Well I am beginning to fray around the edges a bit now. The news is a bit hard to deal with at the best of times. I can’t concentrate in anything at all at the time of writing. I went out for a walk and that was quite pleasant but after an hour or so back home I got extremely anxious.
I guess like most people it’s the not knowing and being totally unable to control events. Life is like that at the best of times of course, but now its brought in to sharp focus. We have a wealth of information so there is no getting away from it. At times like this it would be great to pick up the phone to my mum but she is sadly long gone from this world also is my Dad, though they would be in their 90s now.

So whats new? I did a live webcast for a friends virtual festival last weekend and that was very different. I did a set from the piano and sang my self a little bit horse to be honest. Quite enjoyable to do. I do miss gigs and proper beer in pubs at the moment. I am better placed to ride this storm than many fortunatly. I am in a rural location with acces to open country and a large nature reserve so I can’t complain about that. It is so very different to the London flat where I spent 33 years. I do miss London but at this time I am very glad to be where I am.

My partner is busy with her painting and her now virtual (via video) classes for art and Phylosophy, plus keeping in touch with friends and familly that way too. The lighter evenings help a bit.

Anyway here is a song of mine from October 2018.

The less you are exposed, the lesser the risk of serious outcomes it seems?

OK this is a bit of a difficult read but its about Viral load.

and I quote “The mean viral load of severe cases was around 60 times higher than that of mild cases, suggesting that higher viral loads might be associated with severe clinical outcomes. We further stratified these data according to the day of disease onset at the time of sampling. The DCt values of severe cases remained significantly lower for the first 12 days after onset than those of corresponding mild cases (figure A). We also studied serial samples from 21 mild and ten severe cases (figure B). Mild cases were found to have an early viral clearance, with 90% of these patients repeatedly testing negative on RT-PCR by day 10 post-onset. By contrast, all severe cases still tested positive at or beyond day 10 post-onset. Overall, our data indicate that, similar to SARS in 2002–03,6 patients with severe COVID-19 tend to have a high viral load and a long virus-shedding period. This finding suggests that the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 might be a useful marker for assessing disease severity and prognosis.”

So the less exposure the better your chances.

Read the full article below

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30232-2/fulltext

Official advice on this link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19

This guidance is for people, including children, who are at very high risk of severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19) because of an underlying health condition, and for their family, friends and carers. It is intended for use in situations where the extremely vulnerable person is living in their own home, with or without additional support. This includes the extremely clinically vulnerable people living in long-term care facilities, either for the elderly or persons with special needs.

Shielding is a measure to protect people who are clinically extremely vulnerable by minimising all interaction between those who are extremely vulnerable and others. We are strongly advising people with serious underlying health conditions (listed below) which put them at very high risk of severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19) to rigorously follow shielding measures in order to keep themselves safe.

What do we mean by extremely vulnerable?
People falling into this extremely vulnerable group include:

Solid organ transplant recipients

People with specific cancers:
people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer
people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD.

People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).

People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.

Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired.
Shielding is for your personal protection, it is your choice to decide whether to follow the measures we advise. Individuals who have been given a prognosis of less than 6 months to live, and some others in special circumstances, could decide not to undertake shielding. This will be a deeply personal decision. We advise calling your GP or specialist to discuss this.

The NHS in England is directly contacting people with these conditions to provide further advice.

If you think you fall into one of the categories of extremely vulnerable people listed above and you have not received a letter by Sunday 29 March 2020 or been contacted by your GP, you should discuss your concerns with your GP or hospital clinician.

We understand this is an anxious time and people considered extremely vulnerable will understandably have questions and concerns. Plans are being readied to make sure you can rely on a wide range of help and support.