Health officials from Kaiser Permanente and John Muir Health medical facilities said Sunday their four hospitals are ready for a surge of COVID-19 coronavirus patients, and in fact expect an “accelerated spread” of cases in the coming weeks.
To help ensure there are enough beds and enough staff to handle the anticipated surge, executives from both Kaiser and John Muir said during an hour-long telephone news conference Sunday that, starting Monday, there
will be a moratorium of at least two weeks on elective surgeries at their four East Bay hospitals. They also implored people with only mild symptoms of what could be coronavirus not to inundate emergency rooms, but to instead call their primary-care doctors first.
“We prefer that people with mild-to-moderate symptoms to not go to the emergency room — we don’t have that capacity,” said Dr. Russell Rodriguez, medical director of John Muir Health’s emergency departments.
Rodriguez and Marty Ardron, Kaiser’s senior vice president and area manager of health giant’s Diablo Service Area covering east and central Contra Costa County and the Tri-Valley area of Alameda County, both said
their medical teams have been performing drills to be ready for a patient surge.
“We’re confident we can handle the load of treating these patients … while keeping doctors and patients safe,” Ardron said.
Both Ardron and Rodriguez, as well as health officials from Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, said there are enough COVID-19 tests available for patients who are showing serious symptoms – fever, cough, breathing problems – that are hallmarks of coronavirus. And they’re glad to have them, as they all said they expect a surge of patients in the next several weeks – even if 85 percent of confirmed cases are considered “mild.”
In Contra Costa County, as of Sunday afternoon, there have been 29 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Dr. Rohan Radhakrishna, Contra Costa’s deputy health officer, said more than half of those appear to have contracted it
through “community spread,” from unknown sources and not from known ones like a cruise ship or from one’s spouse.
He and others at Sunday’s news conference stressed that the primary battle for most people is not to keep from getting sick, but to not infect the vulnerable populations – people over age 65, those with underlying
medical conditions, or both – with the virus that may cause only mild symptoms in younger, healthier folks. To that end, Pan said, there likely will soon be stricter guidelines governing person-to-person contact in long-term-care facilities.
It’s a balance, Pan said, maintaining the proper distance between people to minimize virus transmission and still enabling provision of essential services.
Radhakrishna applauded the closure of almost all East Bay public schools starting this coming week, but said the next step must be for those kids not to mix with seniors, or with other kids, for that matter.
But he said these seemingly drastic steps are necessary, and the sooner the better.
“We wouldn’t ask for them if it wasn’t crucial,” Radhakrishna said.
The pods are almost all exactly the same. Inf act the FLU has worse symptoms than Covid if you go by John Muir cheat sheet. I am furious. I went to the Dr. when I was sick and they checked me out for something completely different. I take care of my parents so its too late. If I had it, they are probably bound to get it. The lack of effective response to this is just a DEATH WALK. Thanks Trump!!
You’re just like all the other liberals out there trying to blame the president for something that he didn’t do. Give us a break!
President Trump had nothing to do with this and his response has been right on the money the whole way. He does not have control over how local facilities are handling this. If you’re feeling better, it’s unlikely you have that new virus. A lot of people are just panicking and as soon as they get a cough, they think they have it. Sounds like you had what I have. A really bad cold or the flu. Remember, this is spring time. Allergy season for one!
So you don’t think the medical professionals know what they are doing? They suspected you have the virus, they would’ve done the test for it. Well, I hope you’re feeling better and your parents don’t get sick also.
Exactly what could the City, County, State or Federal Governments have done to prevent YOU from possibly infecting YOUR parents?
The decision to continue to tend to your parents after you knew you were possibly infected with influenza, coronavirus or the common cold is on YOU, not the government. You made that decision all on your own.