2020

November 1, 2020

COVID CASES REPORTED FRIDAY, OCT 30Harrison County-14 totalGregg County-45 total, with 22 confirmed and 23 probableSmith County-64 total with 38 confirmed and 26 probable
TSA STATS FOR THE LAST 3 DAYS: NOT TOO BAD!Hospitalized covid patients: 255, 262, and 269 on 31 Oct.Covid in ICU: 73, 72, AND 78ICU Beds Available: 32, 30, 35 (The lowest this value has been since April is 10 available beds on 23 Oct.)

TSA G: IS COMPRISED OF THE FOLLOWING TEXAS COUNTIES: Anderson Camp Cherokee Franklin Freestone Gregg Harrison Henderson Houston Marion Panola Rains Rusk Shelby Smith Trinity Upshur Van Zandt Wood

MAP OF TSA “G” COMPOSED OF 19 COUNTIES WITH WHICH WE SHARE HOSPITAL BED

Humoral Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2 in Iceland
RESULTS
Of the 1797 persons who had recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection, 1107 of the 1215 who were tested (91.1%) were seropositive; antiviral antibody titers assayed by two pan-Ig assays increased during 2 months after diagnosis by qPCR and remained on a plateau for the remainder of the study. Of quarantined persons, 2.3% were seropositive; of those with unknown exposure, 0.3% were positive. We estimate that 0.9% of Icelanders were infected with SARS-CoV-2 and that the infection was fatal in 0.3%. We also estimate that 56% of all SARS-CoV-2 infections in Iceland had been diagnosed with qPCR, 14% had occurred in quarantined persons who had not been tested with qPCR (or who had not received a positive result, if tested), and 30% had occurred in persons outside quarantine and not tested with qPCR.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that antiviral antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 did not decline within 4 months after diagnosis. We estimate that the risk of death from infection was 0.3% and that 44% of persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Iceland were not diagnosed by qPCR.
(J. Harris: Iceland is, of course, relatively easy to “police” and they did a great job controlling the infection. The persistence of antibodies even after 4 months likely indicates longer immunity that some feared. Their medical people will be well set to continue gathering immunity information. I would guess their Chamber of Commerce is not too happy, however).

JOHNS HOPKINS SUGGEST

1. The SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Alters Barrier Function in 2D Static and 3D Microfluidic In-vitro Models of the Human Blood–brain Barrier (Neurobiology of Disease) The results presented in this report explored whether deleterious outcomes from the SARS-CoV-2 viral spike protein on primary human brain microvascular endothelial cells (hBMVECs) could be observed. Key to our findings is the demonstration that S1 promotes loss of barrier integrity in an advanced 3D microfluidic model of the human BBB, a platform that more closely resembles the physiological conditions at this CNS interface. Evidence provided suggests that the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins trigger a pro-inflammatory response on brain endothelial cells that may contribute to an altered state of BBB function. Together, these results are the first to show the direct impact that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein could have on brain endothelial cells; thereby offering a plausible explanation for the neurological consequences seen in COVID-19 patients. (J. Harris: The Covid-19 virus can make the protective coverings of the brain leak and not actively function to keep the brain cells from being contaminated)

2. Death Rates Have Dropped for Seriously Ill Covid Patients(New York Times) As the virus continued its rampage over the summer and fall, infecting nearly 8.5 million Americans, survival rates, even of seriously ill patients, appeared to be improving. At one New York hospital system where 30 percent of coronavirus patients died in March, the death rate had dropped to 3 percent by the end of June. (J. Harris: Fabulous news!)

3. Remote Marshall Islands Record First Confirmed Coronavirus Cases(NPR) On Wednesday, the government announced that two workers arriving from the U.S. tested positive for the coronavirus at a U.S. military base on Kwajalein Atoll. The two cases ended the Marshall Islands’ run as one of the few nations in the world with zero known coronavirus cases.(J. Harris: Please note that this island is not located in Caddo Lake!)

Massachusetts hospital COVID-19 outbreak may be tied to employees eating together
An outbreak of COVID-19 cases among Holyoke (Mass.) Medical Center employees is believed to be linked to staff members eating together while on break… a cluster of employees began to show COVID-19 symptoms about two weeks ago, and 15 employees tested positive…(it was) traced it back to employees eating a meal together in a break room, and obviously when you are eating a meal, you take your mask off and they contracted it from one employee who was positive.”
(J. Harris: And it wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet.)

WHEN IS IT STUPID TO WEAR YOUR MASK?

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Dr. Shaun Kelehan Letter

Editor’s note:
This letter appeared on the Access Heath Systems facebook. Since reades were encouraged to share it on social media, I have taken the liberty of posting it on this website.

