Dear friends and neighbors:

It’s taking me too long to send separate e-mails to my ultimate frisbee community, my law friends, and my neighborhood community, so I am taking the liberty of sending all y’all a daily e-mail with some updates on COVID-19 in Boone County and Missouri:

(1) Last night’s update from our local Columbia/Boone County Public Health & Human Services (PHHS) is that there are a total of 255 cases in Missouri (249 current / 1 recovered / 5 deaths), 20 cases in Boone County (unchanged from 24 hours prior, including 19 current / 1 death), and 3 “travelers” still being monitored.  Boone County PHHS is also holding a daily update via Facebook Live for the general public.

(2) I hosted a webinar yesterday between the Director of our Columbia/Boone County PHHS, and the physicians in our County.  I’m also working with the medical students on organizing their volunteer efforts before the storm hits here.

– I think all of you on this e-mail also saw my summary notes of the COVID-19 teleconference last Sat 3/21 with our Missouri DHHS commissioner.  I plan to send out the same type of thing after this Saturday’s conference call.

– My quick summary is that we are testing a lot of folks, and our public health folks feel very prepared for COVID-19 in Missouri.  We want to be like the Taiwan/Singapore response to COVID-19, rather than get overwhelmed like Milan, Italy.  Hopefully, we have implemented social distancing just when it mattered the most.

(3) I encourage everyone to donate blood, comply with good hygiene and social distancing (in a non-panicky way), stockpile 2-3 weeks’ worth of food (in case you have to self-quarantine), and give each other support during this time.  It’s also important to go outside and get some fresh air, reconnect with friends and family, and have us all take care of ourselves and each other.  Yesterday, my family got a bunny rabbit.  🙂

(4) For those of you who haven’t seen it, Rachel Maddow crushed our Governor for not putting out a “Shelter-in-Place” order for the state:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxHasfpa0O8.

– As of last night, 16 states (up from 7 states, the day before) have issued Stay at Home Orders: CA, IL, NY, NJ, OH, LA, CT, DE, HI, IN, MA, MN, NM, OR, WA, WV.

– I’ve also attached a powerpoint slide, which is a reference to the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic that killed between 50-100 million people worldwide and single-handedly reduced the life expectancy of Americans by about 10 years.

– As you can see from the graph on that slide, St. Louis in 1918 managed to flatten their epidemic curve by implementing social distancing measures rapidly without exception.  Both Philly and St. Louis did implement closures of schools and churches and theaters, and they both banned public gatherings; but Philly decided to go through with a parade 14 days after their first case.  On that graph, you can see how their peak death rate was almost five times that of St. Louis (!).

– The modern-day analogy is the Mardis Gras celebration that Louisiana held recently.  As you can see here < https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html>, they already have 1388 confirmed cases and 26 deaths so far, which is frightening.

– The letter from our state medical society to the Governor is attached.  If any of you have any power or influence, please contact the Governor’s office to encourage him to do the right thing, and enact an executive order to Shelter-in-Place ASAP.  Just because we’re doing in Boone County, we’re not exactly protected if COVID-19 runs rampant in St. Louis and Kansas City!

I invite all of you to forward this e-mail widely.  I’m still figuring out social media, but please feel free to find me on Facebook (albert.hsu.35)….

Stay safe, well, and panic-free,

– Albert Hsu

PS:  the article below was written by some of my physician friends….