Fear and Loathing, a Rat Flu Odyssey

**old goat** · 11-29-2020, 10:08 PM

Kevo, thank you for reminding us that when people talk about opening everything and hope high risk people can be protected there are real people with real pain left behind.

**garyfromterrace** · 11-29-2020, 10:49 PM

So sorry Kevo. A shitty situation made shitier. Feel for you man.

**Flyoverland Captive** · 11-29-2020, 10:53 PM

Vibes, Kevo.

**ill-advised strategy** · 11-29-2020, 10:58 PM

I’m sorry bro

KQ · 11-29-2020, 10:58 PM

Originally Posted by Kevo

My 90 year old grandma died from Covid yesterday. She was diagnosed on Friday and quickly took a turn for the worse. No family was allowed to be with her and there's really no way to have a funeral. Shit sucks.

I'm so sorry.

**Jax** · 11-29-2020, 11:17 PM

Oh so sorry Kevo. Just awful.

This dying alone bullshit is so fucking harsh. WTF.

**splat** · 11-29-2020, 11:35 PM

My heart goes out to you and your family, Kevo.

**rideit** · 11-29-2020, 11:40 PM

Sorry to hear this, Kevo, it’s a bitch. We have been lucky, with four parents over 80.

**Ted Striker** · 11-29-2020, 11:59 PM

Shit kevo, sorry to hear. That sucks.

Like others here, my biggest fear is my mom or step mom getting it. Both over 70, both high risk for other reasons as well.

**bennymac** · 11-30-2020, 12:06 AM

Likewise have family members who, if they get covid, will die from it - and will die alone. That is my worst nightmare.

Vibes to Kevo and family.

Anti-vibes to people who refuse to make minor and temporary changes to their behavior that could end up preventing even just one instance of this happening.

**Kevo** · 11-30-2020, 12:49 AM

Thanks everyone. Her dying alone is probably the worst part of this whole thing.

I really wanted to visit her this year but her nursing home has been locked down because of Covid. She lost the ability to talk on the phone this year and she thought at various times throughout the year that either her nursing home staff were keeping family away from her or that her family didn't want to see her. My uncle who lives nearby tried really hard to be involved- he visited her from the other side of a glass door and then over the summer he was able to visit her outside but 6 feet away.

She told me a couple years ago how she missed having all of her family close by. She grew up with multiple generations of her family all living within a couple blocks of each other in Philadelphia. All of her family lived within walking distance- cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents. She met my grandpa when she was a little kid running errands to pick stuff up from the local butcher and he was the butchers helper boy. They married when she was 19, a couple years after he got back from the pacific theater.

She told me the post war world 2 world everything started to change- One of her cousins who has been like an older brother to her died in the world war 2 and her extended family all slowly started to move away. What was once a close family got spread out and separated by time and distance.

My grandpa died 32 years ago and she lived alone for almost 30 years before going into a nursing home.

After growing up surrounded by extended family, she died alone and no family members were allowed to be with her. It's fucking heartbreaking.

I wish I had gotten to see her one last time. She was my last surviving grandparent.

**Yonder_River** · 11-30-2020, 02:04 AM

That is real rough, sorry she had to go through that.

**powdrhound** · 11-30-2020, 02:34 AM

Very nice memorial, Kevo.

**Rasputin** · 11-30-2020, 03:15 AM

Very sorry to hear she went that way Kevo. That just bites.

**funkendrenchman** · 11-30-2020, 06:29 AM

Sorry for your loss Kevo. I feel your pain.

My grandparents also grew up in Philly with a very similar family connection to what you described - married early, lived around the corner from family, etc.

**The AD** · 11-30-2020, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by Kevo

My 90 year old grandma died from Covid yesterday. She was diagnosed on Friday and quickly took a turn for the worse. No family was allowed to be with her and there's really no way to have a funeral. Shit sucks.

Sorry to hear this. Condolences to your family, Kevo.

**gravitylover** · 11-30-2020, 09:50 AM

Bummer, sorry Kevo

It would be nice if we don't have to hear another story like this but...

**frorider** · 11-30-2020, 09:57 AM

Condolences Kevo. It sounds like you and your family did all they could to help maintain a connection with her. I hope you have good memories of the pre-2020 years you can focus on.

**old goat** · 11-30-2020, 09:57 AM

I grew up in Detroit with a big extended family. My biggest regret is that I didn't give my kids that.

**frorider** · 11-30-2020, 09:58 AM

Nurses and their Fox-addled COVID patients...the story continues.. https://www.thecut.com/2020/11/nurse...956.1606751247

**snowaddict91** · 11-30-2020, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by frorider

Nurses and their Fox-addled COVID patients...the story continues.. https://www.thecut.com/2020/11/nurse...956.1606751247

I don't think I'd be able to handle it. My wife has home health patients that are like this, I told her if they won't wear a mask or get tested when they were sick to tell 'em to GFYS, but I know it doesn't work that way.

**summit** · 11-30-2020, 10:14 AM

We have some patients who show up with an "exemption" they printed out from facebook that says "I can do what I want, no masks." Sorry... not in hospital.

**The AD** · 11-30-2020, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by Summit

We have some patients who show up with an "exemption" they printed out from facebook that says "I can do what I want, no masks." Sorry... not in hospital.

The bleach injections are starting to sound better all the time...

**Benny Profane** · 11-30-2020, 10:39 AM

Oh great, fatties to the front of the line. They should offer free injections at the local fast food joint along with a monster burger and a tub of soda.

Analysis | The Health 202: Obese Americans could be prioritized for coronavirus vaccine
By Paige Winfield Cunningham

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...virus-vaccine/

"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisers will meet tomorrow to discuss who should get coronavirus vaccines first.
One population they may consider prioritizing: Americans who are obese — a major risk factor for severe covid-19 that some experts say has gone under-recognized.
“Obesity was ignored for the longest time and overweight was completely ignored,” said Barry Popkin, an obesity researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Now the CDC is talking about both, he said.
The agency has already laid out four groups that should be considered for priority: health-care personnel, workers in essential and critical industries, older adults, and people with certain underlying medical conditions — including “severe obesity.” But it’s unclear to what extent the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will prioritize this group."