Some COVID-19 Thoughts

So over the weekend I saw reports of the increasing numbers of cases in Italy South Korea and the US coasts. Not entirely surprised at the locations of the first cases in the US. They are all on US coasts (Except the IL. case) where there are busy international arrival airports and high immigrant populations. With a virus that has a relatively long incubation period, there could be many undiagnosed cases, particularly among younger and healthier populations that are going to get a lot of people infected. But thats' not really what's on my mind this AM. The thing I keep seeing is about the lack of hospital beds. I think that we may be thinking to 20th century.

If most cases are relatively mild (meaning ER case is unnecessary) then the needs for beds drops. There are a lot of people who go to ERs in a panic for what are not really ER situations. Corona may lead to a lot more of that. I believe that one thing that could be done here is to leverage "visiting nurse" businesses. They could be used for both initial diagnosis as well as regular check ins without taking up hospital resources. For all I know this is already in action so if I'm late on this forgive me.

I think this could even be used for more serious cases as well. Since there is no "cure" and all that a hospital is going to do, as far as I know, is proscribe fever reducers, fluids and sleep, these things can be done a person's residence. The main thing a hospital has is the eye of a health care professional. Which brings me to my next suggestion: Leverage technology.

A great portion of the population has smart phones that are capable of real time video conferencing. Therefore it is possible for a nurse or other qualified person to "check in" on a patient who is very remote. Indeed such things are done in rural Africa all the time with what I understand is great effect. Those in isolation in their residences should be checked in on remotely via these apps from a central location which may be a hospital but not necessarily so. Also we have smart watches now that can read heart rates and notify emergency contacts if there are heart issues and/or falls. I think that government agencies should consider batch purchases of these devices for those who do not have these devices and who are considered higher risk. In this way when these patients are between check-ins, we can know that they are not dead or have had a fall that may be related to them moving around while sick. If these monitors do go off, then the appropriate ambulatory services can be activated.

The other thing is food. One thing we don't want is for sick people to go to the stores and infect other people. Hence organizations who do food deliveries such as meals on wheels should be considered by the relevant authorities to do food deliveries to isolated persons. For those able to pay for such services, they should do so, particularly since we are in a cash optional society now.

Other than that, wash yo' hands and keep them away from your face. And for casino frequenters, clean those buttons and tables before you play. And if you're sick, please, please, please lose your money another day when you're not sick.