Seeing as the other thread is now gone, and many were making good use of the old one before it was closed, I have taken it upon myself to make a new one for those who might still have use for such or want to use such.

Please feel free to post anything COVID related(that fits within the forum guidelines) here, including: news reports-articles, well wishes for other users and other people of the world, good advice/tips on how to stay healthy and safe, interesting COVID related media(songs/videos/etc), etc.

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(Before this thread begins properly, however I humbly ask for only one thing: if anyone wants to delve into anything not allowed on the forums please either take it to PM(with the user in question you want to discuss such with), to a quicktopics(I have several linked in my own offtopic thread, or one could make their own), or somewhere else....this way the thread can remain open for all to use during this crisis)
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That said, I hope everyone stays safe and well during all this, and I wish everyone welcome to the thread.

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Some info put together-linked to by other users in the thread --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ===================================================================

Other threads made by other users on the thread topic ===================================================================

For all non allowed posts-articles-etc ===================================================================

Some additions in the form of somewhat good news (Also I will be adding any good/informative links or info others post to this thread in this section/as I notice them, so people can look to this post instead of having to search through too many posts[if the thread grows too big to search through])
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Some music to groove to --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================

Some less cheerful news/info -------------------------------------------------------------------

Some music/media that's not as upbeat, but fits the topic/theme ============================================================

Meh, kind of pointless, this thread will eventually get locked as well. Honestly, with that kind of low-effort "moderation" Gog should just close down the entire forum. I'm out of here, bye! And stay safe everyone and don't let yourselves or your loved ones get killed by the virus!

Here We Go : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGNK-cOtxSs

Maybe, but I am going to try and remain optimistic...someone's gotta carry the torch of hope, right? :)I hope you and yours stay safe and well through all this as well.

(Also, I know you said you're done here, but if you ever change your mind you are more than welcome to stop by and post some more)

Yeah, GOG moderation has really gone off the deep end lately, they seem dead set on making this forum into a hugbox subreddit.

So, before this thread gets locked down, any GOGgers diagnosed or highly suspected having gone through the corona infection already? I presume many must have, you just don't know it. Maybe these were mentioned in the earlier thread?

Several weeks ago (in February or so) I felt quite tired after work on Friday evening, and on Saturday I felt "odd" and sick. I couldn't quite tell what it was, but somehow I was afraid it was something in my heart, even thinking did I just have my first (minor) heart attack? I was aching on the chest area and my left shoulder felt sore.

I went to hospital, they took tests (including heart tests) and concluded it was not related to my heart (phew!).
However, they said that my blood samples had high "inflammation values" so they did further tests for:

- pneumonia (X-ray from my chest)
- urinary tract infection
- something else I don't remember

They did see something in the X-ray so they diagnosed me of having pneunomia, and gave me a prescription for antibiotics. Or at least they highly suspected it, as I didn't seem to have symptoms that I'd expect for pneumonia, ie. I wasn't coughing, I didn't have any difficulties breathing etc. My main symptom at that point was the pain in my left shoulder, which oddly had moved down to my left side (rib).

They also said I had fever and gave me some pain killers for it, but I didn't feel "feverish" either. However, they said that probably explained the pain in my shoulder/rib, it was general aching caused by the fever. On Sunday and especially Monday I felt quite feverish, but after that quite normal. I didn't get to work until next week though, just to be sure.

One or two weeks after that, I also had a sore throat and a runny nose, and felt a bit tired in a couple of evenings.

So, maybe I had corona already? If I really had pneumonia, that might be it, but back then corona hadn't yet allegedly spread to Finland that much, I recall it was about the same time the first case of corona had just been diagnosed in northern Finland in some Chinese tourist. I haven't travelled abroad and pretty much the only time I was in contact with lots of strangers was when I went to grocery store (one or two times per week).

Also, the fact that it seemed to go away in a few days... To me the reports indicate that if you get sick, you'll be that for two weeks or so at least, but maybe I didn't always realize I was sick (e.g. I was surprised in the hospital when they told me I have fever).

I dunno about the other thread or other GOGgers even(for the most part), but I myself feel fine so far

(Yes, I could have had it & not even known I had it or even have it now, but I think with how much I stay at home already & keep clean/distance myself the chances are likely to be low)Dunno how accurate this is, but some have theorized Corona(this one) spread around before all this and is only now becoming strong enough/etc to harm humans to such degrees.

Maybe you were part of that "evolutionary process"? :\

I had an extremely light head cold but that was about it?!?

I feel fine too luckily.

