Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal Primetime Nurses C

CSPAN Washington Journal Primetime Nurses COVID-19 July 13, 2024

The house of representatives prepares to reconvene on friday. We would love to hear from you. Ou live begin as we always do. The numbers are courtesy of Johns Hopkins university, which has been keeping track of this pandemic since the beginning. 4. 3 million cases worldwide. The confirmed cases around the globe, 296,000. We will get to your calls across a moment. Joining us from nashville is dr. William schaffner. Preventivefessor of medicine as Vanderbilt University school of medicine. Guest good to be with you. Host i want to begin with some news for the president from the president. Andsenate Health Education Pension Committee hearing, Anthony Fauci said he had concerns about schools reopening potentially too soon. Today, the president had this reaction. Trump to make, donald trump it is not an acceptable answer. The only thing that would be acceptable is professors, teachers, etc. Of a certain age. I think they have to be careful. Because this is a disease that attacks age, that attacks health. If you have a heart problem, diabetes, if you are of a certain age, it certainly is much more dangerous. But with the Young Children and students, just take a look at the statistics. Dr. Schaffner, is the president right . Guest this is a really widely debated issue. It is correct that the Young Children and up to young adults are statistically not very affected by this virus at all for reasons that we dont understand. Now, the concern is that these children may indeed be infected, but actually be able to transmit the virus to their elders. So the concern about opening schools is, if we bring them all together, like with influenza, they will pass this virus amongst themselves and then bring it home to mom, dad, grandpa, and they will get sick. So we do not really know the role of children in spreading the virus. I think many School Systems will open. Other School Systems will be more careful. Thats been the circumstance around the globe. Some countries have had their School Systems open, others not. To go verye ought carefully, have good surveillance, and have good infection control, social distancing in the schools as possible, which is not an easy thing to do with Young Children. Asked you, have because there has been a small but growing number of cases of children with some pretty severe cases of covid19 and some severe symptoms as a result of this pandemic. Guest that is exactly correct. We did not say they were unaffected. The rates of disease are profoundly lower. There have been children who have died. And not just recently, within the lastcouple three weeks, we have discovered this new syndrome, this pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, seems to be occurring in some children who have recovered recently from the covid virus and now have this phenomenon where they get high fever, a rush, red eyes, bad abdominal pain, their Blood Pressure can drop, they may have difficulty oxygenating their lungs, and most of those children have survived, but its a frightening illness. One that completely at this point has is baffled. S baffled. Us baffled. Host have you seen this with other types of covid viruses . Guest we have not seen it with other covid viruses, but there are a host of post Infectious Disease kind of immunological and inflammatory syndromes that occur. After influenza and other respiratory illnesses, you can get this strange neurological paralytic disease. After a certain kind of intestinal infection, you could get arthritis, which is thought to have an immune component. So there are other examples of acutel sequelae to the infection. We dont know the mechanism. We dont know why. We are just starting to study this problem. Ast before we get to vaccine, we are looking at some advancements in the therapeutics and medicines. Remdesivir is one of them. Where are we in terms of the timeline to have this treatment for those coronavirus patients . Guest arent we all eager . There are over 100 studies currently underway of various therapeutic agents and combinations of agents around the world. Larger trials, smaller trials, some more rigorously designed than others. I would hope that during the course of the summer, the results of some of these trials will start coming in. We already had, the results that suggest one mediumsize trial, well done, that hospitalizations can be reduced, and there is a trend to better survival. More work is underway, but that gives us a glimmer of hope that we are on the right track. Preventative step, vanity quoted in this fair piece, indicating 80 of americans if 80 of americans for face masks, covid19 infections would plummet. By how far . Guest we dont know that exactly, but think about it. This virus is transmitted primarily through close, personal and directions. When we get within three to six feet of others usually for a of time andriod usually indoors. That is the circumstance the virus likes a lot to get from one person to another. Masks to prevent that dissemination, and remember, i could be without symptoms and have the virus, so we all wear masks, i am helping to protect you, all of the people around me Wearing Masks help protect me, we are in this together, we can reduce the transmission of the virus. And then, of course, we add to that the sixfoot rule, now the 11th commandment, then also washing hands and hygiene. Frequently. Ought to help us, in some measure, control this virus as we open up our society. We need to do that carefully, please. Host if you are a doctor or a technician,rgency we would love to hear from you. Youre on with dr. Schaffner, in nashville, tennessee. Good evening. Caller ive got two questions that relate to each other. Why does everybody seem so afraid to contradict the president on his nonmedical opinions regarding the virus . Behavingr two, is he does he or is he that children pass the virus to teachers and pass it on to students and family members . Host thank you. Guest bear with me, because i usually avoid political commentary. I think