Your Coronavirus Questions, Answered

Speaker 1: 00:00 San Diego County health officials have confirmed a third death in our area related to the Corona virus. This time it was an 87 year old woman, chief medical officer. Nick [inaudible] says, we're in the eye of the storm. Speaker 2: 00:15 It is clear in the context of what is going on that we now have what I would call substantial transmission occurring here in our County. Speaker 1: 00:25 The good news officials say right now they aren't worried about running out of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and that they're not worried about hospitals reaching capacity anytime soon. Hi, I'm Kenzie Morlan and it's Friday, March 27th you're listening to San Diego news matters. KPBS is daily podcast bringing you the local news you need Speaker 3: 01:03 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 01:04 most of us Californians are sheltering in place trying to do our part to keep the coronavirus from spreading, but for the Navy and Marines, it's tricky. They're trying to balance social distancing with military readiness. KPBS military reporter Steve Walsh says the results can seem inconsistent. Speaker 2: 01:24 The Navy continues to announce more restrictions for basis around the country to stop the spread of COBIT 19 even so unlike so many businesses in Southern California parking lots at Naval station San Diego were still full the day the hospital ship us NS mercy department. Speaker 4: 01:41 Okay me with the family, mine law's parents and our son Speaker 2: 01:46 Julio Quintana was among a handful of family members who were still allowed to go on the dock to watch their loved ones leave for LA where the ship and its crew will back up local hospitals strained by the virus. You always have worries and concerns regardless when family, Speaker 4: 02:00 but you know all in God's hands, man. So man, you know, greatest Navy in the world, Speaker 2: 02:07 the military is response to that. The pandemic can seem uneven at times. The Navy has suspended most recreational activities and events. The commissaries are still open, but they are allowing people in just a few at a time. Barbershops are shut down. However, thousands of Marines are continuing to train in Yuma, Arizona despite at least one Marine at the base. They're testing positive exercises like [inaudible]. This one filmed last year are deemed essential in are still going on. What do you want to shoot off there? So if you don't know, show him where it is cause he hasn't fought it. The Marines means at camp Pendleton are still conducting exercises with the Airwing yet nearby Marine air station Miramar. Despite having positive tests at both bases, spokesperson say the bases are isolating. Those who test positive and quarantining. Everyone they came into close contact with some morning formations are while others are still going ahead. This even though governor Gavin Newsome ordered Californians to stay at home, we direct a statewide order for people to stay at home and we are confident that the people of the state of California will abide by it. They'll do the right thing. The Navy Marines are telling nonessential personnel to work from home, but it's up to local commanders to determine who is essential. Says the head of the Navy, Michael Gilday in a Pentagon briefing. Speaker 5: 03:27 We really do trust the judgment of our commanders and so we're giving them a broad authorities to do what they think they need to do to remain on mission. And take care of people Speaker 2: 03:37 while the Navy encourages basis to listen to local authorities. It also put out guidance that makes it clear the Navy isn't required to follow these orders nor are federal contractors like NASSCO or shipbuilder in San Diego where the parking lots remained. Justice packed at the same briefing acting secretary of the Navy, Thomas mildly acknowledged that not every commander may be getting the message. Speaker 5: 04:00 Everyone's taking this pretty seriously, so we are hearing about some anomalies and we're trying to address those, but generally speaking we are leaving those decisions to the commander. Speaker 2: 04:08 The situation is rapidly evolving. 