Nasal crusting two months after Covid

At 8 AM on August 14, 2022, my Covid home test was positive, and I immediately went to the Emergency Room. I received monoclonal antibody treatment as I am high risk at age 87 and went home. That evening I had a temperature of 101.5°F but didn’t feel very sick.

Over two months later, on October 20, my blog mentioned picking dried flakes out of my nostrils. But that was the last day of the problem, and I don’t remember when the problem started, but it persisted for several weeks. I didn’t have the problem while in the hospital or for the first week after going home. I don’t remember ever having this nasal crusting with any previous cold or flu.

My suffering with Covid was minimal because I had received all four vaccination shots and was following all of the suggested social distancing and masking procedures. Except, I did have a mild stroke a week before coming down with Covid and spent two nights in the hospital. Before being sent to a private room, I was exposed to over thirty people sitting in the Emergency Room. Since that stroke, the area of numbness symptoms has almost gone away. I am now taking Plavix to prevent another stroke. Everyone, including my doctors, tells me that I look and behave much younger than my physical years.

My Google search didn’t turn up any results matching my nasal crusts, and the Mayo Clinics’ article on Long Covid didn’t list my symptoms. Also, I didn’t have a severe case which is typical of Long Covid.

My conclusion is that my nasal crusting was a symptom of having had Covid, but that it wasn’t serious and has gone away.

COVID – 2022-10-20 – versus Putin

The World COVID infection rate has been close to flat for a month. The world death rate for the last month is down 263 per day to 1,318, which is 17%. At that rate, COVID would be over in a few months. The death rate is down about 50% since the peak in August. My thought is that the death rate is dropping while the infection rate is flat because nearly everyone has been exposed to the COVID virus and has developed some immunity. Perhaps it’s a weak immunity that the standard tests don’t resolve, but it’s enough to lower the death rate.

I tested positive for COVID on 26 August and had a 100.5 fever the next day. That level of fever isn’t difficult to cope with, and I was okay a couple of days later. BUT, I now have a symptom that is just not clearing up nearly two months later. My nostrils, where COVID usually begins, have been forming a crust. There isn’t any pain, but I do have a tendency to pick out the crust with a fingernail. That is a bad idea, but my fingers have a mind of their own. When I catch myself picking, I go rinse out my nostrils. I don’t remember ever having had this crusting before, so it might be a long COVID symptom.

COVID has all but vanished from the news, and the behavior of Russian President Putin is getting plenty of coverage and pundit back-and-forth guessing. His war is going badly for him, but it’s the Ukrainians whose country is being demolished. At the moment, it appears the Ukrainians are getting their property back, but it is covered with rubble.

The population of the world has now passed eight billion by some counters’ estimations, and worldometers.info, the one I follow, has 7,982,514,115 at this second. The world’s population is projected to reach eight billion on November 15, the UN reported. With an accuracy of only one or two percent, stating these numbers to eleven-place accuracy is silly.

COVID – 2022-10-15 versus January 6th Committee

The world COVID infection rate has been close to flat since September 22 and is now 422,874 per day. The death rate is currently 1,191, which is up slightly from 1,141 five days ago. These are tiny numbers compared to the world population of very near 8,000,000,000. However, diseases like COVID are unpredictable and historically have exploded, so we should take them seriously and do all we reasonably can to protect ourselves.

The COVID pandemic is still with us, and if it remains at the current level, we as individuals have only a small worry, unless there is an outbreak in our local community. Basically, keep your COVID vaccinations up to date, and if there is a local outbreak, wear a mask and avoid large indoor gatherings.

The news media has been dominated here in the US by the January 6th Congressional investigation’s revelations of many significant coordinated wrongdoings all pointed at one person.

COVID – 2022-10-10 versus Elon Musk

Covid’s five-day moving average of Daily New Cases has been trending downward from 1,016,424 on July 22, 2022, to 430,155 today, but that is up from 404,414 five days ago, down slightly from 433,391 ten days ago. Unfortunately, that is up a lot from 399,144 fifteen days ago. I have been worried that the political situation here in the USA is so divisive people would ignore the safety precautions against COVID, and the significant increase was in the USA. The world total case rate is negligibly down from twenty days ago but down from 463,127 twenty-five days ago. The curve is flattening at about 400,000 cases per day after the peak, just like it has done four times earlier. After the rate drops to that level, people drop their safety measures, and COVID stabilizes. Then a new strain develops, and it surges again. Back on October 15, 2020, a flat period for deaths started back up and went to its highest peak ever on January 25, 2021. On October 15, 2021, a drop hit a flat period until January 15, 2022, and then spiked up to the most recent peak on February 15, 2022. Probably because of social distancing and mask-wearing, the traditional flu seasons were relatively mild.

