I also wonder if I had it. 3 of us from work came down with a weird bug. I was off work for 3 days (well 2 of them were weekend but it’s tax season so…). Headache, fever, cough. Weird cough though. Not like bronchitis which I get often. more of a dry cough. I had the cough for weeks. I Would have coughing fits so bad I peed my pants!
@jym626 - That article is presenting an argument – first it describes the law that was passed:
[QUOTE=""]
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed by the President on March 27, 2020, includes a $100 billion fund intended to support health care providers.
The statute provides little guidance on how to allocate the money or what conditions should attach to its use.
In recent days, HHS made important announcements about the fund’s use… the Trump administration decided that a portion of the PHE Fund will “cover providers’ costs of delivering COVID-19 care for the uninsured.” The fund will pay such costs at Medicare rates, and providers may not bill uninsured patients for the balance.
[/QUOTE]
So I interpret that to mean that IF a hospital applies for reimbursement under the fund, they will be paid Medicare rates and cannot bill further. But that doesn’t impose on them an obligation to bill that way – and it’s not clear that there are adequate funds available to cover all such costs.
But the article goes on to argue that the current provisions aren’t enough:
So whether or not that benefits Creekland’s son is an open question. I don’t think whether or not they tested for COVID-19 would be determinative – they can probably code something as “probable” COVID 19 given limitations on available testing.
I know this may seem self-indulgent because we’re not actually dealing with a Covid-19 diagnosis but it scares me anyway - Despite all precautions the number of cases at my parents’ retirement community continues to climb, and we just received notification from the parent company that in the nearby sister community half of all residents and one quarter of all staff had tested positive, and worst of all 18% of all residents have died of the disease.
I wish all the best health to you and your parents, @Sue22, and see nothing self-indulgent about worrying about your parents catching a dangerous disease from people around them who have it. Dealing with COVID-19 in a retirement community is a nightmare. Infection controls have to be fierce
I do believe they’re doing all they can but you have only so much control when you have staff who need to return home every night. They’ve banned visitors and are doing temperature checks on every person who comes into the facility but with a lack of available testing it’s quite possible there’s some asymptomatic resident or staffer unwittingly infecting others.
@Sue22 , why are they still at the retirement facility? With those kind of numbers, they need to get out for a few months. It sounds like they could be in serious danger. No wonder you are worried. Shoot, they’d be better off on a cruise ship.
@busdriver11, Cases at their facility seem to be limited to assisted living and the memory care unit and they are in independent living. I’d like to have them stay with us but they want to stay put and there are things their home provides that ours doesn’t, like the ability to live on one level and to have their cats with them. Honestly I think they’d rather take their chances than leave their things, their routines, and their independence behind. I worry about them and my siblings and I all check in on them every day but we have to respect their wishes. At their age it becomes a bit of a quality of life equation.
My sister’s neighbors, in their 90s, were all packed and ready to move into the assisted living place (I think it was March 1). They had to delay and now it may never happen. One of their daughters had moved into their home and was planning to stay permanently, but she can’t take care of them full time. They now have a daily care taker.
In our state, by far the largest number of deaths from covid 19 has been people over 80. At one time there were 150 deaths and 83 were people over 80 (and only 14 were in people under 60, so the 60-79 group was also huge). Almost 40% of deaths are in nursing homes or complexes.
In my county (population of two million, so it’s bigger than a lot of states) the highest death rate is people in their 70s. A quarter of the deaths are of people 60 or younger.
But that could change, because we’ve now got outbreaks in some nursing homes.
No, its doubtful they can code it as “probable” Covid. Unless the ICD-10 has changed their coding procedures, there is no diagnosis for “probable” anything.
I’ve told my lad to call the hospital once he gets the bill and ask for a self-pay discount, then to call us and we’ll figure out how we want to tackle it.
In the meantime I hope this can show him the need to have health insurance even when one is young (something we discussed when we visited him back in Feb). With a med school lad I have some empathy for medical providers too, but still… this was overkill when one merely wanted a “free” test due to symptoms. And he still doesn’t have, nor will he get, an answer for the relatively huge sum we’ll be paying.