15 days after it left Vietnam, a country that already had a handful of cases, three sailors aboard the San Diego based aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt tested positive. The first case is aboard Navy ships that maybe hasn't determined whether the virus came from the port visit or possibly from one of the aircraft that arrived. Virtually all port visits have now been suspended for the roughly 100 ships deployed at sea. The Roosevelt has been sent to Guam. Every one of the 5,000 sailors is now being tested for the virus. Though the vast majority of ships don't have Corona virus testing kits before the mercy departed for LA, the head of the Navy medicine West rear Admiral Timothy Webber was asked why more sailors haven't been tested? Speaker 6: 04:53 Because Navy medicine, military medicine, uh, follow CDC guidelines and CDC guidelines don't say a test. Everyone. Speaker 2: 05:01 New numbers show the Navy and Marines have the highest infection rates among the services. New restrictions are expected. Steve Walsh KPBS news. Speaker 1: 05:10 That story was produced by the American Homefront project. That's a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and vets funding comes from the corporation for public broadcasting. So what's it like to be a medical student during the Corona virus? Lots of med students in San Diego are finding their education on hold amid the pandemic. UC San Diego school of medicine has halted both in person classes and clinical rotations where students interact face to face with patients. But some students aren't sitting on the sidelines. They're finding some ways to help. KPPs reporter Andrew Bowen tells us how Millie Speaker 7: 05:58 [inaudible] is helping her mother Shobe nuh so cotton surgical masks, they're not suitable for doctors or nurses. But they can be useful for sick or elderly people if they have to go to the doctor or groceries. Speaker 8: 06:09 So I'm just going to put it on and it fits pretty snug. And the good thing is that there's pipe cleaner on top, which will fit to each person's nasal. British Speaker 7: 06:21 [inaudible] is entering her fourth year of medical school at UCS D the Corona virus outbreak forced the university to stop the rotations that make up most of a student's third and fourth years of medical school. Decide, says it was the right call. Speaker 9: 06:34 We may carry the disease and spread that both to our clinical teams, to our families when we return home and also to other patients. So there was a lot of concern about are we needed in the clinical space and what's the best way for us Speaker 7: 06:49 med students without sewing machines are finding ways to pitch into. Third year medical student Armando Gayegos jr helped start a donation drive collecting personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, surgical and [inaudible] five masks, gowns, disposable Vogels and uh, and gloves. Uh, they don't have to be sterile. They can be, uh, nitrile gloves, um, to just, uh, help, uh, healthcare workers do their job as word spread. They managed to collect hundreds of pieces of equipment this week. I definitely wanted to do something as a student, a physician, uh, and try to help to combat the pandemic in any way possible. And I thought this was a definitely one of the ways we could help. Uh, our, our physicians in San Diego, Caitlin Brene is about to start her residency yet Rady children's hospital. She's been doing childcare for a physician she used to work with going on bike rides, making obstacle courses. The nine year old she's watching has been learning piano from an app. Speaker 10: 07:48 [inaudible] Speaker 9: 07:48 she's using both left and right hand. I'm thoroughly impressed and had tick tock and under a, we are the champions stuck in my head on that. Last night Speaker 7: 07:57 Brene and some other classmates helped organize an online portal to match med student volunteers with health care workers who need help with childcare, grocery runs or other errands. She says being a doctor is stressful under normal circumstances. Now it's even worse. Speaker 9: 08:13 I'm really from any level of the healthcare system, from your urgent care visit to your last line ICU. Everyone is all hands on deck right now and the kids are at home. So there's obviously that need, um, where there hasn't really been before. Speaker 7: 08:26 Other students are calling patients to prepare them for telehealth visits or helping write patient discharge orders. Brene says med students can also use what they've learned to help folks understand what's happened. Speaker 9: 08:38 Even at my stage of training, um, I'm able to provide, uh, more of an informative role to friends and family. Um, and I've really tried to, to adopt that role and um, embrace it and pass out, you know, the math, the message of why social isolation and all these things that we're doing, um, can actually a difference. Of course, Speaker 7: 08:56 med students are facing their own challenges to take [inaudible]. Speaker 9: 09:01 So I am five months pregnant and I'm big, you know, was pregnant at the beginning of this year and did not really ever expect that I would be later pregnant during a pandemic Speaker 7: 09:13 decides husband is a resident neurosurgeon given his higher risk of exposure to the Corona virus and the threat of the disease complicating their pregnancy, they decided she should move in with her parents in LA. She says that separation is tough and it's a terrifying time to be entering a career in medicine Speaker 9: 09:30 that really reaffirms our decision to go into healthcare, to serve patients that really are the most vulnerable. The scary thing I think is just how unprepared our whole system is for like things that can happen like this. It is, um, very scary that we're often not supported by like infrastructure and by larger policies Speaker 7: 09:52 where doctors are finding some support though is among their future colleagues. