Category Archives: 2019-nCoV

TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS TIP: MATH AND NUMBERS

By DocJess | Published March 27, 2020

Yesterday, the United States crossed the Rubicon and had the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world.

People are freaking out. They are panicking.

BUT Continue Reading...

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TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS TIP: EAT THE FROG

By DocJess | Published March 24, 2020

EEWWW — and no, not exactly….

I had never heard the expression “Eat the Frog” until a few weeks ago. It was advice offered to me when I was somewhat emotionally paralyzed by looking at the numbers coming out of Italy, knowing they were coming here, and my inability to “find Waldo” (and I’ll circle back to that, it’s not what you think….)

The idea is that a frog is slimy and yucky and you don’t want to eat a frog. But if you eat a frog, everything else is easy. Therefore, find YOUR “frog” and the rest of the day will be easy. So — today, when you read this, do ONE THING that you don’t want to do. Maybe fill out the Census, or find your forms for filing taxes, or clean your toilet, or tackle that piece from your work project that you’ve been putting off. Just ONE THING. Continue Reading...

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TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS TIP: TELL A STORY

By DocJess | Published March 21, 2020

A lot of history gets lost because no one writes it down…I was brought up by a mother who was a librarian and worked on many oral history projects — capturing the voices and stories of the generation before hers.

Yes, we have technology now, and use can use that for oral history, too. Or you can write a story. Maybe tell a story to your kids. Perhaps capture some stories from those we will lose.

I’ll tell a story – and I hope you will tell a story either in the comments, or on your feed…maybe we can start a trend! Continue Reading...

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Notes from your Doctor: Good News on 2019-nCoV

By DocJess | Published February 4, 2020

In tracking the numbers of the epidemic, there is some good news flying under the radar. While the number of infections is increasing, and could potentially increase exponentially in the next couple weeks, the number of recovered patients, and the rate of increase of recovery is much quicker than the increase in the number of patient deaths.

These numbers are order of magnitude, since they change at least hourly. But in a broad stroke, the number of worldwide infections went up from about 15,000 on Sunday to about 20,000 on Tuesday (ET, China is a day ahead) with 13% in serious condition.  Deaths over the same period increased from about 360 to 425 (20% increase), while recoveries increased from about 450 to about 725 (60% increase).

This, combined with the number of infections outside of China that are mild or asymptomatic lead to two conclusions: yes, it’s spreading and community based transmission is likely, BUT it’s likely that it will end up with a mortality rate of under 0.5%. In simple terms, this means while the probability of infection is increasing, the chances of the disease being survivable and potentially mild is also increasing.

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Notes from your Doctor: nCoV Update 2_2_20

By DocJess | Published February 2, 2020

There are now more than 100,000 suspected cases of nCoV worldwide, the majority in China, but the number of confirmed cases is less than 20,000. The count of confirmed cases, deaths and recoveries is updated hourly by the folks at Johns Hopkins at this link.

There are a lot of medical and public health concerns, but there are also political and economic affects that will impact all of us whether or not we ever come in contact with 2019-nCoV.

But first…since my first post on this a week ago, I’ve heard from people who are starting to panic. Now is NOT time to panic. It’s time to be smart, to ignore the falsehoods about this illness, and to follow standard infection controls that you should be following anyway….when it’s time to panic, I’ll let you know. So, NO this is not a bioweapon, and NO you can’t get it from drinking Corona beer, and NO there is no specific treatment made from saline solutions. You can check the list of all the fake news on 2019-nCov here. Continue Reading...

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