COVID at Home

Looking ahead. Do I know how to survive COVID-19?

Some states are "opening up" officially. Others, including the one I'm in, are officially still locked down, but traffic is back to near normal levels, and some folks are quietly going back to work, exemption or no

What this means, in practical terms, is that more people are going to be exposed to the organism that causes COVID-19.

And let's face it, even though the majority of people do just fine, those who do die, die a rather horrible death, alone except for heavily masked healthcare staff. I'd prefer to avoid that if possible, so I've been putting some effort into learning about at-home supportive care to lessen the probability of becoming one of the unlucky ones who wind up hospitalized.

I studied this article until way past my bedtime. It is a technical piece, intended to provide concise guidance for emergency department physicians, and as such is above my head in some spots. But what I was looking for is the stuff that might be of use to the average lay person taking care of themselves at home and trying not to need hospitalization. Which is most of us.

A couple things stood out. I'm going to focus on those, which means I'm also going to NOT address a whole bunch more, including pretty much all the critical care and emergency stuff. That stuff is in the article, you can go read it. But since it isn't intelligible unless you've a healthcare education, and can't be applied outside a hospital, I'm not going to cover it here.

First, a quote: "The vast majority of patients with coronavirus will recover spontaneously, without requiring any medical attention (perhaps >80% of patients)." Remember this. COVID-19 is not an automatic death sentence.

Okay. On to the practical stuff.

CRP. C-Reactive Protein. High levels of this are a pretty sure indicator that a patient is very sick and likely to end up dead.

What's interesting about CRP is that it is primarily an inflammation marker. Which suggests that the cellular-level inflammation was already there before the person got sick, and now their body is overwhelmed. And in one way, this is good news, because it means that anything you do to decrease inflammation will increase your chance of survival.

Pure vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is one of the easiest and simplest ways to tackle inflammation at home. I like the NOW brand. Put a spoonful or so in water (or juice if preferred) once a day. If you get diarrhea, you're taking too much and should back down a little.

Other simple techniques to reduce inflammation include avoiding sugary foods and drinks, eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and drinking plenty of pure water.

A second thing that really stood out from the article is that proning (laying patients face-down) greatly improves blood oxygen levels. Low oxygen levels is the number one problem that leads to intubation and mechanical ventilation. The thought is that prone positioning helps to open up the lungs and prevent the collapse of the alveoli, or little sacs in the lungs.

So. If you do get sick with COVID symptoms, spending some time face down (or on your side if you can't tolerate face-down), BEFORE you start to feel short of breath, just may help. It won't hurt.

Ventilators aren't the best treatment, except for the sickest patients. High flow nasal canula seems to work well. So does CPAP. So if you have a CPAP machine already, be sure you are using it. And if you or a loved one end up in hospital, ask about alternatives to invasive ventilation.

Finally. Hydroxychloroquine does help. Especially in combination with azithromycin. So if you do end up needing care in a hospital, be sure to advocate for that. [EDIT: Both drugs have some pretty serious side effects. Especially if you have a heart condition. Discuss this with your doctor, too. Dying that way is still dying, after all.] And ask about IV ascorbic acid, which shows a lot of promise.

Alright. That's it. It's 1 am. I'm going to bed. But it seemed important to make this information available, as we look ahead, and prepare to survive, and thrive, and go back to work.

PS: You can read the article here. (Be forewarned that it's hard reading unless you've already read a lot of this kind of thing.)

Living Well: An Unconventional Guide to Surviving a Pandemic, Part 2

“My husband works for the government. They make stuff for federal buildings, so they aren’t close unless things get rlly bad. Keep his health in your prayers. Rlly scary the idea of him working during this time.”

She has two small kids. One of them has been in and out of the hospital since he was born. Her husband has a steady job, but things are always tight. And so, the message above landed in my inbox. She continued:

“Any idea how to disinfect work boots?”

She is scared. Feeling helpless in a world suddenly changed and filled with invisible danger, possibly even carried by the person who has always been her rock and safe place. How to navigate this? Is living well even possible? What can we do?

