Marianne and Charlie discuss some of the challenges facing us as we battle the coronavirus. Charlie lives in New York City so has experienced the devastating impacts first-hand.
Marianne shares her experiences in disaster preparation and response, and retaining focus on patient care – especially palliative care and end of life – in the midst of disasters such as the Hurricane Katrina aftermath.
Marianne and Charlie also discuss issues facing providers such as shortages of protective equipment for medical teams.
Note that while Marianne talks about the inadequacy of cloth facemasks, she is referring to their inability to block the airborne particles, which is a major concern for medical caregivers who spend their entire day in close proximity to people who are sick.
The CDC is now recommending the general population to wear facemasks to help prevent those that have the coronavirus (but still feel fine) from unknowingly spreading it to others as they go about their normal day. Countries that naturally do this (or have been forced to wear masks when in public) have seen much lower transmission rates than we are seeing in the USA.
Want to make your own cloth facemask? CDC has guides on several different kinds. Click here to see all of the designs, including two no-sew ones.
