This evocative image was featured during the Fox music fundraiser 3/29/20. Photographer unknown. Click to enlarge.
Paul Goldfinger, MD Blogfinger.net
Monday, March 30, 2020
At Blogfinger we can’t compete with the major news sources, and despite my medical background, I would have to spend every waking hour reading the myriad of articles.
Our goal is relative brevity while tryng to gain a few insights into the Covid-19 situation. Maybe we can offer you something that you don’t already know.
And we may add some music just to cheer you up.
a. NJ.com FEMA will set up 4 temporary NJ hospitals in the coming weeks. Total N.J. cases of Covid-19 as of Nov. 27 was 8,825.
b. Planet Princeton: Gov. announced that financial institutions will provide mortgage forbearance for New Jerseyans: 90 day grace period for mortgage payments.
c. NJ.com. Distancing: The 6 foot distancing rule is for when you leave your home for a quick run to get essentials. But the benefit is lost if a group stands around and socializes while maintaining the 6 foot distance. This is from Dr. Maria Ciminelli, the president of the NJ Academy of Family Physicians.
d. NJ.com Ocean City has suspended short term rentals (ie Airbnb’s.) The same town has closed its boardwalk and beaches.
e. The Daily Signal: About Anthony Fauci, MD: In the 1980s, Fauci played a leading role in federal research efforts that helped to reverse the spread of another deadly virus, HIV, which causes the disease AIDS.
In 1984, Fauci became director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of several smaller agencies within the National Institutes of Health, and he has held that post ever since.
f Washington Post re: face masks to combat Covid-19, quotes research scientist Jeremy Howard of he University of San Francisco:
“When historians tally up the many missteps policymakers have made in response to the corona virus pandemic, the senseless and unscientific push for the general public to avoid wearing masks should be near the top. The evidence not only fails to support the push, it also contradicts it. It can take a while for official recommendations to catch up with scientific thinking.
“In this case, such delays might be deadly and economically disastrous. It’s time to make masks a key part of our fight to contain, then defeat, this pandemic.
“Masks effective at ‘flattening the curve’ can be made at home with nothing more than a T-shirt and a pair of scissors. We should all wear masks — store-bought or homemade — whenever we’re out in public.”
But this issue is not yet resolved. This is the official point of view:
On Feb. 29, the U.S. Surgeon General, Jerome M. Adams, M.D., warned Americans, via Twitter, “Stop buying masks” He emphasized that masks don’t help prevent the spread of coronavirus in the general public.
“In the U.S., where there is a severe shortage of masks and other protective equipment, health officials want to ensure that the healthcare workers who are caring for the sick and getting the most benefit from masks are able to access them.”
Some experts think that everybody should wear a mask, even a homemade one, all the time. The official ruling is that only N95 masks can protect against the Covid-19 virus.
It seems to me now that a homemade mask is likely to be useless. A surgical mask or dust mask may be slightly helpful, and the N95 will work, but they should only be worn by professionals, even if you could get one.
They are very difficult to put on correctly and to use for long without feeling like you need to tear it off and take deep breaths.
Your wife could use you in the kitchen. Stay out of everything else! Your an X-Doctor. A “was” from last century. Go to the beach!