Be informed, know your risk during Covid 19

dharma1257dharma1257
in General

https://twitter.com/texmed

They have a chart on there that lists on a scale of 1 to 10 how risky certain activities are. I am not saying this is 100 % accurate or correct, but it does get you thinking about some of the risks of your activities.

Listed as 7 out of 10 as a moderate high risk is "Hugging or shaking hands when greeting a friend." So cuddling would probably be seen as a moderately high risk activity.

Please everyone stay safe and well.

p.s. - I am in Arizona and with the huge increase in cases, I am abstaining from cuddling until things get better, it is just too risky for me during this time.

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Comments

  • geoff1000geoff1000

    @dharma1257
    Hugging lasts for just seconds ; but cuddling lasts for tens of minutes, so it must be a higher risk.

    My guess from the way the virus is passed on, would be that cuddling in the normal way gives an almost 100% certainty of transmission ; the only variables being whether or not one of the parties has it, and whether or not the other is immune.

    Hand sanitation etc. would prevent transmission by a party which might have picked up virus particles on the way over.

  • dharma1257dharma1257

    Yes, cuddling might even be a higher risk, but was not trying to create fear or anything. We are all adults and can decide for ourselves if we are willing to take the risk to cuddle or not.

    I just wanted to share this chart in case someone might benefit from it, give it some further thought and reflection regarding the activities they are willing to do and not do during this time. This might even save someones life, who knows.

    I personally am shocked that in some states with the highest cases daily right now, that the Pro Cuddlers are still cuddling and risking. But it is not my place to judge or condemn them. I understand that many need to work right now to pay rent, etc. I do understand but also am worried about their safety and others.

    And lastly, i was shocked that going to bars is listed as the highest dangerous activity, up there with going to sporting events and large gatherings.

  • geoff1000geoff1000

    @dharma1257
    Everyone who considers a risky activity, must remember that they are not only risking themselves and the person they are with ; but also the more vulnerable people at the ends of the transmission chains.

  • ubergigglefritzubergigglefritz

    @dharma1257 Bars are high, because any situation where you are in a closed circulation environment with other people is the absolute worst thing you can do. I will cuddle long before I dine in an indoor sit-down restaurant and clients who are going in an office where people aren't wearing masks are the last clients I will begin seeing again. Cuddling involves one known risk. A risk with someone I know, am comfortable with, and trust. Going to a restaurant/bar or sitting in an office building, both of those activities involve a large number of people I don't know, and don't know their precaution protocol, how much risk they've had in the past couple weeks, if they have any symptoms, etc. Anyway, bars/restaurants are the worst in my opinion. I am staying far away...

  • hugonehugallhugonehugall

    @ubergigglefritz how will you know your client's office setup / office exposure outside of what they tell you ? How will you know if they're being 100% honest ?

  • ubergigglefritzubergigglefritz

    @hugonehugall It is likely I will only be seeing current clients for the first phase of my reopening, whenever that happens. I don't keep a lot of clients. The clients I keep, I keep because I can trust them. I haven't started cuddling yet. I was simply saying that I would start cuddling long before I would sit for 1+ hours in a cesspool of potential COVID-19 germs of a group of people I don't know. Lol. I was simply explaining why bars are such a high risk. 😇

  • dharma1257dharma1257

    I was dining in in a few restaurants and now after this big surge here in Arizona i am afraid to now until things slow down. It is scary not only for me but passing it on to loved ones.

    Cuddling i would love to do but right now the risks just seem too high and i dont want any regrets.

  • dharma1257dharma1257

    Working out at a gym is high risk, according to the chart. I just heard that two people my relative knows got it by going to the gym.

  • pmvinespmvines

    @dharma1257 that is a fear I have for my son. He was just diagnosed with some health issues and needs diet and exercise . But now he's becoming a gym rat shd I'm worried about covid exposure . Risk vs reward I suppose

  • dharma1257dharma1257

    yes pmvines. I hear you and i would be concerned too. I wish i could go out and do things, but not willing to take the risk right now. That chart sort of opened my eyes up a little more to the risks involved with certain activities.

