COVID-19 Update, November 2nd
- Ginger Cameron, PhD
- Nov 2, 2020
- 3 min read
Prevention resistance, testing woes, staff shortages, and long covid. Not a lot of good news today.
1. Sometimes people have asked me why other countries have fared better than the US in controlling COVID, so I wanted to share a few points on that. First, most other countries took much more stringent steps than the US. Second, people in those countries, for the most part, followed the recommendations. In the US, people have resisted pretty much all preventative and control measures. For instance, in a recent Pew Survey, 41% of Americans say they would not work with contact tracers if they were notified that they had COVID or exposure to it. Contact tracing is a critical element of disease management. About 7% report that they aren’t willing to isolate if they contract COVID. Some people still refuse to wear masks, socially distance, avoid large gatherings or wash their hands.
At the risk of being too harsh, I do have to say that if people are not willing to do anything to control the virus then the virus will not be controlled. Viruses do not just fizzle out – a virus in motion stays in motion until something breaks the chain of infection. We do that with distancing, hand washing, mask-wearing, and contact tracing.
2. The US continues to be plagued with bad tests – both tests that give false negatives and those that tend to give false positives. There are many fraudulent tests available that have not been approved or are of low quality. Be particularly careful when purchasing tests, yourself for home testing. Ask about sensitivity and specificity ratings for the tests, know if it has been EUA approved or not. Of note, testing when you are not showing symptoms is the highest risk time for getting false results (both false negatives and false positives).
3. As numbers climb, hospitals around the country are adding ICU beds either in anticipation of increased need or in response to mounting need. However, in addition to needing more ICU beds, they need adequate staff to manage the influx – and some areas are struggling to meet staffing needs. If you are a retired healthcare professional, consider looking into local needs and seeing if they need volunteers. Also look into registering with the MRC in your area (medical reserve corps) link below.
4. On average, people who develop symptoms of COVID are ill for 2-6 weeks. What percentage experience “long COVID” we do not yet know but right now it looks like about 1 in every 20 cases will develop long term effects. We continue to learn more about what those long-term effects are including the physical (fatigue, inability to exercise, lung damage, hearing loss, reduced sperm count etc.) as well as the mental effects (depression, anxiety, loss of cognitive function). If you get COVID – give yourself time to rest and recover.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Today I was reminded that it is ok to not be ok. And more than anything, we need to be safe places for people to be honest and free to say they aren’t ok. So if you aren’t ok, tell someone. If you don’t have anyone you can tell, tell me. We don’t have to pretend that we are ok and that everything is fine – because that is a lie. Everything is not ok. None of this is ok. Be a judgment-free zone – as hard as that can be sometimes – and set the example in your circle by being honest.
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