Covid-19 is an acute respiratory virus that emerged in China, due to transmission from wild animals. Current thought is the new corona virus emerged from bats to civet cats to a market in Wuhan. More than 3,000 people have died from it this year and it has now spread to all continents except Antarctica. There is no vaccine and this corona virus is not like the flue, it is more severe, similar to the SARS virus. Most deaths have occurred in elderly men, but physicians who were in their prime have also died. It is a serious pandemic and the delays in acknowledging and trying to control it have worsened its impact.
Delays in processing the tests for the virus, which must be approved by the CDC, have resulted in increased risk to communities. Currently, a UC-Davis patient from Solano County, which is where Travis Air Force Base is located, and is a quarantine site, is on a ventilator because the CDC dallied in approving testing for the disease.
Currently the death rate from Covid-19 is exceeding 1%, which is much higher than influenza and the rate of infection spread is 5 people for everyone who is in contact with the contagion. By comparison small pox has a similar infection disbursement rate.We don't know how long the virus can remain active on surfaces, so it is not possible to have 100% certainty on controlling the spread.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the US is now 60 and yesterday, the CDC confirmed its first case through community spread, which means someone has contracted the potentially deadly virus without coming in contact with a person who had it. In other words, it spread through the air and it is highly likely there are many others who will also contract the disease in this manner. Meanwhile Trump has appointed Vice President Pence, who has no healthcare background to triage the Covid-19 national pandemic. Perhaps he will pray it away, but that is not a confidence builder for me.
The Trump Administration has cut funding to both the CDC, the disease prevention and the NIH, the research arms of the federal government. In order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and huge corporations Trump cut frontline health services to protect us. Trump cut the Centers for Disease Control budget by 16% and Health and Human Services by 10%. And this doesn't include the chipping away at access to primary healthcare through the Affordable Care Act law suits. Further, Trump's only concern has been about the pandemic's impact on the economy during his election year, not the health of us all.
This is the first time I have republished one of my posts, but the article I wrote in 2017 shows how the damage the Trump Administration has inflicted on emergency preparedness and your health is now real.Please read this and understand how destroying public resources in healthcare and administration are NOT in your best interest.
http://healthpolicymaven.blogspot.com/2017/10/microbes-not-missiles-how-us-should.html
This is the healthpolicymaven signing off encouraging you not to sign blanket releases at inpatient facilities-do specify that for which you consent and those services you decline.
The healthpolicymaven is a trademark for Robert E. Winter an independent healthcare analyst and journalist who has published this column since 2007. She is the author of Unraveling US Healthcare-A Personal Guide, which reviewed healthcare quality throughout the US, including trauma centers.
https://www.amazon.com/Unraveling-U-S-Health-Care-Personal/dp/1442222972
Delays in processing the tests for the virus, which must be approved by the CDC, have resulted in increased risk to communities. Currently, a UC-Davis patient from Solano County, which is where Travis Air Force Base is located, and is a quarantine site, is on a ventilator because the CDC dallied in approving testing for the disease.
Currently the death rate from Covid-19 is exceeding 1%, which is much higher than influenza and the rate of infection spread is 5 people for everyone who is in contact with the contagion. By comparison small pox has a similar infection disbursement rate.We don't know how long the virus can remain active on surfaces, so it is not possible to have 100% certainty on controlling the spread.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the US is now 60 and yesterday, the CDC confirmed its first case through community spread, which means someone has contracted the potentially deadly virus without coming in contact with a person who had it. In other words, it spread through the air and it is highly likely there are many others who will also contract the disease in this manner. Meanwhile Trump has appointed Vice President Pence, who has no healthcare background to triage the Covid-19 national pandemic. Perhaps he will pray it away, but that is not a confidence builder for me.
The Trump Administration has cut funding to both the CDC, the disease prevention and the NIH, the research arms of the federal government. In order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and huge corporations Trump cut frontline health services to protect us. Trump cut the Centers for Disease Control budget by 16% and Health and Human Services by 10%. And this doesn't include the chipping away at access to primary healthcare through the Affordable Care Act law suits. Further, Trump's only concern has been about the pandemic's impact on the economy during his election year, not the health of us all.
This is the first time I have republished one of my posts, but the article I wrote in 2017 shows how the damage the Trump Administration has inflicted on emergency preparedness and your health is now real.Please read this and understand how destroying public resources in healthcare and administration are NOT in your best interest.
http://healthpolicymaven.blogspot.com/2017/10/microbes-not-missiles-how-us-should.html
This is the healthpolicymaven signing off encouraging you not to sign blanket releases at inpatient facilities-do specify that for which you consent and those services you decline.
The healthpolicymaven is a trademark for Robert E. Winter an independent healthcare analyst and journalist who has published this column since 2007. She is the author of Unraveling US Healthcare-A Personal Guide, which reviewed healthcare quality throughout the US, including trauma centers.
https://www.amazon.com/Unraveling-U-S-Health-Care-Personal/dp/1442222972