    I know there is risk with everything, but why ask for trouble or do things that carry the higher risk. I know where i live in Arizona, they are suggesting the bars are one of the biggest carriers of this virus and the younger people were flocking to them and not concerned about getting this.

    Maybe share the chart with him and suggest it is best to work out at home for now, if possible, until things get better. For it is a high risk activity and one can still work out usually in some fashion at home or running or things outdoors. Hoping he stays safe and you do too.

  • ubergigglefritzubergigglefritz

    @pmvines I have been using the fitbod app for the past nine weeks! Working out more now than I have in years. 😁

  • MissAdventurousMissAdventurous

    @ubergigglefritz my sentiments exactly on your response in cuddling and which clients that we know and trust to be upfront and honest with. 💜

  • Grace_AnnaGrace_Anna

    While I think it's wise to use caution, especially if you're in a higher risk location, it's important to note that experts can't agree on what is the riskiest. For instance, one virologist suggested that hugging someone who had covid while they coughed turned out to be surprisingly low risk. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/well/family/coronavirus-pandemic-hug-mask.html. She then suggested ways to decrease the risk. Others have argued that it is extremely difficult to get it from touching surfaces like a gas pump. Perhaps, the risk goes up a little bit if you go at a busy time when there is someone at the next pump 2 feet away who has covid and is coughing or you go inside to pay and wait in line... Or maybe it's always busy because Texans drive pick up trucks that are gas guzzlers?

    I'm wary right now of pushing young people into even riskier activities. For instance, many people use sex to get affection. Very surprised I didn't see any kind of sex or hooking up on the list?! Is someone biased and trying to NOT make it harder for themselves or their bros? New York even made a frank list that made them the butt of some jokes. (It's hilarious, especially love the part about using walls as a physical barrier) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/well/live/coronavirus-sex-dating-masks.html. They also admit that masks help during sex even though the duration of sex is generally longer than that of a hug. Interesting…

    I would expect going to the bar then hooking up to get affection to be way, way riskier than a quick hug or a hand on someone's shoulder. Especially since the people going to the bars probably don't care and aren't trying to be careful at all and I'm not sure inebriated people make great choices about safer sex either. But, if someone is very lonely and touch deprived for a long time, particularly when they're young and healthy, they may do higher risk activities in order to get affection. There is still an sti epidemic to consider particularly once this gets better. I hope parents won't be afraid to touch their adult children and friends won't be afraid to touch each other when things get better. I also hope seniors won't be left without touch even when the covid situation gets better, because that age group is actually particularly bad with the sti epidemic.

  • geoff1000geoff1000

    @Grace_Anna
    Inebriated people don't make good decisions about anything. 😀

    Pubs with tables set apart for social distancing, won't work once the alcohol kicks in and many people start doing the thing they went to the pub for, which is to meet others.

  • pmvinespmvines

    @dharma1257 @ubergigglefritz great points thanks ! I have def put on the covid pounds. A lot of folks have been cooking more but it's been the opposite for me . I'm avoiding stores if I can and I prefer to do my own shopping so not into the delivery or curbside pickup . So been eating a lot of takeout.

  • MissAdventurousMissAdventurous

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/business/sweden-economy-coronavirus.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&utm_content=algorithm&fb_news_token=ou/YocsgmP/FfeYNy25O5w==.6+Iwl6oIDK2WRF6WCXGSK25rOGvweCaP/HCr+iVeTv3QviC4zrNBGcrQHFEQWlHromBYs9H1avmFd8c9Cr7nO8k6aK+JjaANidKZBv3GcGpj59RRnXT6konnCd6sMMo9HNWSqPj/oFliICxhDt+3Y64VTpoNSPwwXr7RPcMaet+DJbxC3KjvPy/i9IkAtv38VT1P1zCbIjTtOAvcfvK/D5exAC27yLs5GVJrkQXCt9teqJ/Nj8+lSK+ZoGpcGcmOSHG7MLQ3u79IBbb3BrZmI+Fw5FPNouVMw/QvJxbVzNU=

  • MrPaulMrPaul

    @dharma1257
    The problem with charts like that is that they lack units of measure. We don’t know what the risk number represents. Is it % chance of infection? From the chart we can only say one risk is higher than another. If opening mail is a “1”, and going to a bar is a “9”, what about opening mail for 9 days? Quantitatively it would be equal to one visit to bar, but I question that.

