Provided by Cardiologist Friend presently working on the frontlines:
My advice for my non-medical friends (3/19/20):
1. Stay calm. With all the news you are reading, remember that 80% of cases do not need hospitalization in this country. You are distancing yourself so that the other 20% don't overwhelm our hospitals all at once.
2. Healthcare workers need personal protective equipment (PPE). If you bought a bunch of masks (especially N95 masks), gloves, gowns, face shields, etc, please consider keeping a couple of regular masks for yourself (in case you need to go to the hospital/clinic) and donating the rest to your local hospital or urgent care, or dropping them off with a friend who you know is working in healthcare. You do not need these if you are staying home, but the doctor in the hospital needs them when intubating grandma so that s/he can stay well enough in order to intubate your friend's grandma in 3 weeks.
3. If you are hearing stories about chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine working for COVID, please don't go asking for these and stockpiling them. If you are already on these for other conditions, make sure you have 30-90 days worth. For COVID, these are preliminary stories and small studies suggesting they may work and we will not giving them at this time to people with no symptoms or mild symptoms. Doctors may be trying them for patients with severe symptoms in the hospital, because we are going to try anything (after checking it won't do harm to that particular patient) for the really sick/near death patients.
4. If you feel symptoms (fever, cough, diarrhea, muscle aches), isolate yourself from others you are living with (stay in a separate room, use a different bathroom, use a different towel), take some tylenol and monitor yourself. Do not go to a clinic or ER for just mild symptoms. If you develop shortness of breath and it is worsening, then decide whether you need to go to the hospital (threshold will be lower for people with underlying lung/heart disease or who are immunocompromised), or be checked out at an urgent care/clinic (call them beforehand to know what their protocol is).
5. Do NOT go to the ER for anything that is not an emergency; cut your finger and won't stop bleeding, need a stitch/steristrip --> go to urgent care; cut off your finger --> go to the ER. Having acid reflux --> take a TUMS and if bad telehealth visit or urgent care; having chest pain you think is a heart attack --> go to ER.
6. NOW is a great time to talk about the plan if someone needs to go to the hospital (not later when you are driving there). If it is an emergency, call 911. Otherwise, how will you get there with as little exposure to others as possible (private car with a mask on is best). The hospital will mostly like not let anyone else in the ER with the sick patient, family will have to wait outside. If the sick person is admitted, one visitor may be allowed to the patient's room. The rules are going to be different for each hospital but prepared that the whole family and especially kids are not going to be allowed to visit the admitted person. Also be prepared that if you are sick and trying to visit someone in the hospital, they will not let you in. We are also not letting sick family members/caregivers into the clinics. Please note that this does not just apply to people 60+, there are young people getting sick too, so be prepared for anyone to end up in the hospital.
7. Now is also a great time to see if your health system or doctors office is doing telehealth visits, I.e. visits over video call. If they are not, you can search online for other companies that are (restrictions have been lifted during COVID, so that you can see a doctor in another state via teleconferencing). This is a great way to see your personal doctor for non-COVID needs without putting you at risk of being exposed in the clinic. Look into it now because it may take a little troubleshooting to download the right software/app and get it set up. Younger, tech savvy people, help your less teach savvy parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles/etc.
8. If you don't have a primary care doctor, now is also a great time to research online to find one in your area that takes your insurance. You are not going to establish with them right now and you won't see them for probably 6 months, but if you have time on your hands, do the research. As soon as the covid craziness dies down, call to make an appointment. I see lots of people that come to clinic and say "I am healthy, no medical problems" - my first question is "when was the last time you saw a doctor?". For many it has been years (and I understand sometimes it is because of insurance/financial reasons, but many times it is not). If you don't look for problems, you won't find them; many of these people are overweight, have high blood pressure or cholesterol, and are prediabetic/diabetic. Take care of yourselves and that includes seeing a doctor regularly.
9. Lastly, get off the computer/phone. I am making sure I do this myself. Take time to have conversations with others in your household or over the phone with family/friends. Read a book. Do a puzzle. Write some letters/cards. Clean a closet or the entire house. Find new healthy recipes online. Have a dance party.
Stay safe and sane!!
