International Coronavirus Breaking News, v13: Over 21,000 Healthcare Workers From Around The U.S Heading To N.Y

[JDragon]

Stanford has confirmed that N95 masks can be sterilised at 70C and safely reused, which may help ease supply issues for frontline workers.

Huh. Would be interesting to know if this means I could put it in a sterilizer for baby milk bottles.

 

[Rickie]

I laughed out loud but in all seriousness most of us don't have access to a steaming device. Here's what I do with mine, obviously not saying it is proper or if it is even effective. After wearing it I put it in direct sunlight for a couple of days then mist it with 30ppm of colloidal silver.

We are rarely leaving the house and I have quite a few masks, so I don't really have the need to reuse at this point but am doing so anyway because they are only averaging around an hour of use per mask.

I steam mine over a pot with a piece of screen on top of the pot. Super easy. Plus I can look at Pornhub via my Italian VPN.

 

[JDragon]

I'd also like to add that there is a lot of talk about reducing service. On Monday they pulled the express buses off the line and instead of sending the drivers home had them sit around the division for some bogus "training", which had the drivers all pissed. I get that it isn't a good look to have empty buses driving around. It's bad for the environment. But if we start reducing buses, that bus with 4 people on it might now have 15. And at 5:30 PM it might have 30 or 40. I wanna see buses with only a couple people so that they're spread out as for as possible. A TTC operator (subway) tested positive yesterday so we'll see what the next step is.

Exactly this happened in my city. They reduced services on tram / underground and got super packed trains as a result. Who could've guessed?

 

[JDragon]

Thanks for your input. I for one, would like to applaud your efforts and thank you for your work because as you said it is essential for some to get to work.

Actually this is something I've been thinking a lot lately. I'm not saying I'm an arrogant asshole or anything, but my appreciation for certain job groups has definitely increased reflecting on what would be how disruptive if we didn't have it.

 

[Strychnine]

Might not be the best time to gather to celebrate that a terrorist has been released!

Celebration today!

Hospitalization in 10-14 days....

 

[Strychnine]

Prince of Wales Charles test positive for coronavirus.

He's 71 y.o.

 

[John Black]

Wooo, numbers pretty good today, we can see a drop in new cases.

 

[irish_thug]

My heart bleeds for someone making a pittance at No Frills or Timmies or somewhere. If they can work through this then so can we.

My thoughts exactly.

I had to top up a few items for the pantry yesterday, while I was at the store I overheard the manager say to an employee "these are unprecedented times, we all have to do our part for the greater good" I stopped what I was doing and gave him a heartfelt thankyou (from a safe distance of course) to make sure he knew their efforts are appreciated.

 

[irish_thug]

I'd also like to add that there is a lot of talk about reducing service. On Monday they pulled the express buses off the line and instead of sending the drivers home had them sit around the division for some bogus "training", which had the drivers all pissed. I get that it isn't a good look to have empty buses driving around. It's bad for the environment. But if we start reducing buses, that bus with 4 people on it might now have 15. And at 5:30 PM it might have 30 or 40. I wanna see buses with only a couple people so that they're spread out as for as possible. A TTC operator (subway) tested positive yesterday so we'll see what the next step is.

A Brampton driver tested positive too.

 

[sangreporsangre]

Vaughan to close all facilities within its parks, including playgrounds

The City of Vaughan will close all facilities within its parks, including playgrounds, as it works to limit the spread of COVID-19 within the community.

The measures takes effect immediately and will cover sports fields, tennis courts, dog parks and all other facilities located within parks.

The more restrictive measure comes after city officials warned residents to avoid playgrounds on March 21 since their surfaces aren’t regularly disinfected.


https://www.cp24.com/polopoly_fs/1....e.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_960/image.jpg


“People were still gathering in bigger numbers than they should be and basically not respecting themselves and also the community so we needed to send a strong message that we don’t tolerate that kind of behaviour,” Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua told CP24 on Wednesday morning. “We are following the best science and knowledge that is available and trying to do our best at our level of government to reduce this transmission.”

Bevilacqua told CP24 that signage is being installed to notify residents about the closures.