Why did the other thread get closed? I think that a thread like this could be useful above all to know news from countries other users come from.

Mind that what I said is ONLY a THEORY.....so take it as such.

My entire family got sick the first week of January...

... started with a sore throat...

... then...

... low-grade temperature (101 degrees)...

... body and back aches...

... stuffy head...

... post-nasal drip...

... worsening cough...

... chest congestion...

... throwing up (in my case).

None of us went to the doctor, but at the time we all thought the illness was strange and not like any flu we had prior. Also, it lasted a very long time; I still had a cough one month later.

My brother on the other side of the country (NY) is currently having the same symptoms. Have also talked to many friends who had the same between January and February.

Completely anecdotal, but...

... it does seem likely this virus spread long before we were aware of the COVID-19 outbreak moving beyond China.

A few users got into pure politics & didn't know when to take it to PM or quit.....mods stepped in and said "cut it out or we're locking it".

I then asked basically "can't we have this one exception if we stay ontopic(as this is a worldwide problem and not your average situation)?"....they(mods) stayed silentfor a bit(CM spoke up, though), and then when those users posted some more offtopic the mods locked it.

Deep End

As for me, I'm living fairly badly right now (1 hour of sleep last week due to work and some stress) but not because of a potential COVID-19 outbreak within my close family (which will happen within the next month obviously, shit will spiral out of control fairly quick).

If not, I've also already showed many symptoms, but it can be anything. I don't go outside without precussions (i can't make a mouth, I don't want to be around anyone within a 5 meter radius anyway :>! Though I don't want to panic and make things worse.

And if I die, I die. Thats fine by me should it happen, but not without a true fight. (even though it will be devastrating for my family, my mother is pretty ill due to past illnesses and so is my dad so I help her at home but shes pretty tough. This will going to be tough for all of us.)

I go by the motto "in times of crisis your soul shows your true character". I will never succumb to this situation and I fight harder than ever before. Did a 41 hours work-shift during the weekend and it felt great :>! Psychology for the win.

At any case, I'm very interested in several factors regarding SARS-CoV-2. For instance, once you've lived through the illness, could it be that you can get reinfected by another evolved SARS-CoV-2 (since its an RNA type) virus, or would the mutation be minor? So antibodies can't wholly detect the virus and the body believes that its entirely like a different illness, even tough its still the same.

Also what about the overreaction that is causing the COVID-19 outbreak within your lungs? Couldn't this mean that once you have antibodies and get reinfected again the symptoms will become far worse because of such overeaction? I'm really not an expert in virology or antibodies, fairly sure that there are measures in place to the body that may handle the virus more proficiently. Also through evolution, we may become more "stable" in handling this virus through ourselves, at least that what it may implies. SARS-CoV-2 seems to be very dangerous only because its very new.

Are there any experts browsing this forum who know more?

So my own positive estimations are that the impact of this virus will be absolutely catastrophic and if worse, well then this is going to get even worse. It could be SARS-CoV-2 entering your body with moderate COVID-19 symptoms. Fever also has a lot to do with your metabolism. Sometimes you don't notice fever, but rather you think that everything is cold around you. Was this the case?

Also I don't want to make you feel bad, but this is the time to accept reality. It can be that you may have infected others. Not too many but some may be infected. Its not your fault, but in a time like this the most important thing you can do is not to touch things unless you absolutely have to and never put your finger close to your nose, eyes and mouth, wash your hands before that. Its a snowballing situation.

If you don't have soap, its probably better to use even very mild dish washing substances to fight this virus. This virus is so weak that it even hates sunlight.

So no politics, only updates about covid-19. I think it's fair.
Update from Italy: According to this data generally numbers about death and healings are both increasing. After all the restrictions there are still up and down in daily increase, but as you could see the line of national increase is still only in one direction.
In the province of Lombardia where it all begins finally there has been a little decline in the number of cases, so there has been a little less pressure on first aid and action of ambulances in these last days.
I hope that personal reflections could not be included under "politics". My job ended 12th of this month. I don't know when it will be reprise, and I have to say I'm starting to be a little concerned about my future. It is not a job of "primary necessity" as they called it in these days, it is not included in so called "smart working". I'm not an optimistic person, and I think that in the near future things getting worse before getting better.
The truth is I'm starting to be scared not about covid-19 and its consequences on our health but about its impact on our general reprise of old life in the near (we hope) future.
Maybe it's only the isolation of these days, my loneliness, my negative thoughts, but I only need to relieve stress of these last weeks...