{"id":1198,"date":"2020-03-21T07:29:13","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T14:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1198"},"modified":"2020-03-21T07:29:13","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T14:29:13","slug":"prepare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1198","title":{"rendered":"Prepare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Image Courtesy Johns Hopkins Iniversity<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

March 15 2020, Moscow Idaho<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world and my little town seem to be preparing for a wave\nof Covid19 infections, and some critically ill patients. Let\u2019s hope it doesn\u2019t\nhappen. But just how would we do in the face of such an occurrence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, I trust most people have common sense; maybe\nI\u2019m na\u00efve. All my years of doctoring have not convinced me otherwise; although\nI could tell you some stories that would make you think I\u2019m a fool for holding\nonto that faith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But sometimes, common sense isn\u2019t enough. We know the virus\ncan be spread even when the infected person has no symptoms, so common sense\nwon\u2019t help you there. The widespread decisions by colleges, sports\nassociations, and now our President to limit travel and large events may reduce\nthe spread, but these decisions sure have raised the awareness. And common\nsense won\u2019t keep you alive when your lungs fill with fluid. It is clear this\nhappens to a small percentage of those infected. So, we need more than common\nsense to deal with this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need information, for one. I\u2019ve been happy with the\ninformation I have gotten, but I don\u2019t get mine from Facebook. I read reputable\nwebsites<\/a>, the CDC\nwebsite<\/a>, my professional sites and local authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Information comes from data, and we are short of that right\nnow. We can infer some from other counties experiences, but that only goes so\nfar. The limited availability of testing is frustrating many. The US has only tested<\/a> about 65\npeople per million inhabitants (31,000 test total) as of last Friday. Without\nadequate data, information can be speculation. Speculation can contribute to\nfear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple weeks ago testing was available here in Idaho\nthrough the state Public Health districts. They were using the CDC\nrecommendations for who to test: symptoms (cough+fever and shortness of breath)\nas well as high risk exposure (direct contact with known infected person or\ntravel from high risk area).  But now,\nthe clinic I work at and many others have a commercial test available. I expect\nlots more test results in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we are left with the accuracy of the test. This can be\nfrustrating too. The recommended screening test is a nasal and throat swab\n(long wire Q-tip up your nose and then the back of your throat). But in China,\nthis test was only about 30-60% accurate. Thus, many early cases were missed. A\nblood test for antibodies is now also available, but it also has limitations.\nSo, more testing would be helpful, but not all questions will be answered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of new cases diagnosed in China has continued to\ndecline since a peak in mid-February. The outbreak started a month\nearlier.  But world-wide we are seeing a\nsteady increase; the US is early on the upward slope. Idaho was one of the last\nstates to report a case. But Washington, our neighbor was one of the first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only a few of the people who get the illness get real sick,\nand fewer die. China had about 4% fatality of their confirmed cases.\nInterestingly, many of the fatalities in China were in health care workers.\nItaly so far as seen about 8% death rate in confirmed cases. The US is just 2%\nfatality, but we are early on the curve again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When people get real sick, our resources will be stretched.\nThe viral lung infection requires intense treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I appreciate that so many people are paying attention and\nworking hard on this. And I appreciate that people are staying patient and\ncalm. Some states have closed schools. Governor Brad Little has declared each\ndistrict should make that decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We didn\u2019t have church this Sunday, but I\u2019m going to work on\nMonday. I\u2019ll wash my hands and cough into my elbow. Our clinic has systems in\nplace and we\u2019ll do our best. But I doubt this will be the last time we go\nthrough something like this; stay prepared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 15 2020, Moscow Idaho The world and my little town seem to be preparing for a wave of Covid19 infections, and some critically ill patients. Let\u2019s hope it doesn\u2019t happen. But just how would we do in the face … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1200,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198\/revisions\/1200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}