Key COVID-19 pandemic updates
Stay at home order extended to May 1
Continue hand washing and social distancing
Consider wearing face masks or cloth face coverings if you must go out to public places such as grocery stores in order to help slow the spread of disease
Anyone coming to Ohio from out of state should self-quarantine for 14 days
Dear friends,
On April 2, during his daily press conference, Ohio Governor Mike Dewine extended the stay at home order until at least May 1. This is a good move.
During the last blog post we wrote on the subject (on March 9, 2020), COVID-19 had not yet hit Ohio, and the world health organization had not yet labeled it a pandemic. Now both of those have changed, we are in the middle of a pandemic that very much affects northeast Ohio. At the time of writing this, in Ohio, we have 3,000 confirmed cases and over 50 deaths due to the disease. The United States has seen over 240,000 confirmed cases and 6,000 deaths due to the virus at the time of writing this. At the time of publishing, those numbers are assumed to be drastically increased (keep in mind the number of actual cases is greater than confirmed cases). The disease is also community spread, which means we can suspect over 100,000 local cases. It also has a lengthy incubation time, is highly viral, and can be spread through respiratory droplets as well as through touching surfaces and subsequently touching our faces. COVID-19 can be spread by asymptomatic individuals (asymptomatic means someone who has the disease but doesn’t have a fever or headache or any other symptom). It is important to understand that a healthy person with relatively minor symptoms can infect someone of a similar background and that the disease may overcome the second person and lead to their death. And the worst has yet to come.
According to covid19.healthdata.org, the peak hospital resource use will be on April 15, 2020. And in the USA, we are under-resourced by about 88,000 hospital beds, 20,000 intensive care unit beds, and have a need of around 32,000 ventilators. We see cities transforming facilities such as expo centers and arenas into makeshift hospitals. We’ve seen the viral videos of healthcare workers working without necessary protective equipment, and we’ve seen the news of the disease spreading rapidly throughout institutions such as cruise ships, long term care and rehab centers (including nursing homes close to home in Parma and in Aurora).
Here in Cleveland, we see our physicians rapidly being trained for critical care, medicine, and emergency medicine in order to meet the demand once the ‘surge’ of COVID-19 cases hits (at the time of writing this, projections show the expected surge to occur within another 2-3 weeks). And for the most part, we see an educated public who understands the severity of the pandemic at hand.
Is this an overreaction? Definitely not. President Donald Trump acknowledged that we may see 100,000-250,000 deaths in the United States due to COVID-19. Over 30 states plus the District of Columbia are now following a partial or full shut down and stay at home orders. In fact, we, as healthcare professionals, wish that once this pandemic ends (and it will end) we can look back and have it seem like we overreacted. That means we did our job and we saved those lives. Nonetheless, we continue to be prepared for worst-case scenarios.
So what can we collectively do to help?
We can stay at home. We understand the economic struggles that come along with this, but what we know is that it is much better to go through an economic struggle than to lose a loved one.
We can also limit our trips for essential supplies like a trip to a grocery store or pharmacy. We can make use of curbside and delivery services for essentials like groceries and medications. And if we must go out, place some sort of face-covering on, whether a medical mask or even cloth (though we suggest saving medical masks for the hospitals and clinics). We also have to collectively look after the elderly and aid them in getting their necessary supplies while they ride the pandemic out at home. We can make sure our loved ones don’t get lonely by calling and video conferencing with them. And we can finally take the time at home to cook something new, read a new book, or learn a new trade. To be able to see the least amount of disease and death during this pandemic, we must be smart, and play it safe, for just a few more weeks.
Syed Shoaib Z Shah MD
CEO Salaam Clinic
* If you have symptoms of COVID-19 such as difficulty breathing, fever, headaches, or other flu-like symptoms, please call your healthcare provider or any of the community hospital or health department COVID-19 hotlines for further information and next steps
