Is Boris Johnson OK?

[Lumene]

Does anyone know how his health is and how he’s doing?

He will be fine, he's going to get top-notch private care.

I hope it makes him more compassionate and understanding of the millions of us who are going to get the virus (although we wouldn't get the care that he gets - and hopefully most of us will cope without any medical help/testing.

Some elderly people have been told not to bother going to hospital if they are suffocating, and just to lie down where they are and die with no fuss. (I'm guessing no elderly people of BJ's set though).

Some elderly people have been told not to bother going to hospital if they are suffocating, and just to lie down where they are and die with no fuss. (I'm guessing no elderly people of BJ's set though).

Is that true? It is horrific if so.

He will be fine, he's going to get top-notch private care.

I don't think you understand how this virus works. There is no "treatment". No amount of "private care" will alter the outcone.

His body will either fight it off or it won't. All that can be offered is supportive measures such as oxygen, ventilation, support for the kidneys etc, after that this virus is the great leveller.

Rumours were swirling all week that Boris was deteriorating.

You can be 100% sure that they did EVERYTHING they possibly could to avoid a sitting premier being admitted to hospital over this.

The word is that he was finally admitted because his respiratory problems became too severe to treat with a team of doctors alone, but there was no way to quietly bring a ventilator, plus the necessary trained staff, into No. 10 without it leaking. So, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and have him admitted.

He has to be in an ICU and, almost certainly, is already on a ventilator.

That is bad. Very bad.

By the time the disease develops to the point of needing a ventilator, in the best of circumstances your chance of survival is 50%. In some countries, however, it can be as low as 20%. By this time next week we will know if he has survived.

Bojo's chances are probably better than most as he is only 55 years old, but almost all survivors sustain permanent damage as a side-effect of intubation. Often damage to their cognitive function.

My bet is that he will survive but will have no choice but to resign. That is a tragedy for his family and his pregnant fiancé.

I really like Boris and I’m very worried for him and Chris Whitty. I wish you both get well soon.

vera99 I think what you've said is plausible except for the party about having to resign due to loss of cognitive function. Look at Ronald Reagan for example - it is widely thought he was in the early stages of Alzheimer's during his presidency and his advisors just covered for this as best they could.

I wish everyone who is suffering from this terrible virus well and that includes people I dislike such as Boris Johnson and even including someone as loathsome as Harvey Weinstein. Whatever they have done they don't deserve a death sentence for it. I have extra compassion beyond that for the doctors, nurses, health care assistants etc who fought to save others and fell ill themselves in the process. I do not see how that makes me a bad person!

He has to be on a ventilator.

^Early guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) suggest the following symptoms may help a doctor to decide whether a patient with Covid-19 should go to hospital:

Severe shortness of breath at rest or difficulty breathing.
Coughing up blood.
Blue lips or face.
Feeling cold and clammy with pale or mottled skin.
Collapse or fainting (syncope).
New confusion.
Becoming difficult to rouse.
Little or no urine output.^

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/johnsons-hospital-admission-suggests-virus-may-have-progressed

Best wishes to Boris. I agree he likely wasn't hospitalised as a precaution but let's hope that's all it is.

He won't necessarily be on a ventilator - my dad has almost all of those symptoms and is currently in the critical care ward, but he's not ventilated, he just has one of those oxygen hood/bubble things and is still awake and texting me.

@FrangipaniBlue hope your dad gets better soon. One would have thought non-invasive could have been done at No 10 without 'spooking the nation'.

Vera99. I was thinking the same. BJ would have access to high quality medical support at home.

I would guess that his ability to breathe (and oxyginate his body) has reduced significantly.

He nay not be in ITU but he'll be close to needing admission.

I'm sure it's been mentioned already, but when you're ill you should stop working so hard, de-stress as much as possible, and let your body do what it needs to do to get better. We've seen BJ powering through and doing the alpha male thing of insisting on staying in control. I suspect this contributed to the deterioration and I hope he recovers. As others have said it should give him a measure of empathy.

When it was first announced, he was making it look like no big deal, as he'd continue with daily meetings and to lead from the front, and that the virus was no reason to slow down. I think he thought he'd show the nation an example of how a person of pluck and good moral fibre deals with a pesky virus. I hope it doesn't backfire on him.

Is it true that intubation and ventilation causes brain damage? As @vee8 says?

Thanks @vera99 I was maybe thinking they wouldn't want to spook people by being seen taking any equipment in or out but who knows?!

Afaik there is only damage to cognitive function following intubation like a previous poster stated if it was done too late and there was oxygen deprivation causing a hypoxic brain injury. If done in a timely manner i dont believe theres an issue.

I’m watching BBC Breakfast. Professor Tom Solomon, who is leading the Covid 19 national research study & also treating patients.

He said that he and his colleagues in America are looking into Covid 19 patients who have developed neurological disease as a result of the virus.

I doubt he was taken in for routine tests, there will be very little they can't do in his flat. I think this means his condition is worsening. Whatever the outcome of his hospitalisation they will be spinning like make mad to stop any more panic. I think we should all take a moment to reflect on the fact Dominic Rabb is his designated survivor. He has not, to date shown ANY good instincts.

I am really upset about Boris being in hospital. i wonder if he went during the queens speech on purpose

Not sure what happened to the other thread, but hope it was taken down.

Agree with others that he needs treatment - no one is admitted for precautionary measures when you have access to doctors and nurses as the Prime Minister.

Really hope that the, 'he is still running the country,' is stopped - he needs to rest and totally recover, but also it is starting to sound bizarre.

The enormous security issues alone would have meant everything that could be done in No 10 would have been done there if at all possible. Routine tests are just a smokescreen he is very ill indeed.

think we should all take a moment to reflect on the fact Dominic Rabb is his designated survivor. He has not, to date shown ANY good instincts

Scary times starfish I agree it’s very likely that Boris is deteriorating with Covid. Hope he gets better soon.

One thing this situation does is reveal people’s true colours. Some of you are absolutely vile.

Wishing Boris a speedy recovery. This is really worrying.

for the sake of his family as much as anything else

You don't have to like someone to feel compassion for them. I can't stand the man but I don't get any joy from imagining him in hospital, scared and struggling to breathe. I can wish the guy well and still think he's a twat.

I don’t know whether ‘he has to be on a ventilator’ either. My friend in ICU was on CPAP for two days before going to a medical ward because she was getting better- then she took a turn for the worse and was moved to ICU and ventilated.

Of course she doesn’t have access to medics at home like BJ would.