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Covid-19 Outbreak of new SARS-like coronavirus (Covid-19)

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27-year-old Olympian archer dies after Pfizer vaccine


Two-time Olympic archer Haziq Kamaruddin, died at the age of 27 on May 14, after collapsing at his home days after receiving Pfizer’s COVID vaccine. Kamaruddin died of a blocked coronary artery, the Health Ministry said Saturday, adding there was no evidence of a link to the vaccine.


There are multiple reasons a coronary artery can become blocked, including by a blood clot, according to Yale Medicine. As The Defender reported last month, all three vaccines authorized in the U.S., including Pfizer, can potentially cause blood clots.


Kamaruddin received the first dose of experimental Pfizer mRNA on April 13. He received the second dose on May 4 and posted a photo to Instagram.


Haziq represented Malaysia at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games and was hoping to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics this summer, with the qualification competition to be held in Paris in June. He was also a member of his country’s recurve team which won silver at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
 

39-Year-Old Model Dies After COVID Vaccine​


British fashion model Stephanie Dubois died from a blood clot days after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine in Cyprus, a health official said Monday.


Dubois, 39, suffered a “serious thrombotic episode” after receiving her first dose of the vaccine on May 6, Newsweek reported. She had no underlying health conditions according to health officials at the hospital in Nicosia, where she was hospitalized May 14, after experiencing breathing issues.


The fashion model later suffered a brain hemorrhage and was in a coma before she passed away May 21.


Dubois’ death will be investigated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said a Cypriot health service spokesperson, Charalambos Charilaou.


Dubois received her first dose on May 6 and posted on Facebook: “And now I feel horrendous … pizza and bed for me.”


In a Facebook post on the morning of May 14, Dubois wrote: “Woke up feeling fine and then within an hour I had full body shakes, all my joints seized and I was struggling to breathe and was cold to the bone with a persistent headache and dizziness.”


By May 19, Dubois was reported to have gone into a coma and “was not expected to come out of it,” according to a friend, Andrew Powers, The Times reported.


Three other thrombosis incidents were reported in Cyprus following vaccinations, two of whom also received the AstraZeneca vaccine. The cases were part of 40 serious side effects reported that may be linked to COVID vaccination, which were referred to the EMA.
 
Mr. Krinkle said:
“We look forward to seeing more data about these cases, so we can better understand if they are related to the vaccine or if they are coincidental,” said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’s Committee on Infectious Diseases.
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Mr. Krinkle said:
Two-time Olympic archer Haziq Kamaruddin, died at the age of 27 on May 14, after collapsing at his home days after receiving Pfizer’s COVID vaccine. Kamaruddin died of a blocked coronary artery, the Health Ministry said Saturday, adding there was no evidence of a link to the vaccine.
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why when it comes to the very real data that these vaccines reduce transmission, you are happy to assert that the link is not proven.

yet, you post stuff that outright states these things could be coincidental and use this type of data as justification not to get the vaccine? extreme cherry picking. having responsibilities doesn't cut it, registered carers in the UK were prioritised for vaccines ages ago because it was recognised that they would be better able to carry out their responsibilities if not on a ventilator.

but mostly i came in here to say i am getting my jab today, in 2 weeks i hope that i will start to feel some relief from the extreme health anxiety i've had this year. now if someone can just edit my genome to get rid of the rest, i would be very grateful.
 
CFC said:
Not sure if this article is paywalled or free (many Covid-inspired articles have been free over the last year). But the tl;dr of it is that German researchers now believe they've discovered why the adenovirus vector vaccines (AZ, J&J etc) are causing the autoimmune responses which have resulted in clots and deaths. They also think it should be possible to tweak the vaccines to prevent the issue. Though whether they'll do so, and whether this really fixes the issue, remains to be seen....

www.ft.com

Scientists claim to have solved Covid vaccine blood-clot puzzle

German researchers say side effect is caused by adenovirus vector and can be fixed
www.ft.com www.ft.com


Scientists claim to have solved Covid vaccine blood-clot puzzle

German researchers say side effect is caused by adenovirus vector and can be fixed​


Scientists in Germany claim to have cracked the cause of the rare blood clots linked to the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines and believe the jabs could be tweaked to stop the reaction happening altogether.