And feel free to share.
My advice for my non-medical friends (3/19/20):
1. Stay calm. With all the news you are reading, remember that 80% of cases do not need hospitalization in this country. You are distancing yourself so that the other 20% don't overwhelm our hospitals all at once.
2. Healthcare workers need personal protective equipment (PPE). If you bought a bunch of masks (especially N95 masks), gloves, gowns, face shields, etc, please consider keeping a couple of regular masks for yourself (in case you need to go to the hospital/clinic) and donating the rest to your local hospital or urgent care, or dropping them off with a friend who you know is working in healthcare. You do not need these if you are staying home, but the doctor in the hospital needs them when intubating grandma so that s/he can stay well enough in order to intubate your friend's grandma in 3 weeks.
3. If you are hearing stories about chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine working for COVID, please don't go asking for these and stockpiling them. If you are already on these for other conditions, make sure you have 30-90 days worth. For COVID, these are preliminary stories and small studies suggesting they may work and we will not giving them at this time to people with no symptoms or mild symptoms. Doctors may be trying them for patients with severe symptoms in the hospital, because we are going to try anything (after checking it won't do harm to that particular patient) for the really sick/near death patients.
4. If you feel symptoms (fever, cough, diarrhea, muscle aches), isolate yourself from others you are living with (stay in a separate room, use a different bathroom, use a different towel), take some tylenol and monitor yourself. Do not go to a clinic or ER for just mild symptoms. If you develop shortness of breath and it is worsening, then decide whether you need to go to the hospital (threshold will be lower for people with underlying lung/heart disease or who are immunocompromised), or be checked out at an urgent care/clinic (call them beforehand to know what their protocol is).
5. Do NOT go to the ER for anything that is not an emergency; cut your finger and won't stop bleeding, need a stitch/steristrip --> go to urgent care; cut off your finger --> go to the ER. Having acid reflux --> take a TUMS and if bad telehealth visit or urgent care; having chest pain you think is a heart attack --> go to ER.
6. NOW is a great time to talk about the plan if someone needs to go to the hospital (not later when you are driving there). If it is an emergency, call 911. Otherwise, how will you get there with as little exposure to others as possible (private car with a mask on is best). The hospital will mostly like not let anyone else in the ER with the sick patient, family will have to wait outside. If the sick person is admitted, one visitor may be allowed to the patient's room. The rules are going to be different for each hospital but prepared that the whole family and especially kids are not going to be allowed to visit the admitted person. Also be prepared that if you are sick and trying to visit someone in the hospital, they will not let you in. We are also not letting sick family members/caregivers into the clinics. Please note that this does not just apply to people 60+, there are young people getting sick too, so be prepared for anyone to end up in the hospital.
7. Now is also a great time to see if your health system or doctors office is doing telehealth visits, I.e. visits over video call. If they are not, you can search online for other companies that are (restrictions have been lifted during COVID, so that you can see a doctor in another state via teleconferencing). This is a great way to see your personal doctor for non-COVID needs without putting you at risk of being exposed in the clinic. Look into it now because it may take a little troubleshooting to download the right software/app and get it set up. Younger, tech savvy people, help your less teach savvy parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles/etc.
8. If you don't have a primary care doctor, now is also a great time to research online to find one in your area that takes your insurance. You are not going to establish with them right now and you won't see them for probably 6 months, but if you have time on your hands, do the research. As soon as the covid craziness dies down, call to make an appointment. I see lots of people that come to clinic and say "I am healthy, no medical problems" - my first question is "when was the last time you saw a doctor?". For many it has been years (and I understand sometimes it is because of insurance/financial reasons, but many times it is not). If you don't look for problems, you won't find them; many of these people are overweight, have high blood pressure or cholesterol, and are prediabetic/diabetic. Take care of yourselves and that includes seeing a doctor regularly.
9. Lastly, get off the computer/phone. I am making sure I do this myself. Take time to have conversations with others in your household or over the phone with family/friends. Read a book. Do a puzzle. Write some letters/cards. Clean a closet or the entire house. Find new healthy recipes online. Have a dance party.
Stay safe and sane!!
And feel free to share.
