Connecticut had its first confirmed COVID death today, an 88 year-old nursing home patient. The number of confirmed cases is up to 96.
Because of the COVID virus, we cancelled our monthly hospital sponsored in person EMS CME. Instead we held it on-line through an app called WEBex, which is available to our hospital. I was nervous about using the technology for the first time, but I thought it went very well aside from a few unmuting issues. People were able to view it from their homes or at their EMS stations. We had over 71 callers, with many of the callers hosting multiple viewers. Think of all the time and gas saved. Viewers were able to ask questions through the chat function. Afterwards, I emailed CME certificates to those who requested them. We are going to be holding our CME’s this way for the foreseeable future. I wouldn’t mind making them permanent. Holding them online seems much more efficient. More people can attend with less time involved.
Our featured speaker was our infectious disease expert, who had reliable, up-to-date information for us about the epidemic. You can watch the recording here:
Traffic into the hospital was slow today. We had a number of suspected COVID patients, who were all placed into isolation rooms. Those sick enough to be admitted received tests that were sent off to the state. Those not, were sent home to self-isolation. Connecticut still has a severe shortage of tests, which restricts those who we are allowed to test.
For EMS, be careful. Every patient is a potential COVID patient. Accidental exposures may occur. The CDC has updated guidance on exposure and risk assessment.
The worldwide corona news continued to be back and forth. One article made me feel better that in Italy 99% of the patients who died had comorbidities, while another article warned this epidemic in the United States will last another 18 months with massive economic consequences and shortages. Oh, boy
The stock market tanked again.A few days ago, I looked at my 401K for the first time and was actually surprised my losses weren’t greater. Instead of being 100% invested in stocks, I am 50%, The rest is in cash or bonds. My father taught me that when it came to stocks, you could be aggressive or conservative, but you should settle on a mix that lets you sleep at night. I debated briefly selling everything believing there is bad news to come, and then I debated buying more believing that the best time to buy is when everyone is fearful. In the end, I decided to just leave it alone. One less thing to worry about if I bet wrong.
The governor took more action today, closing amusement parks, bowling alleys, and indoor shopping malls.
I have been taking my daughter to the park to hit softballs and then shoot baskets in the evenings. I was distressed to both see a picture of locked up basketball courts in the paper and to hear Steven A Smith on ESPN sports radio blasting people for playing hoops in the park and violating the spirit of social distancing. We are not playing five on five shirts and skins full court, we’re just shooting baskets, the two of us, trying to get some fresh air and normalcy.
I guess CNN played some video of people in San Francisco jogging along the street. There were a lot of runners. San Francisco, unlike Connecticut, is under lockdown where people are only supposed to go outside for essential business, which includes exercise as long as distance is met. The announcers were outraged, but I wonder if maybe the cameras were just panned on a highly traveled intersection, while the rest of the streets were empty. This is like when the TV during storms shows cars underwater on the only street in town that is actually flooded. I don’t know.
I was going to take my daughter to the sporting goods store to see about buying a portable outdoor hoop for our small driveway, but my wife yelled at us and told us not to leave the yard and listen to the governor, and stay home. My wife is Jamaican and it is best to heed her when she gets heated. My daughter ended up crying in her room and I had to talk with her. While this COVID is stressful to us all, we need to watch our children and help them through it.
I don’t like where this is headed.
