On a Monday, March 9 meeting about coronavirus, Pima County District 5 Supervisor Richard Elías put it bluntly: “It’s only a matter of time before it’s here.”
With three cases of the global virus confirmed in Pinal County, and an estimated 120 residents of Pima County being evaluated, it seems the virus entering Tucson is inevitable. But the Pima County Health Department reassures the public not to worry, and to treat the spreading virus as they would a bad flu season. To date, no cases have been confirmed in Pima County.
“The vast majority of healthy people will get through this just like we get though the flu season, but our elders and those who are ill are the ones who will have the most serious consequences,” Elías said. “Our community needs to know that this isn’t something that is going to come and go… We are going to be dealing with this illness for some time until it runs its course.”
Pima County representatives request the public to use “common sense” regarding coronavirus: wash your hands, avoid others if you feel sick, cover your cough and don’t touch your face.
“We are actively working with local, state and federal partners to monitor and prepare for the presence of COVID-19 in Pima County,” said mayor Regina Romero. “I want to emphasize that both the county and city have protocols in place to deal with exactly this kind of situation, and are ready to respond to when the virus presents itself in our region… as with other illnesses, sticking to the basics can go a long way.”
Francisco Garcia, chief medical officer of the Pima County Health Department highlighted three important messages in response to the “rapidly evolving situation”: this is the time to optimize your health and the health of your family; we need to focus on protecting the vulnerable – such as the elderly and the medically frail; we need to make sure our first responders are taken care of and are using the correct policies regarding this virus.
“We haven’t found a single case of this testing positive in Pima County yet, but it doesn’t matter, because it’s going to be here,” said Bob England of the Pima County Health Department. “This is probably going to feel to us like a bad flu season. So just as we lose tens of thousands of Americans each year to the flu, this will tragically kill many people. There’s no getting around that, but it’s going to be like what we experience every year… We got a lot to learn, but there are a lot of good indications for us to treat this the same way we treat influenza.”
England says he cannot foresee a circumstance where Pima County would need to close a school, as children are becoming infected less often and less severely.
For more information on the disease, and how to best protect yourself, Pima County has established the website pima.gov/covid19
This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2020.
I think Bob Enbland has been listening to the talking points by President Trump… Comparing the Coronavirus to influenza isn’t providing the most accurate information for the public.
Minimizing the Coronavirus as though it’s nothing more that the normal seasonal influenza virus is ridiculous. Firstly, there is no vaccine to available for the Coronavirus, and there won’t be by as much at least a year.
In addition, there appears to be a higher rate of morality associated with the Coronavirus than the influenza viruses. The Coronavirus is also highly contagious in community settings with the rate of transmission appearing to be in a ratio of 2 to 1 (each infected person passes along the virus to 2 other people). Someone can also be infected although they haven’t started to display any symptoms.
I don’t think it’s the responsibility of health officials to spread panic, but it certainly should be their responsibility to provide the best scientific evidence possible.
Response to JCC
Yep, on all counts. You nailed it.
They have mathematical models used to forecast the spread of infectious disease. Their modeling of Covid-19 indicates that it is not containable without extraordinary measures.
One out five adults gets the flu with our current 43% vaccination rate. It’s well within the bounds to expect this disease to infect 40%, but, lets be cautious and estimate 25%. Kids fare much better with almost an immunity. The presiding theory is that kids intense number of colds and the four viruses of the cold that they have somehow gained an immunity.
Taiwan has contained Covid-19 by masking up 90% of its population. China has also finally contained it by masking up also. They now have more people recovering than are catching the disease.
To ask everyone to mask up in the U.S. or Pima County is too much of a cultural shock. Almost like saying to save your self you have to visit a nudist colony. Aint going to happen.
Mask is very comfortable. N95 3M, $4 on Amazon good for forty hours, I had to gear up for it. First an hour a day and then four hours. It’s a different look. Most people would rather die than be different than their norm group.
The medical community won’t admit it yet, but Covid-19 is obviously seasonal. 110,000 infections north of the equator, 102 south. A Chinese research paper showing that the virus has its maximum strength at 46 degrees Fahrenheit.
We are going to suffer a lot of deaths. The population of Pima County is 1.02 millon. Flu season extends between the first weeks of Nov and April, 140 days. The 210,000 Covid infections will peak in February with 10,000 of them admitted to Pima County’s 14 hospitals. Those fourteen hospitals have 140 ventilators waiting for those 4,000 severely ill patients.