first of all, the national leadership, we would hope, would provide is consistent, clear information. And at least in the past, people have deferred to the experts, the Public Health experts. Whether at the cdc or the National Institutes of health. I think it is important for us all to realize what we know and dont know. As i said before, we are wellrned children might be spreaders of this virus. These things are under study. At the moment, i think it is appropriate to be conservative about that. If schools are going to open up, we ought to do that very, very carefully. Host gary is next in florida. Good evening. Ask,r i would like to there is this idea with the children, and the fact that it [indiscernible] i am a grandfather. I have three grandchildren on the east coast. I am on the west coast of florida. Ve a i have tried to do some research and find out more, but since it is such anything, there is not a lot of research. Some of the scientists where i went to school, i am familiar with them, professors, my question to you is is there type of thing that the do, i think the children in the situation, the heart problems is a priority. Asthere something we can do scientists, in their own areas, that might help make things more expedient . I think a lot of people would like to hear that. Anybody that you can confer with in the near future and come back to this program and let the public know how we are progressing with the. That is my first question. My second question is host we will get a response. Thanks for your call. We will go to dr. Schaffner for reaction. I congratulate your daughter on her pregnancy. That is very exciting. That is wonderful. There are concerns about people who have, whether they are children or adults, with chronic, underlying illnesses. Because we know that whatever age they are, if they get infected with coronavirus, they are more likely to get sick on the more serious end of the spectrum. The thing we can do now is try to protect them by shielding them from prolonged contact with other people. And that is why the shelter at home admonition, the recommendation is still very important. Aroundn Wearing Masks them is also very important. In the meantime, the research is going on to try to develop a vaccine, because if we could have a vaccine, then we could and thenhe population begin to control this covid virus, and obviously, we would be all vaccinated around that child with Heart Disease and we could prevent her infection and vaccinate her also. From ae have gone handful of cases in the course of 4. 5 months to 1. 4 million cases in the world alone. We are leading the world in covid19 patients. Do those numbers surprising . Guest they do and they dont. They do surprise me, because these numbers are real, they come home. They dont in the sense that we quickly discovered that this was a remarkably transmissible virus. It was remarkably contagious. Each person that got infected 3 othery infected 2 or people. If you do the math, all of a sudden, that just explodes around the world, because each new person who was infected 2ves the virus to 2 or 3 or 3 others. That is a formula for an explosion of infections. With the amount of travel, this virus has now reached every continent in the world, with the possible exception of antarctica. It is out there spreading. I make the point that it is still with us. We have tried to flatten the curve and reduce the frequency of transmission, but this virus is going to be with us in the foreseeable future. We are going to have to go to a new normal to try to cope with the next not just months, but probably couple of years. This will be tough for all of us. Host dr. Schaffner, he is a professor of preventative medicine and Infectious Diseases. Hr has since in will be our guest tomorrow evening governor hr heavens and governor Ava Hutchinson will be our guest tomorrow. I would like to know why the researchers cant get together and come to one conclusion about what is going on. Because some say positive things, then it the same time, it seems like they are saying negative things to sort of coincide with trump. People have kids they are concerned about, and i dont think schools should be opening up, because little kids do not understand what they need to do. And if you feel like they might bring it home to the parents, why start school . That is a nono right there. Host fax for the call. To her first point, the researchers, do you get together, do you share notes, do u share results information . Era, in the electronic scientific information, clinical about the kinds of illnesses this coronavirus produces is shared around the world with enormous speed. Ail inbox is full of information everyday. Part of the difficulty is that with something so new, we are learning things all the time. Yesterdays news might be outdated. Thatis part of the reason the messaging, the information changes. And of course, my recommendation always is to listen very national to our Public Health leaders. Host has this changed America Forever . Well, life changes, we are moving into the future, so change is a constant. This is an excel or greater of change. I am sure that many things will change. Who knows . My crystal ball suggests that actually wearing a mask during every flu season down the road might become almost as common asia,s it currently is in where it has been very common for a long time. Meeting is business going to become more common. Less business travel, because we have learned you can get together on zoom and have those meetings very productively. Teaching. A combination of virtual teaching as well as inperson teaching. Universities, great schools, high schools are going to adopt to these new technologies much faster than we would have thought otherwise. In fact, Harvard Medical School, we spoke to the dean a couple of weeks ago, announcing today classes this fall will be virtual, they will be online. They will not be in person. Host it is hard to work on your cadaver virtually, but yes, that was a feature of my first year in medical school and every other medical student. But you can do that on a computer now and learn your