Coronawisdom

March 13, 2020 -- Brilliant, recently-retired Kaiser intensivist Tricia Bell shares the following wisdom about our coronavirus miseries.

The number of reported cases vastly underestimates the true prevalence in our population because the availability of testing is still far from adequate. The danger, therefore, will almost certainly increase over the next few weeks. Public health department recommendations tighten up significantly every 12-24 hours. Following exactly what they do or don't recommend today looks insufficient tomorrow. We should stay ahead of the curve to protect our entire community.

This article explains the fallacy of the "it's not much worse than the flu" argument.

This persuasive article is about the necessity of instituting social distancing ASAP.

This article shows how the pattern of exponential spread has been virtually identical from country to country, except in places like Taiwan where they instituted tight restrictions early.

This video interview with one of the intensive care specialists who is leading the efforts in Italy is both fascinating and terrifying. The coordination between hospitals and ICUs in Lombardy has been stunningly intelligent and rapid. We'd be lucky to do as well in the US. The message for us is that he sees enforcement of maximal social distancing as the only hope to avert total breakdown of the health care system. They have not been forced to ration ICU beds, ventilators, or personal protective equipment yet, but at the rate cases are rising, they could be in that position within a week. And Italy has more ICU beds per capita than we do.

Wash your hands. Keep socially distant. Stay safe. We'll survive this one!

Table of Contents