Today’s five-day-averaged death rate has decreased slightly to 1,141 from five days ago of 1,168, from the report ten days ago of 1,182 deaths. That was down negligibly from 1,186 fifteen days ago and only slightly from 1,299 twenty days ago but down significantly from 1,568 twenty-five days ago. So the 25-day drop from 1,299 to 1,141 is an actual drop, but as the case rate seen above has flattened, the death rate will, too, in a few weeks. If we are fortunate and the death rate drops the same 158, the total rate would drop below 1,000. That would be a grim celebration, but it is about as much as we can expect.

The other news coverage of COVID versus the rest of the media would include the stupid revenge on civilians by Putin in the Ukrainian public for temporarily incapacitating his birthday bridge. I find more satisfaction in the many wonders that Elon Musk is creating. This week’s announcement was a household humanoid robot that will help with home chores and factory work. It will cost less than a car, and it will work for 24 hours a day doing what you need to have done. Elon says it will end world poverty.

COVID – 2022-10-05 versus forethought

Covid’s five-day moving average of Daily New Cases has been trending downward from 1,016,424 on July 22, 2022, to 404,414 today, down from 433,391 five days ago. Unfortunately, that is up a lot from 399,144 ten days ago. I have been worried that the political situation here in the USA is so divisive people would ignore the safety precautions against COVID, and the significant increase was in the USA. The world total case rate is negligibly down from fifteen days ago but down from 463,127 twenty days ago. The curve is flattening at about 400,000 cases per day after the peak, just like it has done four times earlier. After the rate drops to that level, people drop their safety measures, and COVID stabilizes. Then a new strain develops, and it surges again.

Today’s five-day-averaged death rate has decreased slightly to 1,168, from the report five days ago of 1,182 deaths. That was down negligibly from 1,186, ten days ago and only slightly from 1,299 fifteen days ago but down significantly from 1,568 twenty days ago. So it is an actual drop, but as the case rate has flattened, the death rate likely will too, in a few weeks. Perhaps before then, we can announce it is dropping below a thousand deaths per day before it goes flat and stays put.

The COVID pandemic has almost vanished from the media, even though a thousand people a day are still dying from it. In times of public stress, the voters turn to boastful pat answers to their problems. In times like these, the bombastic bosses take the lead. Putin and the Saudi prince have decided to shut down their petroleum production, which will raise prices and make everything cost more. As usual, it will be the poorest people who will suffer the most.

COVID – 2022-09-30 versus DART

Covid’s five-day moving average of Daily New Cases has been trending downward from 1,016,424 on July 22, 2022, to 433,391 today. Unfortunately, that is up a lot from 399,144 five days ago. I was worried that the massive crowds forming at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral would cause a spike in England. However, the big increase was in the USA. The world total case rate is negligibly down from 433,916 ten days ago but down from 463,127 fifteen days ago. 

When watching the background crowds in news reports from around the world, few people are wearing masks. So we may have a resurgence because only 12% have had COVID, and 68% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. That leaves 20% of the world’s people with little protection against that disease. This pandemic would be over if people could wear masks and adhere to social distancing for a while longer.

The world’s five-day-averaged death rate today has flattened, and there were reported 1,182 deaths, down negligibly from 1,186, down five days ago and only slightly from 1,299 ten days ago but down significantly from 1,568 fifteen days ago. This is near the number of deaths on March 22, 2020. On March 14, 2020, COVID was just beginning to explode. If the population doesn’t take any precautions, the case rate and the death rate will probably continue for years. Because of the lower population of potential victims, the virus will spread more slowly, but if there are no precautions, it will endure as more people are born who will have no immunity.

Meanwhile, DART hit its target asteroid and got all the news coverage.

COVID – 2022-09-25 versus Queen Elizabeth II

Covid’s seven-day moving average of Daily New Cases has been trending downward from 1,016,424 on July 22, 2022, to 399,144 today, and that’s down from 433,916 five days ago and down from 463,127 ten days ago. So the trend is holding steady, and people have taken off their masks, except for Steven Colbert’s Late Night Show, whose audience is still required to be masked and have proof of vaccination. The five-day moving average isn’t as jumpy as daily counts, but there are still rough spots in the counting. This pandemic would be over if people could wear masks and adhere to social distancing for a while longer.
The world’s five-day-averaged death rate today is 1,186, down from 1,299 five days ago and down from 1,568 ten days ago. This is near the number of death on March 22, 2020. On March 11, 2020, Covid took off from 193 deaths.
The Covid pandemic news reporting was overwhelmed by Queen Elizabeth II’s ten days of funeral events. Let us hope those crowds of thousands of people don’t precipitate an explosion of Covid cases. They were giving their respectful goodbyes to the only monarch most of them had ever known.
I have been suffering a pang of guilt all week for not promoting my nasal washing method, which might have saved many people’s lives, and much future suffering from long Covid.

