iramurphy

Did they say why???

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a great day to be Irish and always a great day to be an American. We are just getting started but stick together and we will get through this.

You are correct in stating this has to be considered. I believe the hope is that we get lucky with one of the treatments being tested or lucky with speed of vaccine. Our area schools were told 2-4 weeks. If we stem the tide somehow they may loosen the recommendations. Like it or not as time goes on the economy becomes a big part of the health of our people and no longer just about money.

My guess would be the producers wouldn’t price gauge at least for awhile.

I agree. I think we are “shotgunning” a bit but losartan should be relatively safe.

Should have been scholarship kid especially after all-star game.

I don’t listen to Trump cuz I can’t stand to listen to him. You seem to think when I expect normal intelligent people to act civilized I am making any supportive/critical comment about Trump or our other politicians. I’m not because it’s not the time or place. The issue is how best to deal with this virus. You have zero basis to claim we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in if not for him. It is divisive and counterproductive. In answer to your question, yes we can be tested. One of my colleagues was tested last week because of possible exposure. One of my patients was tested yesterday and we didn’t ask the state for permission. We are setting up a drive up testing station and will soon be able to do the testing in our small rural hospital here in Minnesota. I have no idea what people in the metro area are doing, but if we can do these things in rural hospitals in Minnesota then the big city physicians should be able to figure it out. There is no indication for everyone to be tested. We follow the guidelines recommended by Infectious Disease specialists and the CDC. I’ve only taken care of over 100,000 patients over the years. I have ER, ICU, Combat experience and I don’t know how the response team acted and reacted. How do you know so much. How many patients do you care for? Are you on the Trump team with first hand info? I don’t have all of the answers, but I’m learning. I will attend a briefing at 7 am to update our local protocols and evaluate what we are doing well and where we need to improve. I am going to log in to a live Mayo Clinic presentation tomorrow afternoon that includes an Infectious Disease update. My sister in law is a recognized world authority on tuberculosis and has a lengthy list of publications on TB but also other Infectious Diseases including Ebola. She has done contract work for the CDC and speaks to government health departments all over the world on tuberculosis. I get my info from those sources not the Star Tribune. With all of that, you seem to know more about all of this than I and other medical people. We would be happy to pay you to come here and give us a presentation on COVID-19.

Let me start by admitting I’m not a Trump fan but that doesn’t mean I would support people continuing to regurgitate misinformation. Nobody knows what would happen if testing was available earlier. If you do the minimum research, you would learn that the WHO did not offer nor did the US refuse test kits. A laboratory in Germany and the CDC both developed the first test kits on January 21. No one new that production of the test kits in the US would be complicated and slowed by problems with a reagent used in these tests. The other problem was that on February 4 the head of Health and Human Services declared a “public health emergency “. That meant that capable labs across the country were prohibited by legislation passed in 2009, to produce test kits. That meant those labs had to petition the FDA to get permission to produce test kits. One of the labs in Wadsworth,NY received permission on February 28. Other labs also received permission. His mistake was the early comments understating the seriousness of this disease and later overstating our ability to test. Trump did not fire “everyone with experience handling this”. He did close down the National Security Council’s office assigned responsibility for “Pandemics/“Bioterrorism”. There are many who worked there who felt then, and now, that was a mistake. There was also a recent article where a former Obama administration official stated that Trump closed the office, but he consolidated those responsibilities to another office in a move consolidating 3 departments in order to decrease costs and improve efficiency. I couldn’t verify that article about consolidation nor if true if they are effective. Having said that the CDC has the personnel with the training and experience to deal with this. To criticize and insult those who disagree with your opinions is exactly what helped Trump get elected in the first place. We tested a patient yesterday. Where do you live where you don’t think you can be tested. If you mean you can’t get tested because you are “afraid” but have no symptoms or exposure, that is because routine testing for asymptomatic patients with no known risks is not medically indicated. We will get through this better if people put their politics aside and wait to point fingers and blame until we get through this.

