Dr. Manny Alvarez – Kingsjester's Blog

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“Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low. We’re ready to adapt, and we’re ready to do whatever we have to.” – President Donald J. Trump

FoxNews.com reports that

The nation’s first coronavirus case of unknown origin has been confirmed in Northern California, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed Wednesday.

“It is a confirmed case. There is one in Northern California,” CDC spokesman Scott Pauley told the Sacramento Bee.

The new case brings the number of infected in the United States to 60, which includes people who’ve been repatriated to the U.S. The CDC said the person contracted the virus without traveling outside the U.S. or coming into close contact with another infected patient, The Washington Post reported.

The news comes as fear over the virus continues to spread worldwide, prompting governments to take extreme measures. President Trump said a vaccine was being developed and “coming along very well” during a Wednesday evening news conference at the White House.

He announced that he was putting Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the coronavirus task force.

“Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low,” Trump told reporters. “We’re ready to adapt, and we’re ready to do whatever we have to.”

Earlier this week, San Francisco and Orange counties both declared states of emergency in efforts to prevent further infections. Orange County leaders also publically supported a bid by Costa Mesa leaders to block infected patients from being housed in their city.

Globally, nearly 2,800 people have died from the outbreak and more than 80,000 have been sickened.

It has been interesting following the developments as this virus has spread from China to other countries including Iran and Italy.

And now, it appears that Northern California is the scene of the first “outbreak” in America.

The loss of life in these other countries has indeed been tragic.

However, so has been the politicization of the Coronavirus as another opportunity for the Democrats to blame something on President Donald J. Trump.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi put down her glass long enough to spout the following babble per Breitbart.com…

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Wednesday accused the Trump administration of responding “too late” to halt the possible spread of China’s deadly coronavirus in the United States.

“This is shameful,” Pelosi told reporters on Capitol Hill when asked about the administration sending a $2.5 billion supplemental budget request to combat the illness. “He puts forth a proposal now that is meager, anemic in terms of addressing this. Ebola, we did $5 billion. And now they’re trying to take the Ebola money and spend it here.”

“Hopefully we can make up for the loss of time…and not be using scare tactics about people coming back to our country.”

“What he’s doing is late, too late, anemic,” she added. “Hopefully, we can make up for the loss of time but we have to have professionals in place, resources that are adequate and not use scare tactics about people coming back to our country.”

The administration’s request proposes spending unused funds earmarked to fight Ebola, with officials seeking $1.25 billion in new money for vaccine development and purchasing protective equipment.

Asked for her thoughts on President Donald Trump’s comments about the coronavirus, Pelosi replied tersely: “I don’t think the President knows what he’s talking about. Once again.”

And, I think you’re drunk, Madam Speaker. But, what else is new.

Now, as an America male in my early 60s, who is in front of the public all day, a new virus strain does indeed concern me, especially since I am asthmatic, am prone to upper respiratory infections, and I tend to get very tired in the process of performing the duties of my day job.

However, I do not believe that it is time to panic…yet.

Why did the scene from the 1975 Classic Comedy “Airplane” where the passengers are “assuming crash position”, running berserk through the cabin suddenly enter my mind?

Anyway, Dr. Manny Alvarez serves as Fox News Channel’s senior managing health editor. He also serves as chairman of the department of obstetrics/gynecology and reproductive science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey.

Here are some facts and some common sense suggestions from an article which he wrote for FoxNews.com…

Let’s start with facts. What do we know so far about this virus?
It is a very contagious virus — just like any flu virus — and appears to transmit itself very similarly through direct contact with infected patients.
In otherwise healthy individuals the viral infection is tolerated and most patients recover without any significant effects.
For about 20 percent of patients who do require medical attention (such as hospitalization) with good medical treatment and support they will ultimately recover from the virus.

About two percent of patients infected with the virus will die from upper respiratory complications.

Based on the facts above, until there is a vaccine, the war to protect ourselves will need to be waged by individuals and the government. We’ll need to keep informed about what areas of the United States are reporting cases of coronavirus. And, everyone should always consider practicing good hygiene. That includes doing the following:

Avoid those people who are sick with the virus
Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth
Practice good hand hygiene — wash your hands with soap and warm water for at least 2 minutes
Disinfect surfaces

I read yesterday that Lysol is the recommended disinfectant to help prevent the spread of diseases like the coronavirus.

In summary, per usual, Pelosi and the Democrats have put politics over country, self-interest of Americans and our well-being. I am thankful that our President is Donald J. Trump with this uncertainty facing us. I shudder to think about how Hillary Clinton would deal with this situation, especially since she would have doubled down on Obamacare by now, leaving us and our American Health System totally screwed.

