I got Corona Virus! I think. (no tests) Survival Guide

I Got Corona Virus-but I Can't Get Tested Yet There is only one other confirmed Corona Virus case in the Philippines, but actually 31 "

corona-related cases",

says the news. What is happening is that all governments are trying to prevent massive panic as such that occurred in Wuhan.

They say that the virus is relatively benign with a mortality rate lower than SARS, yet with its rate of infection much higher, and with the 14 days of having no symptoms but at the same time carrying the virus, the strength of this virus is much worse, as evidenced by it conquering all of China in less than 2 months! (All provinces in lockdown)

HOW DID I GET IT?

I brought my engineer to take a look at a house we were repairing walls for. The owners had come from China and were scattered by the pool, and the house. We simply walked around the perimeter, and I briefly went inside one of the bathrooms. No skin to skin contact was made at any point, the entire interaction was less than an hour. The only interaction I had with the Chinese was following 3 meters behind, and entering the house for the bathroom for about less than 2 minutes. Since we all knew about Wuhan already, I had come in longsleeves and jeans, fully covered, but I did not bring my face mask. (My bad!) I brought goggles but did not use it! I wish I could have looked stupid instead of getting sick later on.

EFFECTS

DAY 1 Monday

The next day, my engineer, who was in his late 50's and liked to drink every so often, said he was so weak he could barely work, and later on that day said he was shivering. I didn't feel anything but I felt mybeyes were tired which is usually a sign for me to drink more water so I did. I noticed dark circles under my eyes even as I drank more water than usual. Gargled mouthwash.

DAY 2 Tuesday

My body and muscles were sort of weak. I really did not read much into it because I also worked out the day before, and passed this off as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, the kind you get a day after you work out and didn't warm up properly. Still felt excessively thirsty or my throat was dry. I kept gargling twice a day. I ate lots of yogart and honey ahis seemed to keep my energy up.

Day 3 Wednesday

My throat started hurting a bit deeper than where you swallow on the left side. I thought maybe the mouthwash was not working, and decided to swallow non alcohol mouthwash. Haha Just one gulp, and it seemed to relieve it for a bit. I also made tea with honey, which seemed to help both the dryness in the throat as well as my general energy level.

Day 4 Thursday

The engineer seemed fine again. I was glad. I started having throat pains. Everything seemed normal again, although I was already taking all sanitary precautions. I was beginning to think I might have been overly cautious, the throat pain seemed to decrease, but I continued learning as much as I could about the corona virus. It seems that at a certain point, the infection goes to your lungs and you are not able to take up as much oxygen as you should be. Then, it is necessary to use a ventilator. I was worried. I did not have enough money to go to the hospital. I am sort of in between jobs as a freelance agent and freelance producer.

Day 5 Friday

Before I woke up, I could hear a gurgling sound in the bottom of my lungs. It was an area in my chest that was making vibrations when I breathed in. I turned over to prone position, and it helped a bit. All this time I was just taking precautions, Now I think that was the true confirmation that I have gotten it. I planned to make arrangements to go to the hospital.

SANITARY PRECAUTIONS:

The only mistake I made was not wearing my mask and goggles for fear of looking stupid. Now who looks stupid being sick? I am not risking my son getting this disease though. As soon as I got home, I went to the shower, put bleach and water in a pail and dunked all my clothes in it. I sprayed my shoes all around with alcohol (

75% proof as 70 won't work

). Then, I washed myself off, including thoroughly washing my hair. This is important, that none of the wash off gets in your eyes or mouth or nose. I forgot to say that before I went to that place, I had lined my nose with anti-bacterial fucidic acid. (I had gotten a nose infection riding bikes all over the polluted metro a week before so I just had it lying around.) When I got home, I used cotton tips to wipe off the old medicine, and applied new ointment on my nose. Then I got a mop and backed up where I stepped with my shoes and oh, I forgot I sprayed my bag with alcohol as well.

Starting that day, I separated my eating utencils which I wash with 10parts dishwashing liquid and 5 parts water and 1 part bleach. I use a separate sponge for my plates and utencils. I wash them after I wash everything else, as I only have one sink in my house. I then rinse the sink with bleach, including the spigot and and handles and anything else it touched.

I have limited close space with other people. I cant fully separate myself as I do housework and our house is small, so I keep the back door open and ventilate the air inside going out so that my son doesn’t breathe in my germs. (Ideally just lock yourself in a room to really be sure)

I keep my hands clean by washing, before and after meals and anytime I touch any bodily fluids like rub my eye or nose, I just go and wash that. I would like to say I wore a surgical mask the whole time, but I had to wash mine. (Yes I dipped it in water and bleach for a few hours and hung it out) I now also put some Green cross gentle protect to rinse it off, since the smell is not as horrid as alcohol. I interchange this with a gauze and cloth wrap to cover my mouth. I suggest this: use the surgical mask but inside put the tissue. In between that, put the Green cross gentle protect so that you can smell the fresh clean scent in every breath. Haha they did not pay me for this.

