![]() The Food and Drug Administration, desperate for donations, just relaxed some of its existing restrictions, so that more people can step up to give blood. People with a 3-D printing hobby are also stepping up, turning out masks and face shields based on open-source designs. There are a wide range of patterns online see if a nearby hospital accepts homemade masks or connect with a group involved in distribution. Cloth masks don’t meet N95 safety standards, but providers may use them if they’re all that’s available. Like to sew? A movement to make masks for hospital workers is in full swing. You can also contribute via sites like GetUsPPE, DonatePPE, Mask-Match or the broader PPE Coalition. If you locate P.P.E., see if your local hospital or ambulance station wants it call your county medical society or public health office. Or, if you operate a business that has masks that aren’t being used now, donate supplies directly. Multiple organizations are also pitching in: the Center for Disaster Philanthropy has a Covid-19 response fund. The latter offers guidance on starting your own campaign. fund-raisers on sites like Fundly or GoFundMe. We’ve put pressure on the state, we’ve put pressure on the feds and we’re putting pressure on the community.”ĭonate to P.P.E. I can’t put my teams at risk to go into battle if they’re not well equipped. David Fleeger, a colorectal surgeon in Austin and president of the Texas Medical Association. Some providers have taken the unprecedented step of begging on social media for this equipment. The virus has exposed this country’s extreme shortage of masks, gowns and similar protection. But they are increasingly left to protect themselves as the rest of the country abandons precautions. Dangers Remain for Seniors: For older Americans, the Covid pandemic still poses significant threats.New Drug’s Long Odds: A promising new treatment quashes all Covid variants, but regulatory hurdles and a lack of funding make it unlikely to reach the United States market anytime soon.Long Covid: A large study found that Covid patients were significantly more likely to experience gastrointestinal problems a year after infection than people who were not infected.Covid’s Origins: A House subcommittee opened its first public hearing on the possible origins of the pandemic, including a lab leak theory that’s the subject of intense political and scientific debate.If you have a mild case, you’ve decreased others’ risk and can self-treat at home.īrian Hildebrand, a Staten Island paramedic, said a lot of his job now involves responding to people who are panicky, not ill. If you’re healthy, you’ve lowered your own exposure risk. ![]() In many cases, you can make an appointment via telemedicine, a technology that’s caught on rapidly since the pandemic began. Contact your family physician or a nearby urgent care clinic. Try this coronavirus self-checker from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you feel sick, don’t start with an overflowing emergency room or the strained 911 system. They are vectors who could cause premature death.”Īlso, take a breath before seeking in-person help. There are still people talking in groups, playing frisbee, standing together. Sean Morrison, a geriatric and palliative care specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. 1 plea of all health care providers and emergency workers: Maintain social distance if you go out. Now that they’re under siege, they need our help as well. Health care professionals are the helpers we turn to in times of need. They’ve watched colleagues sicken or die from it. ![]() On the job, they expose themselves and by proxy their families, to a frightening disease. They’re coping with, or prepping for, crowds of sick or anxious patients and inadequate stores of personal protective equipment (P.P.E.). You’re trying to do one person, then you turn around and hear, ‘You’ve got another code next door.’”įor many medical providers, such stress is the new norm. “There’s not enough staff to have a break and regroup it’s nonstop. These patients are coding” - or going into cardiac arrest. “These are really, really sick patients coming in, needing 10 or 11 people to work on them. Now, she’s in a Manhattan hospital’s emergency room, treating an onslaught of New Yorkers who have coronavirus, or worry that they do. She was an emergency room nurse in New York, after 9/11 and Superstorm Sandy. Lynne Hewett, a Utah nurse, flew into New York City a couple of weeks ago, to work the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
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