Fuck.
We kept the numbers to zero until August. Now it’s exploded. 814 of my patients tested positive, and 412 are currently active (the others have recovered).
None of my patients have died YET. Some are quite ill, including previously younger, healthy ones. Some older ones with lots of co-morbidities had mild cases.
I’ve not gotten it yet either.
I’m pretty crispy.
Shit. I saw the title of this thread and knew immediately who posted it. This is a catastrophe.
Any tracing as to who/where the initial infection came from?
Hey, my population is almost up to herd immunity numbers. And with over 400 now recovered without deaths, it could be worse. Might still be, though. Less than 300 left to get infected!
OK, whistling in the dark now . . .
Holy F’ing shit. Stay safe QtM, stay safe.
I can’t even imagine your situation right now.
Out of curiosity, why do you think so your patients have COVID-19? Is there something in particular about that population?
I ask, because all things considered, that seems like a lot. We have had maybe 700 cases (30 deaths) total in my town of 53,000 people. And we are all crammed within 1.5 sq miles of bars and young people near what was the epicenter.
They’re in a prison.
I have a question, that probably calls for gross speculation. Do you think it was face to face transmission or by aerosol through ventilation, or lack thereof?
(eta: question posed to Qadgop I edited out an answer to msmith537)
Take care, Qadgop!
Yikes! Take care of yourself ( and them).
There are a couple of class action suits that have been brought on behalf of the entire population of the Oregon state prison system due to the staff flatly refusing to wear masks, social distance and allow access to hand sanitizer and cleaning products to the inmates, and the Oregon DOC did nothing to enforce the ordinances, fearing the cop unions getting up in a swivet. With predictable results–officially almost 10% of the population has tested positive and I hear from people with loved ones inside that there are a significant number who’re masking and denying their symptoms because if they report symptoms consistent with COVID they’re just bunged into their cells for 14 days and only allowed out once a day to take a shower if they’re able. There have been multiple deaths as well. The thing is, in person visitation was cut off in March so the ONLY way for the inmates to have contracted it is by staff bringing it in, and there have been so many reports of staff flouting the rules it’s absolutely disgusting. Add to that the fact that the largest prison in the state is right on the Idaho border and about 90% of the staff comes in from that benighted place where COVID denial is the norm and you have the perfect storm for infection. It’s a fucking disgrace, is what it is.
Sorry you’re in the middle of it, QtM, hope it passes you by. It has to suck having to care for such a vulnerable population in such trying times.
I have a relative that works over at the HOC on Ryan Rd. I don’t know if it’s standard protocol or due to exposure, but I swear he’s getting tested multiple times a week.
And the funny thing (to me, anyway) is back in March when people dismissed me when I’d mention that this is going to wreak havoc in the jails. As soon as one person gets it, the whole place is going to get it. People would either say ‘how’s it going to get in?’ (well, the non-incarcerated that are in and out every day) or ‘they’re in cells, how’s it going to spread?’ (they’re not in cells 24/7).
Yeesh! The good news is you may have been exposed to enough colds to protect you. But who really wants to find out? It gets tiresome to change PPE and it’s worse if you can’t do to short supplies. My condolences to you and the family you try to keep safe. People generally neither understand nor long appreciate the sacrifices physicians make (least of all other HCWs.)
Not so. Inmates are going in and out all the time to offsite court dates (where they’re held in the county jail for as long as it takes) or specialist medical appointments or needed procedures. Now we’ve cut those down to the absolutely necessary trips, but our cancer patients still need their radiation treatments, emergency room visits are needed to evaluate chest pains, etc.
I won’t deny staff is a likely source for infections coming in, though. Staff resistance to required protocol is something I’ve observed. Covid denial is not a small issue in my state. Many hospitals and medical clinics in the area have the same issues with their employees. They too mandate masks etc. onsite, but a lot of folks go home, then go out to the bars or the family gatherings, or church on weekends.
I’m amazed we skated covid-free for 6 months, and that was due to aggressive quarantine and other recommended measures, but all it takes is one super-spreader/shedder to trigger a spread.
Someone that’s been popping up in one of my facebook groups is a rabid anti-masker…and ER nurse.
To be fair, she would have just blended into the background of all the other anti-maskers, but I bought my house from her 15 years ago so I recognize her name when I see it.
You might want to keep a close eye on that; seems to me that a prison situation would be a perfect mostly closed population for getting accurate numbers on what actually constitutes herd immunity with COVID.
Who knows, maybe we’ll see your name on a paper written about it in the near future!
Anecdotally: Among the dozens of people I or my wife know that work in the medical profession (everything from primary care doctors to pediatricians to ER nurses to EMTs) … roughly half treat COVID-19 as a serious problem. The other half regard COVID-19 as heavily overblown and act accordingly.
A LOT is based on personal experience, and also with one’s own experience with getting sick or avoiding illness. Scientific consensus and/or the results of serious research are pretty much ignored – “I don’t see THAT in my own life and experiences, so it’s not happening/it’s not true”
Which is perplexing and frightening if you ask me. You’d think if there was one group with something approaching a consensus, it would be doctors (actual MDs, not quacks like chiropractors).
I don’t know how valid an EMT or nurse’s opinion is on COVID though.
That’s why I keep saying that this won’t be taken seriously by a large enough percentage of our country until we his a critical mass where, more or less, everyone has had a close family member die or get seriously sick from it. When we stop asking ‘do you know anyone that’s had it’ and start asking ‘have you lost any family members yet’, things will change.
Hopefully there’s enough people out there that don’t need a family member to die to take this seriously that we can get through this sooner rather than later. Essentially creating a herd immunity, not by being immune but by not getting sick.
Not in Snake River–the 3500 inmates there comprise about 10% of the total population of the (enormous) county and it’s almost 400 miles from Portland. All medical care is in-house as the hospital facilities in Ontario are minimal at best and it takes an act of god for a prisoner to be taken to Boise for care–that’s only life or death. Once someone is sent there, the only way they do court appearances is by telepresence even before COVID. Because it’s about a 12 hour bus trip to move prisoners around so they only do it when they’re moving someone to a permanent placement. And families of inmates were hearing from the beginning that staff was flatly refusing to wear masks (as a matter of fact, subpoenas for daily footage from the inside cameras were denied as a “security risk” at multiple facilities as the superintendents of the sites were outside lying briskly to protesters and insisting that all inmates had access to hand sanitizer, which is a complete lie–it’s not even available through comissary.) I’m sure you know a lot about the system you’re involved in, but not this one so please defer to my more intimate knowledge of the subject. Idaho is notorious for being COVID risk denial central, they barely keep records and as far as I know have STILL not instituted widespread mask ordinances nor bans on large gatherings and the staff LIVES there, then comes into the facility and refuse to mask or social distance.
Oregon has only been moving prisoners as an emergency measure, as in moving inmates threatened by wildfires to more remote locations (which led to superspreader events and a few riots but that’s another story) and there have been 275 confirmed cases of staff infections. Which means another bunch of asymptomatic carriers have not been tested nor confirmed and were never quarantined. As I said, it’s a disgrace.