The Battle of the Mind

Coronavirus has an affinity for the lungs. But fear attacks the mind and is far more prevalent.

Fear hijacks our emotions and takes out our immune systems. Viruses may attack organs and bodies, but the greater battle is fought in the mind.

Let’s start there, with the mind and how to win this battle.

Your brain is locked up inside your skull, with no direct access to the outside world. All information that comes to the brain must come in through the five senses. The eyes and ears, especially. In other words, eyes and ears are gateways to the brain. Gateways that you have some control over.

The first and most important step in winning the battle of the mind is to take back possession of the gates.

Recognize that fear is an enemy. Facts are friends. Post guards at the gates of the eyes and ears, and refuse access to all fear, even if it masquerades as common sense.

Recognize that mainstream media is fear-driven. Shut it off. Bar the gates. Instead, welcome facts. Here is a short list of online resources that are (mostly) factual, and which I use.

Use with discretion, and don’t be afraid to throw out any that are infected with the virus of fear.

Map hosted by Johns Hopkins, tracks number of active cases, cumulative totals including number recovered.

OurWorldInData provides one of the most meticulously accurate and carefully researched databases, with sufficient attention to the nuances.

World Health Organization Be aware that this is a politicized organization; but still some decent stats and info.

WGAL is the local news station where I live. I prefer to use their app on my phone instead of the website. You can find a comparable station for your area.

Live updates from the White House

And that’s about it.

I use these resources to stay updated, but deliberately avoid spending a lot of time filling my mind with news (even factual news) about tragedy.

Instead, I deliberately fill my mind with inspiration, creativity, and hope. Like this pandemic playlist on YouTube. In fact, go ahead and open it in another tab, and come back to read the rest of this. I’ll wait.

Living Well

But, what can I do?

Humans are hard-wired to fix stuff. Guys, especially, but many women too. And even if we can’t fix the pandemic, it is helpful to have things to do.

And there are many things that aren’t just busywork, things that actually make a difference.

Wash your hands. This is simple and basic. Handwashing is still the single most important and easiest way to prevent infection. You don’t need any sort of fancy soap. Just make sure to wash thoroughly and for at least 20 seconds.

If you know you’ve been exposed (or have a high likelihood), launder your clothes when you return home. Regular laundering is all that is needed. Hang clothes in the sun to dry, if possible. Shower, including a shampoo, before touching family members.

Use a mask. I scoffed a bit at the mask-wearers, at first. But there is more and more evidence that even a simple mask can help protect against flying droplets. Please, please leave the N95 masks for the healthcare workers! Use a homemade cloth mask, if you don’t have any others on hand. Launder and reuse.

There are a multitude of patterns available for making fabric masks. Here is one example, and you can easily find others.

Use Clorox™ wipes to disinfect surfaces. This is the official recommendation for healthcare. Use it in your home too. But remember to protect your skin and wash your hands immediately after using a wipe.

If you can’t find wipes in the store, mix up a solution of ½ to ¾ cup bleach to 1 gallon of cool water. Wipe surfaces with this mixture, let sit for 5 minutes, then rinse and air dry. Again, wash your hands after using to remove the bleach residue from your skin.

Take pure Vitamin C by mouth. There are promising results from using Vitamin C intravenously, at higher doses than can be taken orally. But you may be able to prevent the need for hospitalization if you practice good preventive and supportive care at home. For most people, up to 1,000 mg once or twice daily is well tolerated. If you begin to have loose stools, then you know that you have reached bowel tolerance and need to back down the dosage a little.

Make real food a priority. It is easy to default to comfort food, and some of that is okay, just for mental health. But don’t allow yourself a steady diet of prepackaged and fast food. Eat lots of onions, garlic, ginger, and other spices and herbs, and load up on fresh veggies and greens.

Get out and move. Sunshine is good for you. And it’s an all-natural disinfectant. Fresh air is good for lung health (unless the pollen count is high, so use discretion), improves mood, and helps stave off depression.

