11/16/2020
Area counts seem to be increasing but slowly. I should have new information on Tues. We still have some ICU beds in our Trauma Area G. There were 64 new Covid cases in Gregg County and 139 in Smith County on Saturday.
Until listening to NPR this morning, I had not considered that our nursing homes are currently full all over the US. Where will discharged Covid patients go? There will be a bottleneck that will keep Covid patients in the hospitals longer than necessary. Where are those patients who need rehabilitation and/ or more care at the time of hospital discharge from ICU and the wards. If recovering patients are too weak or unable to be cared for at home, where will they go — to some makeshift temporary space in a gymnasium or under a large tent? Behind a large rock?
How about utilizing a nearly empty 5 story (6 floors) hospital that is not being used at this time. Of course, I mean Kahn/Memorial/Good Shepherd/Christus Good Shepherd Marshall Hospital.These newly discharged patients should not be contagious and might even have immunity. They will be well enough to leave a general hospital but too sick or weak to go home. The medical environment should be safer for the level of medical care and rehabilitation that the facility would provide. In a short time, such a facility should provide many new jobs for area people that are medically safe and worthwhile — as well as filling a medical vacuum and utilizing a very large hospital building that seems to be in good condition.
J. Harris
Staying sane in our new COVID-19 world
(J.Harris: Some explanations and recaps but some comfort and suggestions. Very readable.)
“… during the pandemic there is also renewed purpose, hope, and community emerging. Scientists have responded with focus to their work and to developing appropriate guidance, treatments, or vaccines. Meanwhile, many citizens have taken on roles in their communities running welfare groups, delivering groceries to elderly neighbours, or working on communal gardens. Early on in the pandemic, health-care workers showed up on COVID-19 wards without appropriate personal protective equipment committed to their vocation of serving others. As we compare our pre and post COVID-19 selves, perhaps we should emphasise how the pandemic has shown who each of us really is…
“…Some governments, such as in the UK, initially turned to experts to become the oracles and predict the future—first to mathematical modellers and behavioural scientists, then to vaccinologists, and, finally, to public health experts and economists. And when these experts are not always able to provide the answers that appease the need for concrete predictions with dates, a backlash followed against experts with their balanced and contextualised statements. This gap was exploited by social media pseudo-scientist celebrities predicting the future and offering comforting lies on easy solutions.
“…One of these comforting lies being told is that we can have our pre-COVID-19 life back for the “acceptable” loss of some old and vulnerable people. Terms like “herd immunity” have been the ammunition of those who would see it as the perfect cover for lifting all restrictions and letting a dangerous virus spread through the population, starting with the young and fit.”
Suggested by Hopkins:
1. CHINA Shanghai, China, reported a locally acquired case of COVID-19 on November 10. While many countries around the world are battling a surge in COVID-19 incidence, this marks the first locally acquired infection in Shanghai in several months. According to local officials in China, the individual worked at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, and at least 25 close contacts have been quarantined. While SARS-CoV-2 emerged in China, China has largely contained its epidemic. In fact, the vast majority of cases over the past several months have been among arriving travelers. In an effort to maintain this level of epidemic control, the Chinese government is reportedly taking new steps to limit the possibility of importing COVID-19. One aspect of these efforts involves disinfecting packaging and transport vehicles carrying imported frozen food, after China identified contaminated food products as the source of several SARS-CoV-2 infections among cargo handlers and port workers.
Lessons From Europe, Where Cases Are Rising But Schools Are Open (NPR) Across Europe, schools and child care centers are staying open even as much of the continent reports rising coronavirus cases, and even as many businesses and gathering places are shut or restricted. Countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy appear to be following the emerging evidence that schools have not been major centers of transmission of the virus, especially for young children. And experts say these nations are also demonstrating a commitment to avoiding the worst impacts of the pandemic on children.
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What a great idea — Dr. Harris!!
“How about utilizing a nearly empty 5 story (6 floors) hospital that is not being used at this time. Of course, I mean Kahn/Memorial/Good Shepherd/Christus Good Shepherd Marshall Hospital.” That is thinking “outside the box” but “inside the hospital.”
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