We are 39 days since our first confirmed Covid positive case in Connecticut.
45, 841 have been tested
13, 989 have tested positive
1779 are currently hospitalized, up 19 from yesterday
671 have died, up 23
We had a call with the Governor’s office and DPH today. A N95 decontamination system will be set up at Yale. N95s will be transported by the National Guard and will be returned to the original user. We are pushing for an accurate, updated inventory of each hospital/system on all PPE. We are told they are working on it. We expressed your anxiety and frustrations, some of which could be somewhat eased with nothing more than information.
A couple of things I need you to report back to me on as the state wants details so they can correct bad actors:
- Any deviation from the use of N95s for he care of Covid positive or suspected patients,so called “rule out or PUI.”
- Any issues with getting housing for those who might not want to go home at the end of the shift.
- If you are out due to Covid, are you on Paid Administrative Leave, are your medical bills being covered by the hospital?
- Any retaliation or threat of retaliation for speaking out, for wearing protective PPE, for anything.
I need details on the hospital and date and anything else that might help. You may remain anonymous if you wish.
We are slowly making progress, because we are standing up for ourselves and our members to keep each other safe.
We will be having these calls twice a week during the pandemic, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
This is a new CDC study. It shows aerosol spread of the Corona Virus and spread on the shoes of caregivers.
Aerosol and Surface Distribution of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Hospital Wards, Wuhan, China, 2020
These are excepts from the article:
We further assessed the risk for aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2. First, we collected air in the isolation ward of the ICU (12 air supplies and 16 air discharges per hour) and GW (8 air supplies and 12 air discharges per hour) and obtained positive test results for 35% (14 samples positive/40 samples tested) of ICU samples and 12.5% (2/16) of GW samples. Air outlet swab samples also yielded positive test results, with positive rates of 66.7% (8/12) for ICUs and 8.3% (1/12) for GWs. These results confirm that SARS-CoV-2 aerosol exposure poses risks.
Furthermore, we found that rates of positivity differed by air sampling site, which reflects the distribution of virus-laden aerosols in the wards (Figure 2, panel A). Sampling sites were located near the air outlets (site 1), in patients’ rooms (site 2), and (site 3). SARS-CoV-2 aerosol was detected at all 3 sampling sites; rates of positivity were 35.7% (5/14) near air outlets, 44.4% (8/18) in patients’ rooms, and 12.5% (1/8) in the doctors’ office area. These findings indicate that virus-laden aerosols were mainly concentrated near and downstream from the patients. However, exposure risk was also present in the upstream area; on the basis of the positive detection result from site 3, the maximum transmission distance of SARS-CoV-2 aerosol might be 4 m. According to the aerosol monitoring results, we divided ICU workplaces into high-risk and low-risk areas (Figure 2, panel B). The high-risk area was the patient care and treatment area, where rate of positivity was 40.6% (13/32). The low-risk area was the doctors’ office area, where rate of positivity was 12.5% (1/8).
Furthermore, half of the samples from the soles of the ICU medical staff shoes tested positive. Therefore, the soles of medical staff shoes might function as carriers. The 3 weak positive results from the floor of dressing room 4 might also arise from these carriers. We highly recommend that persons disinfect shoe soles before walking out of wards containing COVID-19 patients.
This study led to 3 conclusions. First, SARS-CoV-2 was widely distributed in the air and on object surfaces in both the ICU and GW, implying a potentially high infection risk for medical staff and other close contacts. Second, the environmental contamination was greater in the ICU than in the GW; thus, stricter protective measures should be taken by medical staff working in the ICU. Third, the SARS-CoV-2 aerosol distribution characteristics in the GW indicate that the transmission distance of SARS-CoV-2 might be 4 m.
A few of us are in these new commercials which have begun running on TV. All the people in the ads are AFT Healthcare Members.
Below are 30 second and 15 second versions of the ad:
Please take care of yourselves.
John
Follow this link for the newest info from AFT Connecticut http://aftct.org/sector/795Follow this link for free counseling services for AFT members https://www.aft.org/benefits/trauma
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