Things there are different. Especially concerning are the outbreaks in major population areas. Restaurants closing today in rural Mn where there have been no outbreaks yet. Schools here and neighboring NDak closed though CDC has logarithm that did not recommend closing. Hopefully we can “flatten the curve” and come up with a comprehensive plan to allow schools to reopen and some evidence based guidelines for people to get back to work. Stay safe and thanks for your work. Your lessons learned will be valuable to the rest of us as this spreads.

Thanks. I have appreciated your info and insight.

They should be calling their own doctors. Their doctors should be managing them aggressively in order to keep them out of the ER.

I’m not sure that’s fair. The people who need to stay home are those who don’t feel well and those who have traveled out of country or out of state especially states where there have been breakouts of the virus. You are correct in stating the elderly are at higher risk but so are those with chronic illnesses. It seems most of the outbreaks are people who traveled and those who had symptoms but didn’t stay home. You are also correct in stating they are better off staying home. Going to church was probably riskier than going out for breakfast. Let’s keep it together. Instead of public shaming ask them if they need anything. Ask them if you can pick up and deliver groceries for them. That will do more to keep them off the streets than harassing them. That way you become part of the solution and not part of the problem.

The efficacy of flu shots have varied over the years. Probably 40-60% effective. However there is evidence that those who are vaccinated are less likely to die from the flu, have milder symptoms if they get the flu. It is also thought those who are vaccinated are less likely to spread the flu.

No

It is one of the ways. The others are self quarantine when ill, hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes, and keeping hands away from face.

Our cases per million are far fewer than Italy. Those of us who are going to deal with patients must rely on evidence and best practice. Italy is a poor example.

We need to do what has worked well elsewhere. Italy is a SH..show.

I’m not disagreeing, but thus far, the evidence doesn’t support that assumption. In my world we try and base life and death decisions based on evidence. I realize it may be too early to rely on the evidence thus far but these are the hard decisions we have to make in health care, as leaders and in society.

Correct but also said no evidence that closing schools in other countries have made a difference. That makes it tough on the decision makers.

According to the Washington Post, the CDC says there was no evidence that countries that closed schools decreased spread of the virus anymore than those that didn’t. They did comment that closing may allow for cleaning and sanitizing which may help in select areas. Therefore, those that question closing schools especially in areas where there has been few cases have some points.

There is no reason to grant another year of eligibility for winter sports teams who played an entire season. If you do it for the seniors why not others. Just teams who made the tourney or are still in the playoffs? Scholarship and incoming recruits do what. I don’t see this happening.

Washing your hands with soap and keeping your hands from your face is as important as hand sanitizer. Why gloves? The virus can’t penetrate skin. We are still not being advised to wear masks so we shouldn’t waste them. We need to remember if this gets out of hand we will need these masks. We have known about this since January. The hand washing recommendations have been out for some time. Travelers need to be prepared and informed. I wouldn’t expect someone else to by my necessary items.

This should not have been published in Newsweek or even a restroom walk.

I was prepared to travel to Arizona yesterday for a Mayo conference and would have done so but it was canceled. There are risks of exposure as you sit on planes and travel through airports etc. I you are in good health and less than 50 then you are less likely to have a severe case but it doesn’t mean you won’t. I haven’t seen anything that would help advise you otherwise. I would also try to avoid the high endemic areas if able

I’m not defending Trump, but why aren’t these travelers carrying their own sanitizers, masks gloves and anything else they think they need? Why do you think they all need gloves? Do all healthy people need a mask? If you have traveled in the last month or so, you will see many travelers are wearing masks and have their own hand sanitizer. Why should we have to purchase personal products for those who don’t prepare for travel? I’ve had to wait in long customs lines here and elsewhere when there wasn’t a health crisis. I’m not there, so I’m not sure what the delay is. If we want to check everyone’s temp then are we going to provide cots and pillows cuz the delays will be much longer.