Rolf Marschalek, a professor at Goethe university in Frankfurt who has been leading studies into the rare condition since March, said his research showed that the problem sat with the adenovirus vectors that both vaccines use to deliver the spike protein of the Sars-Cov-2 virus into the body.

The delivery mechanism means the vaccines send the spike protein into the cell nucleus rather than the cytosol fluid found inside the cell where the virus normally produces proteins, Marschalek and other scientists said in a preprint paper released on Wednesday.

Once inside the cell nucleus, certain parts of the spike protein splice, or split apart, creating mutant versions, which are unable to bind to the cell membrane where important immunisation takes place.

The floating mutant proteins are instead secreted by cells into the body, triggering blood clots in roughly one in 100,000 people, according to Marschalek’s theory....
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How do you think establishment neo liberal types deal with the fact that the virus being made in the lab was considered a conspiracy theory, but now since the establishment changed its mind and it is trying to memory hole the fact that they called anyone that pointed this fact out, a conspiracy theorist. How much does this type of stuff have to happen before even the true believers put down their daily mail or cnn?
 

18 Connecticut Teens Hospitalized for Heart Problems After COVID Vaccines, White House Says Young People Should Still Get the Shots​


05/26/21

One week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it was investigating heart inflammation in recently vaccinated young adults, Connecticut reported 18 new cases of heart problems among teens who had received a COVID vaccine.


All 18 cases resulted in hospitalization — the vast majority for a couple of days, reported NBC Connecticut. The cases were reported to the Connecticut Department of Public Health by vaccine providers, said Deirdre Gifford, acting health commissioner.


“One individual that we’re aware of is still hospitalized,” Guifford said Monday. “The other 17 have been sent home and they’re doing fine.”


The first case at Connecticut Children’s was Rachel Hatton’s 17-year-old son, Gregory.


“It’s terrifying,” said Hatton. Her son started complaining of severe chest pain three days after his second vaccine dose. It worsened on the fourth day, causing back pain.


After blood work and an x-ray, doctors diagnosed Gregory with pericarditis, an inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart that can cause sharp chest pain and other symptoms.


“They hooked him up to a heart monitor, did more EKGs, echocardiograms. Infectious disease actually came and ran their own set of blood work to try to figure out if it could have been caused by something else, some sort of infection, something else, like Lyme disease. They tested him for all sorts of things and one by one those tests came back negative,” said Hatton.


Doctors couldn’t confirm Gregory’s condition was caused by the COVID vaccine, but two more recently vaccinated patients presented to the hospital with similar symptoms. A spokesperson from Connecticut Children’s said patients have presented with both pericarditis and myocarditis


Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle that can lead to cardiac arrhythmia and death. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, myocarditis can result from infections, but “more commonly the myocarditis is a result of the body’s immune reaction to the initial heart damage.”


Mayo Clinic doctors say treatment focuses on the cause of the condition and symptoms, such as heart failure and shortness of breath.

Hatton said her son is now out of work, on medication and hooked up to a heart monitor. He will have another MRI in June to see if his condition has improved.


“I don’t sleep because … if I hear my son sneeze or if he sounds like he’s out of breath when I call him on my break at work, I get nervous because I just don’t know what else could happen. He basically has a heart condition now and it’s terrifying,” she said.


NBC Connecticut spoke with other parents of teens who received their first dose of COVID vaccine and are scheduled to get their second.


“I can’t believe the government would really put out a shot that would really negatively impact the health of my child so I’m behind the vaccine 100%,” said Heather Salgado.


“I’m just trusting the science and the recommendation is to get the vaccine,” said Theresa Galizia.


Other parents, like Siobhan Cefarelli, had reservations. “It’s one thing for me to get the vaccine, but for my child to get the vaccine, it’s kind of scary not knowing what’s going to happen and not having a lot of research having been done on it.”


