It's calm before the storm at my hospital and I work on one of the designated units. There are definitely some things that aren't great (not enough PPRs so having to reuse). I've been impressed with how quickly the hospital has adapted to make beds available. Right now, we have a ton of rule out patients. Our critical ones are critical for other reasons and are rule out. I actually took care of a positive patient last night and she was doing good. Shes likely in the last couple of days of the "bad" window and other than minimal supplemental oxygen, she's been ok. The ones who are sick in the ICU have lengthy medical histories and have been in the ICU for other reasons.

We are predicting that the next two weeks will be the surge. I'm hoping that social distancing which was started last week will help.

It's not great, but I also know how much worse it could be. Knocking on wood it doesn't get to that point

Out of those families in the DMV who are seeing a very dire reality, can any come forward publicly?
Do you remember the Wuhan doctor who blew the whistle? It's way late in the game here, but if we still have people out there who don't believe the risk, it would help a lot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are news outlets covering this yet?

Doesn't seem so. My spouse has been coming home every night and telling me all about the deficiencies and I've been saying that I wish the media knew the details. Panic is not good but so many people are still going about life like little is wrong, so many states have done little to force social distancing...

There are interviews and posts on social media from doctors urging/begging people to stay home.

I saw some news sources looking for medical professionals to interview.

My DH physician has been mostly sitting at home and helping out with the home schooling. His hospital has no covid but is emptying and cancelling as they don't know what to expect. I wish there was a way to back fill the overworked physicians with the specialty ones whose business is now dead.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Hopkins coronavirus map shows 71 positive cases in the district and another 107 in Maryland and 105 in Virginia. Are we really overwhelmed already?

Because we can't test!! The true estimate is probably 100x times that.

Hopkins has its own test. Maryland is testing about 400 people a day, give or take at this point. And 90 percent of the tests are negative, so no, it isn’t 100x that,

Source? Or are you just making this up?

Covid tracking project web site and personal knowledge of one area hospital.

Anonymous wrote:Are news outlets covering this yet?

Doesn't seem so. My spouse has been coming home every night and telling me all about the deficiencies and I've been saying that I wish the media knew the details. Panic is not good but so many people are still going about life like little is wrong, so many states have done little to force social distancing...

Anonymous wrote:My sister is an ER and med surge nurse at a Bon Secours hospital in Richmond. She has same concerns as OP’s DH. The hospital has Covad-19 positive patients. Their protective gear got downgraded and they’re even running out of the bad stuff. They’re making their own. The hospital has stopped elective surgeries and is turning 3 entire med surge floors into ICU floors. hospital staff being forced to work over shifts. They’re told if they’ve been exposed to Covad to still come in unless they have a fever. Richmond now has 2 clusters.

It’s real and it’s happening.

Are they bringing in nurses from other departments?

DH’s hospital is changing by the day. Doctors don’t seem to have to come in because clinic and surgeries are cancelled. Staff is going in as of now. Not sure for how much longer.

I asked DH if his nurses will be reassigned and he said he wasn’t sure. His hospital is not there yet. He has medical assistants, nurses, NPs and PAs who work with him and his colleagues.

As of now, DH will be on shifts for emergencies, kind of like being on call I guess.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Hopkins coronavirus map shows 71 positive cases in the district and another 107 in Maryland and 105 in Virginia. Are we really overwhelmed already?

Because we can't test!! The true estimate is probably 100x times that.

Hopkins has its own test. Maryland is testing about 400 people a day, give or take at this point. And 90 percent of the tests are negative, so no, it isn’t 100x that,

Source? Or are you just making this up?

Do you skeptics not understand concepts like exponential growth, asymptomatic carriers, and the delay between when someone starts shedding virus and the onset of symptoms? Perhaps this analysis will help:

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

My sister is an ER and med surge nurse at a Bon Secours hospital in Richmond. She has same concerns as OP’s DH. The hospital has Covad-19 positive patients. Their protective gear got downgraded and they’re even running out of the bad stuff. They’re making their own. The hospital has stopped elective surgeries and is turning 3 entire med surge floors into ICU floors. hospital staff being forced to work over shifts. They’re told if they’ve been exposed to Covad to still come in unless they have a fever. Richmond now has 2 clusters.

It’s real and it’s happening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Hopkins coronavirus map shows 71 positive cases in the district and another 107 in Maryland and 105 in Virginia. Are we really overwhelmed already?

Because we can't test!! The true estimate is probably 100x times that.

Hopkins has its own test. Maryland is testing about 400 people a day, give or take at this point. And 90 percent of the tests are negative, so no, it isn’t 100x that,

Where do you get that number? My husband was screening patients on Tuesday and their group did 100 tests at ONE hospital alone.

Anonymous wrote:The Hopkins coronavirus map shows 71 positive cases in the district and another 107 in Maryland and 105 in Virginia. Are we really overwhelmed already?

There are a lot of sick people who haven’t yet received results of the test. We have a nurse practitioner in our family. She is stressed, exhausted, and scared. And she is a war veteran. It’s not good.

DH is a doctor in the DMV area. His department is shut down minus emergencies so DH was sent home. His hospital is still well stocked and not overrun with coronavirus patients.

He knows people at some other hospitals and there are definitely some hospitals that are out or running low on supplies. Doctors are trying to buy masks for themselves. It is scary out there.

I really really hope people understand the severity of the situation. Please stay home people to slow the spread.

Many of DH’s patients would consider their health problems an emergency but the department is shut down. I don’t know what will happen to all those people If the hospital is overrun with coronavirus patients.

Are news outlets covering this yet?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Saw an interview on MSNBC / Rachel Maddow show last night Make sure your husband is putting clothes in laundry (his clothes can be washed with families), showering etc before greeting family to prevent it from being spread to family when he gets home per expert in virology

OP here. Yes, we have been doing the following routine for the last 2 weeks:

1) Dr. spouse comes home, takes off clothes in mudroom. Clothes go into trash bag to go right into washer on hot water, only wash spouse's clothes by themselves, two washes.
2) Spouse washes hands
3) Spouse showers
4) Spouse puts on clean clothes and surgical mask
5) Spouse wears mask and stays 6 feet away from all of us
6) Spouse sleeps in own room/has own bathroom
7) Spouse goes to bed for the night at 8 pm because he's so stressed and exhausted these days

Interesting. This is what it was like living with a homicide detective for 15 years. minus the mask