuff, so, figured I'd put this here...


www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/11/08/1134982401/new-va-study-finds-paxlovid-may-cut-the-risk-of-long-covid?utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR0H4tNvjfOtx0_guvNAmAq3cGg9jTj8kgPu5ofJRnaaCOo503Er7QGHo-I


It's not yet peer reviewed, but the VA has studied the records of patients that were Covid positive, and seem to have found that those who take paxlovid have a reduced chance of having long-Covid.  There are limits to the study, but it sounds like promising information.

I wish it was easier to get. And I wish it had a better risk reduction. Even with the reduction the numbers in this study make me feel… frustrated. We just do not have the right tools to combat this freaking virus. Every piece of the puzzle helps though.

I do wonder if a longer course would increase that efficacy number at all. There’s been a lot of speculation that the (seemingly increasing) “rebound” effect with Paxlovid is due to the 5 day course being too short to be effective.

[waverly]

I went to the doctor with Covid. I didn't specifically ask for Paxlovid, but seeing whether they suggested it based on my symptoms and vitals. They did not suggest it, so I guess they didn't think I was bad enough. Since it prevents long Covid shouldn't the threshold be lowered for when they would prescribe it? Many people with a mild case have long Covid.

[litebright]

DD2 has now tested negative for covid 2x and negative for flu once. The doc said it might be too early for a positive flu test (only about 12 hours into symptoms) and suspects flu anyway, based on how much flu is going around DD2's middle school (she had three other flu cases from that school just today).

So DD2 is on Tamiflu now, but judging by how much the cough has picked up this evening, it's going to be a rough night.

[lucybrown]

I took DS in yesterday and they suspect flu or another virus on top of covid. Our pedi doesn’t test for flu. His fever is down today, but he’s still sick.

As predicted, holding a sick kid for 3 days wasn’t a great idea. I feel like garbage. Still testing negative for Covid and it feels like the flu. Boo.

[abs]

I cannot recall ever seeing purple on the flu map before. Holy yikes.

www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm

DD said half her ELA class was out yesterday. Sure hope this peaks soon. I feel so bad for all the kids and all the teachers dealing with being sick and the absurd make up work that follows.

[lemoncupcake]

Nov 8, 2022 20:49:46 GMT -5 litebright said:

DD2 has now tested negative for covid 2x and negative for flu once. The doc said it might be too early for a positive flu test (only about 12 hours into symptoms) and suspects flu anyway, based on how much flu is going around DD2's middle school (she had three other flu cases from that school just today).

So DD2 is on Tamiflu now, but judging by how much the cough has picked up this evening, it's going to be a rough night.

Did they do a rapid flu test or PCR/lab flu test? I’m hearing from some people that their rapid flu tests were negative but the longer lab test came positive.

[icedcoffee]

Do we know if we're seeing a lot of the flu cases in people who were vaccinated? I'm wondering if the shot we got is effective against this strain.

It's going to be a long winter. Hopefully the extended school closures near Thanksgiving will help and not hurt the positive rates.

[kath16]

Nov 11, 2022 9:13:27 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Do we know if we're seeing a lot of the flu cases in people who were vaccinated? I'm wondering if the shot we got is effective against this strain.

It's going to be a long winter. Hopefully the extended school closures near Thanksgiving will help and not hurt the positive rates.

i am really just praying that our flu shots help everything else is beyond my control at this point

[TR]

Nov 11, 2022 9:13:27 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Do we know if we're seeing a lot of the flu cases in people who were vaccinated? I'm wondering if the shot we got is effective against this strain.

It's going to be a long winter. Hopefully the extended school closures near Thanksgiving will help and not hurt the positive rates.

This is not going to be super helpful because I can't remember where I saw it, but I did see something that this year's vaccine was a pretty good match.

ETA: lol I do NOT recommend searching Twitter for "flu vaccine" to try and find the answer. Holy yikes.

[litebright]

Nov 11, 2022 8:53:15 GMT -5 lemoncupcake said:

Nov 8, 2022 20:49:46 GMT -5 litebright said:

DD2 has now tested negative for covid 2x and negative for flu once. The doc said it might be too early for a positive flu test (only about 12 hours into symptoms) and suspects flu anyway, based on how much flu is going around DD2's middle school (she had three other flu cases from that school just today).

So DD2 is on Tamiflu now, but judging by how much the cough has picked up this evening, it's going to be a rough night.

Did they do a rapid flu test or PCR/lab flu test? I’m hearing from some people that their rapid flu tests were negative but the longer lab test came positive.

They did the rapid, but TBH I am really skeptical that it was flu. She spiked a fever for a few hours one night and has had nothing since. She's a little congested and has a mild, mostly dry cough, but no digestive issues (doc said she is seeing a lot of digestive issues & vomiting with flu), never lost her appetite, never was super lethargic, etc. We kept her home until she was fever-free for 24 hours, then sent her back to school masked. Did the tamiflu for a couple of days but even that seemed like overkill and the doc said we could stop that, so we did.

It really just did not seem like flu to me, it was way too mild. Given the negative flu and covid tests, it might have been a second round of the random virus that was going around about a month ago. 

[icedcoffee]

Nov 11, 2022 10:13:55 GMT -5 TR said:

Nov 11, 2022 9:13:27 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Do we know if we're seeing a lot of the flu cases in people who were vaccinated? I'm wondering if the shot we got is effective against this strain.

It's going to be a long winter. Hopefully the extended school closures near Thanksgiving will help and not hurt the positive rates.

This is not going to be super helpful because I can't remember where I saw it, but I did see something that this year's vaccine was a pretty good match.

ETA: lol I do NOT recommend searching Twitter for "flu vaccine" to try and find the answer. Holy yikes.

Hooray!  A lot of the positives I'm seeing are people who only got the vax like a week before or hadn't gotten it yet, so YAY for getting ours in Sept!  Fingers crossed!

[zarapipe]

lucybrown your pedi doesn’t test for flu? I’ve never heard of that- how strange.

I’m about 90% about to cancel our Disney trip in December bc my kids are gross and I know we will come back with something right before Christmas and it’s not worth it. Maybe when the little one quits touching everything and sucking her thumb we can go.

[lucybrown]

Nov 11, 2022 12:14:09 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

lucybrown your pedi doesn’t test for flu? I’ve never heard of that- how strange.

I’m about 90% about to cancel our Disney trip in December bc my kids are gross and I know we will come back with something right before Christmas and it’s not worth it. Maybe when the little one quits touching everything and sucking her thumb we can go.

Their rationale is that they only test if it would change treatment.  Their first line treatment for most viral infections is the usual - rest, fluids, time, symptom management, etc.   They test for COVID, strep, and other things.  Overall, I have always felt the care is outstanding and trust their decisions.  I like that they don't immediately prescribe antibiotics for every illness. 

It's a smaller, independent practice outside of a larger health organization.  I'm sure that influences their autonomy and standard practices.