Corona Virus update 3/27 (morning report)

There has been much discussion about whether N95 respirators (or better) are needed in the care of suspected or confirmed Covid-19 patients. This was caused uncertainty and anxiety among Healthcare Workers. 

This morning I reviewed the “Interim CDC guidelines and I wanted to share with you.  

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/infection-control/control-recommendations.htmlhttps://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/infection-control/control-recommendations.html

I pulled out 2 items but you should look at the guidelines in full because truth is empowering. 

Item 1:

“Mode of transmission: Early reports suggest person-to-person transmission most commonly happens during close exposure to a person infected with COVID-19, primarily via respiratory droplets produced when the infected person coughs or sneezes. Droplets can land in the mouths, noses, or eyes of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs of those within close proximity. The contribution of small respirable particles, sometimes called aerosols or droplet nuclei, to close proximity transmission is currently uncertain. However, airborne transmission from person-to-person over long distances is unlikely.”

Also, here is the results of an National Institute of Health study from March 17. 

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces

“The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours”

Item 2:

• Based on local and regional situational analysis of PPE supplies, facemasks are an acceptable alternative when the supply chain of respirators cannot meet the demand.  During this time, available respirators should be prioritized for procedures that are likely to generate respiratory aerosols, which would pose the highest exposure risk to HCP.
• Facemasks protect the wearer from splashes and sprays.
• Respirators, which filter inspired air, offer respiratory protection.
• When the supply chain is restored, facilities with a respiratory protection program should return to use of respirators for patients with known or suspected COVID-19. 

Item 3:

From a recent WNPR article 

https://www.wnpr.org/post/covid-19-forcing-connecticut-health-care-providers-ration-protective-masks

“Dr. Jim Cardon, Hartford HealthCare’s chief clinical integration officer, told reporters at a Monday news conference that the hospital network’s supply of this type of mask is  currently in “good shape,” and that there wasn’t yet a need to ration the N95s by way of re-use.

“We don't do that unless we are convinced it's safe to do so,” Cardon said. “If we have confidence that we can reuse these things with the same effectiveness as the approved use of these things, we will need to consider that, but at this time, we have not put that in our execution plan at the moment."

But John Brady, the executive vice president of AFT Connecticut, said he’s hearing different reports from hospital workers in his union.

He said some Hartford HealthCare providers are using masks according to “crisis-level” guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control -- which include wearing them for more than one visit. Others are forced to see patients who might have COVID-19 wearing surgical masks that are less protective.”

No Bandanas for me please

You’ve probably heard a lot of talk about PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for nurse and other healthcare workers in the news.

You may have never thought about it before this.

PPE is the gloves, gowns, eye protection, and respiratory protection that keeps Healthcare Workers and First Responders safe.

A lack of proper PPE, especially respiratory protection, is why so many who worked at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and afterwards have cancer today.

The COVID-19 Virus is new. The best we can tell it crossed from animals to humans only in the past few months. So much is not known, including a very important element, how it spreads. 

In particular, research on whether it is “airborne” is not conclusive. A recent study by the National Institute of Health said that it could remain airborne for up to 3 hours

Not in dispute is that droplets can travel 3-6 feet in the air. 

As a side note......Healthcare professionals usually work within 6 feet of their patients.

There are 2 major kind of masks being discussed. 

Surgical and N95 respirators or better.

The important difference is in the filtration ability and the leakage possibilities.

This chart shows the differences and this Video explains it well.

Most bedside Nurses and other Healthcare Professionals are concerned when hospitals tell the nurses that a surgical mask will be fine when treating a COVID-19 positive or suspected positive patient.

They are concerned for themselves, their families, their patients and the greater community.

You can help.

This is a link to a petition started by a friend of mine, a great nurse in Alaska.

Would you take a minute to sign it?

Healthcare workers are counting on you.