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news, Speaker 1: 10:06 San Diego County officials say they have enough face masks for the region's healthcare workers despite the national shortage, but even so, they've got an emergency backup plan. Kbps health reporter. Terran mento says, officials have purchased nearly 90,000 bandanas just in case supplies dwindle. The bandanas from local company planet apparel are meant to be worn over respirators or face masks. Co-owner, Heather treviño says, using the tightly woven fabric on top of face mask could make them last longer. Speaker 11: 10:40 Not to replace a face mask, but to use in coordination with face mask is really what's going to help. I feel we still got a prolonged the life lifespan of face mask. Speaker 1: 10:53 The CDC has suggested healthcare workers use bandanas as a last resort if there is a shortage of protective equipment. Planet apparel says San Diego County purchased the coverings last week for $97,000 but the county's medical operations center head, Rob sales says they don't need them just Speaker 7: 11:11 we're doing good right now, but looking out two months from now, we're making those plans in case it does happen. Speaker 1: 11:18 Planet apparel says it's polyester. Bandanas are less porous than the common cotton covering. The company is contacting other cities in the U S including Dallas, Seattle and San Francisco. Taryn mento KPBS news and that report was a joint collaboration between KPBS and I knew source, I knew source is an independently funded nonprofit partner of KPBS Speaker 10: 11:46 [inaudible]. Speaker 1: 11:46 Okay, so we've got those bandana backups and there's also a group of local dentists who are stepping up to help up more medical supplies. KPBS reporter Matt Hoffman explains, Speaker 9: 11:57 and if our health workers become infected, then we don't have any health workers to help us. So orthodontist Lindsay Pfeffer says local dentists are rallying, they just need a regular mask. And so we have those in dentistry. Orthodontists and dentists are collecting desperately needed masks, gloves, and other protective where you want to make sure that you have a new clean mask for every patient. Same with gloves. You don't want to feel limited on gloves. That is the scariest thing in the world. The donations are being gathered at the San Diego County dental society on Marina Boulevard. We are sending them out to use CSD scripts, sharp two on one. Um, and actually firefighters and police officers are people that don't have any of them. Dentists are considered essential during the Corona virus outbreak, but they're being asked only to help patients that need emergency services. Matt Hoffman, K PBS news, Speaker 10: 12:42 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 12:49 the economy is taking a hard hit right now. We're all feeling it. And one sector that's feeling the punch particularly hard is local media. Several San Diego outlets are shutting down or cutting back because of the Corona virus outbreak. San Diego magazine and San Diego home garden lifestyle magazine have stopped publication for now and have laid off. Most of their staff. San Diego reader has a message on its website saying that its business is hurting because of the outbreak. And the paper is asking for donations. And San Diego city B has stopped putting papers out until the economy improves. According to an email from its editor. Here's San Diego magazine, publisher Jim Fitzpatrick. Speaker 12: 13:31 When business comes back, uh, we'll be back and I expect to be back bigger and better than ever. You know, and this is over. I'm one of those who believes that things are going to come roaring back because there's gonna, there's so much pent up demand Speaker 1: 13:46 experts who track the business of journalism are worried that this crisis will be the death blow to many local news outlets nationwide. Speaker 1: 14:00 All right. The KPBS newsroom is doing a lot of online [inaudible] 19 coverage right now that doesn't make it on air or into the podcast. And one really useful feature that I have been using is a new blog where the newsroom answers questions that people submit