Hatton said she shared her son’s story because she wanted parents to be aware. Despite doctors saying the condition is rare, Hatton explained it doesn’t feel rare when it’s affecting your own child.


The CDC has not determined if vaccines were the cause of the reported heart condition in the Connecticut cases. But the CDC safety committee released an advisory May 17 alerting doctors to reports of myocarditis, which seemed to occur predominantly in adolescents and young adults, more often in males than females, more often following the second dose and typically within four days after vaccination with Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.


White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing Monday the Biden administration will continue to advise young people to get vaccinated, despite reported cases of myocarditis.


“Our health and medical experts still continue to convey that it is the right step for 12- to 15-year-olds to get vaccinated, that these are limited cases, and that, obviously, the risks of contracting COVID are certainly significant even for people of that age,” Psaki said.


According to CDC data, the death rate among adolescents ages 0 to 17 who get COVID and are subsequently hospitalized is 0.7%, with many experiencing either mild or no symptoms at all. The COVID death rate in all adolescent age categories is less than 0.1%.


While the CDC numbers appear to contradict Psaki’s assessment of young people’s risk of getting COVID, new research suggests that even the CDC’s numbers are too high.


As The Defender reported, two papers published May 19 in the journal of Hospital Pediatrics found pediatric hospitalizations for COVID were overcounted by at least 40%, carrying potential implications for nationwide figures used to justify vaccinating children.
 

Before COVID Vaccine, Her Son Was a Healthy Athlete — Now He Can ‘Barely Walk,’ Mom Says​


One day after getting the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine, Everest Romney became sick. Five days after being vaccinated, the 17-year-old was hospitalized when doctors discovered two blood clots in his brain.


Everest’s mother, Cherie Romney, told Children’s Health Defense Chairman Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the “RFK Jr. The Defender Podcast” her son, a varsity basketball player at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah, was a very healthy athletic child who was in the middle of recruiting season for his school basketball team.


Now, the teen can barely walk.


Within 24 hours of getting the vaccine, Everest began experiencing an “exorbitant amount” of pain and swelling in his neck that originated on the same side he received the vaccine. Cherie took her son to the pediatrician, who diagnosed the teen with a pulled muscle and placed him in a neck brace.


The doctor was “pretty dismissive,” said Cherie. “We were sent home.”


But within 24 hours of the doctor’s visit, Everest got “one of the worst migraines he’s ever had.” It lasted nonstop for several days before Cherie took her son to the emergency room.


Everest, who has since been released and is in stable condition, was diagnosed with having two cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, a rare type of blood clot that prevents blood from draining out of the brain.


Cherie’s husband, who received the Moderna vaccine, had a similar severe adverse reaction. He was hospitalized with a pulmonary infarction and lost about a fourth of his lung, permanently, said Cherie. An x-ray revealed he had over 100 blood clots in his lungs, she said. He has also since been released and is in stable condition.


Cherie told Kennedy she is not anti-vaccine, However, she encourages others to weigh the rewards against the potential risks when deciding whether or not to get the COVID vaccine.


Cherie said:


“I think there are some people who would be tempted to think I’m a massive anti-vaxxer or to dismiss my message. It really is just that we have to gather all the information. You may not know enough right now. We may not be distributing it safely right now, especially if they’re distributing it to children.”
 
@Mr. Krinkle

I haven't looked into it, but it's possible that he had an undiagnosed heart condition. There are over 130 million people in the US that are fully vaccinated. I'd expect (statistically) for there to be some co-incidental deaths.

There has never been a vaccine without side effects.

If we don't go with any of the vaccines, what's the alternative?
 
more cherry picked rubbish. also just posting articles verbatim swamps the thread and adds nothing to the discussion. you aren't even citing the sources you're copying and pasting these from.

there aren't articles about the by now literally millions of people who have not been infected with covid as a result of the vaccination program.

do you want me to swamp the thread with articles about covid icu wards? lives cut short early? the immense success of the vaccination program? probably not, because it wouldn't add anything.
 
