Coronavirus

[mat.sheppard]

Hi, my son is T1 ,he’s 18 and I’m concerned as I’m sure many people are on this forum about Coronavirus,he attends South Bank University London,with cases now live in London should we be concerned?,should he not be at university?...it’s a worry so any advice would be good.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

should we be concerned?,should he not be at university?...it’s a worry so any advice would be good.

I think the official advice is just to practice good hygiene (as we should anyway, especially over the winter, during flu season), so wash hands thoroughly and (try, at least) not to touch your face with your hands (except immediately after you've washed them) because that's how a virus (or bacterium for that matter) is most likely to cause a problem.

I think we all shouldn't do much else since (apart from anything else) if we all start social distancing and things, we won't be able to keep that up for months. So (as far as I understand it) while it's possible we'll have to do more extreme things now isn't the right time to start. Especially if you're 18 and at university.

 

[mat.sheppard]

Thanks for the advice,(I’m acting on behalf of my son by the way).i am still a little concerned at the lack of official information for vulnerable people though,

 

[Bruce Stephens]

i am still a little concerned at the lack of official information for vulnerable people though,

I think there tends to be a mention of "or diabetes" in these lists is that there's some evidence that people with high blood glucose (so uncontrolled diabetes) and people with compromised immune systems are especially vulnerable. But an 18 year old with well controlled Type 1 (and without other significant factors like asthma)? Probably not high on the list of vulnerable people. (It may be that having an autoimmune caused thing like Type 1 might be significant but as far as I know we don't yet know that.)

So we're left with the usual problems of Type 1: anything can mess with blood glucose (and illness usually does) and we need medication, and enough presence of mind to administer the medication in the right doses at the right times, because things can go bad quickly if we get things wrong. Diabetes UK has an official statement (which I'm sure they'll update) linked at the top of the page, but I agree it's a bit generic at present.

The advice generally seems to be we're in the Don't Panic stage of things and I think that applies to your son at present.

 

[Tee G]

Hi @mat.sheppard - The was a very interesting select committee broadcast on the BBC Parliament channel the other morning, where the Chief Medical Officer answered many and varied questions from the panel. Maybe poss to get a download/replay of that to watch? It was pretty lengthy and in-depth (as far as they can be with a 'new' bug)

 

[Docb]

Hi @mat.sheppard - The was a very interesting select committee broadcast on the BBC Parliament channel the other morning, where the Chief Medical Officer answered many and varied questions from the panel. Maybe poss to get a download/replay of that to watch? It was pretty lengthy and in-depth (as far as they can be with a 'new' bug)

There is a thread about it in the "In the news " section with a link in one of the posts.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Maybe poss to get a download/replay of that to watch?

It's on iPlayer, for one thing. I found it helpful too; as with everything I've read and listened to, there's a lot of "we don't know yet" which I find reassuring (in the sense that experts are being allowed to talk relatively openly and seem to be being listened to).

 

[Felinia]

I asked my GP surgery for clarification and just got given a link to the Government website and told to wash my hands. So it was of no use - they either don't know themselves, or are swamped with queries and no time to look at specific cases. But my next door neighbour is a Police Support Staff in a city, with Type 2, a heart condition and asthma. I would have thought if anyone was high risk, he was but he still has to go to work at the moment.

 

[grovesy]

If you listen carefully to the experts and I am talking about globally, they are learning new things about this virus daily. They seem to be freely exchanging information, with each other. The other thing is to remember they are also saying most people who get it recover.

 

[Tee G]

Im encouraged to hear that a lot of people who have had it/got it dont even know!! Others, sadly, feel its full force. Guess all we can do is take careful, sensible measures to limit the risks of us catching it. Its difficult for the authorities, it new to them too. dont panic.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I would try not to worry. It is a serious situation, and we should all take reasonable precautions (eg proper hand washing rather than face masks IMO). I take precautions about seasonal flu every year, but I am not unduly panicked by the prospect of it. I am treating covid 19 much the same. Although I’m in a ‘vulnerable group’ I would fully expect to make a full recovery were I to come into contact with coronavirus

There’s a link to official advice here:

Coronavirus and diabetes updates

All the coronavirus information below applies to the whole of the UK, unless specified. We've noted where are some differences in guidance and diabetes services across the UK.

www.diabetes.org.uk

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Just spotted this on the thread from the ’in the news’ section (9 reasons to be reassured)

• In most cases, symptoms are mild, and young people are at very low risk.According to a study of 45,000 confirmed infections in China, 81% of cases caused only minor illness, 14% of patients had symptoms described as “severe”, and just 5% were considered “critical”, with about half of those resulting in death. Only 3% of cases concern people under 20, children seem barely affected by the virus at all, and the mortality rate for the under-40s is about 0.2%. The rate rises in the over-65s, reaching nearly 15% in the over-80s, especially those with pre-existing heart or lung conditions. Calculating mortality rates during an ongoing epidemic is hard because it is not clear how many mild or asymptomatic cases have been tested for, but the best estimate we have for the coronavirus so far is 1.4% – somewhere between 1918 Spanish flu and 2009 swine flu.

So it doesn‘t seem students should be unduly worried, unless they have quite complex additional complicating factors.

 

[mat.sheppard]

Thanks everyone ,so far we are keeping things clean for George,his uni are very helpful and he is now studying from home ,he is mostly on his computer in his room,although I get the lead out and walk him!
i think now ive got more info even if he got it he would be fine.
i wondered if as a family we had already had it around Christmas,we all had a vicious flu with all the symptoms of Coronavirus,including George!.....who knows....