Keep yourself as protected as possible.

Gob bless us…everyone.

Until He Comes,

First and foremost, I want the American people to know that our experts, here at the CDC and across our government, agree that the chances of an Ebola outbreak here in the United States are extremely low. We’ve been taking the necessary precautions, including working with countries in West Africa to increase screening at airports so that someone with the virus doesn’t get on a plane for the United States. In the unlikely event that someone with Ebola does reach our shores, we’ve taken new measures so that we’re prepared here at home. We’re working to help flight crews identify people who are sick, and more labs across our country now have the capacity to quickly test for the virus. We’re working with hospitals to make sure that they are prepared, and to ensure that our doctors, our nurses and our medical staff are trained, are ready, and are able to deal with a possible case safely. – President Barack Hussein Obama, “Remarks by the President on the Ebola Outbreak, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, 9/16/2014

To quote Maxwell Smart, Agent 86,

Missed it by that much.

As more cases of Ebola are coming to light, here in the “Shining City on a Hill”, the question concerning the outbreak remains,

Who is in charge here?

USA Today reports that

As Thomas Eric Duncan’s family mourns the USA’s first Ebola death in Dallas, one question reverberates over a series of apparent missteps in the case: Who is in charge of the response to Ebola?

The answer seems to be — there really isn’t one person or agency. There is not a single national response.

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has emerged as the standard-bearer — and sometimes the scapegoat — on Ebola.

Public health is the purview of the states, and as the nation anticipates more Ebola cases, some experts say the way the United States handles public health is not up to the challenge.

“One of the things we have to understand is the federal, state and local public health relationships,” says Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “Public health is inherently a state issue. The state really is in charge of public health at the state and local level. It’s a constitutional issue. The CDC can’t just walk in on these cases. They have to be invited in.”

…Though the CDC is tasked with readying the nation for an Ebola outbreak, then leading the national response, the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for protecting the borders, according to Thomas Skinner, a spokesman for the CDC, which is under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The CDC collaborates with health departments and laboratories around the USA to make sure they are able to test for Ebola and respond rapidly if there is a case in their state, CDC spokeswoman Kirsten Nordlund said.

Uh huh.

Dr. Manny Alvarez, Fox News Senior Medical Editor for Health News, wrote the following:

Is the CDC in control?

I am not sure anymore. This latest case of Ebola in Texas has me wondering whether the CDC is prepared to eradicate any further contamination on U.S. soil.

CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden stated that this latest case of Ebola was due to a breach in medical protocol. This current patient is a nurse who was part of the team treating Thomas Eric Duncan, who died last week from Ebola.

As we all know, Mr. Duncan was very sick and he was in an isolation unit for more than a week.

I would have imagined that the CDC would have been all over the supervision of this patient in the hospital, making sure that all protocols were being followed properly.

So you see my conundrum. Did the CDC drop the ball? Or are we blaming this breach of protocol on hospital staff?

I have been saying that not all hospitals are created equal and have the infrastructure necessary to fully protect its staff. The infrastructure is not available in many cities in the U.S.

So the question is: How are we going to control further contamination?

The time has come to have specific centers where patients with suspected Ebola need to be monitored and treated. Hospital staff needs to be better protected.

I think that Dr. Frieden needs to evaluate whether he is qualified for this national task. I think that Dr. Frieden needs to consider whether to delegate this responsibility to the Department of Defense, because dealing with Ebola warrants a military medical approach rather than a bureaucratic political Washington approach.

Tough decisions need to be made. Dr. Frieden’s argument of not closing West Africa to commercial travel does not hold water. A better approach would be to have military flights bring supplies and volunteers to eradicate this epidemic in that continent. It would minimize the potential dangers to other communities around the planet as the world works on better treatment plans. Otherwise the Ebola war will continue for generations to come.

So, to summarize, a deadly disease, which has been contained in Africa for quite some time now, is now here in America, while 3,000 American Sons and Daughters, our Brightest and Best, have been sent by Obama to “combat it” and possibly become exposed to it.

What happens when they bring it back home with them?

Meanwhile, those tens of thousands of “unaccompanied minors” who invaded our Southern Border recently, have been spread all over America by Barack Hussein Obama.

And, as I reported before, they brought tuberculosis and other diseases with them.

The question remains,

Who is in charge here?

Until He Comes,

Kingsjester's Blog

Tag: Dr. Manny Alvarez

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