Do you know anyone who died of or is severely ill of Covid?

No. It still all feels very abstract.

My uncle is on a respirator and two of my cousins are sick. One of my cousins has had two of her coworkers die in the past two weeks.

I never met him but my husband's brother-in-law's brother died Sunday of COVID. I know no one personally who has the virus. My condolences to you for your loss. I am very sorry you are having to deal with this bit of ugliness that life has thrown at you.

Sorry for your trouble, OP.

Yes, OP! This person I saw on TV I knew the neighborhood they used to work one town over. OMG that could have been me!

My condolences, OP.

A friend of a friend died last week of COVID. Only then did I fully realise that this could affect anybody, not just the elderly and vulnerable.

I know a middle-aged man who was hospitalized for a week and was just released. I know many who had the symptoms and weren’t sick enough to be hospitalized so weren’t tested. None dead from it.

I have yet to have anyone I know personally come down with obvious symptoms or have died from it. That is why it is so important to publicize celebrities who come down with it so that Americans who also have yet to personally encounter it appreciate that the threat is real.

so sorry for your loss, how old was he OP?

2 dead 1 Sick currently

My cousin-in-law was in the hospital for a week. They don’t keep you unless you really need it. Then, he moved to a rehab to get his strength back, since he couldn’t stand. Previously, he was reasonably healthy for a 75ish, overweight Italian-American from Philadelphia. The family is pretty close, so this was upsetting.

I’ve had a dry cough for a week. I’ve ignored it at first, but now I’m starting to wonder...

My downstairs neighbor has been wasting away for a decade. AIDS, or maybe Hep C? I don’t know, but I worry about him because he hasn’t looked healthy in a decade.

Yes, OP.

I started the thread about my mother being 3K miles away in hospice and I can't get to her. Or I should't.

People are divided on this.

I know what my mother would want.

People think I'm lying but I'm not. I've been told by a sibling it's a matter of hours and days not weeks.

I'm sorry.

One friend who I knew for 30 years. His wife called me this morning ro tell me he passed away last Friday from the coronavirus.

A friend with severe comorbidity, cancer and heart disease BARELY made it through this weekend

Another, husband of an older colleague, just died

Yes.

The father of one of my colleagues, died yesterday of Covid-19.

I have heard of losses at the edge of my life.

I am frightened that these losses will gnaw further in.

I cohabitate with a parent in her late 70s, and am her care-giver. i think we're okay for now.

She is in excellent health and very brave, but there is no telling how anything will go.

She had begun writing letters to her friends, thanking them for their friendship.

I have made out my will.

I still think that, aside from a few outliers, most of the sick and dead had risk factors. The man I know who was hospitalized for a week (and thankfully is recovering well) had had cancer last year. It was frightening to know that this trim and healthy-appearing man had gotten so sick, but then a mutual friend told me about the cancer.

Also know a young 30s healthy non-smoking (but somewhat heavy drinker) man who had the cough for a month, a week of fever. His roommate (who is a downright alcohoholic and overweight) didn’t get it.

In my mother's senior living apartment building (100 people in the building), nine have tested positive, and one has died.

My mother is taking it all in stride, and keeping distance. Her OCD cleaning tendencies are certainly doing her favors right now.

Three people I know have died and a couple more have been sick and recovered. It's surreal. This is all in New York.

Yes. I was acquainted with Garry Bowie, a prominent AIDS activist here in SoCal. Incredibly nice person.

2 aunts died in one week. My uncle is in the hospital and not doing well. My mom lost 2 sisters to this in 7 days and she is beside herself with grief. She couldn't say goodbye and has had no closure.

My partner. Damn near killed him (he's 51).

He's better now but the recovery is slow-going.

A nurse, 40, with no known co-morbidities as long as dating married men and getting shitfaced and puking in Ubers after a night out are not risk factors. She cares for kids with cancer, though, so she gets a pass for that.