Finally, learn about herbal remedies. Red Moon Herbs has put together a very good resource, with lots of alternatives listed. This store is not currently (early April 2020) able to take online orders, but their resource will help you figure out what to find locally, either in health food stores and herbal shops, or by foraging. (A note on foraging: Be very sure that you know what you are harvesting. Only a fool ingests something without 100% certainty. If you aren’t sure, don’t use it!) Herbs are at their best for prevention and early treatment, so don’t wait to start until you are very sick.

THIS LISTING IS NOT A CURE ALL OR A MAGIC BULLET TO PROTECT YOU. These are common sense steps to lower the risk. Please consult your doctor or healthcare professional before taking any product.

Abundant Life: An Unconventional Guide to Surviving a Pandemic

EDC. IFAK. Bug Out Bag. INCH Bag. SHTF. TEOTWAWKI. Preppers and survivalists know these terms and devote considerable time and energy to preparing for every imaginable worst-case scenario. (In case you’re wondering what those letters mean, here is a link to a discussion thread that tackles these and many more.)

COVID-19. It’s a virus. Most people who get it survive, and in fact it appears that the majority have symptoms so mild that they don’t even realize they’ve gotten it. But with most of the world (apparently) on some sort of shutdown, this virus has become a big deal, a SHTF situation, and it truly is affecting all our lives.

I decided to do some reading and learning and figuring things out, because I’m not sure I know how to survive, much less thrive. I don’t have an INCH bag; I’m not prepared for TEOTWAWKI. You’re welcome to read along and learn with me.

King’s Kids

Before we start, let me get one thing out the way. This “Abundant Life” business hinted at in the title isn’t a joke. But it is only available to King’s Kids. In other words, born-again, Spirit-filled believers in Jesus Christ. Harold Hill’s How to Live Like a King’s Kid is one of the best resources out there. If you aren’t a King’s kid, or you are but aren’t living in abundant life, feel free to keep reading (or grab the King’s Kid book above, and read that first if you rather). While the full abundance is only available to King’s kids who live like King’s kids, the principles are helpful (maybe even life-changing) to everyone.

Death Is Not the End

For the King’s kids, here never was home anyway. I may hold a US passport, have a driver’s license that identifies my state of residence, but this world is not HOME.

Heaven is. And I don’t get to go home and get a new body until I die. Death is not the end, but a new beginning. When this truth sinks deep into my heart and soul, death is no longer a fearsome specter, but a doorway to going home.

I’ve been reading scripture in great gulps, and Philippians has come alive in this time of pandemic like never before. I understand better Paul’s wrestling with desiring to go home while knowing that staying will be important for those who need what he brings to the Kingdom.

Sit for a minute and ask God to show you your heart. Is there fear of death there? If there is, no condemnation. You are a King’s Kid, and fear of death does not belong in the abundant life. You can bring the fear of death to God and tell Him you are done with it.

Kick Out Fear

Fear hit me hard, when the school shutdown in my state got announced. Seventy-five percent of my job as a home-care nurse is with kids in school. When they don’t go to school, I don’t work. And if I don’t work, I don’t get paid. I also live alone, so quarantine would mean no social contact. Being alone for days on end is my worst nightmare. I simply don’t do well with isolation.

But I knew that fear is a spirit (2 Timothy 1:7) and that perfect Love (aka Jesus) casts out fear (1 John 4:18). So, all that week I fought it, rebuked it, took it to Jesus, and gained some measure of victory even in the midst of the battle. And finally, on Saturday night, God showed me, through a gentle inner knowing, that there was a spirit of accusation also attacking me. I commanded that to leave, and the fear left too. I’ve had a deep settled peace ever since. Not that I haven’t felt stressed or had times of being tempted to fear. But peace has reigned.

This is a slice of abundant life; to have no fear even though I don’t know how next month’s rent is going to be paid, or if I will continue to have work, or if I will be stuck in my apartment alone for weeks on end.

