Still got questions about Coronavirus? Shall we gather them together in one place?

[ChicChicChicChiclana]

Then hopefully other Mumsnetters who are more in the know or who have done a lot more reading around the subject can guide us to some useful reading or other credible / reliable articles.

I know it's difficult but I'd really appreciate it if we could keep this thread as factual as possible, rather than another place to vent about fear and anxiety - as there are many other threads on which to do that.

My questions are:

1. How come the quarantine period is only 7 days for someone showing symptoms when it is 14 days for others (who live with them for example)?

1. What is a sensible estimate of the current number of untested UK cases?

1. When will this home test we were hearing about become available?

1. If you get the home test, test and find you have had the virus, what happens next?

How come the quarantine period is only 7 days for someone showing symptoms when it is 14 days for others (who live with them for example)?

Because as far as we know you are infectious from being exposed until 7 days after the symptoms start. You could be incubating the virus and be infectious but not have symptoms for up to 7 days before symptoms start.

I don't know the answer to the other ones, but would point you in the direction of the daily briefing, which usually covers these sorts of questions. Certainly, the testing one came up today.

1. Working out if we are going to have as severe peaks as Italy and Spain: don't we look at our mortality rate from day 1 (first death) to day whatever we are now, and compare it to Italy and Spain's data from their day 1s to the equivalent current day?

1. Is 20,000 deaths in the UK still a best case scenario?

1. Are there fewer cases of "seasonal flu" with this new virus circulating?

What is a sensible estimate of the current number of untested UK cases?
This article speaks to your question:
www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-to-understand-and-report-figures-for-covid-19-deaths-

1. Why the figures for Covid-19 infections are a vast underestimate


'So far in this pandemic, test kits have mainly been reserved for hospitalised patients with significant symptoms. Few tests have been carried out in patients with mild symptoms. This means that the number of positive tests will be far lower than the number of people who have had the disease. Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, has been trying to stress this. He suggested that the real figure for the number of cases could be 10 to 20 times higher than the official figure. If he’s right, the headline death rate due to this virus (all derived from lab tests) will be 10 to 20 times lower than it appears to be from the published figures. The more the number of untested cases goes up, the lower the true death rate.

I think it's doubtful that tests will be made available for sale to the general public. People could say they had been tested when they hadn't just do they could go back to work. Also it wouldn't be long before fake ones were being sold on line.

What is a sensible estimate of the current number of untested UK cases?

The COVID-19 Response Team at Imperial estimated yesterday that 2.7% of the UK population has been infected with a 95% confidence interval of 1.2%-5.4% ie there is a 95% chance that the correct number lies between 1.2% and 5.4%.They think in London the percentage is probably closer to 5% of the population though. So that is over 1.82 million cases in the UK with about 450k of those in London.

Yes, I am wondering about verified tests. Perhaps there will need to be a microchip or something incredibly high tech like that?

What if over 2 million people really died in China as the dissapearing mobiles suggest? Is this as horrific as it sounds or as their population runs in to billions is it a normal level of deaths in a country that big?

fucking sigh at that question about China.

I literally give up.

Really reassuring. Thanks for that

It's not anyone's job to reassure you

Is loss of smell believed to be a symptom or just something some people informally report?

In response to the question about China, I hope this might help - Drop in cellphone users in China wrongly attributed to coronavirus deaths
AP is a reputable news site.

I think it is now more widely understood to be a symptom. I just Googled and got lots of press stories from the past couple of days.

My husband has been ill with all the various symptoms of corona for 15 days. He got loss of taste and smell about a week ago and I Googled then and got plenty of results for that being a common sign.

Thanyou MajesticWhine helpful and informative.

I have a question about sneezing. All the graphics I have seen about symptoms say no, sneezing doesn't happen with covid. Just no, not even sometimes. So if you are sneezing does that mean you don't have it, or you could have it but are sneezing for another reason? Or could you in fact have a bit of sneezing from covid? Seems like any respiratory infection might cause that.

@Inkpaperstars Sneezing has been reported as a rare symptom of COVID-19. It is also the start of tree pollen season so you could have hayfever and COVID-19 at the same time. Or something else entirely. But you need to assume it's COVID-19 for now.

Some respiratory infections mostly affect the upper respiratory tract (like a cold), others affect the lower respiratory tract (like COVID-19). You've probably had lots of colds that don't give you a cough or a chest infection without sneezing or a blocked nose, if you think about it.

Apologies if these are not the kind of questions you were looking for, but I've really been wondering...

Has anyone found that there are other things besides paracetamol or ibuprofen (or not depending on which article you read) that alleviate symptoms? Are there certain cold\flu meds that work best, meaning a cough suppressant vs an expectorant? Vicks vaporub, salt water rinses, cool air or hot steam, hot drinks vs cold?

I keep reading that you will not get medical help pretty much unless you are really struggling to breath, so what kind of home remedies/over the counter meds will help?

I also wondered if drinking something with electrolytes rather than plain water would also help with hydration as I've read that's a problem.

As more people are being asked to stay home and self care with CV, it would be great if there were more info on this instead of 'stay away from others, drink lots of fluid, and take regular pain med'.

I know this is all very new, but with 170,000+ recovered it would be helpful for others suffering now to have some ideas especially if say something like a cough supressant was more harmful than helpful iykwim.

My question is "why are only 135 showing as recovered on the stats I see?" source phe iirc

Working out if we are going to have as severe peaks as Italy and Spain: don't we look at our mortality rate from day 1 (first death) to day whatever we are now, and compare it to Italy and Spain's data from their day 1s to the equivalent current day?

I'm not sure what you are asking here, @ChicChicChicChiclana. Can you explain a bit more?

The 20k deaths figure is still the "best case scenario" but predictions that far ahead are not very certain. So many things could happen to change that, a successful drug treatment, a vaccine, the virus could mutate (for better or worse). Widespread serological testing could show infection rates are higher, meaning mortality rates are lower.

Thanks @goingovergroud. I have not sneezed much, just occasionally over last day or so. I never get hay fever though.

@fartyface That's because we only have "recovered" figures for those that have been tested and stayed in hospital until they are recovered. In the same way that we don't know how many people have been infected because only those who go to hospital were being tested, we only know the number of people who have been admitted to hospital, recovered and been discharged from hospital. Many people who are tested, even if they attend hospital, will have been sent home to recover.

@goingoverground could you link to the paper for me please.

1. Are there any predictions of what percent of the population might have had CV by the end of this peak (I.e. next few months)? How often would this have to be repeated before any sort of herd immunity effect kicked in?

1. Does anyone know any research looking at transmission rates in developing countries. I was surprised at the low rates in Nigeria- is it just detection, early days yet, or something else?

1. Why did Iran have a flattening then steep increase (stats from worldometer)? What has been going on there and is there an expected increase in deaths in the next few days?

Thanks for starting this. My mind is buzzing with questions but no time to read with kids around.

@humpydumpybumby I k ow there are lots of ways in which COVID-19 is NOT like the flu or a cold, in terms of treatment for those with mild symptoms (not requiring medical attention) it is like a bad cold or flu. So rest, fluids, something to bring down temperature or ease pains if required.

I hope that helps.

(I e. As with much of the public health advice - the simple messages seem to sometimes get missed because they really are that simple - wash your hands, stay at home, painkillers and fluids if required and get help if you can't breathe!)

How long are you contagious for if you have symptoms?

I know about the 7 day isolation but what if you're still coughing on day 7.