CMAAO CORONA FACTS and MYTH BUSTER 58

CMAAO CORONA FACTS and MYTH BUSTER 58

Dr K K Aggarwal

President Confederation of Medical Associations of Asia and Oceania, HCFI and Past National President IMA

601: How many healthcare workers have died in US

As of April 9, at least 27 health care personnel have died. That number, however, is probably an underestimation because health care personnel (HCP) status was available for just over 49,000 of the 315,000 COVID-19 cases reported to the CDC as of April 9. Of the cases with known HCP status, 9,282 (19%) were health care personnel.

602: What was the profile of the doctors

The median age of the nearly 9,300 HCP with COVID-19 was 42 years, and the majority (55%) were aged 16-44 years; another 21% were 45-54, 18% were 55-64, and 6% were age 65 and over.

The oldest group, however, represented 10 of the 27 known HCP deaths, the investigators reported in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

603: How many goy it in the healthcare settings

The majority of infected HCP (55%) reported exposure to a COVID-19 patient in the health care setting, but "there were also known exposures in households and in the community, highlighting the potential for exposure in multiple settings, especially as community transmission increases,"

604: How many of them were hospitalised

HCP with COVID-19 were less likely to be hospitalized (8%-10%) than the overall population (21%-31%), which "might reflect the younger median age of HCP patients, compared with that of reported COVID-19 patients overall, as well as prioritization of HCP for testing, which might identify less-severe illness.

605: What  was the percentage of underlying illnesses in them

The prevalence of underlying conditions in HCP patients, 38%, was the same as all patients with COVID-19

606: What was the presentation

92% of the HCP patients presented with fever, cough, or shortness of breath. Two-thirds of all HCP reported muscle aches, and 65% reported headache, the CDC response team noted.

607:  What are doctors inn US doing to protect the family

1.    A Boston-area firefighter moved into a Harvard University dorm to protect his wife and two children.

2.     An emergency room doctor sent his wife and four kids to live with her parents, so he won't risk bringing COVID-19 home.

3.    Another strips in the garage, throws his clothes right into the washing machine and jumps into the guest bathroom shower before greeting his family.

4.    Healthcare workers and first responders are going to great lengths during this epidemic to keep their families safe from COVID-19, even as they worry that they are carrying the virus home on their shoes, in their hair, or on a layer of clothes.

5.    There's been a lot of attention on how the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks, gloves, and gowns, puts healthcare workers' lives at risk. But those workers are also quite conscious of the others it puts at risk: their closest family members.

6.    And not everyone has free housing, willing in-laws, or a place to change safely before coming in the front door.

7.    Ganelle Salmon, a patient information specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, can do little more than stuff her clothes into a plastic bag on the seasonal porch and hope that she doesn't track the virus into her apartment. Managing to get only about 3-4 hours of sleep every night, she hasn't yet figured out how to make time to go to a laundromat, now that she doesn't feel safe running over to her mother's to use the washer.

608: What is the pattern of their getting COVID 19