gross anatomy, which is of course, fundamental to being a doctor. You can probably do that almost as well online. Next from new jersey. Good evening. Hi, doctor. I have two questions. Do you know if those children who have those severe effects, do you know if they have had the seasonal flu vaccine . And then the second question is, is it possible that the coronavirus interfered with the vaccine,seasonal flu to cause the cytokine storm . Because they say that the immune system goes haywire, and i would think that that causes the inflammation of the lungs. And then the subsequent breathing difficulties. Twot because these viruses, influenza and covid, came along at the same time, there has been a lot of lessons about whether they influenced each other. I can say that at the moment, with great security, there is no virusce that influenza itself for the vaccine had any influence on covid. Covid seems to be an entirely and it seems to be able to produce this, as far as we know now remember it is very early this pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome all on its own. But hold take. Tight. When we get together in six weeks or six months, we may have new information about this. Host will go to william next from overland park, kansas. Welcome to the program. Caller good evening, dr. Schaffner. I have one main question. Witnessed a few cases of people having serious medical complications that would not have happened had they seen their doctor or had they not been afraid to go to the hospital. Host what is your background, by the way . Caller physical therapist. I have been working in home health and now i am in a hospital in a rural town. We have only had one case here. But they do have a ward blocked off. To reduce the size of the treatment facility. Guest thank you very much for your question. Thank you for working in health care and doing what you do to help rehabilitate people from illness. That is very important. I share your concern. It is one of the reasons, clearly, beyond the social, cultural, and financial reasons, that we need to open things up again. People have been very reluctant to go see their health care practitioners. I had a little bit of medical care, just routine, through telemedicine. It is not quite the same thing, and as my cardiologist sai d, i dont have a problem, but vias hard to do an ekg telemedicine. Good thing you dont need one right now, dr. Schaffner. People have been reluctant to come in, and there have been progressions of illness that have become more acute because of that. Here is another twist moms and dads are reluctant to bring their newborn babies, their infants, into the pediatrician and Family Doctors for their routine baby shots, their vaccines, and now we are beginning to get concerned that more and more, these babies are kind of growing up month by month susceptible, and now we are afraid that another outbreak of measles or Something Like that could occur among these newborns who should be getting their shots. So we are going to have to try to normalize that just as quickly as we can. We want people to get medical care who need it. We dont want people to hang home because of fear of covid. Host in laymans terms, how do you study the spread of Infectious Diseases . What do you look for, what are your questions, and how do you find the answers . Guest we study infectious me make it let simple two levels, one is a Public Health level. How does it move through communities . Where is it located . What populations is it likely to affect . So we can track the disease and try to intervene to prevent the infection. The other level, of course, is the clinical level. We get down to individual patients. How was that patient presenting . What is their chief complaint . How did they first get sick . How much favor do they have . Where do they have pain . What is the clinical picture of the virus so we can make that diagnoses as quickly as possible. We function basically on both of those levels. And they interact. They relate to each other. Host this virus has some very , not only thems very high fever, but a fever 36 will last often days. Some have lucid dreams, lose their sense of taste. Why is that . Guest we dont know the answer to all those questions. To turn the coin over, older people can present with this infection and not have fever. Initially, we thought fever was present in every patient. Now we have learned that is not the case. We know that this is principally a chest infection, that is how it usually starts. Some patients process with abdominal pain. As patients get sicker, the pneumonia, which is part of the bodys inflammatory response, has become better defined. So we keep learning more about this infection, the spectrum of illness it can produce, and i have to tell you, steve, the more we learn about the diversity of illnesses and presentations that are related to this virus, the nastier this virus seems. It is a bad virus. On top of that, of course, it is very contagious. Host joe is joining us from ohio. Good evening, joe. Caller glad to speak with you, doctor. My first question is, the problem they are having with the Young Children, is that a virus, or is that a bacteria . Guest joe, the problem with Young Children is pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome. What a big name. It is a consequence of this covid19 virus. There dont seem to be any bacteria involved, but we dont exactly know how it is this virus causes this illness. We have just started to examine and research that. Next is steve joining us from minnesota. Our last call for this segment. I know the n95 masks are the gold standard. Do paper masks all compare . Mask works in two ways. It prevents something outside getting intimate, and it also me, and it alsoo prevents anything i might have getting out to you. The simple cloth and surgical masks that are worn work principally to prevent me giving you anything. They provide modest protection going the other way. The main reason we are wearing these masks, the cloth masks and , issurgical masks now because we know many people with this covid virus infection can be wi

© 2025 Vimarsana