Come to God again and give Him permission to show you your heart. If you discover more fear, bring that to God too. Persist in prayer and worship until it is gone.

Choose What is Real

In a time and place where false narratives, fake news, alternative facts, and “post-truth” ideology inundates every aspect of our lives, it is not enough to look for things truthful. We need Truth. Nay, more, we need the Spirit of Truth. (For a fuller and better explanation of this, see the book by the same name.)

This seeking of the Spirit of Truth, to be filled and changed by Him, is the first and most needful. But choosing what is real doesn’t stop there. In fact, I daresay this principle undergirds all the others.

Here are some of the ways choosing what is real may play out in practical terms.

·       Turn off the national news. Fill your mind with good books and scripture and words of hope and peace.

·       Eat real food. Skip fake, faux, and processed in favor of real. Simple and unprocessed, not necessarily raw, but prepared simply. Real fruit instead of semi-artificial juice, fresh veggies instead of the processed kind, real meat that isn’t ground up and stuffed with filler.

·       Use preventive measures instead of over-the-counter symptoms management. See previous post for suggestions.

·       It’s okay to limit contact with negative people. Social media platforms have restricted friends lists and block buttons and other ways to restrict people’s access to your thoughts. Un-following, blocking, unfriending, not bothering to respond to a message, whatever it takes, it’s worth it.

Be Fearless/Love Well

Just over a week ago, schools closed in Pennsylvania. A week of pandemonium and panic (and pandemic, just to finish out the alliteration).

Even before that, I began to ask myself, "What would a completely fear-less approach to this look like?"

To be clear: Fearless is not careless, thoughtless, or stupid. It is calm, clear-eyed, thoughtful, loving, kind, and brave.

And as this crazy week has played out, I've begun to catch glimpses of the answer to this question.

Fearless looks like patient reiteration of love. Fearless is a refusal to take refuge in panic or fearmongering, nor to adopt an attitude of careless bravado. Fearless walks the road step by step, making decisions based on available information even though later developments may make those decisions look foolish. Fearless looks like leaving toilet paper on the shelf. Fearless looks like babysitting, self-quarantining, going to work in an ICU, giving a much needed hug, laughing until you get side stitches, offering a meal, paying someone else's rent when you're not sure how you're going to make payroll, praying with quiet faith, practicing social distancing, livestreaming a sermon, knocking on the neighbor's door...

Choose Abundant Life

Be a King’s Kid. Don’t be afraid of death, live in the Spirit of Truth, and Love well. It’s an unconventional guide to surviving a pandemic, to be sure. And this doesn’t negate the ordinary and practical measures, such as being cognizant to avoid unnecessary spread and supporting a strong immune system.

I’m learning here. A baby King’s Kid, in many ways. Probably not everything here is correct, or as accurate as it could be. If you have some wisdom, or correction, or insights, to add, please do.

NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links for Amazon products. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that I receive a small commission if you purchase a product using these links, but the cost to you does not increase.

Some Thoughts and Data: COVID-19

This week, I spent hours reading about COVID-19, drafting a one-pager to drop in church mailboxes. The fear-mongering and misinformation and half-truths I encountered are incredible.

But what really got me het up was the message I got just after I finished the writing project and sent it back to the guy who requested it. A friend is hurting, scared, alone, needing connection. Grappling with the epidemic of disconnection and apathy and brokenness and hopelessness. And I've been busy collecting information and chewing it up into palatable bites. Reading article after article that promotes holing up at home and maintaining a 6 foot distance if you do go out, and heaven forbid that you hug someone!

It's stupidity, most of it. We are in an epidemic of disconnection, and fear is driving us farther apart.

Folks, stop buying up the masks (unless you're using a particulate respirator AND have been properly fit tested, they aren't worth much anyway). Take your vitamin C and D3 and load up on garlic and ginger and stop drinking sugar. Get intentional about community and connection. Be a Life Giver and a Light Walker and stop being afraid of death.