He said that should residents still be seen using parks and playgrounds despite the closures, bylaw enforcement officers will be brought in to enforce the order.

https://www.cp24.com/news/vaughan-t...hin-its-parks-including-playgrounds-1.4867557

Haven't seen anything like this so far. Are they the first municipality to implement something like this? The very idea of a bylaw enforcement officer writing you a ticket for your kid playing on the playground seems completely surreal, but so do a lot of the things from the past couple weeks.

 

[Jfrizzle]

Actually this is something I've been thinking a lot lately. I'm not saying I'm an arrogant asshole or anything, but my appreciation for certain job groups has definitely increased reflecting on what would be how disruptive if we didn't have it.

Far too many people look down their noses at people doing jobs they believe to be beneath them. It takes all of us to make things function and I can't imagine the stress of those who are so poorly compensated, dealing with waves of people day after day are feeling right now.

 

[irish_thug]

I steam mine over a pot with a piece of screen on top of the pot. Super easy. Plus I can look at Pornhub via my Italian VPN.

Steaming and streaming?

 

[themainman]

I heard, from the joe Rogen podcast, if you get the virus blood type A really struggles with it while type O is the best, any validity to that?

 

[irish_thug]

I heard, from the joe Rogen podcast, if you get the virus blood type A really struggles with it while type O is the best, any validity to that?

Someone posted a graphic the other day showing A is hardest hit, B is significantly lower and O is lower still for infection rates.

 

[JDragon]

Far too many people look down their noses at people doing jobs they believe to be beneath them. It takes all of us to make things function and I can't imagine the stress of those who are so poorly compensated, dealing with waves of people day after day are feeling right now.

I'm seeing a trend towards appreciation here. There is talk of a tax bonus for front line health providers, and supermarkets are planning special payments for their employees.

 

[Jfrizzle]

I'm seeing a trend towards appreciation here. There is talk of a tax bonus for front line health providers, and supermarkets are planning special payments for their employees.

And they deserve every bit of it. I feel so terrible right now, seeing my wife get up and go to work everday, stressed and havjng the burden of knowing she is now the only income fornour family. I wish more than anything I could take her place.

All the people who are still going out doing what they can, no matter how small, certainly have my respect.

 

[irish_thug]

Vaughan to close all facilities within its parks, including playgrounds



https://www.cp24.com/news/vaughan-t...hin-its-parks-including-playgrounds-1.4867557

Haven't seen anything like this so far. Are they the first municipality to implement something like this? The very idea of a bylaw enforcement officer writing you a ticket for your kid playing on the playground seems completely surreal, but so do a lot of the things from the past couple weeks.

A good buddy of mine does By-Law enforcement in Toronto. The exact same thing is coming there shortly. Too many people not listening.

 

[AznTrojan]

More stories:

Day 3.

Code Blue right off the bat at 7:35. COVID in the ICU, transferred an hour earlier from another maxed hospital. From the chart: 67F with DM2, CAD, HTN. 5 days of cough and body aches, a little short of breath. She was seen by an ED physician just after midnight two days ago. Within 8 hours she had crashed and required intubation. Multifocal pneumonia with positive COVID. Officially admitted to that ICU 24 hours later. Transferred to our ICU 24 hours after that, and 1 hour later her Discharge Note for the Expired Patient was written.

She marks the first COVID patient I’ve seen die.

The anxiety I felt a couple days ago isn’t so bad now. It’s clear there was no avoiding this mass casualty event. Now there’s just work to do.

The thing about intubating a COVID case is it’s a high risk droplet bomb going off around the guys and gals most needed right now: intensivists, anesthesiologists and those badass ICU nurses who are all needed to tube people whose lungs are filling up with fluid. Hospitalists might be able to pick up the slack, but they haven’t the same muscle memory.

So as I’m watching this woman die in her closed glass box of an ICU room, a grizzled doctor with the swagger of an old intensivist says to no one in particular, “Is that a confirmed positive? Not going anywhere NEAR there!”

A nurse over to my left says, “We shouldn’t have to Code cases like this.” And it’s not with the same tone as “This is pointless,” it’s “This puts us in danger for nothing.” I stay out of the room, the extra manpower of one extra resident won’t be worth the PPE for chest compressions. But my chief resident is in there.

