Medical professionals and the Governor took on some of the public’s biggest questions Monday night about what we now know about COVID-19 just over two weeks since the state’s first reported case.
The President has touted the potential of existing medications for COVID treatment, but Our Lady of the Lake Infectious Disease specialist Dr. Catherine O’Neal says they need further testing and those rumored treatments are currently in use for patients with rheumatological diseases.
“We have also seen some drug shortages and there are people in this country who need those medications to control their disease so we are trying to use these medications as part of a clinical trial so we can use them in a systematic fashion and know whether or not they really work,” says O’Neal.
Louisiana Office of Public Health Assistant Secretary Alex Billioux says the state’s rate of case increase is remarkably high, and even with the containment measures that may not change in the next few days.
“We won’t know really for another week or so whether the measure that we can all take and should be taking now will have the desired effect of reducing the spread of coronavirus,” says Billioux.
The state’s significant uptick in cases likely portends an increase in hospitalizations. Governor Edwards says finding enough personal protective equipment for healthcare workers is important, but there is a shortage.
“We are not alone, but we don’t have all the PPE that we want whether it’s the N95s, the gloves, the face shields, you name it,” says Edwards.
If you’re showing COVID-19 symptoms you will likely be ordered to self-quarantine for 14 days, but O’Neal says new research has some good news for those infected.
“There is a new study out of Germany that says after about day eight of your illness you are really not infectious at all. We can find the virus if we use highly scientific techniques, but you are probably not infectious anymore,” says O’Neal.
Comments