Gas Mask

Sitting in my office earlier today watching ambulances bring in COVID patients, I saw one responder in a yellow haz mat suit with a gas mask on. The PPE some services are providing continues to be upgraded. It may be expensive, but when compared to the cost of human life, not to mention lost workforce, it is work it.

Connecticut has seen hospitalizations decline for 8 straight days now. Our governor, who has handled things quite responsibly (despite my annoyance at his advocating shutting down the basketball hoops), is planning to start opening the state on May 20 with the first of four phases, the first phase to include outdoor restaurants, parks, hair and nail salons, retails stores, and offices. 

These are the Connecticut businesses that can reopen on May 20 with coronavirus safety measures in place

Still, I am uneasy about calling this thing over by a long shot. The troubling thing I have noticed is that COVID has its hot spots. We will get several from the same house or group home, and certainly many from certain nursing homes, but as soon as one group home or nursing home slows down on sending patients, another address will pop up for the first time and will follow with a cluster of patients.

I mentioned a few weeks ago about deaths in one nursing home in Connecticut. Well, it turns out those number were low. The Hartford Courant now reports 43 of 146 patients died of corona virus in Kimberly Hall North, a building I have been in. It looks just like any other average nursing home.

At Kimberly Hall North in Windsor, at least 43 people have died during the coronavirus crisis, making it one of hardest hit nursing homes in the country

As we relax some social distancing guidelines, we have to be careful do not underestimate COVID-19s ability to sudden turn from an ember into a four-alarm fire.

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Meanwhile,  the normally reserved Dr. Anthony Fauci, seems excited about about the drug remdesivir and the possibility of having a vaccine ready and produced in millions of doses by January, despite the bypassing of normal safety measures.

Fauci optimistic about remdesivir as treatment for COVID-19 

Dr. Fauci Is Optimistic That a Coronavirus Vaccine Could be Available by January 2021

I mentioned before I was reading a book about the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918.  Vaccines were produced and distributed back then to great fanfare.  The problem was they didn't work.  Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself.

Spanish Influenza Pandemic and Vaccines