‘I DIDN’T DARE LEAVE MY DAUGHTER’S HOSPITAL BED FOR FEAR WE MIGHT BE SEPARATED’ THE DEVELOPING CRISIS HAS ADDED TO THE ANXIETY OF HAVING A POORLY CHILD, SAYS JESS SPIRING ‘A lot of medical conditions will still need faceto-face assessment’
Just over two weeks ago on March 6, at 3pm, A&E at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital was the carnage you’d expect. It took five hours for my 10-year-old daughter Tilda, who was complaining of acute stomach pain, to be discharged with a diagnosis of trapped wind. But that was when everything was normal.
Nine days later, we were back in A&E with the same issue and the waiting room was deserted. The doctor sent us away with the same unlikely diagnosis and suggesting we see our GP for an ultrasound scan. The next morning, the pain was so extreme, Tilda couldn’t walk.
I called our family GP, but they told me they had IT issues and couldn’t see anyone. “Go back to A&E,” instructed the receptionist. That seemed pointless since they’d only just discharged us.
With panic setting in, my husband Reuben and I hit the phones. Eventually, we found a private GP, which in turn led to an urgent paediatric referral that our private healthcare provider could fulfil at the Bupa Cromwell Hospital in London.
Tilda was admitted immediately and a scan showed she had a perforated appendix and abscess. For the next two days she was treated with antibiotics and painkillers and we welcomed visitors: her eight-year-old sister Bibi and some school friends to lift her spirits. All seemed normal in this private hospital bubble.
But by Thursday, when Tilda’s surgery was scheduled, there was security posted on the door of the hospital. A few days after that, temperature checks were compulsory and I didn’t dare leave for fear I might be separated from my by now incredibly poorly child (it transpired her abscess hadn’t been completely removed and the infection was resistant to two of her antibiotics).
By Monday March 16, no children under 14 were allowed in, and each patient was limited to two visitors. We chose to isolate, because Tilda just couldn’t cope with Covid-19 on top of everything else.
Twelve days of isolation certainly hasn’t done my mental health any good, but I am incredibly thankful that this emergency happened when it did. Today it would be a very different story.
What’s more important, age or health? If you are a healthy, fit 70-year-old, would you still be at more risk than an overweight, smoking, drinking 55-year-old?
Older people tend to have more severe infections of coronavirus than their younger counterparts, but that does not mean that age is the only relevant factor. Older people can have mild cases, and some younger people are severely affected.
Death rates in those with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and high blood pressure are higher than those with no other serious conditions. These three conditions are largely influenced by lifestyle factors such as weight, smoking and eating a healthy diet, so it could be that looking after your health generally would help to reduce the severity of the condition.
Is it OK to walk or cycle outside?
Yes. unless you have been identified as being part of the “high-risk” group. If not, then even under last week’s draconian guidelines, in which the Government advised people not to see friends or family or to gather in crowds, you are still allowed to leave your house for exercise. Just make you stay at least 6ft from others.
Current advice states if you have no symptoms you can kick a football about with friends, as long as you don’t get too close to each other, according to Prof Whitty, who said on Thursday: “Being outside in the park is a very good thing to do, and taking exercise is always good. The thing we are trying to avoid is people meeting up unnecessarily or having unnecessary social contact.”
Can I still go swimming?
Even though many pools have now closed, swimming is actually fine. “Chlorine is a powerful virucide and swimming pools are either open air or in large spaces. I think swimming is a good way of exercising during the pandemic,” says Prof John Oxford, an expert in viruses and emeritus professor of virology, Queen Mary College, University of London. Instead, many are turning to online classes such as yoga and pilates.
How long does coronavirus last?
The first symptoms of Covid-19 – a dry throat, cough, fever and fatigue – tend to start five days after exposure to the virus, but it can also take as little as two days or up to 14. From the onset of symptoms (which can also include digestive problems and a loss of sense of taste), the average duration of the illness is 22 days, according to analysis on 191 patients at the Jinyintan and Wuhan Pulmonary hospitals.
In this time, the novel coronavirus seems to work to a timetable. Day five is when patients who have pre-existing health conditions or are older start to have difficulty breathing. Problems can escalate rapidly, with patients who have severe symptoms often being admitted to hospital by day seven. Day eight is the median time of when the Wuhan patients developed signs of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Day 10 is when these patients tended to be transferred to intensive care.
The average duration of fever is 12 days, according to the researchers. The cough can last longer, with 45 per cent of patients still having one when they were discharged after 12 days. Some patients will, of course, experience far milder symptoms, with a fever and cough that lasts a few days.
Can I visit a relative with the virus in hospital?
One of the biggest fears for people is that loved ones will die – and that they could now do so alone on a coronavirus ward. Given its infectiousness, visits to Covid-19 wards, while different at each NHS trust, are limited and, in some cases, banned. Check with your own hospital.
Should I still go to beauty appointments?
Except for doctors and dentists, no one comes as physically close to their clients as hairdressers, facialists, manicurists, masseurs and makeup artists, and many salons, spas, and hairdressers are now closed or closing.
So has it been safe until now? Dr Jenna Macciochi, an immunologist at the University of Sussex, told me: “There has been a case in Australia where a nail technician could potentially have exposed up to 40 people to the virus.”
Prof Oxford says: “If you can feel or smell someone’s breath, then you are swapping breath with them and that way you can swap a virus, too.” Spending time in a small, busy, perhaps stuffy hair salon therefore should be considered a risk, though in a large airy salon, the risk is diminished.
Viruses can’t be transmitted through skin, so any risk from hands-on therapies come from particles in breath, not from touch. “Having one client directly after another is a problem,” says Prof Oxford. “Think of it like a taxi. In our studies into flu epidemics, we found the biggest risk of a journey came from getting a taxi to the airport because you were sharing the breath of the person in the cab before you.”
It is vital you don’t go anywhere if you feel unwell, and that you wash your hands thoroughly when you arrive and leave.