COVID-19: Changing our daily lives

These days are trying to say the least. With many Americans in various levels of hysteria it is beyond hard to determine FACT from FICTION. The reality is that many Americans and citizens of the world under appreciated the severity of this disease. When reviewing the series of reports in regards to COVID-19 I learned that patient X was reported NOVEMBER 17th. November. Today is March 23rd. According to sources, China’s first month of cases was minimal – with momentum gaining on a weekly basis. As a traveling American, I was aware of the disease taking hold in China… but I was not nearly as concerned as we are today.

When I look back at the outbreaks of swine flu, avian influenza, Zeka virus, or Ebola – Well I wasn’t affected. I did not have to change my way of life. I was aware of these viruses, but I was not directly affected. Cue Coronavirus and hello new reality. I didn’t travel, I even canceled my trip well before this was a thing. I don’t have sick family members. My individual daily life hasn’t changed much. My job places me under the essential personnel category for work. What has changed is how we operate. And the fact that grocery store shelves are bare when they really don’t need to be. And that my staff is in varying levels of hysteria.

Beyond the pandemic of the Coronavirus, is the pandemic of fear, anxiety, and hysteria. I know many people’s lives have changed. Some may be forever changed. We will all walk aware from this pandemic altered. My hope is that we band together to not only get through this pandemic, but also work together to rebuild the global economy. We are all struggling with where things are today. But spreading hysteria HELPS NO ONE.

So here are some facts that I’ve been researching:

1. China’s first case was back on November 17th. Come March they are finally seeing a slowing of their new caseload. With the majority of their new cases being from imported cases. AKA travelers coming in to China. That means that we, as Americans, are looking at a 4 month minimum disease process. This does NOT mean to panic. This means to make GOOD judgements, take this pandemic seriously, and work towards improving our tomorrows. We are in this together. And together we can not only overcome this pandemic, but also succeed in creating a better tomorrow for our country and the world.

2. The first reported case (according to the CDC) in the USA was January 12th. This means that we will likely see a peak of our caseloads sometime in the coming weeks. Today’s 15 day quarantine is unfortunately just the beginning. We will likely need to restrict our activities for the next several months to fully overcome this pandemic.

3. Everyone is at risk. While spokesmen and women at first thought it was mainly individuals with preexisting conditions that were warned to use caution. Unfortunately we now know that its everyone that can be at risk. Millennials have essentially blown off the COVID-19 guidelines… that is until nowish. Millennials have started to learn that unfortunately they are not protected from the virus just because of their age. SO STAY AT HOME.

4. It’s okay not to get tested. Every news outlet is bashing the healthcare industry for not testing people. Being one faucet of the healthcare industry all I have to say is: IF YOU ARE SICK STAY THE EFF HOME. People are panicking and stressed about not being tested. At this point, if you have flu like symptoms – self quarantine. It’s probably safe to say you got it. HOWEVER, please also note that if you are healthy enough to COMPLAIN about the lack of testing, then you obviously don’t need to be tested. Because lets face it. The people being tested are being PLACED ON VENTILATORS. If you have no trouble breathing, you don’t require oxygen supplementation, and you are able to survive without intensive medical intervention – WHY are you clogging our healthcare system… FURTHER exposing yourself to the virus.

THINK ABOUT IT.

If you are SICK: STAY HOME. If you are sick enough to require HOSPITALIZATION and not your 15min of fame, that’s when our healthcare workers should be devoting time towards your care. Otherwise you are part of the pandemic of panic and not part of the solution. If you have the cold or flu without the need for intensive care then you are simply a fomite for spreading the infection. Just think about how many people you will infect during your quest to obtain a test. Respect others. Stay home.

5. You are not alone. So many people are stressing about this lock down and quarantine measures. Realistically we all thrive on social media and communicating through technology. Today’s pandemic of panic is more or less for the thought of American’s freedom being under threat. These freedoms are being temporarily frozen in efforts to protect everyone, everywhere. They wont be permanent. But they will be uncomfortable. Some will take them harder than others. Heck I’m also out of toilet paper thanks to the pandemic of panic. BTW the Coronavirus does not affect your GI tract. Stop the panic, stop the hoarding, and lets work together to stop this pandemic.

6. Coronavirus is a respiratory virus. A friend’s hospital has found that if you can hold your breath for 10 seconds without coughing, you likely are going to be fine. The Coronavirus is thought to reduce pulmonary function by 40%. Being a patient with asthma, I know the thought of reduced lung function is a very big concern for me. I love to run and losing more of my lung function is less than ideal. However, I check my overall health daily and I’m okay so far. Remember. It’s a respiratory virus. Not the stomach flu. Not the common cold. Patients are having respiratory distress, labored breathing, and signs of pneumonia. Your symptoms may vary from asymptomatic, mild, moderate, or severe. Those with asymptomatic COVID-19 really can do so much by staying home. Those with mild to moderate diseases states that do NOT require intervention should also stay home. But those that have moderate to severe disease and would benefit from intensive interventions SHOULD be in our hospital beds.

7. We do not have enough supplies. Thanks to widespread panic (pandemic of panic), as well as the rapid nature of this disease process we do not have enough supplies. We don’t have enough PPE for our healthcare workers, and we do not have enough supplies to treat our patients. We need to shift our reserves to the hospitals, not the people that should be home. We need to have the government ration the supplies to ensure a level of fairness is met. And we need the government to work towards creating more supplies. Honestly, I don’t care about the testing centers, or testing supplies. Testing millions of Americans is not going to change the fact that we do not have enough hospital beds for sick patients. There’s a reason people are not always being tested. But the goal is SELF QUARANTINE. AKA be responsible. Don’t hoard supplies needed by our healthcare team. Don’t hoard any supplies. Lets just get the supplies healthcare providers need and get it to them now.

Update: The CDC has approved a new rapid test kit. The hope is to eventually get self-testing kits in the hands of patients to help reduce the burden on the healthcare system. While before I said I didn’t care about testing…to an extent I still don’t, I get the need to reduce the burden on our healthcare system. Self test kits allow for people without severe illness to stay home and decrease the exposure to our healthcare workers. If they work this will be a win for our democracy and the world.