Extending isolation can cut deaths and infections
On Wednesday the state Department of Health and Human Services reported 3,221 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 46 deaths from COVID-19. The Raleigh News & Observer, which keeps a separate count, said there are 3,321 confirmed cases with 54 deaths. Wake County has 351 total cases.
That is not good news, but there are rays of hope. Studies are showing that extending the stay-at-home and social distancing orders, even making them stricter, can substantially reduce the number of cases of the virus and the number of deaths.
A new projection from the University of Washington says that, given the measures taken by the state, about 500 people will die from COVID-19, down from the more than 2,400 they had predicted about ten days ago. That projection is based on the state extending the social distancing measures through May. Governor Roy Cooper’s current stat-at-home order will end April 29.
Also, closer to home, a forecast or a set of forecasts from individual scientists, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, NoviSci, RTI International as well as Duke and UNC, said the state could reduce the number of cases of coronavirus by 500,000 if social distancing and stay-at-home is extended through May, going from 750,000 to 250,000.
What both say is that we will be healthier – freer of the virus – and have better chances of surviving if we are infected because our hospitals will not be overwhelmed by the number of cases. Better health. Better nursing.
My husband and I take all these statistics personally as should everyone else. Fewer cases equals better chance of surviving without infection for ourselves, our family, our friends and everyone else in North Carolina.
Yesterday I sent an email to Governor Cooper urging him to extend the stay-at-home order through May or even June. You can do the same. Just google the governor of North Carolina, select email and fill in the form. What else do you have to do these days?
* * * *
Like everyone else I’ve been wondering what happened to the toilet paper. A reporter with The Washington Post went to find out, and there are three situations he found.
First, yes, some people are hoarding toilet paper. Second, we were apparently using the toilet and the toilet paper at work more than we thought, and when we started using what we had at home it ramped up demand.
Third, and this I did not know, there are two separate supply chains for toilet paper from factory to user. One is for the home toilet paper we know; the second is for the toilet paper we encounter in the public space bathrooms in grocery stores, malls, restaurants, etc. Those are those big round rolls of flimsy paper we wad up. The two do not meet, though apparently some of the commercial manufacturers are now trying to get their big rolls on grocery store shelves. They would never work on our toilet roll dispenser, the brass one with a flap over the roll.
* * * *
There have just been two large donations to help with the crisis.
First, an anonymous donor has given $100,000 to Wake County to help with the COVID-19 response. The donor, only identified as a long-time county resident, did not specify how it should be used.
Greg Ford, chairman of the county commissioner board, said it will be used to offset the costs associated with running the county’s Emergency Operations Center. As of April 3, those costs are estimated at $3.8 million.
Now in its 36th day of operations, the EOC is staffed by more than 130 county employees from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. These employees represent departments from across the county including public health, emergency management, EMS, fire services, finance, law enforcement, communications and more. Together, they are working to slow the spread of COVID-19, keep our communities safe, work collaboratively with public/private partners and respond to those affected by the virus.
The second donation was by the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation of $75,000 to Feeding the Carolinas, a network of local food banks in North Carolina. The money will be distributed to six local food banks including the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle in the Triangle and the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC which serves the Triangle area and eastern North Carolina.
#
