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 see many comparing this virus to the seasonal flu. For reasons why this is not wise please see my response here under "world," since the response is applicable to more than school nursing.
Short answer: It is not comparable. The "death rate" for COVID-19 is about 52x greater than the average seasonal influenza.
Seasonal influenza death rates seem huge as they can run beyond ten thousand, and COVID-19 death rates seem small, but it is the rate of death per one thousand cases that matter and there is NO comparison.
The president held a press conference last night and the night before. Two days ago, someone from the CDC stated all families should prepare.
I don't have much to add because my school is also scrambling to keep up with all the latest twists and turns (and of course our small private school has no plan, and of course the admin wants me to make the "plan").
But - I was at Costco last night to do my usual shopping, and they were out of bottled water, bleach and toilet paper. I heard the employees discussing it, as well. The only water left were liter bottles and there was only one palate of that. Every single cart I passed was filled with water. It made me feel very uneasy and, YES, of course I got some water, too! LOL
At least the shoppers bought one useful item for a pandemic/epidemic: bleach.One-part bleach to nine parts water and a spray bottle could prove to be very useful.
Water: Water is useful in disaster scenarios such as nuclear disaster, gigantic hurricanes and zombie invasions.For COVID-19, not useful at all.Wuhan, Hubei, China has been on lock-down for over a month and the water is just fine.So is the electricity.Water and power are largely automatic and if something needs to be done it does not require a crowd.Of course, eventually they can drink that water even if it’s not needed.
Toilet paper: A month’s supply or even three months, makes sense.I watched a video of a fellow who put six, 30-roll packs onto a cart at Sam’s Club (that's 180 rolls of TP).Maybe he has a very large family.I have 20 and ½ rolls.8-packs were on sale last week for $4.99 and I had a 55-cent coupon.Sweet!
Base preparation would be minimally one month’s supply of food and necessary medicines.It would be wise to envision being on lock-down (quarantine) for a month.Power interruption is unlikely therefore a stocked freezer would be useful as well as beans & rice, which store well, or mac & cheese, you get the idea.Take stock, allow 2200 calories per person (x 0.75 for women, x 0.5 for kids) of what you have.Can you survive for one month?If not, sure, stock up a bit.
Think of things that you’d really miss if you were locked-up for a month.Toothpaste and “feminine supplies,” might come to mind.
Forget “masks.”Forget PPE (personal protection equipment). Should, as it did in Hubei, get dicey, simply isolate.The virus does not hunt you down, simply keep away from any source of infection—isolate.Some gloves might be useful, any will do.Again isolate.N95 masks are triple what they were on amazon from a few weeks ago, if they are available at all.
Rubber boots are excellent.Should you need to go shopping you can spray them (soles too) with 10% bleach.I consider “feet” to be the weakest link in infection control.
I groan when I see people photographed, in the media, in China or South Korea out and about, with eye protection, gloves and even an N95 respirator.Then I look and see that they are holding a smart-phone with wired earbuds and are wearing fabric type sneakers.If they are exposed to an environment where the virus exists, realize that there are likely billions of aerosols, on the floor, on door knobs and floating in the air, and now on their smart-phone, and their shoes and clothing. In such an environment the entire person becomes contaminated, and even if the PPE protects their respiratory system, their eyes and hands, when they remove them, are they then likely to become infected?Answer = yes.
I cringe when I see photos Iran workers, or Italians decontaminating an area wearing a mask/respirator over a full beard.That’s like building a picket fence and expecting it to stop mosquitoes.
Can you really protect yourself?Yes, but it is difficult.Taking off PPE creates issues and must be done precisely.Decontamination must be perfect.I remember an article of a woman in Ivory Coast whose mother contracted Ebola.This woman was just about to graduate as an RN.She took meticulous care and did have N95 respirators and gloves—she used garbage bags for boots.Her mother survived and she was never infected.Now, that’s a story I’ll never forget.
Full Disclosure- I am a fan of apocalyptic fiction, and have read a lot of novels/series' based on deadly pandemics. I also enjoy studying the history of past pandemics, such at the black plague, small pox, and Spanish flu. So when I heard a report in late December of a small endemic in China of a novel coronavirus, I joked to myself, 'This is how it starts,' and promptly forgot about it until a few weeks later, China was shutting down areas to control the spread.
