[jpcoolguy]

The lockdown circus continues, this time Sunday lockdown in TN. I failed to understand the purpose of sunday lockdown and as usual people have thronged to vegetable markets, fish and meat markets today itself, doesn't it defeat the purpose.

All the news channels started flashing the over crowded markets and blaming the people, but they don't have guts to blame the damn government for announcing these stupid one day lockdowns which serve no purpose. There are people who work for 6 days and only have time to go for weekly purchases during Sunday and what will they do if there is a lockdown on Sunday.

[The Rationalist]

I have refrained from posting on this thread for long. I’m working in one of Pune’s largest corporate hospital, with one of the largest proper ICU in entire Pune. We have no beds available in ICU, all patients are either intubated or on NIV, very few on HFNC. We don’t even admit patients to ICU unless they need Non invasive ventilation at least. We have run out of beds and are not even accepting sick patients from ER. I can’t write everything what is happening due to repercussions. Believe me the system has collapsed. Those who think people are not dying without proper treatment, I can only sympathesize with you. Last shift I alone declared 15 patients dead (5 of them below 50 and one was just 23!), mind you this is a corporate hospital. The maximum people I had declared dead in a shift was 7 until this, that was in 2004 in a Governement medical college as a House surgeon in a medical ward with 0 ventilators! If you still want to chant “All is well”, go ahead. You can never wake up a person who is pretending to sleep. I’m not some doctor who manages ICU because pandemic forced it, me and my colleagues are full time Critical care super specialists. This government has failed an entire nation, without planning for oxygen, vaccines and what not. As someone has mentioned, you won’t feel the agony until you lose someone whom you love dearly. Absolutely disgusted at seeing people trying to justify this horrendous crime against the fellow human beings, I thought at least Team-bhpians would have got spine to call a spade a spade, rather than taking partisan views. How on earth can one justify the mass election rallies and religious gatherings while people are dying like worms?

[PetrolRider]

Here is a question for doctors:

My wife just recovered from mild covid infection (CT scan, blood report etc. were absolute normal). She had administered Fabiflu, antibiotics and home isolation only.

As vaccination is opening for all above 18 from 1st of May, is she eligible for vaccination immediately?
I am getting absolute random information on it with absolute zero info from MoHFW. Any help from Docs on this forum would be highly appreciate.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by vivek95

General public is anxious regarding availability of beds because they are highly misguided by the media and all the proponents of fear and paranoia, including the highly educated ones, some in this very forum too sadly.
https://Youtu.be/awXovTfHX3I

The Rationalist: I have refrained from posting on this thread for long. I’m working in one of Pune’s largest corporate hospital, with one of the largest proper ICU in entire Pune. We have no beds available in ICU, all patients are either intubated or on NIV, very few on HFNC. We don’t even admit patients to ICU unless they need Non invasive ventilation at least. We have run out of beds and are not even accepting sick patients from ER. I can’t write everything what is happening due to repercussions. Believe me the system has collapsed.

Doctor's opinion v/s another doctor's opinion on the same forum. Now it is not surprising that normal folks are dumb stuck and totally confused.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by poloman

Doctor's opinion v/s another doctor's opinion on the same forum. Now it is not surprising that normal folks are dumb stuck and totally confused.

Both points of views are equally correct. India is a very large country in terms of population and diversity of infrastructure and state of development - much more than even the whole of Europe. What may apply to a megapolis like Delhi will not to a large city like Pune which in turn will be different from a smaller city like Calicut which will be different from Imphal. We cannot assume a one size fits all when medical infrastructure and degree of spread (of covid) varies so vastly. What @vivek95 is referring to is an interview stating what is applicable in general and on do's and dont's and what @Rationalist is writing about is his experience at one large hospital in one large city.

