Local (and not-so-local) COVID-19 updates

[edschweppe]

As of 4PM this afternoon, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is reporting twenty-four more deaths from COVID-19 (for a total of 216 to date), 1334 new cases (for a total of 11736) and 5838 more persons tested (for a total of 68800). The town of Acton did not provide an update today; thus the latest local count remains eleven.

The big national news, of course, is that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have now officially changed their minds about face masks and the general public:

After weeks of advising most Americans there was no need to wear protective face masks, federal officials on Friday reversed their previous guidance, urging everyone to wear "non-medical cloth" face coverings outside their homes to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

[ ... ]

Before Friday, the CDC had advised that only those who are sick — or caring for someone who is — wear a face mask.

"Face masks may be in short supply and they should be saved for caregivers," the CDC website stated.

[ ... ]

That advice changed this week when the CDC, in a draft document first reported by STAT, recommended that Americans start wearing homemade face masks, reserving medical-grade masks for health care workers.

The coverings would mainly serve to protect the wearers from spreading the coronavirus, especially if they lack symptoms and don’t know they have the disease. The CDC is now suggesting people wear them in public, when they go shopping, visit pharmacies, or may be in close proximity with others.

The actual CDC guidance is here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/cloth-face-cover.html
And, under the assumption it's going to change over time, I'm going to capture the text below:

Recommendation Regarding the Use of Cloth Face Coverings, Especially in Areas of Significant Community-Based Transmission

CDC continues to study the spread and effects of the novel coronavirus across the United States. We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms ("asymptomatic") and that even those who eventually develop symptoms ("pre-symptomatic"
his recommendation complements and does not replace the President’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America, 30 Days to Slow the Spreadexternal icon, which remains the cornerstone of our national effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. CDC will make additional recommendations as the evidence regarding appropriate public health measures continues to develop.) can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms. This means that the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity—for example, speaking, coughing, or sneezing—even if those people are not exhibiting symptoms. In light of this new evidence, CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

It is critical to emphasize that maintaining 6-feet social distancing remains important to slowing the spread of the virus. CDC is additionally advising the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others. Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.

The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators. Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance.

This recommendation complements and does not replace the President’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America, 30 Days to Slow the Spreadexternal icon, which remains the cornerstone of our national effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. CDC will make additional recommendations as the evidence regarding appropriate public health measures continues to develop.

I didn't go out today, so I don't know how this is playing out locally. (Yet.) Lacking any other option, I suppose I need to take a spare bandana with me the next time I have to go out for groceries.

Comments

[edschweppe]

Massachusetts General Hospital allowed a Boston Globe reporter to spend a day in the hospital "to witness firsthand how doctors, nurses and other staff are coping with this crisis":

On Thursday afternoon, Dr. David Brown stood in the emergency department atMassachusetts General Hospital and took in a troubling indicator. One after another, sedated patients in the glass-doored bays were hooked to ventilators to help them breathe, thick tubing disappearing into their throats.

Doctors here normally intubate one or two, maybe three, patients a day, before sending them to an intensive care unit.

"We’ve done 10 so far today and it’s only 4 o’clock," said Brown, chief of emergency medicine. "These patients can’t wait until they get to the floor."

[ ... ]

In the emergency department, two views of this surreal pandemic are evident: One section that handles more routine non-virus cases was quieter than usual — perhaps the "stay-at-home" edicts mean fewer car accidents and virtually no sports injuries. Along one wall were dozens of empty blue wheelchairs.

But inside the emergency area for acute patients, the numbers have ominously climbed. Several dozen doctors and nurses in masks and face shields adjusted ventilator settings, ordered medications on computers, and called specialists for advice. All 17 rooms were full and at least one patient lay on a bed in a corridor.

Definitely worth reading the whole thing; if you can't get through the paywall, perhaps your local library can provide home access?