Update on COVID-19 in Boone County, Thur 4/2/20

Dear friends and neighbors:

I can’t seem to find time for daily e-mails anymore, so here is my weekly e-mail with some updates on COVID-19 in Boone County and Missouri:

(1) Last night’s update (Wed 4/1/20) from our local Columbia/Boone County Public Health & Human Services:  there are a total of 1581 cases in Missouri (with 18 deaths), with 66 cases in Boone County (41 current, 24 recovered, 1 death).  Boone County PHHS continues to hold a daily update via Facebook Live for the general public, while the Governor is holding a daily update at 3 pm.

(2) Please continue to encourage Governor Parson to issue a shelter-in-place/stay-at-home order for the state.

– The difference between the current “social distancing” recommendations and “shelter-in-place/stay at home,” is that the latter would be a legal order which includes a ban on all group events, and a shutdown of non-essential businesses.

– This is super-important, to #FlattenTheCurve and protect our elderly, our healthcare workers, and our first responders.  Your nurses, doctors, and first responders are out there protecting you; please help protect us by slowing the spread.

– At last count, 36-37 states have now issued such orders; we should too!

(3) Unfortunately, the Red Cross has had to cancel their blood drives – but there is still a critical need for blood donations.  Please contact them to donate blood, if you haven’t already.

(4) Yesterday, I held a “town hall” webinar for the student community at Mizzou.  I encouraged them to comply with social distancing, wash their hands, and not do stupid stuff.  After all, it’s probably not the best time to be in a motor vehicle accident or need ICU care in Italy, with their overwhelmed healthcare system!  For those students interested in volunteer opportunities, I urged them to seek out faculty advisors and mentors to guide and support them.

(5) As before, I encourage everyone to comply with good hygiene and situational awareness 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.

(6) Below are my notes from a pair of updates that Dr. Randall Williams (our state health commissioner) has given to healthcare workers in Missouri over the past five days.  Any errors or typos are strictly my own:

– “We are doing 2000 tests/day throughout the state; approximately 7-10% of symptomatic patients are having positive tests for COVID-19.”

– “In Missouri, this is largely a metropolitan disease that is following urban clusters.  Approximately half of our positive tests are occurring in St. Louis City and St. Louis County.”

– “We continue to strongly encourage social distancing across the state.”

– “I cannot tell you how much we appreciate you.  In Italy and others, healthcare workers have 3 times the infection rate of others, and so we are very sensitive that first-line responders including fire, law enforcement, doctors, nurses, and PAs are all protected.”

– “We are continuing to send personal protective equipment out to hospitals, emergency medical services, and long-term care facilities, as soon as we get it.”

– “We get a daily update on surge capacity, especially ventilators and ICU beds.  The state currently has 123 ventilators, and we have 220 more on order.”

– “In New York, we have all seen that they have re-purposed the Javits convention center as a field hospital.  While we don’t think we need to do that, we are also preparing for the worst, and we have identified 7 possible sites in Missouri, as needed.”

– “We continue to see 80% of patients with COVID-19 to be mildly symptomatic, 10-12% needing oxygen, and perhaps 6-8% needing ventilation and/or ICU care.”

– “This does not appear to be a disease that is more virulent in pregnant women; to date, we also have had no evidence of fetal transmission and fetal harm.”

I invite all of you to forward this e-mail, if you wish.

Stay safe, well, and panic-free,

– Albert Hsu

PS:  for the most up-to-date information, please visit <https://www.cdc.gov/>, <https://health.mo.gov/>, and <https://www.como.gov/>