Hello, everyone, this is Chris Harjes with Dependable House Buyer. I’m still buying houses, and still happy to help out with turning an unwanted or problem property into cash. But I’m also a longtime Nurse Practitioner with extensive experience in pulmonary and critical care medicine, so for now I’m going to shift gears and use my radio time and website to talk about what we can do to save lives in the impending Coronavirus pandemic. 

 

I’ve been speaking with ER and ICU doctors at local hospitals, as well as colleagues in Washington state, California and other hard hit, front-line areas.  The outlook there is grim, with exponential new cases, and a short supply of medical providers and ventilators. This will result in some extremely difficult decisions about who gets access to the scarce resources (more on this at https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/who-gets-ventilator-hospitals-facing-coronavirus-surge-are-preparing-life-n1162721 ) Current calculated death rates for US cases are high, but this is due to the very large number of infected patients who have not yet been tested.

 

Patient on mechanical ventilation in a coma.

 

This is the danger that I want to talk about today. Coronavirus is a sneaky little bastard. Typical symptoms include cough, fever and shortness of breath. But these symptoms may not show up for up to 2 weeks after infection, and may not be present at all, even in people who are highly contagious. As a result, we need to assume that everyone we come into contact with could have the disease. 

 

Stay at home if you can, or better yet get out on the trail, out in the woods, or out on the river to play, away from people. If you must be around people, even people that you know, wash hands or use hand sanitizer before and after every physical contact with a person, a doorknob, a tool, or anything else that any other person has touched. Avoid touching your face if possible. If you’re coughing, wear a mask, and if you are at all sick, avoid contact with anyone, especially older people who are especially hard-hit by the coronavirus.

 

Just as important, keep your head up, continue to love and help your family, friends and neighbors, and know that we will get through this together as a nation. God bless you all.