March 13, 2020 at 4:56 p.m.
Local organizations react to COVID-19
Health officials offer advice on ways to stay healthy
Local organizations react to COVID-19
By Stephanie Kuski-
"We are seeing an increase in COVID-19 across the nation," said Linda Conlon, Oneida County Health Department director and health officer for Oneida County.
On Friday afternoon, the Wisconsin Department of State Health Services stated the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state had risen to 19.
While there is cause for concern, many of the symptoms seen and the population affected during the common flu season are similar to this novel strain of coronavirus.
"COVID-19 is a virus that causes mild cold-like symptoms in the majority of patients, but could lead to more serious illness including pneumonia in elderly individuals and those who have chronic medical conditions," Dr. Steward Watson, Ascension vice president of clinical care, stated in a press release.
The outbreak is more widespread in metropolitan cities in Europe and Asia, however coronavirus cases in the United States have surpassed 1,000. The general threat is this area remains low.
"According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), the immediate health risk from the novel coronavirus to the general American public is low," Tom Weaver, public relations manager at Ascension Wisconsin, stated in a press release issued Wednesday.
Steps to Stay Healthy
"We really want to stress to people that the basic care you have for influenza is how you can protect yourself," Conlon said. "As far as the influenza or cold season, you're doing the same thing."
"The best ways to prevent the spread of viruses are to follow normal daily precautions," Weaver's press release stated in agreement.
"Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth; stay at home when you are sick; cover your cough or sneeze; clean and disinfect frequently; and wash your hands often, for at least 20 seconds," Conlon, and multiple other sources, said. "If there is somebody sick by you, don't go by them - you want to avoid close contact with anybody who is sick."
Conlon said that while we are all often lax in our own household prevention, she urges the public to pay extra attention: don't touch your face, wash your hands before eating or after visiting a public place and avoid common surfaces such as handrails, or be sure to wash or sanitize your hands immediately after touching those common surfaces.
"If at all possible, make sure you're carrying hand sanitizer, washing your hands and wiping off any common surfaces," Conlon said.
"We need to help younger populations learn how to protect themselves as well," Conlon continued. She recommends revisiting proper hygiene practices with younger children especially, reminding them to use hot soapy water while singing the alphabet.
It is also vital to stay home if you're sick in order to stop the spread of the disease at its source, Conlon said.
"If you develop cold-like symptoms, stay home, rest and avoid exposing others until you feel better," Watson stated in a press release. "Be sure to call your doctor if you have traveled to a country with widespread COVID-19 within the last two weeks and have symptoms of fever, cough or shortness of breath."
Ascension Medical Group also recommends utilizing their "virtual care" option, in which patients can easily access a doctor for urgent care visits without leaving home using online care from a mobile device. This is an extra measure the hospital has implemented not only to stop the spread of the disease, but to help keep their own hospital staff safe as well.
"Anyone who believes they may have had contact with someone who is confirmed to have, or is being evaluated for, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), should contact their physician," Weaver stated in a press release. "To help prevent the spread of disease, the CDC recommends that individuals call ahead before going to a doctor's office or emergency room and inform clinical staff about symptoms and any recent travel."
Populations at Increased Risk
While Watson said "everyone is encouraged to take precautions to avoid being exposed to COVID-19 - regardless of age or precondition," Conlon noted that "every virus, bacteria and disease is different in the population that is affected."
In particular, both Watson and Conlon said COVID-19 is affecting individuals over the age of 60 with underlying conditions.
"Comorbidities in older adults are more at risk for developing pneumonia and other complications," Conlon explained, so these individuals should take extra precautions to avoid exposure.
"The advice they (the CDC) just put out is that if you are 60 with underlying conditions, you should stay at home or not be around a lot of people if at all possible," Conlon continued. She said these individuals "should be prepared at home in case they have to stay home for a long time," and should stock up on basic supplies, including medication, food and water.