She's in the ICU but not on a vent. Got a positive test result a week ago Friday, took Saturday off, and worked (alone, in an office, doing telephone triage) until Wednesday and was admitted on Thursday - they need everyone who can stand up.

For the past two months it has been very important to some people that you provide a full medical history when reporting a death, so they can say "well, they already had diabetes/cancer/HIV/obesity/old age/peanut allergy, so it serves them right, and this isn't that big of a deal."

R24 OMG what a fucking whore. Fraus should be absolutely celibate or fuck single men. Only we gays can date down low married guys. We do it the right way.

((Hugs)) to everyone that lost a loved one

I know someone in his 60's who has it, but he's recovering.

R25, those things do make a difference, though. Pinpointing comorbidities doesn’t mean the person “deserved it”. (On the other hand, the anti-smoking people say that.)

My boss has it and apparently someone else at the place I work at but I'd never heard of him until he was diagnosed.

R30 and both are hospitalized.

Still nobody that I know directly...although hardly anybody is being tested in Canada, so the possibility remains that there could be quite a few people I know who are asymptomatic or just have a "regular cold".

A person I work with died, and my boss' next door neighbor and good friend died. Also pretty sure that a neighbor of mine died but haven't had the chance to talk to their partner yet. This is in NYC.

And one of my best friends from college is currently sick, and her husband was sick before that, although neither of them have gotten tested. They live in Pittsburgh.

My brother and his partner both have a friend who have died (separate people). Their next door neighbor was taken away in a stretcher 2 days ago in the ambulance for COVID19.

They are kinda freaked out - understandably.

A friend of mine turned 100 years old last month. Today he’s in the hospital with pneumonia. Wondering if it’ll be COVID.

I do.

A partner of a major car dealer in my state who worked in the same building as me died of the coronavirus. Our health department found that 25 of his colleagues in my building tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Health Department sent everyone home, closed the building and spent the last 10 days or so disinfecting the building.

I also have a friend and co-worker who was "severely ill." He was sick for 6 weeks with coronavirus and had to stay home for 4 weeks. It was dangerous because he was with his elderly parents. There were weeks where he found it difficult to breathe. He has recovered and will start working again this month. He does Uber driving, which is where he probably caught it 3 weeks before the quarantines.

I know of one, other person who tested positive and a couple with the symptoms, but they recovered fairly easily.

Yeah, I"m not going back to the thread because there was one too many nasty responses on it, accusing me of making it up.

But I was the guy who posted that his mother was dying on the other side of the country.

She died. There was a quick burial; a priest said a few words. The lack of compassion I'm getting from family members has me suicidal.

I’m so sorry, R37. For what it’s worth, I believed you when you originally related your story. In fact, it initiated a “what would we do if this happens to us” conversation within my family. None of us could come to any good answer. You did the best you could.

Don’t know anybody who has got it...yet.

thanks R38; I know most of the responses on the thread where supportive, but I couldn't get over being accused of trying to pull a scam.

Yes, a co-worker lost his mother and brother-in-law within the past two weeks.

My friends, the writer Patti Bosworth, died of it. She was 85, but not that frail. So sad. A lovely woman. Otherwise no one I know has gotten it, at least, officially -- I know many people who think they might have had it as they've had an assortment of fevers and coughs.

I had it in January, OP. I was in hospital in Japan for ten days (skiing holiday). It wasn’t until I was home and hospitalised here that I found out that my pneumonia was actually Covid-19. I had major gastrointestinal issues which at the time the doctors couldn’t explain, as not related to pneumonia.

I just found out today that the cousin of a good friend wasn’t feeling well on Thursday. Her doctor said it was probably food poisoning and not to worry. She went to A&E on Friday - diagnosed with Covid-19 and died on Sunday. She was 39 and a regular triathlete.

If you aren’t feeling great and have gastrointestinal issues go to the hospital and insist that they test you for Covid-19! And don’t assume that because you’re not 70+ that you’re immune - you’re not.