The Wuhan lab was conducting gain-of-function research on coronaviruses, which made them more deadly. It was to study the possible pathway of increased deadliness against humans. Many virologists have come out saying that SARS-CoV-2 is not natural. When SARS came out, they found the natural source within 4 months. They still haven't found the natural source for SARS-CoV-2. China reacted immediately to the virus with lockdowns and all sorts of other protocols, making it the most successful country in the world to deal with its epidemic.

So basically what happened was... the Wuhan lab was not up to spec, people there got sick, they left the lab and infected other people, and the pandemic started there. China reacted by locking down the country, suppressing all info, and denying the WHO permission to investigate. The researchers at Wuhan were operating under biosafety level 2 (BSL-2) - the same level as dentists - when it should have been at least 3 and ideally 4. SARS and MERS were studied at level 4, to give you an idea.

The US government funded coronavirus research at the Wuhan lab via the EcoHealth Alliance based out of NYC, which included funding for gain-of-function research. They didn't want this type of research taking place on U.S. soil in case this very kind of outbreak happened. They terminated this funding in spring 2020. The timing is obvious.

Nobody wants to be liable for so many millions of people dying of an escaped infection. China doesn't, the U.S. doesn't. It would be considered a crime against humanity. It would destroy national relationships, shaky economics, and could even possibly push for war. If you read between the lines and put two and two together: there's no natural reservoir of this virus, including so-called wet market animals; the first people infected were in a city and with no link to any of the alleged natural wild animals that should've passed the virus; it was already known that gain-of-function research was happening on coronaviruses in Wuhan, funded partly by the U.S.; China took care of their epidemic faster than anybody because they had advanced warning.

It's just so obvious what happened. And if you look at the way global governments are in an utter panic over lockdowns and everyone getting vaccinated, it's because they know that this virus accidentally came from a lab and they need to stop it asap.

Look into the international community of virology. Turns out it's not one organized field. You have some virologists studying and modifying live viruses, and you have others who think gain-of-function research is unethical and should be outlawed globally. Why make something more deadly?

Why are we letting some scientists do this research? Why do we need to make viruses more virulent? I don't believe it's to protect humanity. I think it's for possible biological weapons. Why else would these psychos be enhancing viruses. I think the people behind this pandemic should be held responsible. We know who the SARS-CoV-2 researchers were. We know what they were doing. We know about their lax protocols. So why is our corporately-owned media running around acting like nobody knows? Who benefits?

I guess nobody wants a war with China or more economic strife. Really though, this is all China's fault. They are a hack country run by people who think they're cutting edge, but they're totally backward and incompetent. Their top scientist thought BSL-2 was enough to contain a deadly, modified virus. And it's the fault of the U.S. for funding this backward, third world country to do research that they were too cowardly to do on their own soil. These idiots and psychos are responsible for millions of people dying. We should not be letting utterly incompetent governments do this stuff. The WHO should be involved at every step. There must be new international laws that are binding, that prevent virologists from doing what they want. There should be boards and councils that have to give permission. China has no business doing BSL4 research. They are not developed enough of a nation. They're corrupt and incompetent. Procedures aren't questioned because they're totalitarian and nobody wants to go to jail for questioning the government.
 
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Mr. Krinkle said:
you gotta click the highlighted words in the articles and those will take you to the sources
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i mean the sources you are copying and pasting the articles from. not their sources.

i am gettng uptight because its adding nothing to the dscussion. anyone can google 'antivax bollocks please confirm my views' or however you find these, but this is a discussion forum and its cluttering the thread. if you presented a link and your discussion and thoughts about the article that would be a different thing, interesting to other posters, but article after article with no commentary from yourself is not exactly conducive to fruitful discourse.
 
chinup said:
i mean the sources you are copying and pasting the articles from. not their sources.

i am gettng uptight because its adding nothing to the dscussion. anyone can google 'antivax bollocks please confirm my views' or however you find these, but this is a discussion forum and its cluttering the thread. if you presented a link and your discussion and thoughts about the article that would be a different thing, interesting to other posters, but article after article with no commentary from yourself is not exactly conducive to fruitful discourse.
Click to expand...


