Articles Posted in Covid- 19

Currently the efforts to distribute the Covid-19 vaccine in Georgia are being hampered by adverse weather conditions.

First doses have been administered across the state. However, persons who are waiting for their second dose could face a longer wait time than expected as the weather hampers the transportation of vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna.  Even without the disruption brought on by the weather, the vaccine roll out in Georgia has been slow. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most states are doing a better job of distributing the vaccines compared to Georgia. In fact, Georgia ranks an abysmal 46^th in the list of states based on the speed of getting the vaccine out to residents quickly. Improvements are being made by the administration, so that more people, especially critical groups like health care workers, persons over 65, nursing home residents and their caregivers receive their doses quickly.

The Fulton County region has received the highest number of vaccines to date with more than 252,000 vaccines delivered to date.  Fulton is followed by Cobb County with more than 114,000 vaccines and DeKalb County with more than 104,000 doses distributed to date. The Gwinnett County area has had a little over 72,000 doses distributed. There also seem to be demographic differences in the distribution of the vaccines.  Blacks, who represent a third of the population, make up only 11 percent of the recipients of the vaccine to-date.

Psychologists are warning that thousands of Covid-19 survivors might find themselves struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder after recovery.

Psychologists believe that the mental health risks arising from the pandemic have not been addressed, and are likely to take a very significant toll on the survivors in the months following their recovery. Being hospitalized for any illness is a terrifying experience.  However, researchers say that being hospitalized for Covid-19 is a uniquely terrifying experience.

Because Covid-19 is a highly infectious disease, patients have been unable to have contact with family members for emotional support during a hospitalization or at-home quarantine.  Social connections help loved ones overcome traumatic events.  Covid-19 hospitalization often involves a complete lack of contact with family members, adding to the patient’s sense of helplessness and exacerbating his/her mental health issues.

Thanks to occupying a household with social twenty-somethings with less than rigid quarantine habits, we have had two exposures to COVID-19, but we all just tested negative.  My family consists of my husband and I (we are both 56) and our two adult sons (21 and 24).  Our quarantine is only as good as the least quarantined member.  My youngest son has friends over (some of whom work in bars) and they socialize outside with no masks or social distancing.  We, as a family, have now twice been exposed to a houseguest who tested positive but was asymptomatic.  Today, three of us just received a negative rapid COVID-19 test.  The youngest family member will test tomorrow because he takes the LSAT today (yea!).

What does exposure to asymptomatic but COVID-19 positive individuals tells us about the benefits of more or less quarantine?  The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends testing of asymptomatic individuals with recent exposure to known SARS-COV-2  (or COVID-19).   However, the CDC also says that early testing after exposure may miss many infections and therefore a quarantine is still warranted.  Serial testing over many points in time may be more likely to detect infection.  But practically speaking, we found that testing was problematic.  On a prior exposure, my older son experienced delays in tele-medicine appointments, limited availability of testing sites, long delays/lines at testing centers, and seven days later he still does not have his test results.  Today, we went to a private facility and used our family health insurance at a delay of two and one-half hours, but we all have test results in hand.  I might add that we had a familial connection to the medical provider which enhanced this experience.

If testing does not always give us adequate information on our own levels of quarantine, what does the national data show?  Nationally, the overall percentage of specimens testing positive for SARS-COV-2 decreased from week 26 (9.2%0 to week 27 (8.8%) nationally but increased in five regions.  Increases were reported in New York/New Jersey/Puerto Rico, the Southeast, the Midwest, South Central and Central regions.  The overall cumulative hospitalization rate is 107.2 per 100,000 with the highest rates in persons 65 years or older.  Death rates decreased nationally from 6.9% to 5.5%, representing the 11^th consecutive week with a declining percentage rate.