Just found out that a doc who lives in my condo has been hospitalized. He had been working in the ER with covid pages

^patients

Christ, this is a depressing thread.

Were you tested for it, R43, or are you just assuming?

Considering how few people I know, if someone I know personally dies then things are going to be really bad around here.

And that's why I fault social media, including Datalounge, as dangerous because people make relationships with others on the other side of the world through the internet versus people in your own hometown who can help each other substantively.

A friend who I went to high school with (they are in their 40s) was in a medically-induced coma for a few days but ended up pulling through.

Another friend, who frankly may not have it but has all the symptoms (they are uninsured and they refuse to see him), is currently housebound since he can't get up and down the stairs to his apartment (body aches combined with respiratory distress from the illness). He is 42 and was in excellent health before this.

[quote]And that's why I fault social media, including Datalounge, as dangerous because people make relationships with others on the other side of the world through the internet

Don't flatter yourself

I'm sorry OP.

I know five people who have lost relatives. I don’t know any personally.

Poor Garry. Survived AIDS from 1983! Now this virus kills him quickly. Also, big bulge.... R.I.P.

Does anyone happen to know who is living at the Mary Pickford Home part of the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital?

One friend who was hospitalized, became severely ill and put on a ventilator, then after cholorquin recovered and now home.

Two friends. One of them was in the hospital with "pneumonia," but is home now. I'm not sure if they tested him for COVID, but it sounds like that's what he had. Another friend is currently in the hospital. They're waiting for the test to come back, but the doctors are pretty sure it's COVID. He's on a ventilator and was in a medically induced coma, which they've brought him out of. They're trying to wean him off the ventilator, but it's still doing about 90% of his breathing for him.

I'm on meds for stage 1 hypertension and I'm terrified of getting it.

It's all psychosomatic. Take vitamins!

my mom died.

it'll be a week on Friday.

I'm numb. Wasn't able to fly into the funeral, which was just a quick burial, but she wasn't cremated and my brother got a priest there to say a few words and she would have liked that.

I'm thinking of just ending it. have lost too many people in the last few years. And this is NOT going to get better anytime soon.

R59, do you have anyone you can talk to? Will you be okay tonight?

R60, I'm sure I can call a few but nobody knows you like your mom.

I'll be okay.

A few months ago, I was visiting my mom at her assisted living. An aide was going over my Mom's daily routine with me in front of her and I threw in some thoughts on things she likes to do and how her life might be made easier.

My mom is lying in bed and she kind of rolls of her eyes and goes: "oh, geez; somebody just loves being in charge!"

Not in a overtly mean way. Just in that way you can speak around certain people when you're comfortable.

I said: "Hey! Hey!" and then I leaned in and whispered in her ear: "You better believe it!" and she smiled a smile that I will never forget. We had that kind of rapport where we could joke with each other.

She didn't have that with my siblings. I told her: "You're lucky to have a gay son. I'll be here." And I was.

Elderly former neighbor died. Of the 98 people who livid in her nursing home, 51 tested positive for the virus. She died last weekend.

35 year old bf of a good friend of mine. Died in hospital in Greenwich, CT. with no known underlying health issues. They were going to get married soon. Real nice guy, generous, kind-hearted and fabulously rich.

I officially know somebody who died. She was in her 30s. Shocked and saddened.

R49, I don't blame the Internet or Social Media. As you get older you tend to lose friends and family along the way. A bankruptcy and a move broke my ties with the small group of friends I had, and even that was nearly 20 years ago. Still, I have my partner here with me, and that's enough, but with both of us being older I'm worried about the coronavirus catching up with us.

Warm thoughts to all of you, above, who have lost loved ones.

COVID19 supposedly arrived in the U.S.A. in mid-January, which is when I, like R43, came down with SOMETHING I swear nearly killed me.