Ooooh....well too bad.......im not gonna stop

im gonna keep posting the downside of the vaccines....the fact that they're not safe, which you don't like to see

you can always put me on ignore and you won't see what i post anymore, my friend

:)
 
Dropperneck said:
How do you think establishment neo liberal types deal with the fact that the virus being made in the lab was considered a conspiracy theory, but now since the establishment changed its mind and it is trying to memory hole the fact that they called anyone that pointed this fact out, a conspiracy theorist. How much does this type of stuff have to happen before even the true believers put down their daily mail or cnn?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure. I try not to think about politics too much tbh, because otherwise I'd get really wound up about stuff that there's no way I could ever change or have any impact upon whatsoever.

IMO society is a bit of a mess, there's not much trust shared between the public, governments, and corporations in many countries. And so I think most people find it hard to know with any certainty how to think about things that they can't possibly know, because nobody necessarily knows at any given moment in time, and because the flow of information is constrained and/or manipulated both due to incompetence, the overwhelming noise of excessive information shared everywhere, and obviously sometimes for more nefarious or strategic geo-political reasons.
 
ok.

well i reported it and its not breaking any rules, so

COVID-19: A FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT​

Dr Ian Frayling, who recently retired from his role as a consultant in genetic pathology, describes his experience of COVID-19, and the lasting effects of his illness.

EVOLVING SYMPTOMS​

I told my wife: ‘I’m frightened. If it keeps coming at me, I’m done for.’
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I initially thought my headache, mild fever and malaise that began on 3 March were due to a knee injury needing stitches and a tetanus boost – a view shared by my wife, Ann Ager, Professor of Cellular Immunology & Immunotherapy at Cardiff University. At that time there were only two cases of COVID-19 in Wales, each one at least 40km away. I did not have a sore throat, but things then started to taste strange with a burning sensation over my back and the onset of coughing at night.

Then on Friday 13 March the storm started, with severe bone- cracking fever and musculoskeletal pain and a cough like no other. I found myself on the floor after passing out with spasms of coughing. My blood pressure plummeted so I stopped taking my ACE inhibitor. My fever worsened while I listened to people on the radio saying, ‘don’t worry, this is mild’. I also thought ‘I can breathe easily, in and out, so I must be OK?’ That is until I noticed I had alternating hypo- and hyperventilation. Was this Cheyne-Stokes? Difficult to tell. I was confused, but as a medic it gave me angor animi. I’m SCUBA qualified in using enriched air: all I needed, I thought, was a tank of 36% oxygen with no need to bother anyone, but if this worsened I would have to be admitted. I told my wife: ‘I’m frightened. If it keeps coming at me, I’m done for.’

AFTER THE ACUTE INFECTION​

Much is spoken about the physical effects of this disease, but there is an enduring mental effect too.
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After tweeting that I had apparently survived the pandemic, but at some cost, a friend in the business sent me a side-flow antibody test kit on day 21. Despite only one drop of blood extracted with difficulty, the bands appeared, with IgG and IgM confirming that I had been infected with SARS-CoV-2. My wife tested negative and had not had any symptoms. She predicted that some individuals would have pre-existing cell-mediated immunity due to previous infections with other viruses and this has now been shown to be the case.

A local colleague, Dr Esther Youd, showed pictures on Twitter of microthrombi found in kidneys at post-mortem examination in COVID-19 patients. I wondered if the aspirin that I take had helped counter hypercoagulability in me. There are reports about the importance of vitamin D and last winter I took supplements after a friend who is the blood donor care doctor for Denmark noticed levels dropped in her donors each autumn. Maybe that helped too?

