Coronavirus in Idaho (Coeur d'Alene, Athol, Hope: credit, house, neighborhood)

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

There are only like 2 roads in and out (3 if you count dirt IIRC). Shouldn't be too hard to drop a few trees across them.


kidding...sort of.

Drop the trees and you're trapped. The virus won't be stopped by a blocked road, but you will if you catch it.

[banjomike]

Gov. Little announced a mandatory quarantine for another 21 days yesterday.

He conferred with his medical professionals, and they all said the quarantine has flattened out the infection curve, but not enough to prevent Idaho's ICU units from being overwhelmed. They said 21 days more isolation would be enough to prevent that.

It's not only the old folks who will need those ICUs. The virus causes a stubborn viral pneumonia that damages the lungs at any age, and recovery depends on forcing oxygen into the lungs with ventilators along with systemic drugs that are known to work fighting viral pneumonia. Any patient of any age will need both, along with the isolation of an ICU.

Almost none of Idaho's rural hospitals have ICU units. This lack will over-burden the hospitals that have them, as patients will be transferred from small rural hospitals. The hospitals that have ICUs are all in our larger cities, where the virus is likely to strike first. So, just as the ICUs fill up with city patients, country patients could come flooding in and overwhelm our capacity to heal these victims.

Since so many of us live in small remote towns, the only way to slow this down was to extend the quarantine. The worst hasn't hit us yet, but its coming very quickly.

While younger people are more likely to survive, untreated they can suffer permanent lung damage that could leave them disabled for the rest of their lives. The coronavirus is proving to be very slow and stubborn once it sets in. That slowness is what is making it so sneaky. By the time someone begins feeling really sick, the pneumonia has already set in.

Right now, 35-year-olds upwards with high blood pressure are succumbing to the virus and dying at a high rate in the big cities.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

It seems to me that we were pretty much all practicing social distancing here in North Idaho. I was at the tire shop getting my winter wheels swapped and everyone was well away from each other and there was a polite sign at the counter asking customers to stay well back from the clerk.


There have been public service announcements on the telly, telling us how to do it. The stores have stepped up disinfecting.



Since most of us were already practicing social distancing and the restaurants (mostly) had already gone to curb service only, I'm not thinking that there is going to be a huge change in out lives from this stay at home order. The change had already happened voluntarily.

[banjomike]

I made a grocery run this morning around 8:00, and went to an Albertson's that is located on a very busy corner.

While the traffic existed, it was pretty darned light. Albertson's reserved Thursdays for 2 hours of senior shopping, and there were quite a few in the store, but it was far from crowded. Folks here are taking the quarantine seriously.

It's very interesting to see a grocery that has quite a bit of empty shelf space. I went for basics, and was able to find most of what I needed, but I ended up buying some small bottles of vinegar, because all the large gallon bottles were gone. (Vinegar's acidity is good for killing the virus when combined with some detergent.)

We have all grown very accustomed to the bounty that's always in our food stores, but that bounty is going to be gone for a while, I'm sure. I think we will all have to learn how to make do with what we can get for the rest of this year.

[dcisive]

I hope to never have any virus issues, but at least I'm armed just in case with a BiPap machine used for my sleep apnea. I heard on today's news that those types of machines (Cpap and BiPap) are now being used to substitute for lack of ventilators. I'm staying in for now however ;-)

[dcisive]

I was quite bummed to hear of the 1st death in Jerome, ID. That's too dang close to home for me

[banjomike]

From what I can gather, it appears that the next 2 weeks is when the virus is expected to spike to its peak here.

I was smacked hard by a flu virus in late December and I'm not completely recovered yet, so I'm planning to stay very isolated for at least another week.

Locally, there's a family whose 36-year old mother is hospitalized with the coronavirus who's 8 months pregnant and was hospitalized once before, then was sent to recuperate at home. Her husband and 4 children all tested positive for the virus, and they never went anywhere, so they must have come down with it locally. Around March 13, by her husband's reckoning.
None of them were ever tested, and still haven't been tested. This is causing some real concern here, as Bonneville county was one of the last to show any cases. The virus could have been here earlier than all the officials believed.

She's one of 4 here who are now in the hospital.

[nm9stheham]

A peak for ID at that time may or may not happen. All of the heavy growth in cases in the US right now is in the large to small city regions, so Ada County may be where it will occur. The more rural and less traveled areas will tend to show infections in spurts over a more extended period of time. It's much harder to call for the more rural areas than for the urban centers.



Fortunately, places like ID got a good warning from what happened in the NYC area. So people seem to be being careful.

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by banjomike

From what I can gather, it appears that the next 2 weeks is when the virus is expected to spike to its peak here.

I was smacked hard by a flu virus in late December and I'm not completely recovered yet, so I'm planning to stay very isolated for at least another week.

Locally, there's a family whose 36-year old mother is hospitalized with the coronavirus who's 8 months pregnant and was hospitalized once before, then was sent to recuperate at home. Her husband and 4 children all tested positive for the virus, and they never went anywhere, so they must have come down with it locally. Around March 13, by her husband's reckoning.
None of them were ever tested, and still haven't been tested. This is causing some real concern here, as Bonneville county was one of the last to show any cases. The virus could have been here earlier than all the officials believed.

She's one of 4 here who are now in the hospital.

Hey my friend, I work for an Albertsons. If you need anything, including vinegar, please do not hesitate in asking by a direct message. I would be happy to do a drop on the porch for you.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by banjomike

I made a grocery run this morning around 8:00, and went to an Albertson's that is located on a very busy corner.

While the traffic existed, it was pretty darned light. Albertson's reserved Thursdays for 2 hours of senior shopping, and there were quite a few in the store, but it was far from crowded. Folks here are taking the quarantine seriously.

It's very interesting to see a grocery that has quite a bit of empty shelf space. I went for basics, and was able to find most of what I needed, but I ended up buying some small bottles of vinegar, because all the large gallon bottles were gone. (Vinegar's acidity is good for killing the virus when combined with some detergent.)

We have all grown very accustomed to the bounty that's always in our food stores, but that bounty is going to be gone for a while, I'm sure. I think we will all have to learn how to make do with what we can get for the rest of this year.

Be safe, Mike. We are taking extra precautions down here in SoCal now, in addition to the mandatory ones, Face masks in public are now recommended for everybody, and mandatory for store personnel. Social distancing, hand washing, and so forth. But in addition, we disinfect the soles of our shoes with Lysol after coming home from walking the dogs, we wipe our dogs' paws with pet wipes or downright wash them with soap and water, we spray Lysol on the mail and leave it sitting in the garage for 24 hours, and we leave non-perishable groceries in the garage, too, for 24 hours, especially those in cardboard--behaviors that would have sounded ridiculous 2 weeks ago. But our doctor friends tell us we're doing the right thing. As a matter of fact, we haven't even gone shopping for a week, because so many shoppers are not abiding by the 6-ft rule. Our freezer is getting cleaned out for the first time in years! I made chicken jerky for the dogs from a nice, perfectly fine frozen half breast of chicken from the back of the freezer. How old? I ain't sayin'....

We've ordered an online delivery of the most basic things. We've already had delivery of our usual medications from the pharmacy. And in a week or so we will run out of specialty items that we can't get online--and so be it. We'll channel the experience of our folks of the shortages during crises of the past, and hope that this one, too, shall pass...