[drrajasaravanan]

Originally Posted by The Rationalist

. . Believe me the system has collapsed. Those who think people are not dying without proper treatment, I can only sympathesize with you. Last shift I alone declared 15 patients dead (5 of them below 50 and one was just 23!), mind you this is a corporate hospital. The maximum people I had declared dead in a shift was 7 until this, that was in 2004 in a Governement medical college as a House surgeon in a medical ward with 0 ventilators! If you still want to chant “All is well”, go ahead. You can never wake up a person who is pretending to sleep. I’m not some doctor who manages ICU because pandemic forced it, me and my colleagues are full time Critical care super specialists. This government has failed an entire nation, without planning for oxygen, vaccines and what not. As someone has mentioned, you won’t feel the agony until you lose someone whom you love dearly. Absolutely disgusted at seeing people trying to justify this horrendous crime against the fellow human beings, I thought at least Team-bhpians would have got spine to call a spade a spade, rather than taking partisan views. How on earth can one justify the mass election rallies and religious gatherings while people are dying like worms?

Hi,
I feel sorry for the plight you are under. As doctors who are knee deep in this, we have to be sane to advise and act on things under our control. We for long know the system is only self serving. If we start looking at things why it went wrong we won't be able to act on what's in front of our eyes. There is time to do that once the things are under control. I apologies if this sounds patronizing, that is not my intention.

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

Here is a question for doctors:
My wife just recovered from mild covid infection (CT scan, blood report etc. were absolute normal). She had administered Fabiflu, antibiotics and home isolation only.
:

Hi,
You would have to wait 90 days before your vaccination. The data is available online too. Even if you go to the centre they will cross check verify this before vaccinating.

[dark.knight]

This will be my first and last post here, as usual my views will be off-track, contrarian, whatever you may call it, but maybe it can give you all something of value if you stick with it to the end.

The internet and 24/7 media has given everyone a chance to get news updated every second, on every topic imaginable, and also has given a medium to people to voice every imaginable opinion possible from every angle possible. I mean, what are we aiming at exactly here? To show that "I" am right? To show that "I" love the country and it's people more than anyone? To be an amplified, echo chamber of media news and views? Why? Why can't we just let things that are infinitely and absolutely out of our scope of control, just, BE? Just look at the hundreds of posts here, its forum members vs forum members, doctors vs doctors, citizens vs citizens, in short, humanity at odds with itself, very few things are in our control here, heck these things are something the government itself has no control on and we're here trying to endlessly debate for what exactly?

Anything and everything that causes stress, weakens the immune system and causes anxiety and disease. Reading these debates and pot-shots and extreme opinions sure does not help that cause. To me it's simple and I incorporate it in my life every, single day - I wake up and work out till my body fails me, follow it with yoga and meditation & a cold shower, I then proceed to have my breakfast which would include carbs, less oil, protein & fiber, only to wash it down with a vitamin enriched natural fruit juice. Water is boiled twice before consumption and we've completely ignored news channels, there are lots of other fun channels to watch. In a year I've not even caught the sniffles, leave alone anything else and the same goes for everyone at home.

I get it, paranoia is natural, but try to shed it - take all precautions as instructed and work on your own individual mental+physical health. The economy is what it is, the world is what it is and the situation is what it is, only mutual respect and caring can bring us out of the mess that we see today. Consume natural sources/supplements of vit-c and zinc, do prana-yama and anulom-vilom, stretch and exercise and love your body to the maximum.

As a species, we are supposed to bring out the best in ourselves during testing times, not the opposite, the amount of vitriol and sarcasm today is unlike any other I've seen in the better part of the 8 years I've been here.

Please unite and discipline yourselves instead of tarring others, the war is not with the keyboard, but with ourselves.

[SmartCat]

Google document that has bed availability in all Govt & Private Covid hosptials in Bangalore (updated hourly)
Bookmark this page: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...57&single=true



Gives the current occupancy % of different type of beds



HDU = High Dependency Unit (probably means bed with oxygen cylinder)
ICU-V = ICU with ventilator

Also gives the list of Covid-19 field hospitals (covid care centers) and its occupancy levels:



BBMP too has bed availability website - but from what I hear, data updation is slow.
https://apps.bbmpgov.in/covidbedstatus/

[ChiragBasu]

Hello everyone! The Covid second wave is hitting back with fury, and yet I have observed many people are being hesitant to get vaccinated. As someone who has lost 6 family members to this virus in the first wave and more than 10 in the extended family and friends circle, and two already in the second wave, I am acutely aware of the danger that is posed by this disgusting virus.