Much is spoken about the physical effects of this disease, but there is an enduring mental effect too. Severe COVID-19 is truly frightening, totally unlike flu. I still get very emotional seeing survivors on TV and documentaries and I can relate fully to their experience. Seeing people suffering alone is very hard. More than once I have cried at the misery caused by this disease. As a doctor I want to help.

HELPING OTHERS​

My antibodies were high enough and my 560 mL of plasma could be used.
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Fortunately, it turns out there are many ways I can help. Both my GP and sister-in-law, a nursing sister arranging COVID-19 triage, greatly appreciated me relating my first-hand experience of this new disease. My serum helped develop a better assay, since my day-34 serum titrated out to more than 1:5000. My wife also put me in touch with Professors Alan Parker and Paul Morgan, her colleagues in Cardiff University’s Systems Immunity Research Institute, and they have welcomed receiving my serum to help with their work on developing vaccines and an ELISA assay for specific neutralising antibodies (anti-RBD).

Through Professor Steven Jolles, Clinical Immunologist at University Hospital of Wales (and my wife’s PhD student in the 1990s), my antibody-producing B cells have been sequenced in Oxford in the Regeneron programme to produce therapeutic monoclonal antibodies that might be given, for example, to those who have to shield but cannot be immunised, or are on the clinical frontline. My serum has also enabled three-way comparisons between different antibody assays. My wife and I are already enrolled in UK Biobank and Sir Mark Caulfield acknowledged that we are a special matched-pair in the GenoMICC study given our peculiar circumstances: one affected badly, the other not at all despite exposure.

Hearing that Wales was to start a trial of convalescent plasma I unsuccessfully attempted to contact Public Health Wales and the Welsh Blood Service about donating plasma. I then heard Professor Dave Roberts talking about the trial on the RCPath COVID-19 webinar series and I contacted him about donating in Bristol. No problem! So, I had a great day out at the donor centre at Southmead, followed later by a letter saying my antibodies were high enough and my 560 mL of plasma could be used.

‘LONG COVID’​

If I had been told last Christmas that all this would happen I wouldn’t have believed you.
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I now find I am one of the 10% suffering long-term effects of COVID-19. After initially getting better I went back downhill, with profound shortness of breath on exertion, tachycardia, malaise, weakness, muscle aches, lethargy, nausea, sleep disturbance and a curious slowing of thinking with the ‘brain fog’. I have a cyclical relapsing version of chronic fatigue syndrome. I know others continue to have severe COVID-19-like symptoms, relatively unrelated to the severity of their original infection and this affects women more than men. I have been breathless just packing bags at the supermarket and people have generally been very kind. I have found fellow medics also suffering #LongCovid on Twitter and I was honoured to be included in a very positive teleconference with the World Health Organization (WHO) and a letter to the British Medical Journal.

It is ironic that I contribute to the WHO Classification of Tumours series. If I had been told last Christmas that all this would happen I wouldn’t have believed you. As my wife remarked: ‘You couldn’t make it up.’
 

‘I Was Blessed to Have Survived COVID-19’: A Firsthand Account of Beating the Virus​

Taking proper precautions still did not prevent one nurse from contracting an infection​

