I personally (and professionally, I suppose) have taken a very relaxed approach to the current situation. That's not to say that I haven't been reading a few articles about it here and there, but, I also haven't felt the need to shut my family and myself away in our house to avoid contact with the general public either.
I bring this up today because yesterday I not only had a teacher approach me asking me what our plan was should we need to close but the school district my charter is in also posted something to their facebook page stating they had a procedure ready to go should it come to that. It just struck me as odd that, up until yesterday afternoon, concern for this virus had not been introduced to my immediate world.
I'm curious to know:
1)what your personal thoughts are on this virus and
2) if your school has implemented any kind of potential procedure/policy should it come to an immediate concern for communities in the US.
I watched a Netflix documentary around the time this thing began, I think it was called "Pandemic" and it is very, very interesting.
I saw this too! I remember thinking how coincidental it was that the news of of this new virus came around the same time the docuseries was released, LOL. It was interesting to see how epidemics like Ebola and certain strains of the flu started out as isolated cases but then spread quickly around the country/world. I keep that in the back of my mind as I follow Coronavirus.
Don't forget to add the 42 cases who have been repatriated to the US.
Still better than the reported cases of flu. Either way, we need to be proactive wiith these viruses
3 minutes ago, Mavnurse17 said:
I saw this too! I remember thinking how coincidental it was that the news of of this new virus came around the same time the docuseries was released, LOL. It was interesting to see how epidemics like Ebola and certain strains of the flu started out as isolated cases but then spread quickly around the country/world. I keep that in the back of my mind as I follow Coronavirus.
With the global economy and traveling, we should watch any cases of any disease, as it doesn't take much to become Pandemic, at least in theory
With the global economy and traveling, we should watch any cases of any disease, as it doesn't take much to become Pandemic, at least in theory
Hey, fellow Hoosier! I am wondering what will happen when the virus really spreads (assuming that it will) in large 3rd world countries that have limited and overtaxed healthcare to begin with...I am amazed that India has one person who tested positive. One?
You are my spirit animal. I've also been closely following this virus online since late December. I check the updates daily and have been fascinated by the whole scenario. I watched a Netflix documentary around the time this thing began, I think it was called "Pandemic" and it is very, very interesting. As far as our district, we're following the Health Dept. No parents or teachers have expressed any concern, at least not yet...
YES! I thought that the timing was incredible. The show was very good!
I have told my patients that if they don’t get a flu shot every year, they are not allowed to say anything about Coronavirus, including but not limited to how badly a vaccine for it is needed. ?
Hey, fellow Hoosier! I am wondering what will happen when the virus really spreads (assuming that it will) in large 3rd world countries that have limited and overtaxed healthcare to begin with...I am amazed that India has one person who tested positive. One?
Who knows how truthful that info is? I don't even trust our media!
I'm still more worried about the flu. It also hit my area HARD this year.
Since I'm in MA, we just had February break and they deep cleaned the school during it, which I was all for. Even so, our absences are too bad percentage wise, to be honest.
I have great resources in my state for school nurses, and reminders are precautions for the flu are useful for coronavirus. Recommendation for my states is for "If students, staff or volunteers do come to the nurse’s office with a fever, cough, or difficulty breathing AND have traveled from China in the last 14 days OR are ill with fever, cough, or difficulty breathing AND had recent close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case or had recent close contact with someone under investigation by public health authorities for COVID-19."
And they say 6 feet vs 3 feet - but I don't actually have that amount of space in my office!
SIDE NOTE: I did have a parent sent their child in wearing a mask on Monday. Kid had respiratory illness symptoms, said he was seen by doctor to get flu shot, could not get get it because he was sick, negative for flu. Said Mom sent him with mask to protect him and the other students. Kid looked terrible - temp was 99.6, clammy. I called the Dad who had dropped off kid <30 minutes ago and told him to get his child. He did.
Yesterday, I get shown hand-written note from Mom that went through our front office (that I didn't even see until then) about him being seen by doctor, no fever, and to please keep at school and he is wearing a mask to prevent the spread of his chest cold to others. Um, what? Mom is now mad I sent him home. I'm not.
All I can say is if entities like school districts are saying they have a plan, then they owe it to their employees to disseminate said plan. All they have to do is to prepare a written handout to distribute quickly to everyone involved. Follow up, of course, can come later as necessary. Nothing worse than to get caught up in something when the “managers“ have failed to manage.
Yes. It has been stated that China has apparently had a lot more casualties than officially reported, due to various reasons.
Yes, I read that they were not counting deaths of those who passed before they had confirmation that it was coronavirus related. So there's no telling how many it actually is. I watched leaked videos from rogue reporters (who face enormous penalties in a communist country for doing so) that show inside the hospital in Wuhan and it broke my heart for those healthcare workers and patients alike.
Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.
4 hours ago, CanIcallmymom said:
Yes, I read that they were not counting deaths of those who passed before they had confirmation that it was coronavirus related. So there's no telling how many it actually is. I watched leaked videos from rogue reporters (who face enormous penalties in a communist country for doing so) that show inside the hospital in Wuhan and it broke my heart for those healthcare workers and patients alike.
As with anything epidemiological, cases in the initial area are underreported at first (as will be deaths) because there was no official way to test. There may be some backtracking and recalculating based on symptomology in the future.
I am "I survived the AIDS epidemic" years old. I worked as an epidemiology specialist in an urban Texas county for two years in the early 90s. I guess that shapes my attitude about any virus. At this point, I'll panic when I get some data but otherwise what I'm worried about is shortages. Mr. Ruby Jane works in a large urban clinic and they're already rescheduling non-urgent procedures because guess where all the supplies come from? China. Disrupt the supply lines and we become extremely helpless.
I got a needlestick in 1990, I was exposed to H1N1 in 2009, and I was definitely exposed to TB in 2012. Magically, I have neither HIV, Hep C, or TB. Was I lucky? Perhaps. I did get the H1N1. Because I am older and mean and have been exposed to a variety of things it's possible my body had seen H1N1 before. Or not. I do have asthma; that's not making me rest easier with any flu season but I've learned when I need to seek supportive care.
If I had the choice of recovering from Ebola, smallpox, Marburg, or COVID19... I'll take COVID any day. Because it's mostly supportive therapy that people need.
1. I feel the same as you. Not concerned at the moment, casually listen to the news about it so that I can at least know something about the virus and what is going on in the world. My husband is also a fan of apocalyptic fiction, so he has been following it closely, last weekend he went thru what I call our "Zombie Apocalypse Supplies" to make sure everything was good/not expired, even added a few things to our shopping list to add to it - yep married a weirdo ?
2. Our school district has a plan in place & information out on the district website for what is currently happening - they were on top of it way back in January. Not sure what the plan would be if all of a sudden we were forced to close down though.
Mavnurse17, BSN, RN
165 Posts
I saw this too! I remember thinking how coincidental it was that the news of of this new virus came around the same time the docuseries was released, LOL. It was interesting to see how epidemics like Ebola and certain strains of the flu started out as isolated cases but then spread quickly around the country/world. I keep that in the back of my mind as I follow Coronavirus.