What’s a ventilator? It’s a machine that breathes for you while your lungs recover from the cytokine storm of viral and overeacting immunity system duking it out destructively in your lungs (as well as your kiidneys.
No ventilator available for you? Big problem, much lower survival rate.
Another problem? Medicine. New disease, no medicines shown to be effective-yet. All kinds of trials going on real time. Don’t wait. There are a few drugs which show to be helpful in the preiminary trials. Go to a doctor now, get prescriptions for oseltamivir, zanamair, Remdesivir.
Only 50% of flu fatalities are given one of these anti-virals soon enough to help save them. Don’t count on the docs doing any better for you. Their side effect is to make you feel lousy so that’s the trade-off. But, if you wait too long, they don’t do near as much good. Also, nothing has been prove yet for any anti-viral against that virus Covid-19.
About 5% of Covid-19 victims suffer acute cytokine storm. The virus triggers an enormous and destructive inflammatory immune reaction in your organs. They overheat and swell as the virus and cellular debris clogs them up. Almost identical but more severe than the flu fatalities.
Not one of the 696 cruise ship victims under the age of 80 died. They drank gatorade till they were sick of it. Did it flush out their kidneys and save their lives? Who knows? But, I’d go with success. Stock up on gatorade and start overhydrating as soon as you feel an even slight respiratory problem.
Pima County has 14 hospitals with 138 ventilators. Next February, barring a cultural change leading to a masking up surge, thousands of people are going to need those 138 ventilators.
Encourage your county supervisors to put this on the agenda and try to acquire some of that $8 billion that Trump signed into law to buy more ventilators.
And, even if you cant stand the idea of masking up. Consider wearing a mask everytime you go into a crowd next December and January. May mean that your daughers and sons have parents to come home to in March.
jhuppent@hotmail.com writes: Not one of the 696 cruise ship victims under the age of 80 died. They drank gatorade till they were sick of it. Did it flush out their kidneys and save their lives? Who knows? But, I’d go with success. Stock up on gatorade and start overhydrating as soon as you feel an even slight respiratory problem.
Seriously? How about we leave the diagnosis and treatment to medical professionals and leave the conjecture and spin to the President and his surrogates.
As for drinking lots of Gatorade…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAqIJZeeXE…
Response to sgsmith
Your video has nothing to do with the Covid-19 virus. In case people might think you are adding to the conversation.
However, in looking at research articles about Covid-19, I found a CDC publication tracking hospital flu admissions. The article stated that 43% of all flu fatalities did not get proper medical care in hospitals.
Your advice to leave care to the professionals could kill people.
Here is a description I found of your kidneys in the 5% of serious Covid-19 infections:
“Clogged up by inflammatory viral and cellular protein fragments (viral and human), the kidney swells, clogs, shut downs and the patient dies.”
I don’t know why one of the infected Princess Diamond patients took the time to mention that they had been drinking so much gatorade they were sick of it, but I took note of both that observation as well as their sky high survival rate.
If I get infected, I am going to more than follow the standard advice of staying hydrated, I am going to overhydrate.
And, one thing I am not going to do is leave my care to the professionals. I know that could kill me if I am in the hands of the wrong professional.
I’ve been told to avoid ad hominem arguments but jhuppent@hotmail.com you are an idiot.
1) The video clip is about Brondo, which is a movie stand in for Gatorade, which both have electrolytes (sodium, calcium, potassium, chloride, phosphate, and magnesium), which are used by marketers to convince people that their product is better for you than water. Nothing is better for you than water.
2) The pathology of COVID 19, as it is currently known, causes the immunity system of the person with it to go into overdrive, thus causing massive inflammation to all the organs, causing excessive fluids that impact the lungs and can lead to death, especially in the elderly or others with compromised immunity systems.
3) Over hydrating can artificially cause a compromise to the immunity system and add to the problem.
4) And last but not least, NOT leaving your care to trained professionals is about the stupidest thing you can do at a time like this, but you go ahead and over hydrate and while you are at it put a Gatorade poultice on your noggin to suck that Google-induced poison out of what passes for your brain.
sgsmith
adhominem indeed
“Covid-19 causes kicks the immune system into overdrive.”
“Overhydrating can artificially cause a compromise to the immunity system”
Think those two sentences you wrote all the way through.
Maybe the professionals treating the Princess Diamond patients knew what they were doing.