Flying or not covid-19

I am wondering if it is safe for me to fly. I am on Entocort EC but am stopping as of today. It isn't working well. No diarrhea. Blood, mucous amd some constipation due to some meds. This is our first family Spring Break vacation. We will be headed to the Gulf Shores Alabama.what are your thoughts?

Why would you want to fly? Trapped in an enclosed area with other people. If you do decide to fly...bring along a huge supply of toilet paper (no specific brand)..seems it's an extreme, but highly-valued, way to keep one protected from ONLY C-19 😩

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Based on your post history you are on lialda and that isn't an immunosuppressant. So, you are at no greater risk than the average person for contracting CORVID19.

I have a flight in a couple weeks from VT to TX. If the flight still goes as planned (isn't cancelled), then I'll go. I wouldn't go on a cruiseship though!

Steroids are immunosuppressants and do strengthen viruses. Although Entocort is a 80-90% topical med and a lot lower systematic suppression than prednisone is. Being mostly topical, discontinuation should clear it fast from your body.

If a member of your family becomes ill, will you be willing to self quarantine in AL for several weeks? If not, you should not travel.

My family is laying low out of respect for the elderly folks in our family and in our community. Perhaps this is an overreaction but it feels like the right thing to do for us. We have cancelled plans.

Dr Fauci said that he would NOT fly right now if it was for pleasure.

I wouldn’t fly or drive. How many people would you cross paths with (and their germs) as you drive to Alabama?

WI chica said...
We will be headed to the Gulf Shores Alabama.what are your thoughts?

If you are young and otherwise healthy, the risk to you would be extremely low based on what we know, assuming you are not taking an immune system suppressor like Prednisone or imuran, and you don't have diabetes or respiratory problems.

I wouldn't personally travel because I have valley fever in my lungs, and no one knows what the ramifications of getting covid would be when you already have valley fever (probably not good). If I was young and didn't have valley fever I wouldn't cancel a domestic vacation however.

“ If you are young and healthy the risk to you would be extremely low” but the risk of carrying and spreading the disease to people who will need hospitalization is high while travelling around and spending time in close proximity with hundreds of people. 1 in 20 need hospital beds is one number I heard. So the risk to you might be low but the risk to you country’s, state’s, province’s medical resources would be very high at this time, and could risk the lives of people who can’t get adequate treatment (as we were recently clearly taught by Italy).

We had a panel of epidemiologist speak to our team today via ZOOM. The idea was to gain insights beyond what we're hearing in the press, in order to make decisions on office closures, etc. We touched on the topic of travel and the key takeaway was not earthshattering -- avoidance is the key, and social distancing is the most effective way to do so. For modes of transportation -- if one must travel in crowds -- they surprisingly suggested airplanes are preferable to buses or trains, due to the HEPA (hospital grade) filters in the cabin and airlines' increased efforts on decontaminating their planes. According to them, facemasks should be worn if anyone coughing nearby, otherwise not very useful. Rule of thumb for 'nearby' is within three rows in front and three rows behind. WI chica, hope this helps give you perspective if you choose to fly. For what it's worth, I agree with the others - don't put yourself through this if you can avoid it.

Hi Sara, we did the same testing last week, and as of Friday we decided to close our offices worldwide and ask employees to work from home for 2 weeks. We're trying to do our part to encourage social distancing and keep everyone safe BEFORE we have a case in our team. This is only effective if other companies do the same. Hope your remote access testing goes well next week.

ks1905 said...
If people on this forum get sick then it could cause an autoimmune response and a flare.

That's true for us all the time. The Covid-19 virus isn't the only infectious agent in existence and an airplane is not the only place you can be infected. They will always be out there. I picked up valley fever and it caused a flare, but I'm not going to become a recluse in the future because of it. It's just one of the bad things that comes with having U.C.

Keep in mind that in Korea where they have had extensive testing, not a single person under the age of 30 has died from the virus out of the many thousands that have been infected. I believe in Japan, not a single person under the age of 50 has died. Of course if you have contact with the elderly, you should be extra cautious to not infect them. Goes without saying.

I just got an email from a pharmacy I use warning to expect delays and shortages of medications because the panic is causing disruptions in the supply chain for common ingredients used in the manufacture of drugs. Some of the fallout from the panic may cause more problems than the virus itself.

I do agree though, the CDC has bungled the testing badly. They need to get their s**t together fast. We don't have a clear picture of what is really going on here in regards to Covid-19 and that is a problem.

I'm taking reasonable precautions but I'm not going to lock myself in a bunker somewhere in a big panic. On the other hand I think people do need to take this seriously, but the kind of panic buying I saw at Costco yesterday is nuts.

I've had those exact same thoughts, Charlie. If I am gonna get it I'd rather it be now before it really gets bad. But then I don't want to risk it since I'm over 60 and on Remicade so I just keep washing my hands, using hand sanitizer, and avoiding people as much as possible.

If we could get coherent and clear info on a regular basis people would calm down. Well they would if there was real testing so we knew how bad it really is. The lack of adequate testing is appalling.

My wife says some of her patients are unable to get distilled water for their medical equipment because of people hoarding it. In some cases it could become a major threat to their health.

The weird thing for me is that before I got U.C., i used to get colds all the time. After U.C. I almost never get them. I've never figured out why that is. Perhaps it's because my immune system is way over active. I don't know how I would react to Covid. Would be a crap shoot.