To whom it may concern,

My name is Shaun B Kelehan, MD. I have been licensed in Texas for 20 years and have practiced in Marshall for the last 17+ years. I am writing this statement only to protect my staff and my family from any more heartache brought on by the allegations of sexual misconduct reported by a 45 year old male patient (My Patient–MP).

There is much misinformation already on Facebook about this. I will take the highroad and not detail my side of the story because I do not want to reveal information regarding MP that is not already publicly available.

Everything that happened that led to the Texas Medical Board decision on October 28, 2020 occurred prior to April 20 17. In April 2017, I passed a lie detector test 100% to clear my name. A Grand Jury looked into the allegations made by MP to the police against me and determined that no charges should be brought against me. That was in July 2017. Prior to the Grand Jury making its final decision, MP demanded a large sum of money from me in exchange for him dropping his allegations. Since his allegations were 100% false, I refused his attempt at extortion.

The Medical Board panel was made up of two doctors and a public member (not 12 members as falsely reported on someone’s Facebook page). The panel heard testimony from Dr Michael Arambula, an expert witness in forensic psychiatry and sex addictions. He is also the ex-Medical Board president. He spent five hours with me earlier this week before the hearing interviewing me and another five hours hearing the audio tapes and seeing the evidence. He told the panel that he felt after thorough review of the record and my examination that I had not done any of the things MP said I had done, and in fact that it was “highly unlikely” for me to ever do anything like that in the future.

I disagree with the Board’s decision. However, the Board believed in me enough to allow me to continue to see female patients, and I have brought in another physician to see my male patients while I am temporarily unable to see male patients. My clinic remains open for business and I look forward to my clinic continuing care for you as we have since 2003.

I appreciate all of the support my community has given me. I know most, if not all, of you who know me firsthand know that I was not capable of what MP said I did. I write this for you as a thank you for your continued love and support in this matter.It’s almost embarrassing for me to ask for everyone to pray for me yet again. But when you’re doing so, please say an added prayer for all of my perpetrators to find some kind of joy in their lives so they don’t keep going through life trying to ruin the lives of others.

Deepest love to my son who has to go through this with me and to my family and friends in Marshall, Texas. I feel a loss….another hole in my heart that will take time to mend.

All my love,
Shaun Kelehan MD

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A VERY SAD STORY

By Ron Munden
November 1, 2020

The first thing I did after posting the story about Dr. Kelehan and the Texas Medical Board’s decision was to write an email to a friend. It said:

“I have known about this for 9-months. Every day I hoped it was not true, but I knew there was audio and video to prove it true.”

A short time later he replied:

“This is one of the saddest stories I have read in a very long time. We have been patients since we moved to Marshall. We have always thought how lucky we were to have Dr. K as our doctor. What more can I say, “So very sad.”

As I normally do with articles, I went on facebook and posted a link to the article. I expected people to respond. Here are a few of the responses**:

“Ron very disappointed in your handling of this, first I do not believe anything George Smith says,I believe he has been the one pushing this the whole time,by the way you are innocent until proven guilty”

“Why the hell do you get a thrill of putting other people’s business on social media. I myself support dr kelehan. But you will one day reap what you sow.”

“You and George are both Cancers for our city which you seem to hate. I would say, why don t you leave Marshall, but George Smith left decades ago but cannot keep from being a cancer to our city.”

I am not surprised by these comments and I fully support peoples’ rights to make remarks on facebook.

Dr. Kelehan is one of the most liked people in Marshall.

I have known Dr.Kelehan and his wife since they moved to Marshall. I worked with his wife doing photography and advertising the entire time she owned Under the Texas Sun. Later I did photography work for Dr. Kelehan when he opened Access Family Health. I have always liked him and despite what has happened I still do.

That being said, I make no apology for posting the article. The Texas Medical Board’s findings is news, and it is media’s responsibility to publish that news and make it available to the public.

For 10 years, I have posted good news stories and bad news stories. On several occasions I have posted stories that I wished I did not have to post but I posted them because I believe it is media’s responsibility to publish all of the news, not to censor the news.

To meet that commitment, I have a policy that I will print anyone’s Letter to the Editor if it is signed and does not contain known lies. That policy is still in place and I encourage anyone to submit letters.

I am pleased that both KMHT and the Marshall News Messenger have chosen to report on this story. That is what media should do.

Finally. Yes, this is a very sad story. There are no victors only losers, but this is a story that must be told.

**Editor’s note:

I posted the social media communications I received exactly as I received them. Nothing was altered including words, spelling, etc.

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