He’s a good guy; hope he doesn’t get sick.

(As I write this, I get a call that one of my patients has died. Non-COVID, was in denial about her metastatic cancer, COPD, CHF progressively worse shortness of breath but still wanted to be intubated. She got her wish and died within an hour or two still.)

Then a Rapid Response at 7:56. Then a Rapid Response at 8:01. Then a Rapid Response at 10:30. That last one was for the patient I just mentioned who passed, we put her on BIPAP and loaded her up with Lasix. Then a Rapid Response again at 12:30, again for my patient, watched the intubation occur. There was a minor discussion of where to put her, since the ICU and CCU were full. We’re in the process of transitioning the SICU into another ventilator bay.

Lunch arrives sometime after 13:00. Here’s one silver lining to all this: the community has gone out of its way to shower us with food. My lunches and dinners (residents know to always raid the hospitalists’ office and grab a plate before heading home to crash) have been Mediterranean chicken kebobs on Sunday, chicken piccata on Monday, and pizza today. It genuinely raises moral.

Another Rapid as I’m talking to some other residents and wolfing down a slice. Most of these Rapids have been for non-COVID cases. The ones that are about COVID cases turn into intubation events.

I was wrong yesterday when I predicted we’d become a majority COVID case hospital in 2 days. We crossed the 51% threshold today.

I was naïve when I thought I could volunteer for the resident-run COVID wing so that one less of my fellow residents would be put at risk. We’re all at risk. So now we have 3 residents and an outpatient attending looking over 10 confirmed COVID cases.

My census of 13 today has 5 confirmed and 1 suspected COVID patients. I wish we could make these cases voluntary, but all we can do now is limit exposure and spread out the cases somewhat.

I get a call that our 87 year old COVID patient is desatting on 6L supplemental O2 via nasal canula. So we put her on a non-rebreather. I get a call that she’s desatting down to the mid-80s when talking in long sentences despite the 100% oxygen she’s receiving via mask. The nurse is spooked, and the current plan is to do a Full Code should she tank. So the patient and I get to have The Talk.

The Talk is basically asking people if they want to receive (often futile) CPR that cracks their ribs as they die, or if they would prefer to be attached to machines when they die. But I don’t put it like that. I say things like “chest compressions” and “a plastic tube down your throat” but made it clear that if she were to be sedated for the intubation, she may never wake up. And despite our plans and treatments, her body is taking actions that will most likely (but we can never say guaranteed) going to end her life. Not today, but it’s a good time to put things in order.

The patient said her daughters want everything to be done for her, but she doesn’t want to be on machines when she dies. I said that was reasonable. She asked me what I would do, and what I would want for my mother.

I’m not proud of this next part.

I told the truth. I said that my mom and I have worked in medicine, and she would never want to be intubated if it was a long shot she’d ever recover. I told her I recently only rescinded my own Do Not Intubate order because were I to get COVID and need intubation, I’m a young, healthy guy who could survive it. But were I hit by a truck and braindead, I’d never want to be intubated. She said she’d call her daughter back and explain things.

I get a call later saying this very sharp 87 year old lady has signed the form declaring her Do Not Resuscitate / Do Not Intubate.

Intubation would have been the wrong choice here, I believe that. And I only told the truth (which I usually avoid by saying things like “it’s not for me to make you decide either way.”)
I helped the patient make her personal wishes count at the end of her life so she could die on her terms.

But, in the back of my head, I was also thinking I saved the nurses from having to witness a pointless and traumatic CPR and I saved one likely-inevitable ICU bed and a ventilator.

…

I don’t feel like writing anymore today.

sounds pretty typical.. a lot places won't be coding patients if it's deemed futile and dangerous..

 

[Rational Poster]

Mucus is the enemy. We need a fast way to remove all mucus from our bodies

Just pick your nose idiot.

 

[AznTrojan]

Link article? Can I put mine in my oven at 160F and not light it on fire but kill all bugs and viruses?

inb4 Sherdoger makes headlines burning house down putting paper in oven cause internet told him to

https://stanfordmedicine.box.com/v/covid19-PPE-1-1