through the website. So I hopped on the zoom with KPBS reporter Beth OCHA, Mondo to talk about one of the questions that she recently answered. All right, so Beth OCHA, Mondo arts and culture reporter at KPBS and host of the cinema junkie podcast. Thank you so much for talking with me. Oh, sure. Uh, the KPBS newsroom is doing a lot of online coven 19 coverage right now, including a blog where y'all are answering people's questions related to the Corona virus. Um, and I see personally a ton of questions coming in because I get every time someone uses the system that we, we have been using, which is, it's a phenomenal to see all of that engagement. But I know that there's a lot of people out there with a lot of questions. Um, you are helping answer some of those questions. And one question that came in is from Guillermo Cornado who asked his pet Corona virus the same kind as the Kovac 19 that affects humans and you researched this a bit and what did you find? Speaker 9: 15:20 Yeah, I mean, you know, pets are part of the family and they're an important concern to a lot of people. I know that it's the humans that are more important at this point in time, but people want to know some of this information. A lot of concern over pets started because there was a dog that had tested weekly positive in China for the Corona virus. And while the CDC and the who are very concerned with getting information out about humans, uh, it's like veterinary schools and places like that that are more going more in depth to find out information about what this all means for pets. So according to the college of veterinary medicine at university of Illinois on their website, um, they state that veterinarians are familiar with other Corona viruses, not the coven 19 that caused common diseases in domestic pets. So many dogs get vaccinated for canine coronavirus as puppies. Speaker 9: 16:18 So part of this concern over pets, as I said, came up when a dog in Hong Kong tested weekly positive. So the website went on to point out that the canine patient had been in close contact with an infected human who was likely shedding large quantities of the virus. So this led to the virus being in the dog's nose, Corona virus on the dog, just like there was Corona virus on the floor in the room, but the dog was not infected. Uh, and that's why a lot of concern came up about pets. And again, it was this, uh, the dog tested weekly positive but was not infected himself but had the virus on him. So, I mean it's not that we want to think of our dogs as objects, but you know, they can carry and transfer things, uh, just like a cardboard box or a, you know, can't have food or something like that. Speaker 1: 17:10 Got it. So I did see some, uh, reports on next door, so I don't know how valid they are that people were sort of freaking out early on and, um, giving their dogs up for adoption or abandoning them. Um, but then I also saw some news that, uh, the shelter saw a little bit of an uptick of people being willing to adopt dogs and foster dogs. Have you heard anything about that? Speaker 9: 17:38 I haven't seen anything about that. I know that there was like kind of a, there were a number of pets being abandoned. This was, especially, again, because this initial story initiated in China. There were pets abandoned and they were rescue places, uh, collecting the pets. So I haven't seen anything about an uptick in adoptions, but I would think that if people are isolating home alone and don't have any other, you know, physical companionship in the house with them, that taking on a pet right now is kind of a perfect way to um, stay at home and maybe not feel quite as anxious. I mean, dogs are proven to be good therapy animals. They can reduce your blood pressure, reduce stress. So, you know, at this point in time I can understand why someone might want to go out and adopt a pet. Speaker 1: 18:29 Hey, I'm not going to lie. I tried to convince my husband we have a dog, a cat, two kids, but I thought, you know what, now as you know, our, our existing dog is getting a little old and I thought now would be a great time because when else are we going to have time to train, you know, be it, be at home and do that whole potty training thing. And uh, it was a hard no. However, I'm sad to report you have two dogs, right? I have two dogs and you know, it also gives you something to do in terms of getting outside. Speaker 9: 18:58 You can go take your dog for a walk and helps get you out in the sunshine. And that's not a bad thing either. So pets are great. Speaker 1: 19:06 All right. Thank you so much. We'll leave it there. Thank you, Beth OCHA, Mondo from the KPBS newsroom. Thank you for more questions and answers like this. Go to kpbs.org/corona virus. Questions. Thanks for listening.