Two-three days of just feeling lousy. Then, several days with a fever that peaked at 103 degrees. Some trouble breathing, which I attributed to the asthma I've had off and on since birth. No energy AT ALL. It was all I could do for days to simply go the bathroom. Went through an entire case of bottled water. Zero appetite, lost at least 10 pounds from not eating. And I remember literally praying several times, "Dear God, just let me die!"

Then another week or 10 days to get back to "normal."

COVID? Triple pneumonia? No idea. But at age 64, I now fear I'm gonna be a raging hypochondriac for however much time I have left (was hoping to make it to 80 and then suddenly drop dead of a massive coronary, just like my mother did.)

Sounds like moderate Covid to me, a bit above Chris Cuomo level.

I live in southern Mexico. I had COVID-19 throughout all of this past January and part of February; I was probably one of the first people in the western hemisphere to get it. My husband and I both caught it from a dinner guest who had just flown in from Milan, and so did every single one of the 13 other people who attended our New Year's Eve dinner party. Three of them (elderly) were hospitalized for weeks, and one of them nearly died. This illness is not a joke or an exaggeration; it is real, it is severe, extremely contagious, and it is affecting regular people in countries around the world. It is at least as bad as zika, which I have also had, and I hope never to experience any illness of this magnitude again as long as I live.

Wow r68, did the Milanese dinner guest get ill as well? Where do they live? They probably left a trail of sick people wherever they went.

R69 Yes, he got very ill as well, though his symptoms the night of the dinner were just starting.

What freaks me out is that the survivors don’t necessarily have immunity afterward. What if you can keep getting this over and over?

omg I just ran into an acquaintance at the post office -- those incompetents managed not to lose a package for once -- and she says to me that she's hearing 'the hospitals are emptying' and 'this is just the flu'.

I said Oh, honey. in the movie, you'd be the one who dies.

[quote] 35 year old bf of a good friend of mine. Died in hospital in Greenwich, CT. with no known underlying health issues. They were going to get married soon. Real nice guy, generous, kind-hearted and fabulously rich.

Who got the money?

My partner's previous boss, who had retired about year ago at age 70, died of covid last week

R61, as hard as it is, many of us have gone through the loss of our parents, even if not because of COVID. It's the natural way of the world. Your mother wouldn't have wanted you dying before her, I'm sure, and I can't imagine she would want you being so depressed that you couldn't go on. Your ongoing life is a continuing gift; don't just throw it away. You did the right thing by not trying to go there. It wasn't meant to be.

[quote]If you aren’t feeling great and have gastrointestinal issues go to the hospital and insist that they test you for Covid-19!

Really, what's the point? They're just going to tell you to go home and isolate yourself.

Teue, R76. They might not even test you. Only people who have severe respiratory distress and test positive receive treatment.

R75, thank you.

Your words mean more than you'll ever know.

I knew this day would someday come and I volunteered to do her eulogy. I wasn't sure how I could ever do it as my brothers and I are not close.

Our father died at an extremely young age. The fact that we survived at all was a miracle. I would not have handled it well being in a church filled with people and having no one I really felt I could lean on.

My mother made incredible sacrifices when God or fate or whoever threw her a nasty curveball making her a widow at such a young age.

She never wanted a fuss made at her funeral; just stick me in the ground she used to say. In a way, she got that wish. A priest was there; and one local sibling.

Maybe I'll survive this and live out an Act 3. Maybe I'll get this thing and die next week. I know I did all I could for so long for my Mom and I hope she's reunited with my father, but I actually don't believe in an after life.

The husband of my first cousin died. He was very ill at home for a few days then went to the hospital where he died after about two days. He had diabetes and had had a heart attack about 15 years ago or so. Not overweight. She tested positive but no symptoms. Sad and shocking.

yes, I know at least a dozen people who have gotten sick.

I know two people who have died, both older and had comorbidity issues

I’m most interested in the people who test positive without symptoms. (And how do you get a test when very sick people cant?) How does the virus get into you and just... do nothing?

