COVID-19

[Eleven]

54 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

I was forced to clean shave, I look certifibaly 14 years old 

I accidentally shaved yesterday.  I was doing so well!  Now I look 14 again unless you look at the sides of my head.  

[SDS]

2 hours ago, Weave said:

My dream existence.

 

[dudacek]

22 minutes ago, E4 ... Ke2 said:

Maybe good news:

There is an experimental treatment that was put on hold from the H1N1 days and is being adapted for COVID-19.  For various reasons, we are almost certain that I had a mild case of COVID-19 in December.  I have volunteered for a blood draw which, assuming we are correct, should produce 5-10 shots for treatment or, if we get very lucky, up to 20 shots including prevention.  (Should be next week.)  If my theory is correct, everyone else on that floor (about 50 people) will be volunteering by the end of April.

Nothing like this has ever been tried with humans, but it is being accelerated in this emergency.  Updates if it goes through.

This is incredibly interesting. Is it part of the antibody research they've been doing?

If it's possible, I'd love to know more.

 

[Stoner]

26 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I accidentally shaved yesterday.  I was doing so well!  Now I look 14 again unless you look at the sides of my head.  

I might leave this one for @inkman.

[Eleven]

Just now, PASabreFan said:

I might leave this one for @inkman.

Let's not be gross right now.  It's bad enough.

[Stoner]

33 minutes ago, E4 ... Ke2 said:

Maybe good news:

There is an experimental treatment that was put on hold from the H1N1 days and is being adapted for COVID-19.  For various reasons, we are almost certain that I had a mild case of COVID-19 in December.  I have volunteered for a blood draw which, assuming we are correct, should produce 5-10 shots for treatment or, if we get very lucky, up to 20 shots including prevention.  (Should be next week.)  If my theory is correct, everyone else on that floor (about 50 people) will be volunteering by the end of April.

Nothing like this has ever been tried with humans, but it is being accelerated in this emergency.  Updates if it goes through.

What were your symptoms if you don't mind sharing?

1 minute ago, Eleven said:

Let's not be gross right now.  It's bad enough.

It's all over. Didn't you hear the news?

[Marvin]

28 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

What were your symptoms if you don't mind sharing?

Sure.  In fact, I should have posted this earlier.  Thank you, PA!

Fever, 1-3 degrees C above normal: 1.5 weeks.  Its persistence marks it as unusual. 

Cough: 3 weeks.  The tell here was that my throat felt like it was burning and was being punctured like needles.

Shortness of breath, trouble inhaling, non-cardiac chest pains: started after 1 week, got worse, still not back to normal after 3 months

Extreme somnolence verging on narcolepsy: 5 weeks.  We think that I have diminished lung capacity because of lung damage, probably exacerbated by hypertension.  Still remnants after 3 months.

Bouts of confusion: 2 months.  Just recently pulled out of this.

More aches and pains than usual for male over 50.  Includes some problems with balance.

Other symptoms were like terrible allergies.

[Marvin]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

This is incredibly interesting. Is it part of the antibody research they've been doing?

If it's possible, I'd love to know more.

My sister (microbiologist) says that it is.  I am naturally curious, so if you have questions you would like answered, I will prepare them.

[Indabuff]

9 hours ago, SwampD said:

I get it. I just know that if my daughter was still at home, I would not be able to keep working, and even with the two of us, after a month, I might just choose to burn the house down with us in it and be done. I'm not joking. I can't be certain that that wouldn't have been the outcome.

Hang in there bro.  

[Stoner]

2 minutes ago, E4 ... Ke2 said:

Sure.  In fact, I should have posted this earlier.  Thank you, PA!

Fever, 1-3 degrees C above normal: 1.5 weeks.  Its persistence marks it as unusual. 

Cough: 3 weeks.  The tell here was that my throat felt like it was burning and was being punctured like needles.

Shortness of breath, trouble inhaling, non-cardiac chest pains: started after 1 week, got worse, still not back to normal after 3 months

Extreme somnolence verging on narcolepsy: 5 weeks.  We think that I have diminished lung capacity because of lung damage, probably exacerbated by hypertension.  Still remnants after 3 months.

Bouts of confusion: 2 months.  Just recently pulled out of this.

More aches and pains than usual for male over 50.  Includes some problems with balance.

Other symptoms were like terrible allergies.

Is that all? Yeah, not bragging, but my nose ran a little. Seriously, that all sounds awful. Here's hoping for a full recovery.