COVID – 2022-09-20 versus my hesitancy to act

Covid’s seven-day moving average of Daily New Cases has been trending downward from 1,016,424 on July 22, 2022, to 433,916 today, and that’s down from 463,127 five days ago and down from 475,020 ten days ago. The trend is holding steady, and people have taken off their masks, except for Steven Colbert’s Late Night Show, whose audience is still required to be masked and have proof of vaccination. The five-day moving average isn’t as jumpy as daily counts, but there are still rough spots in the counting. If people could do the masks and social distancing for a while longer this pandemic would be over. President Biden said yesterday, “the pandemic is over,” but it appears he’s referring to the large death rates.

The world’s five-day-averaged death rate today is 1,299, down from 1,568 five days ago, and down from 1,552 ten days ago. However, late September two years ago was a low that was followed by a tripling of cases three months later. A side effect of wearing masks, and social distancing was that the winter flu season was mild, and without those precautions, our decrease in Covid cases may be beaten up by flu.

Saturday my blog post was, Should I be happy or sad, or grief-stricken? It was about not pursuing my experiments and promoting my method of coping with Covid. It is simply nasal lavage, with 1 drop of baby shampoo per one cup of boiled water. A scientific study, Twice-daily nasal irrigation reduces COVID-related illness, death, was just published that proved the effectiveness of nasal lavage but using a mild salt solution. My method of using a mild form of soap that breaks up viruses rather than just washing them away would be much more effective. The video that YouTube didn’t force me to remove outlines my research and Covid impression method.

 Stopping Covid with baby shampoo, iodine, and masks. which included the video below.

Only three days later, 2020/05/15 there were reportedly 138,475 worldwide deaths. Covid was exploding!

6,319,337 people have died since I posted the video above, and because there were only 695 views, of which many were mine, checking up on various things, only one person responded. I could have, and should have, spent much of my time contacting various places like national CDCs. If even one of them had tried the procedure with the public, and it worked, that success would have been well-known, and the Covid epidemic would have ended. I didn’t do that even though I believed it would work. I am now considering what I should do now. Perhaps I should contact everyone possible to promote this technique because Covid isn’t likely to be the last pandemic that humanity will be forced to cope with. Even at this apparent ending of Covid, this lavage technique with a tiny bit of baby shampoo could save many sick humans from other diseases from death. Therefore, I must publish this idea in such a way as it becomes known worldwide.

COVID – 2022-09-15 versus Smallpox

Covid’s seven-day moving average of Daily New Cases has been trending downward from 1,016,424 on July 22, 2022, to 463,127 today, and that’s down from 475,020 five days ago and down from 532,052 ten days ago. But, of course, it isn’t over until it reaches zero cases detected, which may never be. Today’s Covid death rate is 1,568, slightly up from 1,552 five days ago and down from 1,659 ten days ago. The death rate generally trails the infection rate by a week or two, so we may anticipate the downtrend to continue.

The Wikipedia article on Smallpox is worth reading because of the similarities to Covid. The transmission is similar to Covid’s; therefore, the same precautions, such as face masks and social distancing, are applicable. Both of these diseases are most readily transmitted in airborne droplets when the infected person is in the first week of a fever. Because the victim is aware of a fever likely to be visible on their face, we may contain outbreaks by adopting those known methods.

Smallpox was eradicated by social containment and vaccinations by 1977. It took nearly two centuries after 1796, when Edward Jenner introduced the modern vaccine, to eliminate smallpox. It is estimated that nearly half a billion people died of smallpox in the twentieth century before its eradication. 

Had people known that a total lockdown for one month would end a local outbreak, smallpox would have been eliminated a thousand years ago. Perhaps the same can be said for Covid.

COVID – 2022-09-10 versus autocrats

Covid’s seven-day moving average of Daily New Cases has been trending downward from 1,016,424 on July 22, 2022, to 475,020, down from 532,052 last week. Of course, it isn’t over until it reaches zero cases detected, which may never be. Today’s Covid death rate is down to 1,552 from 1,659 last week.

One of the highest correlations between Covid disease and death was with autocrats. The United States, with Donald Trump as President, had a very slow response to Covid that resulted in a rapid infection rate during the first year of the disease. Also, his efforts to counter President Biden’s efforts in every possible way encouraged many of his followers to avoid getting a vaccination. The US now has 1,075,659 confirmed Covid deaths. India has 4.3 times as many people but only had 528,150. So even with far less money spent on public health, they lost one-eighth of the percentage of people to Covid deaths. Brazil is the sixth largest population in the world and President Jair Bolsonaro tried to ignore the Covid disease and encouraged his people to ignore it, which led to 685,000 deaths in 215,864,000, 1 death per 315 population. For some unknown reason the worldometers.com doesn’t list the population of the USA, but if it did there would be 1,076,000 deaths in 330,000,000, or 1 of 307 Americans who died of Covid. I’m not a fan of China’s method of coping with Covid, but of 1,439,324,000 people they reportedly lost 5,226, or 1 per 275,416 people. The conclusion is that it isn’t the style of leadership, it’s the decisions the leadership makes to deal with the natural disasters that occur.