Do you have any book recommendations on those pandemics you mentioned? I feel like those would be really interesting reads! @lifelearningrn
Well KeeperOftheIce it seems that things are coming closer to home.
Oregon Coronavirus Case Involves School Worker: (Health Officials)
A person who lives in Washington County and works in Lake Oswego has been diagnosed with the new coronavirus after being sick for 10 days.
“PORTLAND, OR — Oregon public health officials announced Friday the "first presumptive case" of the new coronavirus in the state, and officials from Lake Oswego School District, where the person works, said students and staff may have been infected.”
I'm not sure I can post links, just use part of that quote to search for the article.
This is now the 3rd case on the West Coast that indicates "community spread" meaning disease caused by unknown origin. This is very different from disease caused by "I got it from so and so...who came back from Wuhan."
Oregon's first coronavirus case emerged on Friday, and the infected person worked at an elementary school in the Portland area, which will be temporarily closed, authorities said.
“The case was not a person under monitoring or a person under investigation. The individual had neither a history of travel to a country where the virus was circulating, nor is believed to have had a close contact with another confirmed case — the two most common sources of exposure," the Oregon Health Authority said in a statement....
Latest news reports the number of cases in the United States grew to more than 60 on Friday, including the second and third cases of the disease from so-called "community spread."...
The map below from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering follows coronavirus cases across the world. Use it to check for activity in your state. So far nothing on east coast.
Here in Las Vegas, we haven’t had any reason to start panicking. Like most of you, we are just going about our day.
As said before in the thread, thousands are killed each year because of the regular flu, but hopefully the warmer weather incoming will slow it down and ease some fears that others are having
..A high school student in the state of Washington is the latest you.S. resident to preliminarily test positive for the coronavirus and is part of a growing group of victims that were diagnosed with COVID-19 due to community spread.
Health officials in Snohomish County, Washington, said the student became ill Monday with afever, body aches and a headache. He was seen at two different clinics in the county, however, as the student felt better, he attempted to return to Jackson High School on Friday.
Coronavirus test results for the student, officials said, then came back "presumptive positive," and the student returned home before attending class.
"The individual is currently in home isolation and is doing well," Dr. Chris Spitters, interim health officer for the Snohomish Health District, said at a press conference Friday.
Spitters said the student did not travel to areas associated with coronavirus outbreaks, nor did they have known contact with someone diagnosed with the virus. This means the student is the fourth known case of community spread, which means a person who is diagnosed with a virus without having known contact with an area or person associated with the virus.
Hopefully, a school nurse stopped this student from attending class.
Washington state has first death confirmed from the Covid19 virus per President announcement.
Do you have any book recommendations on those pandemics you mentioned? I feel like those would be really interesting reads! @lifelearningrn
The Plague by Albert Camus (this was written in the 1940s and was assigned as extra credit by my Microbiology professor. It's what kicked off my fascination with epidemics and pandemics).
The Jakarta Pandemic by Steve Konkoly (This is his first novel, and kicks off a series of novels in that world. He's currently on of my favorite authors.)
The China Pandemic by A.R. Shaw (also kicked off a series)
Cyberstorm by Matthew Mather (this one has perfect storm of events, but includes the spread of a deadly influenza).
Specializes in public health, new school nurse, triage, training.
If anyone is looking for a historical fiction book on the plague, I read and really enjoyed ---Year of Wonders : A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks.
It was an easy beach read, my family thought I was a little weird, but public health is cool in any format!
42pines
1 Article; 369 Posts
I see many comparing this virus to the seasonal flu. For reasons why this is not wise please see my response here under "world," since the response is applicable to more than school nursing.
Short answer: It is not comparable. The "death rate" for COVID-19 is about 52x greater than the average seasonal influenza.
Seasonal influenza death rates seem huge as they can run beyond ten thousand, and COVID-19 death rates seem small, but it is the rate of death per one thousand cases that matter and there is NO comparison.
https://allnurses.com/too-many-nurses-saying-covid-t715905/?tab=comments#comment-7556382