Although most people in our family's circle has been vaccinated, I am noticing some of my friends and their families delay vaccination on the grounds of "waiting for Pfizer/Moderna", "not trusting Indian vaccines", and generally being suspicious. It may not be relevant, but I think it is important to mention that most of these people are those who were egregiously irresponsible during the first wave, flouted every possible Covid norm, and went partying almost every week in the middle of a raging pandemic.

Therefore, I was compiling a list of reasons to convince people as to why they should get vaccinated. Posting it here, in case it helps the community. Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, this is purely from publicly available data from the Central and State governments, covid19india.org, and from the twitter profile of Dr. Shamika Ravi, who I personally believe has done a tremendous job of breaking down the pandemic into easy-to-understand statistics.

1. Vaccines work. Covishield included. The evidence for this lies in the demographic breakup of the second wave in India. If one looks at the age bracket wise contribution to fatalities and hospitalisation, then those above 60 have contributed ~73% less than what they should have, going by extrapolation of first wave data. Among the medical fraternity too, this number is ~68%. The numbers are being driven primarily by those in the 45-55 age bracket, which adds up because they are the ones constituting a big chuck of non vaccinated population.

Addendum: UK, which has overwhelmingly depended on Covishield is very close on the heels of Israel with regards to being in the Covid endgame. For those who do not know, Israel has vaccinated majority of its population. Covid numbers are on a steady decline, with yesterday being a "zero covid death" day, the first since the beginning of the pandemic. This is despite the entire country being opened up, and masks being made non-compulsory. Very promising sign, IMHO.

2. Efficacy is a play of numbers. "Lower" efficacy rates are not necessarily indicative of lower "effectivity". Efficacy majorly is a function of the sample size. Covishield has been tested very widely, over a vast swathe of variants.

3. Clots are a negligible risk, and can be dealt with medically if one is aware of the symptoms of a brain clot. The incidence rate of clots after vaccination is lower than that of taking an anti pregancy pill. While pills cause clots in 1 out of 1000 people, it is 1 out of 1,00,000 for Covishield and Johnson & Johnson.

4. The longer it takes for us to vaccinate the general population, the more risk we run of the virus evolving and coming up with immune response evasive mutations, such as the triple Mutation Bengal variant. As of now the vaccines we have proven effective generally across the mutation spectrum. That may not be the case if we take too long to vaccinate. Therefore, it is in ours' as well as the country's best interest to take whatever vaccine we get as fast as we can. The time to pick and choose can come later. There is nothing stopping a person from taking Pfizer two months after Covishield dosage is completed.

5. Epidemiology data from across India shows that both Covaxin and Covishield are generating healthy immune responses, with only a 0.03 incidence rate of Covid after 2nd dose of Covaxin, and 0.03 for Covishield

[motorworks]

Unfortunately I have tested positive for COVID, this is my 2nd time in less than 50 days. I think there is no guarantee that there is immunity for 5-6 months.

im concerned about my wife and 8 year old son who are with me, but so far they have no symptoms and even the last time around they did not exhibit any symptoms.

The last time around when I got COVID, the doctor I consulted with prescribed Fabiflu or Favipiravir. And now this other doctor says Fabiflu is useless and I should take a course of ivermectin. Since Im already on an antibiotic course of doxycycline, im all confused about so many medications! Very tricky since im not sure who to listen to and who not to.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by motorworks

Unfortunately I have tested positive for COVID, this is my 2nd time in less than 50 days. I think there is no guarantee that there is immunity for 5-6 months.

im concerned about my wife and 8 year old son who are with me, but so far they have no symptoms and even the last time around they did not exhibit any symptoms.

The last time around when I got COVID, the doctor I consulted with prescribed Fabiflu or Favipiravir. And now this other doctor says Fabiflu is useless and I should take a course of ivermectin. Since Im already on an antibiotic course of doxycycline, im all confused about so many medications! Very tricky since im not sure who to listen to and who not to.

Very sorry to hear this. Keep calm, everything will be OK.
Your case should be studied in more detail by doctors. How can a person get same infection in 50 days? Were you really negative at any point of time after first infection? Is this a new mutant? These are all questions, may be only God can answer, the way things are going with this virus.

[NPV]

The second wave is truly underway - Stay safe, stay strong and take all possible precautions is all I can say.