But while older adults with comorbidities are at greater risk due to potential medical complications, medical personnel who deal with patients potentially infected with coronavirus are also at greater risk due to their greater frequency of exposure.
"Our healthcare providers are first-line," Conlon explained. "They are at a higher risk because they are seeing sick people."
Nathan Bates, a firefighter/paramedic with the Rhinelander Fire Department, said he has seen tighter protocol implemented via the paramedic services in Rhinelander.
"Working in healthcare, it's not a matter of if you'll get sick, but when," Bates explained. "We work with sick people all day long, every day, and so it's bound to happen."
"We take standard precautions already," Bates continued. "For respiratory patients, we use masks. We're always using gloves, frequent handwashing and using hand sanitizer. We wear our safety masks with our patients depending on the type of situation we're dealing with. We're always trying to protect ourselves."
While the fire department normally has safeguards in place to protect medical personnel, Bates said they are being extra cautious during this flu season in particular.
"We're taking extra steps to minimize the exposure to us in case we get infected with the illness so that we're not passing it along to other patients who have compromised immune systems," Bates said. "We're being overcautious with any sort of respiratory patient we're working with by applying a mask to the patient and also to ourselves."
While we have yet to see major changes in our neck of the woods, there is concern that demand for medical supplies such as masks and hand sanitizer will run out due to lack of supply.
Supplies Running Out?
At Trig's in Rhinelander, disinfecting supplies are becoming a hot commodity but there are enough to last for the time being.
Kindl Furtak, director of marketing at T.A. Solberg Company, Inc., said "we're keeping an eye on the situation and we're going to react as appropriately as we can as time goes on."
Furtak said two items in particular are posing special challenges to Trig's due to increased demand at the supplier level: hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes.
"We do have more hand sanitizer coming in the pipeline, so we feel like we're going to be OK there, but the wipes are a little bit harder to come by," Furtak said. "But we're sitting pretty well on everything else."
She said Trig's will "do their best" to avoid price gouging in order to "keep fair prices."
"We are not purchasing from anyone that's doing any sort of price gouging," Furtak said. "We're working with our normal suppliers and we're not seeing any cost increases that we need to pass along at this point."
"We're really staying on top of the news and watching the situation, paying attention to what's happening and communicating with our teams on a regular basis," she continued.
At the business level, it has become critical for organizations and employers alike to implement strategies to not only combat the spread of the coronavirus but to also consider their plans ahead of time if this outbreak reaches our area.
Plans From Local Businesses
"Plans need to be in place for any kind of pandemic," Conlon urged.
At Trig's, Furtak said they are reminding employees about good personal hygiene practices and encouraging them to stay home from work if they're ill. In addition, Trig's has ramped their sanitizing stations around the store.
"We're adding more stations of cart wipes and hand sanitizer around the stores so that they're easily accessible for everyone," Furtak said. "We're making sure we're staying on top of those things that are good practice for everyday health."
Although it is critically important to stay home when sick during this flu season in particular, it is indeed difficult for some who are financially tied to their regular schedule to take off work when paid sick time isn't available.
"In the United States we have this philosophy that you must go to work by all means," Conlon explained. "'If you're sick, you can't call in,' is an attitude and a culture that we have cultivated, but in order for us to prevent the spread of illness, we need to stay home when we're sick."
For workers at Trig's, at least, Furtak said employees are encouraged to stay home if they're feeling under the weather.
"With the time of year and all of the sicknesses going around, getting sick happens from time to time and we understand that," Furtak said. "We just want everyone to stay healthy and make sure they're taking care of themselves."
Area hospitals are also taking steps to not only stop the spread of the disease, but also keep their personnel safe and healthy.
Ascension Wisconsin issued a press release stating their explicit plans to combat the spread of coronavirus.
"Each facility has an established Emergency Operations Plan with individualized plans for a number of scenarios, including pandemics," Weaver stated in that press release. "Our top priorities are the health and safety of our patients, associates and visitors. We have infection control specialists at our sites of care who work closely with the CDC and local public health authorities."