I also grimace when I note he could have gone to a private place and paid something like $250 for a test if NBC news is accurate and there are areas where he is that have them. I want to put this out there for anyone who might find themselves in a similar situation. Here in PA testing is pretty easy to find/get with symptoms. Apparently that’s not so in his area of NC. My prior advice to him was based upon what’s going on locally plus what I heard on the news (testing is free and available!) and assuming that was true everywhere. 'Tis not so…
I didn’t hear from him yesterday (supposed to be one of his worst days). Hopefully he’ll return my texts today with an update. He lives with his wife, so being in trouble alone is not a concern.
My in laws are in assisted living, and I am glad they are there. Even if there is eventually an outbreak there (nothing so far), I can’t imagine how they would have coped with the stay-at-home order if they were still in their own home. They are 92 and 93, and they are “ready to go.” If they do contract the virus, at least they have been well taken care of, happy and living in a stress-free environment. Of course, I hope they don’t get Covid19, but the important thing is for them to live out their final years comfortably.
My friend’s BIL still has a long, long way to go. He passed a swallow test and was able to try some soft food (ice cream). His WBC count is still elevated and they are needing an infectious disease consult. He is also having cardiac issues. They attempted to get him out of bet and take a step. This is such a potentially devastating illness.
It’s so crazy how one person gets so incredibly sick or even dies, while the next one shrugs and says “I didn’t feel anything.”
That’s what is so scary about it… you don’t know where you would fall on the spectrum.
I just found out that the owner of a local Mexican restaurant died, and his son the manager is in the ICU on a ventilator. I worked with them on a project a few years ago. They were a wonderful family and very active in the community. This really sucks.
@Sue22 We have relatives at the Lambeth House in New Orleans in the independent living side. They had a lot of cases early on. Our relatives came through fine through strict quarantine etc. I hope that gives you hope.
I am on day nine of have a temperature of about 99.6. Early on I had tightness in my chest and was using my inhaler. Who knows if I have it? No testing here for the barely sick.
My daughter continues to have lung issues. She had another telemedicine conference in which she was told to just wait it out another month unless she starts getting worse. They doctor pretty much said his advice is based of off slow recovery for pneumonia and 24 year olds are not accustomed to not bouncing back easily. I think no one knows if there are long lasting effects.
I sent the sign up information to her about the NIH study. I hope she tries to get on it.
A friend of H’s just got home after 25 days in the hospital with Covid 19. Nine days on a ventilator. He is 51 yo and had no prior conditions. He doesn’t know where he got it. His family was spared and they are staying clear of him for a few more days.
His story was much whispered about in the community, one of those “did you hear…OMG” stories. But people were also kind. Neighbors brought food for the family and tied green ribbons around their trees in support.
H had mentioned this way back, but they were not close, so he didn’t follow up. I heard about it again in a gossipy, back door way with no names named.
Another update about the toddler I know with 106+ fever: https://www.mlive.com/coronavirus/2020/04/michigan-toddler-spiked-107-degree-fever-with-coronavirus-battle-lasting-forever.html
He’s doing much better but now mom, a cancer survivor, feels like she’s going through hell.
Nice to see some good news, but sorry mom is having such a terrible time. Sending her healing vibes.
My lad updated us yesterday. His breathing is getting worse (expected from what he was told) so he’s just sitting around home relaxing/sleeping and similar. Fortunately his headache has receded a little bit. In the next couple of days he should be starting to get better.
His birthday is next week. It’d be nice if he’s over it (enough) by then as an extra present.
I don’t know whether to suggest he look for a private test somewhere (that we’d pay for), whether to wait on some sort of antibody test, or to just continue with the unknown. It would be nice to know if it’s truly the virus for the potential immunity aspect.
No word on what the hospital bill for his “free test” is yet, but IME that will take a little bit to come in the mail.