Do not venture outside for any non-essential work/chore.

Do not underestimate the ability of the virus to spread rapidly, it most definitely can and is spreading as we can all see by the devastating numbers around us. Also, do not be overconfident about your own safety/preventive measures or your immunity.

Some of us have been very lucky that we still have our jobs, have the option of working from home/online, getting our stuff ordered online and delivered to us, maybe even living in an uncongested building / surrounding that helps us avoid too much contact with outsiders/strangers/neighbors. Sadly, there are just too many people with none of these privileges, my heart goes out to all of them.

Praying and hoping for the best in the coming days and hopefully this too shall pass.

[drrajasaravanan]

Originally Posted by motorworks

.
The last time around when I got COVID, the doctor I consulted with prescribed Fabiflu or Favipiravir. And now this other doctor says Fabiflu is useless and I should take a course of ivermectin. Since Im already on an antibiotic course of doxycycline, im all confused about so many medications! Very tricky since im not sure who to listen to and who not to.

Hi,
Please don't worry. The impact will not be to the extent that is portrayed. You are likely to fall in the 95% subset of people who don't need hospitalization. Doxycycline is good enough. Antivirals like remdesvir or ivermectin has no role in your case. If you feel strongly and have access go ahead if you don't it's of no concern. Adapt COVID appropriate precautions. Use N95 at home to outside your isolation zone. In another week you should be back to baseline. Yes duration of immunity is not absolute but the impact should go down as its a reinfection.

[AZT]

There's a lotta faulty data being spread on Whatsapp talking about reinfection rates post vaccines. I've also seen it posted here and it's time we stopped spreading that.

Indian Government Used Faulty Data To Claim Few Infections Post Covid-19 Vaccination

The central govt has claimed that only two to four persons in every 10,000 vaccinated with either of the two Covid-19 vaccines being used in India are seeing breakthrough infections, when a vaccinated person gets infected. However, this is based on incomplete data--for nearly three months after vaccination began, the government's Covid-19 test form, used by both government and private laboratories, did not check if those being tested had been vaccinated. Cases of post-vaccination infection would therefore not have been detected and recorded, our ground investigation and review of documents shows.

Until recently, however, ICMR's Specimen Referral Form (SRF), which laboratories are required to fill up when conducting a Covid-19 test, did not ask for information on whether the person being tested had been vaccinated against Covid-19 or not. On April 7--nearly three months after India began its vaccination programme--the SRF form was amended to include questions on whether the person being tested had received the Covid-19 vaccine; if so, then which one; and the dates on which the first and/or second doses had been received. This means that tests conducted for 81 days prior to April 7 did not contain this information, a senior official at the ICMR admitted, asking not to be named.

Even now, the changed ICMR form has not fully made it to the ground, we found. The government's own National Centre for Disease Control's checklist of forms (accessible at this page) carries the old version of the ICMR SRF form, without fields for vaccination information. The websites of large diagnostic test providers including Max Labs, SRL Diagnostics and Apollo Labs all still have the old ICMR form until today. This means that many people who are testing positive for Covid-19 after getting vaccinated are still not being reflected in ICMR's data on breakthrough infections.

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by poloman

Very sorry to hear this. Keep calm, everything will be OK.
Your case should be studied in more detail by doctors. How can a person get same infection in 50 days? Were you really negative at any point of time after first infection? Is this a new mutant? These are all questions, may be only God can answer, the way things are going with this virus.

Thanks. And yes, I tested positive on 12th feb and then negative on the 21st or 22nd feb. And now again positive on the 24th April. All in a span of 50-60 days.

Originally Posted by drrajasaravanan

Hi,

Please don't worry. The impact will not be to the extent that is portrayed. You are likely to fall in the 95% subset of people who don't need hospitalization. Doxycycline is good enough. Antivirals like remdesvir or ivermectin has no role in your case. If you feel strongly and have access go ahead if you don't it's of no concern. Adapt COVID appropriate precautions. Use N95 at home to outside your isolation zone. In another week you should be back to baseline. Yes duration of immunity is not absolute but the impact should go down as its a reinfection.

Thanks again drrajasaravanan. You have been quite helpful in your prompt replies in this thread and for many of us not knowing what to do, your messages surely inspire confidence.