[Indabuff]

Sounds like some of you have some heavy ***** going on in your lives.  Hope you find the strength to persevere.

[Marvin]

3 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Is that all? Yeah, not bragging, but my nose ran a little. Seriously, that all sounds awful. Here's hoping for a full recovery.

It could have been a lot worse.  I kept fighting through it because I worked at a start-up and got paid on contingency (no sales = no pay) and perceived contribution by clients (pay in proportion to visibility in the direct product; not great for my hardware and software support work -- necessary though it be).

[Marvin]

26 minutes ago, Indabuff said:

Sounds like some of you have some heavy ***** going on in your lives.  Hope you find the strength to persevere.

I may have got lucky.  The start-up has a subsidiary in Hubei province (WuHan is its capital).  They came to Buffalo last April.  I worked with their techies in June.  Some of their families had the illness before they came here.  We just treated it like the flu and made sure I had my shots.  No one got sick, so we just let it go.

In October and December, we sent teams to Hobei for a couple of weeks.  After the December meeting, there were local quarantines instituted while were in the air returning.

My first 2 exposures were before the mutation became really virulent.  We who discussed it theorise that I had some mild resistance built up by the time I got exposed to the worse form.  It is only when I saw the symptom list in mid-January that my problems made sense.

[WildCard]

I have a good amount of student loans left. Is it a good idea to throw a chunk of money at it right now to avoid the interest as it's temporarily waived?

[Zamboni]

6 minutes ago, WildCard said:

I have a good amount of student loans left. Is it a good idea to throw a chunk of money at it right now to avoid the interest as it's temporarily waived?

Yes. Pay that shtuff off as soon and as much as you can possibly do. I know I would. 

[Indabuff]

27 minutes ago, WildCard said:

I have a good amount of student loans left. Is it a good idea to throw a chunk of money at it right now to avoid the interest as it's temporarily waived?

Interest was killing me.  If you have enough toilet paper and the money to do it I would do it.

[Brawndo]

30 minutes ago, WildCard said:

I have a good amount of student loans left. Is it a good idea to throw a chunk of money at it right now to avoid the interest as it's temporarily waived?

Yes, just specify to your lender that you want the payment to go directly to the principal not interest 

[Indabuff]

19 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Yes, just specify to your lender that you want the payment to go directly to the principal not interest 

Exactly this

[Indabuff]

The loan and interest is intimidating.  When I got below $10k I pounded the piss out of the loan any chance I got.  Tax return?  Nope, pretended like I never even got one and went right to the loan.

[Brawndo]

TBH, forgiving Some Student Loan Debt should be included in the Stimulus Package moving through Congress right now.

[BagBoy]

1 hour ago, WildCard said:

I have a good amount of student loans left. Is it a good idea to throw a chunk of money at it right now to avoid the interest as it's temporarily waived?

No, unless it's your only debt.  You are getting a 60-day free ride of 0% interest on the student loan.  As a general rule, when paying off debt, you should always pay off the debt with the highest interest rates first.  Naturally you should still pay minimums on all other debts to prevent additional fees and dings to your credit score, but any payments above minimum dues should always go toward the highest interest rate debts.

Depending on your risk tolerance, if you've got extra money sitting around, you may want to consider investing it.  For example, it would be better to invest money that makes 20% than to pay off a 10% interest rate debt.

Edited March 24, 2020 by BagBoy

[WildCard]

1 minute ago, BagBoy said:

No.  You are getting a 60-day free ride of 0% interest on the student loan.  As a general rule, when paying off debt, you should always pay off the debt with the highest interest rates first.  Naturally you should still pay minimums on all other debts to prevent additional fees and dings to your credit score, but any payments above minimum dues should always go toward the highest interest rate debts.

Depending on your risk tolerance, if you've got extra money sitting around, you may want to consider investing it.  For example, it would be better to invest money that makes 20% than to pay off a 10% interest rate debt.

That's the only debt I have though. My issue is I have some larger purchases upcoming in 2-3 years. If I do stocks I'm looking at my own companies as well as airlines 

[BagBoy]

funny - I just edited my No response to reflect that possibilty.

[WildCard]

4 minutes ago, BagBoy said:

funny - I just edited my No response to reflect that possibilty.

I'm really just worries about depleting my savings on investments that take years to cash and then not having money for a house down payment or other life things in a year or two.

Edited March 24, 2020 by WildCard

[SwampD]

So, how are our ERs holding up so far?