July 1, 2020
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Healthcare professionals go to great lengths to protect themselves against COVID-19. Still, the virus has managed to infect even the most vigilant providers.
Kay Ball, PhD, RN, CNOR, CMLSO, FAAN, the long-time nurse planner for this publication, contracted the virus in April. Thankfully, Ball has returned to her home and is in recovery. In this Q&A with Same-Day Surgery, Ball shares her symptoms, how she was treated, and lessons learned. (Editor’s Note: Ball provided her answers to these questions in writing. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.)
Same-Day Surgery: What were your earliest symptoms and when do you think you were infected? Was it before state shelter-in-place orders, or did it occur in a healthcare setting?
Ball: My first symptoms appeared around April 2 when I lost my appetite, had a non-productive cough, and an occasional headache. I hardly ever have headaches. My temperature was normal, but a couple days later it went to 100.3°F. Soon, the temperature went down again. I also had a right lower abdominal pain that persisted in the mornings.
I became infected after the stay-at-home orders were issued for Ohio. My husband and I were very careful when we had to go to the grocery store: we used our masks and gloves regularly. When I became infected, I wasn’t wiping down the groceries, so I may have contracted the virus then. Other than that, we just didn’t go anywhere and we never met with anyone as we tried to avoid the virus. My husband and I are in the elderly range of ages but we work out in our basement gym every day and are healthy people. My husband also tested positive for COVID-19, but was asymptomatic.
Same-Day Surgery: Where were you treated during your illness and recovery?
Ball: On April 10, my husband drove me to a hospital emergency room (ER), per instructions of our family doctor, because my right lower abdominal pain became more intense. I started to think it could be appendicitis or something with an ovary. My other COVID-19 symptoms were cough, headache, and fatigue.
Being a nurse, I didn’t want to take up a hospital bed that could be used for a COVID-19 patient, so I was reluctant to go to the ER — as most healthcare providers are, sometimes. The CT scan didn’t show anything that could be causing the pain, but the ER doctor looked at my chest X-ray and told me that my COVID-19 test probably will come back positive, as I had viral pneumonia.
He sent me home with the instructions to return immediately if my breathing became labored. I really hadn’t paid much attention to my breathing before, but now I realized I had very shallow breaths and avoided taking a deep breath because it caused me to cough.
When I got home, I slept in another room because my husband hadn’t been tested yet for the virus. All through the night, I took my pulse oximetry reading, which was in the low to mid 80s. The next morning, my family practice doctor sent me back to the hospital, and I was admitted with COVID-19.

I was placed on the COVID-19 floor in isolation. That was the very difficult part of hospitalization. I was given hydroxychloroquine twice daily for five days, was told to lay prone for 20 minutes five times a day to allow the alveoli to function better, was placed on oxygen, was told to use the incentive spirometer regularly, was given a sub-Q injection of a blood thinner every evening to prevent blood clots, and also was given vitamins and any lacking minerals, like magnesium. I underwent an ECG and blood work daily, and my vital signs were monitored continually.
My appetite slowly returned, but most of the time the food was cold by the time I received it. The sherbet and ice cream tasted very good, though. On the sixth day, I was released with a prescription for vitamin C and was told to continue to take my regular medications, including vitamin D-3, a baby aspirin, and blood pressure medications. I continue to use my incentive spirometer and regularly note my vital signs and pulse oximetry. After four weeks, I slowly was getting better.
Same-Day Surgery: From the perspective of surgery center patients, staff, and operations, what would be your recommendations about how much diligence they should put into preventing infection as the pandemic enters what many infectious disease experts believe will be a new phase of outbreaks in the fall?
Ball: The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) has written amazing guidelines and statements about reopening your operating rooms (ORs) and what should be done to prevent the spread of this and other viruses in the perioperative environment. (Editor’s Note: Learn more here.)
Listen to what AORN and other professional organizations are saying, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health department suggestions and mandates. We will be establishing a new normal as we go along. Look at what the research is noting, and pay attention to the data about new cases and best treatments.
All during the month of April, while I was fighting COVID-19, I also authored a survey that AORN put online to a sample of our members to complete about the effects of surgical smoke exposure. The results are being analyzed now and will be available soon, but I was a bit surprised at the number of participants who noted that COVID-19 has driven their hospitals and surgery centers to implement smoke evacuation as a mandated and regular practice to avoid the spread of this virus.
Same-Day Surgery: How are you feeling now, both physically and emotionally, and how long did it take you to recover?
Ball: Currently, I am doing fine. We actually went camping over Memorial Day weekend, but I did struggle a bit with walking long distances. I had to sit down for a bit and catch my breath. My O2 saturation was only 87% when it should be between 95% and 100%, ideally. I guess I still have some residual respiratory problems, but I’m sure that will subside as I continue to take deep breaths, use my incentive spirometer, and monitor my oxygen saturation.
Same-Day Surgery: Do you have any other thoughts or lessons learned about your experience?
Ball: I was blessed to have survived COVID-19. One of the most powerful lessons I learned was that friends and family make such a difference in recovery. Their prayers and good wishes, along with great medical care, had the prevailing influence on my life.

