The coronavirus has arrived in the Midwest and I have a physician in the family with practical advice to protect against COVID-19.
First, don’t panic.
Second, use the same precautions as with the common cold and flu by washing your hands, cover your cough and don’t touch your face.
Most individuals contracting the virus will not become dangerously ill. Even though true mortality rates are uncertain so far, it does appear to be deadlier than the flu.
Patients with significant pre-existing conditions and older patients seem particularly susceptible to negative outcomes. Individuals with mild cases may not realize they are COVID-19 positive, don’t seek medical attention and unintentionally infect friends and coworkers.
Unfortunately, mild cases seeking medical assistance, would likely be turned away because of a shortage of test kits which then prevents proper diagnose, treatment and virus containment.
Only in late February did federal authorities allow state public health labs to begin testing for the virus because early test kits were faulty. Some states are only now receiving testing supplies from the feds and in very small numbers. Compounding the problem, commercially available tests normally used in doctors’ offices and hospitals are not yet available.
The lack of access has led the University of Washington in Seattle to develop their own test; other large city systems may follow suit. However rural health care must remain dependent upon the government, a government whose response has been disjointed, inadequate and anemic at best. The responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of our president.
A normal president would instill a sense of no panic and calm but Trump’s narcissistic personality makes this impossible. He wasted valuable time claiming COVID-19 was a hoax while raging at the press for reporting on the virus. His rambling and incoherent remarks do not instill public confidence and neither do his stumbles over the concept of vaccines and clinical trials.
Trump is a flood of chaos. He contradicts doctors, rejects scientific findings, places low priority on science and incessantly attacks key CDC funding. In 2018, Trump removed the entire U.S. pandemic response team and, in a display of gross incompetence, the positions went unfilled.
It is no wonder, of all the major developed countries, the United States is considered the least prepared for COVID-19. Our lack of testing supplies stands testament. So, cover your coughs and remain calm, but know that as the pandemic spreads to our friends and loved ones, Trump is to blame.
Richard Gannon, retired three term Kansas state senator (D) and former director of governmental affairs for the Kansas Press Association. He served newspapers in a nonpartisan role as chief legislative lobbyist on First Amendment issues.