"We have strong infection control precautions and protocols in place based on current recommendations and guidelines, and our caregivers are trained in these protocols," Weaver continued. "Our infection control specialists also work closely with the CDC and local public health authorities to stay updated on any additional measures we need to consider."
In order to combat the spread of this communicable disease, Ascension Medical Group is also implementing "temporary visitor restrictions in both inpatient and outpatient settings to minimize disease transmission," Weaver stated in the release.
"(We are) restricting visitors who have flu-like symptoms and/or cough, fever, and/or shortness of breath, runny nose/nasal congestion, or sore throat," Weaver stated in the same press release. "Per guidance from the CDC, we are restricting visitors who have returned from a country within the past 14 days that the CDC has designated as Level 3 warning or Level 2 for novel coronavirus."
Weaver noted that those procedures will be updated accordingly as the CDC modifies recommended procedures. In the meantime, though, community event activities exceeding 50 people held at Ascension Wisconsin facilities have been postponed until further notice, the release states.
Travel-related Concerns
One of the many challenges surrounding coronavirus comes from the readily communicable nature of this disease, especially when it relates to travel.
"We are seeing community spread, which means person-to-person as well as travel-related," Conlon said, "so it really isn't a surprise to us to see the increases in COVID-19."
Many trips abroad and even large gatherings stateside have been postponed or cancelled due to fears coronavirus will continue to spread to unaffected areas. Although domestic travel has yet to be limited, Conlon said, the CDC has indicated countries considered Level 3, Level 2 and Level 1 for travel information.
"The caution for travel is there," Conlon said. "I caution people to not travel if they are sick and be cognizant of that, and to continue to have their personal prevention strategies even when they are traveling within the United States and to other countries that are not listed as a high-risk area."
According to the CDC, a Level 3 Travel Health Notice has been issued to countries such as China, Iran, South Korea and most of Europe. In these areas, the CDC indicates "widespread sustained (ongoing) spread" in which they "recommend travelers avoid all nonessential travel." In addition, entry of foreign nationals from destinations considered Level 3 has been suspended.
The CDC indicates Level 2 as "sustained community-level transmission," which means that "people have been infected with the virus, but how or where some of them became infected is not known, and virus transmission is ongoing." In addition, their website notes to take "special precautions for high-risk travelers," in which "older adults and people of any age with serious chronic medical conditions are at risk for severe disease."
Level 1, according to the CDC, is simply a "watch" which recommends practicing usual precautions. For updated travel information, reference the CDC's website.
Future Prospects
Although the future remains a great unknown in terms of how the coronavirus will play out for the remainder of the flu season, cancellations of large gatherings and sporting events as well as a sense of public urgency to strengthen personal hygiene policies will ultimately occur as the COVID-19 caseload increases.
Conlon noted that the extent of the measures needed to be taken in our own communities will be largely geographically dependent based on the areas seeing the most COVID-19 cases.
"At this point, we (in Wisconsin) are still very low in the number of cases we're seeing," Conlon said. "We are not recommending cancelling any mass gatherings, but we all have to be prepared to address that situation when it arises. For example, schools are preparing to find out what they are going to do if there are cancellations, since those cancellations last about two weeks."
While medical researchers are working diligently to create a vaccine to combat COVID-19, it's a guessing game as to how long that will take. In the meantime, health experts like Conlon urge the public to take extra care to stay healthy this flu season.
"If we're going to stop the spread of COVID-19, everybody's going to have to implement those strategies to stay healthy, like washing your hands, cleaning surfaces, seeking medical advice if you have symptoms and staying home when you're sick," Conlon explained. "In order for us to stop the spread, everyone needs to implement those strategies so that they're healthy."
Stephanie Kuski may be reached at stephanie @rivernewsonline.com.
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