What follows is the original text of the one-pager I wrote for my church folks. As I publish this blog, the data is a week old, but still mostly accurate as far as I know (except that total numbers have obviously increased).

The Facts about Novel Coronavirus 19 (COVID-19)

As of March 7, 2020

Information in this fact sheet is adapted from an article by Elisa Song, MD, with additional information from reliable sources. The full article can be found at https://healthykidshappykids.com/2020/02/27/coronavirus-covid-19/

What is COVID-19?

Coronaviruses are quite common and cause illness ranging from mild to severe. COVID-19 is the name of the new coronavirus that was first detected in Wuhan, China on December 31, 2019.

How many people actually have COVID-19?

As of this writing, there are 105,818 confirmed cases worldwide, and 3,558 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins-based tracking website. For accurate and up-to-date data, visit arcgis.com and enter covid-19 in the search bar. This site is updated multiple times per day, and coordinates data from around the world.

How do you get COVID-19?

COVID-19 is a respiratory virus that can spread from person to person through respiratory droplets and close contact (within 6 feet or in the same room for long periods without personal protective equipment).

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?

Most people who are infected have mild symptoms, such as cold-like symptoms and fever, and may progress to cough, sore throat, nasal congestion, headache, and muscle aches. Occasionally, the illness worsens and becomes a pneumonia, with difficulty breathing and severe fatigue. Those who are unable to fight off the pneumonia may eventually develop sepsis (infection throughout the body).

What is the death rate from COVID-19?

The most recent data indicates a 3.67% fatality rate in mainland China, due to lack of supplies and few hospitals equipped to deal with respiratory isolation, while the US fatality rate may be as low as 1.4%. Children rarely die from COVID-19, neither do healthy adults. The elderly and those with underlying chronic medical conditions are most at risk for serious complications and death.

Who and how to test for COVID-19?

If you have cold or flu symptoms, chances are, you have the cold or flu! Current recommendations from the CDC are to only test those with known contact, or those with severe respiratory illness who have tested negative for all other diagnoses. Test kits are only available through the public health department; your doctor cannot test for COVID-19.

How do you treat COVID-19?

Treatment is supportive with rest, fluids, oxygen, and more intensive care if needed. There are no specific antiviral medications known to treat COVID-19. Death with COVID-19 is most often due to sepsis, in which the immune system goes haywire. Here are some natural agents that may be the best option to support the immune system, for treatment and prevention

·       Vitamin C (my favorite is sodium ascorbate powder NOW brand)

·       Vitamin D/D3 (I prefer 5,000IU, such as this one).

·       Curcumin (I’ve tried several, and the Terry Naturally brand softgels are the best I’ve found.)

·       Quercetin

·       Naringin

·       Boswellia (Frankincense)

·       Fish oil (almost any brand will work, but if you want quality, try Nordic Naturals)

·       Probiotics (I don’t really have a favorite, but choose a brand with at least 50 billion CFUs. This one has 100 billion.)

·       Zinc

Best practices for prevention

·       Wash your hands frequently with warm water and soap.

·       Avoid touching your face, eyes, nose, and mouth.

·       Stay home when you’re sick, unless you need urgent medical attention.

·       Cover your cough with your elbow or a tissue.

·       Irrigate your nose with Xclear or saline solution. This can wash away viral particles before they have a chance to infect your lungs.

·       Eat foods with antiviral properties; coconut oil, raw garlic, ginger, oregano, walnut, pomegranate, green tea, apple cider vinegar, and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.

·       Stay well hydrated and avoid sodas or sugary drinks.

·       Get fresh air and moderate daily exercise.

·       Get adequate sleep.

·       Minimize stress, including fear about COVID-19. Stress lowers your body’s natural immunity.

Masks are not a good preventive measure, unless you have been professionally fitted, and are using a particulate respirator. If you are sick, wearing a mask may protect others from your droplets.

NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links for Amazon products. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that I receive a small commission if you purchase a product using these links, but the cost to you does not increase.