I have also been sleeping in a different room than my son. I also covered the sofa I share with him with a cloth when I sit on it, and am careful to keep the side I use folded on the inside when I keep it. Corona virus can stay on clothes 6 to 12 hours! I did not wear goggles in the house.. Maybe I should!

My son and I have refrained from hugging, but one time we thought, he was probably infected anyway and he hugged me goodbye, but that is not smart. What if he infects his classmates?

The nurse in that video said 14 people got infected. This was later decried by BBC not to be a real nurse, and not from Wuhan. Seems odd. But lets do the math. 1 person infects 14 people, 1 of those goes to school with 32 kids, but lets say only infects 14 more, if each person infects 14 each day, that is 20 trillion 661 billion in 10 days, so that can't be right. If RO is 3.5 that is 275,854 people in 10 days. (Im assuming that 3.5 means 3 and a half patients but really, I'm just visualizing estmates here) However, that computation is if each person affects only 3.5 others in a day and doesnt take into account that the pre-infected people will still be infecting others for all the other days. The truth is each person goes the second day to affect 3.5 more. I'm not good at math, but that means a whole lot more than 3.5.

Here is the official count.

THE WORST PART

The worst part about it is the 14 days of not having symptoms. That is how the Wuhan tourists were able to travel around the world. Even at the onset of the outbreak, security measures in ports were if they had fever or not. What about the carriers of the disease? Even at day 1, I wanted to get tested, but I knew there were no tests. I had already posted my concerns in social media, but my account was surreptitiously hacked and has now disappeared. What I posted were not just fears but actual solutions:

SOLUTIONS BEFORE IT CAME HERE

1. The Philippines should be closed not just from China, but from all countries for just 20 days. That is enough to catch any of the signs within people. Any foreigner would have to be quarantined in their country of origin for 14 days before being allowed to travel here. Or, they would be quarantined here (bit as an added bonus, will be treated to many tourism videos of the wonders of the Philippines..hehe) That is really all we needed to do so that anyone with symptoms would be treated with knowledgeable and suited medical staff in the place of quarantine near the airport.

SOLUTIONS NOW THAT IT IS HERE

1. There should be a DOH primer circulating to all hospitals and a strong grid of communication to pass along sanitation techniques, treatment, facilities needed to address the anticipated flow in the event of a contagion. (which we already have now) Ventilators and other equipment needed should be sourced already.

2. There should be 14 days wherein everybody is advised to stay home and wait for symptoms. Each city should be contained with no one passing through. Anyone displaying symptoms should go to the nearest hospital to be treated. An ambulance hotline should be provided so that those ambulance have trained staff who know how to contain the virus.

3. Any reported outbreaks should be reported to a containment or disinfection team that will disinfect the area or any house that has it.

4. For the poor, treatment should be absolutely free, as their risking not reporting is a public hazard. Also, we pay our taxes, so the government should protect our lives. After this period, anyone exhibiting symptoms, as well as anyone that person has close contact with, should go to be treated or contained in a specific hospital or area whose air ventilation is treated with UV anti-viral disinfection.

TREATMENT

I don’t know much about virology and microbiology, but I do know that corona viruses are fairly common among felines. It is fatal after a certain point, but most cats are inured to its effects. Maybe we can look into why that is. Another is that perhaps like other corona virus, it requires Sialic acid from Glycocalix which is the mucus protecting the respiratory mucosa. If somehow we could stop this process, or find a specific antiviral protease inhibitor or nucleoside analogs.

The video I saw from Wuhan had someone convulsing. I think I also read that the cause of death for some is multiple organ failure. Those might be signs of sepsis, or just plain weaker immune system. I think once it gets past the lungs and into the blood, it starts attacking everything else. It is very similar to the feline corona virus.

Being that it is a cross-species virus, I'm guessing the genetic script is equiped to evolve, which means that it still might progress further. Let's not be lax or take comfort that it attacks only old or previously immuno-compromised people. This virus is young, let us not wait for further complications. Let us try to nip it at the bud.

Eventually, if people don't wear masks and such, hospital facilities and medicine won't be enough, and inevitably, there will be lives compromised because of the lack of resources.

That is what China is dealing with now, as they struggle to make a new hospital in Wuhan.

Learn from what is happening around you, people. The time to act is now. Don't let politics, or racial discrimination take out the focus from the fact that we have to quarantine our whole country for these 14-20 days. That is the best thing for everybody.

I'm writing this so that more people who have the power to decide can take action, and perhaps we as a people can help each other in these dark times.

Personally, I don’t have any savings or health insurance. I would like to ask anyone who is moved to donate so that I can afford to pay hospital bills for myself, and possibly my son, (God, please no! But just in case) I would really appreciate any amount given to (paypal.me/lifesaversf) or BDO (Banco de Oro Unibank (swiftcode BNORPHMM) Maxine Nicole Mamba 007 830 105 925.

I aim to be able to get my lungs checked and given meds for the breathing issue, and have enough in case I need a respirator. Many thanks in advance, and may God guide us through this!