  • dharma1257dharma1257

    I hear you and agree. I just posted it in case it might help someone out to think about the risks/consequences of certain activities. Even just to realize that going to a bar for instance or a restaurant and dining in is more dangerous than going to the beach for instance. I also started this thread in the hope it might help some out who were cuddling who are not aware of the risks involved, it probably is a high risk activity on most charts or experts views.

  • geoff1000geoff1000

    Alexander Woollcott. "All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening."

    If he were alive today, he'd probably add, ". . . or risks giving me coronavirus".

  • MissAdventurousMissAdventurous

    From the New York Times Daily Briefing email:

    “Arizona is #1, Bahrain is #4

    “There is no country in the world where confirmed coronavirus cases are growing as rapidly as they are in Arizona, Florida or South Carolina. The Sun Belt has become the global virus capital.

    “This chart ranks the countries with the most confirmed new cases over the past week, adjusted for population size, and treats each U.S. state as if it were a country. (Many states are larger in both landmass and population than some countries.)”

  • hugonehugallhugonehugall

  • snuggleme123snuggleme123

    The virus is not infecting more people, we are just finding more people with the infection. Florida has testing sites set up all over the place, for free and no restrictions. I live around Jax florida. If we all of a sudden stopped testing, we would all of a sudden be the model for lowering infection rates. lol. Increase tests, increase virus found, not because a gym was open but because they are aggressively testing and advertising where, how and when you can get tested, and a lot of people are getting tested.

    Hospitalizations are up cuz they were shut down to most everything but covid so now they are working on the backlog of patient needs, hospitalizations are not increasing with covid patients but regular patients. I took statistics in college with my Bio Chem degree. It taught me one thing for sure, you can make numbers say anything you want if you set it up right. Statistics is only as honest as the humans running and reporting the study, honesty is becoming rare.

  • geoff1000geoff1000

    @snuggleme123
    "Lies, damned lies, and statistics. "

    However, the USA daily death rate seems to have levelled off on the way down, which might indicate it will rise again. There's a lag of about 2 weeks after the cases rise.

  • ubergigglefritzubergigglefritz

    @snuggleme123 It's more complicated than that. The percentage of positives compared to tests given is what you want to look at to indicate whether you are testing enough to actually see an accurate indication of positive tests. VA is at 5% positive versus FL at 25%. You are correct that FL is testing a lot, but that is because they NEED to. You want to test enough so you see that number drop to 5% to indicate testing is at sufficient levels.

  • geoff1000geoff1000

    The UK has been mostly only testing people who report symptoms, but the data says over 1/5 of those who test positive, have no symptoms.

  • ubergigglefritzubergigglefritz

    @geoff1000 I think that's exactly why a lower percentage of positive tests indicated you are actually testing enough. 😊

  • geoff1000geoff1000

    @ubergigglefritz
    Indeed. The early testing suggested the virus was much more deadly, because only those with severe symptoms were tested.

    Low positive rates are good, just like we all hope most car airbags are never used.

    I like the idea of combining several samples for one test. If the rate is very low, a single test can show everyone in a large group is clear.

  • geoff1000geoff1000

    @snuggleme123
    Worldometer says the USA daily death rate for the last three days, is higher than over the previous month.

  • GeorardGeorard

    @snuggleme123 You are 100% correct, honesty is indeed becoming rare. Especially, in addition, if they know little about what they are testing: https://www.sciencealert.com/the-new-coronavirus-could-have-been-percolating-innocently-in-humans-for-years

  • cuddleanursecuddleanurse

    The USA is worse off than we were in March, but people just don’t realize it yet because so many people think it’s “fake news” especially here in the south. ☹️ Trust me- there are a LOT of sick positive cases here in Tennessee. Stay safe y’all

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