We need to be extremely careful in decreasing the transmission of this nasty virus in the future. We need to wear our masks in public places to protect and respect everyone else.
We need to wash our hands often, follow the rules of social distancing, and pay attention to what our governors and health departments are suggesting.
This virus could very easily mutate and become even more virulent in the future. Being alert, focused, and having to do things that are not in our lifestyles or practices will determine if the virus wins or not.
 

Hospitalizations and deaths of younger people soar due to COVID-19, PAHO Director reports​

5 May 2021
Countries will need to maintain or increase ICU bed capacity even further if infections continue to rise at current rates. In the past week, nearly 40% of all global COVID-19 deaths took place in the Americas.
Washington, D.C. May 5, 2021 (PAHO) – Hospitalizations and deaths of younger people are surging as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates across the Americas, said Carissa F. Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
“Adults of all ages – including young people – are becoming seriously ill. Many of them are dying,” Dr. Etienne said during her weekly media briefing.
“In Brazil, mortality rates have doubled among those younger than 39, quadrupled among those in their 40s and tripled for those in their 50s between December 2020 and March 2021,” she continued. “This is tragic, and the consequences are dire for our families, our societies and our future.”
She said that hospitalization rates of people under 39 rose by more than 70 percent in Chile during the past few months. In Brazil hospitalizations have been highest among people in their 40s. “In some areas of the U.S., more people in their 20s are now being hospitalized for COVID-19 than people in their 70s,” Dr. Etienne said.
“For much of the pandemic, our hospitals were filled with elderly COVID patients, many of whom had pre-existing conditions that made them more susceptible to severe disease,” Dr. Etienne noted. “But look around intensive care units across our region today. You’ll see they’re filled not only with elderly patients, but also with younger people.”
Since healthy young people are more likely to survive, they may remain in hospitals for weeks, she said. As a result, countries must be prepared for surging hospital demand.
“If infections continue to rise at this rate, we expect that over the next three months, countries across our region will need to maintain and even increase their ICU bed capacity further,” she warned.
Countries should hire and train more health workers and specialized personnel, she said. Existing health workers should be supported “after operating in ‘crisis mode’ for so long,” she added.
“But we also can’t expand ICU capacity indefinitely. There are simply not enough health workers to hire and train in time. Which points us back to the best option: we must all recommit to a comprehensive response grounded in prevention and maintain health care for COVID-19 and other conditions,” Dr. Etienne said.
She said countries must continue public health measures – social distancing, wearing masks and avoiding gatherings in closed spaces. Countries should “re-prioritize testing and contact tracing at the primary care level,” she said. And communication campaigns should be launched to remind younger people that they need to protect themselves.
While vaccines are being rolled out as fast as possible, they are not a short-term solution –we can’t rely on vaccines to bring down infections when there’s not enough vaccines to go around. They are one part of the comprehensive response that includes prevention through public health measures and improving readiness of health systems.”
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Turning to the pandemic’s toll across the Americas, Dr. Etienne noted, “Nearly 40% of all global COVID deaths reported last week took place right here in our region. Today, more Latin American countries than ever before are reporting more than 1,000 COVID cases a day.”
She reported that infections are increasing rapidly in the Guyanas and across Argentina and Colombia, “where weekly case counts are five times higher than they were this time last year.” In Central America, Guatemala is experiencing a significant increase in infections while Costa Rica is reporting record-high infections.
Puerto Rico and Cuba are driving infections in the Caribbean, although cases are also rising in many smaller islands. Nearly 70% of total COVID-19 cases in Anguilla have been reported in the last ten days. Following the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano, cases are rising in St. Vincent and the Grenadines among internally displaced people.
In total, more than 1.3 million people were infected with COVID-19 in the Americas in the last week and more than 36,000 died from COVID-related complications.
 
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