Here’s the protocol, listed in order of priority for testing. Hopefully, when more testing is available it will become easier. That hasn’t happened yet.
The rules distributed to medical providers noted “this guidance is necessary to ensure that New York State prioritizes the resources to meet the most urgent public health need.”
The testing priorities include:
A person who has come within proximate contact (same classroom, office, or gatherings) of another person known to be positive.
A person who has traveled to a country that the CDC has issued a Level 2 or Level 3 Travel Health Notice, and shows symptoms of illness. On Monday, Level 3 notices covered China, South Korea, Italy and Iran. Level 2 notices covered Japan.
A person who is quarantined (mandatory or precautionary) and has shown symptoms of COVID-19 illness.
A person who is symptomatic and has not tested positive for any other infection.
Other cases where the facts and circumstances warrant as determined by the treating clinician in consultation with state and local department of health officials.
Some potential good news is the lowering number of new cases coming out of China. Not sure how reliable but they seem to be getting better with info the past few weeks.
Considering the huge, dense populations, incredibly high rates of smoking among adult males and medical facilities comparatively, it seems like the timelines and protocols may lead to shorter duration. They did have the ability to shut down the region which is much more difficult in the US which may allow it to linger.
My interactions and sidebar discussions with some top medical experts at mass general for my wife’s illness today has given me hope that we will see lower mortality rates here with our preeminent medical capabilities. Still very sad when the percentages, even if small, mean people.
Friend and wife went on a spring break vacation to Puerto Vallarta. He is a college prof. Vacation was fabulous…10 days and gorgeous weather.
His college has asked that anyone who travelled out of the country self isolate for 14 days…so that is what he will do for the next two weeks. Not sure what they will do for food and the like…as they sort of let things get used up before they left. Guess that’s what Amazon is for…or Peapod.
Only if we can slow down the rate of infection to allow our system to keep up. If we don’t get protective gear and systems into all the clinics and hospitals, there will be few healthcare workers well enough (or not in quarantine) to care for the critical patients. If the infections come in waves, the sheer numbers of people needing the beds, ventilators and capabilities may also be a huge problem. Not just for the covid infected patients but for others who have other illness but can’t get treatment because the system is full.
“In the US, Reuters reports that at least 31 patients at the Seattle suburbs nursing home at the centre of the US outbreak have tested positive for coronavirus, according to a spokesman for the home.” (Guardian)
And if we can keep the virus out of nursing homes and such, because as one sad case demonstrates, that can lead to disastrous results locally (including having to quarantine healthcare workers and overwhelmed ERs).
Speaking of China, here’s the great news from China today. <3
No new locally transmitted cases outside Hubei. Mainland China reported no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases outside of Hubei province, where the outbreak began, for the third straight day, while major Chinese cities remained on alert for imported infections.
19 new cases down from 40 yesterday for a total of 80,754. Deaths up 17 for a total of 3,136. All new deaths were in Wuhan.
Of the new cases, 17 were in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei which is under lockdown, while one was in Beijing and one other in Guangdong due to people arriving from abroad, according to the health authority.
The one case in Beijing on Monday was due to a traveller from Britain, and that in Guangdong was an imported case from Spain. As of Monday, there have been 69 imported cases.
In Wuhan, 12 of the 14 temporary hospitals dedicated to treating coronavirus patients have closed, with the remaining two due to shut on Tuesday.
Is there a way to shut down all access to nursing homes across the country for a month except for essential personnel and strict access point sterilization techniques.
Is this possible ? I really don’t understand the practical day in the life of these facilities.
So roughly 306K-318K beds available on average…that’s not many when you apply the rate of infection in China and Italy to the US population. Italy is really struggling with hospital capacity. Obviously China was too…but I don’t see the US building any hospitals in a week.
There just aren’t enough ventilators to go around either…even if multiple patients are hooked up to the same one.
If our government isn’t going to implement policies for mitigation, it’s on the general populace to make good decisions…wash hands, stay home if you are sick, etc.
The staff come and go and can bring viruses with them—they live outside and some have kids, healthcare providers in their families, etc.
Often loved ones and family members visit as well—they also live outside and may have kids, be healthcare providers (or live with them). At the CCRC my mom lives in, now that we’ve had 2 cases in our state they will have mandatory temp checks of all visitors (I hope all staff too). Only family as visitors due to COVID-19.
The Chinese military also sent 2,600 medical workers to Wuhan. Not sure the US has that capability. Does it? It’s not just beds and equipment but people, too. And the lack of testing has already had an impact on that with many quarantined medical staff.
I agree this could be a huge limiter. We certainly have healthcare providers in the military, but don’t know how many. It would be difficult to ask retired docs and nurses to work…because they are more at risk due to age.
Were the healthcare providers that the CDC sent to Seattle from Atlanta? Are they CDC employees?
The more K-8 schools that close…the greater the number of healthcare providers and other support personnel that have to stay home to take care of their kids.
Not sure of the number and it may be a drop in the bucket, but I’m glad places like Walter Reed and other military hospitals are lot less crowded now than they were a few years ago. Maybe there is some capacity for clusters and hot spots for some medical help to be sent via the military if needed.
Privatebanker, Thanks for posting that your wife’s doctors think the fatality rate will be lower here. Hope that will be the case. Hope your wife is fine, too.
Thank you. She has great docs. One told me that nearly verbatim. They are immune disease specialists. And just our luck it attacks her lungs. But she’s doing great at their moment right now.
The thing is is that the percentage may fall but as others note we need to keep the numerator as low as possible because one life is too many if we can help it.
And thank you for saying that. She’s a remarkable Woman and has had a rough time of it from 45 to 49 while we had to go through the whole college process with our daughter the past 4 years through admissions and now while in school.