My husband’s brother is in the hospital now. He has 106 degree fever. My brother has power of attorney over him & is his living will person because his brother is schizophrenic. He’s critically ill. My husband DNR’d him. His brother is about 66 or 67 years old.

[quote] My brother has power of attorney over him & is his living will person because his brother is schizophrenic.

My HUSBAND has power of attorney over him, etc, etc

I am really losing it. I can’t stand being cooped up. If it was warm outside, at least I could sit in the sun.

Nope, here in Toronto I don’t know a single person who has had it. And, amazingly, neither does my GP!

I had it myself -relatively mild case. I have several friends who were hospitalized and in a bad way. At work, we have had three deaths so far.

R85, sorry to hear that, what test did you take? the 5 min one?

I don't know anyone who has had it, but I worry that it's become so abstract that I've become a bit lazy about precautions. This thread is a chilling reminder to be more vigilant.

[R86] The test results took over a week to come back.

Don't know anyone who has had Covid, let alone died from it. Know plenty of people who died from the regular flu, bee stings and mosquitos.

Yes. My mother died from it.

I'm numb.

I may have posted before. I am too lazy or depressed to scroll through to see if I have or not.

A friend died from it last week, one of those kind people who was like a big sister at your first job, five years ahead of you, patient in showing the ropes, celebrating your wins. They thought she had pneumonia, but then she couldn't breathe on her own. She fought that fucker for a month. She'd been healthy, active, outdoorsy, athletic. Two kids and a great husband--and about a thousand friends and colleagues--left going WTF?

My mother died of it about 2 weeks ago. She was diagnosed on Sunday, died on Wednesday morning, but there was no resp. distress. I think it was probably one of tge strokes or heart attacks you read about.

No

I know several people who have had Covid and recovered. I know four people who have died.

I know people who have been sick and hospitalized, but have recovered slowly. I know some college kids who have tested positive but have no symptoms, though one got sick, recovered, and got sick again.

I think it would help if you said where you were from. I am in VA and I don't know of anyone who has contracted the virus.

I'm in IL outside of Chicago and I had it 7 weeks ago, still have GI symptoms and don't feel too well. Sometimes it feels like I will never be fully rid of it. At first I was glad to get it early so I could be over it and symptoms were relatively mild, but now I am just exhausted from being sick so long.

I personally know 3 people (1 NY 50's, 1 LA 30's, 1 Chicago 50's) who had it and recovered, but didn't tell anyone they had it until they recovered and tested for antibodies. Then on FB, about 10 relatives of friends (all over 60) from various locales that have died.

[R96] Richmond.

My cousin's ex-husband in Teaneck, New Jersey died from it a few weeks ago. He was only 52 years old. They have two young daughters who aren't taking it well. He was a really great Dad. A long-time employee at my job succumbed to the disease last week.

Personally, no. But an old girlfriend of a friend (he hadn't seen her in years) died a week and a half ago from it. First (and only thus far) person in our county to die. She was 56.

So many on this thread seem sad...

Let the Old Gays take your mind off things =

A friend of a friend fell ill after catching it from his girlfriend. He is 48, fat, an alcoholic and with some other health conditions. He managed to survive and has now fully recovered.

I'm in North Texas. I don't know anyone who has had it, and none of my doctor's patients have had it that he know of.

Our numbers are going up through, so it's a matter of time.

Knows of*^, obviously.

A work associate died from it. He was elderly.

A young family- mom, dad and kids- I know had it and all recovered. The mom is a first responder.

No. Cure rate for non compromised patients is almost 99%

My partner's aunt by marriage died May 6.

[quote] No. Cure rate for non compromised patients is almost 99%

Link?

I am R94 in NYC. Just found out a friend died yesterday of it.

yes, a 3rd cousin who was in the memory unit of a retirement center. Almost the entire unit s patients died in the last 2 wks.