Please sign this Petition to support Healthcare Prifesionals

Healthcare workers on the frontline of the NOVID-19 pandemic

Nurses and other healthcare professionals are mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers.
They are scientists and mathematicians.
They are caregivers.
They are not soldiers (although some of them serve)

Right now, they are on the front lines of a pandemic.
The Corona Virus is spreading across the world and they are being asked to stand in front of it and stop it.
Our health depends on their success.

At the same time, many of them are being asked to fight this battle without the proper equipment.
They are frustrated, they are tired.
And they deserve our support.

Every healthcare worker caring for a CORVID-19 positive patient, or suspected positive patient, should have proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), including:
Gloves
Gown
Face shield
N95 respirator or PAPU respirator
And PPE should be disposed of or properly sterilized if possible between each patient.

Additionally, while they are caring for us, we should care for them and their families.
If any are placed into isolation, due to possible exposure, and need to stay home; or worse, if any of them become ill, their pay should continue so that their families can continue to have food and rent.

Some healthcare facilities are stepping up and doing the right thing.
Others are not, telling our healthcare hero’s that they can reuse PPE, they can wipe down N95s, (which are sophisticated masks which block most airborne viruses), and that they can use their own vacation time to cover lost time from illness or quarantine.

This is not acceptable.
It will harm our healthcare workers and increase the spread of the Corona Virus.

Please talk to your elected officials on the town, state and federal level.
Please talk to hospital board members (and the CEOs who make millions but never have to think about entering a patient room).
Please spread the word that nurses, doctors, and all healthcare professionals deserve our thanks, our praise and everything they need to fight this pandemic.

As usual, they are doing their part.
Let’s do ours and have their back.

I know my sisters and brothers on the frontline are grateful for your support.

Hearts understand in a way minds cannot

Sean Patrick Brady was taken from us too soon.

And we miss him dearly……

Dylan Thomas wrote, “Do not go gentle into that good night.”

Like all of us, Sean had his demons, and he never gave up the struggle against them, but in the end, they won. 

Now he is at peace. He need struggle no more.

The outpouring of love from those who knew Sean and his family has been incredible and we are grateful. We thank all of you who sent cards, flowers and plants, and food, visited us, called, texted, and FB messaged, and those who made donations to the local food pantry. These outpourings of love have come from all across the country and even from Europe. They have come from schoolmates, recovery friends, coworkers, people who know us from sports or school events, from church, from Labor, from politics, and beyond.

We continue to receive these gifts of love and we realize that all those who know Sean and his extended family, share our grief, because family is family, whether by genetics or love.

We share our love and support with you, because you have also experienced a loss.

As people have greeted and hugged us they often express that they don’t know what to say.

I have been telling them that it’s not what you say, it’s that you care.

I’d like to share with the passage from Lois Wilson, one of the co-founders of Al- Anon.

I read it at Sean’s Mass. It speaks to our difficulty in understanding the “why” of when someone leaves us too early.  I find comfort in it and I hope you can also.

Gazing at the sky on a bright starlit night, we are overwhelmed with wonder at the seemingly limitless universe. 

Our finite minds cannot envision its extent and complexity, much less the possibility of other universes beyond. 

Likewise our finite minds sometimes question why a loving God seems to permit apparently God-loving and virtuous people to suffer the tragedies that occasionally befall them.

But our hearts do not need logic. 

They can love and forgive and accept that which our minds cannot comprehend. 

Hearts understand in a way minds cannot.

With love……

Sean Patrick Brady

February 12, 2020

PLAINFIELD - Sean Patrick Brady was born on July 25th, 1977 to parents John and Michelle. 
Michelle quite often remarks on the arduous nature of Sean’s birth, as it spanned 
over some few 32 hours in total. Many might say he wasn’t ready to meet the world yet, but we know better. Sean was smart enough to know how cozy it was to be that close to the ones he loved. This was to become what should be considered one of his most amazing existential characteristics. 

Growing up, Sean Loved competing in sports. Baseball, soccer and basketball were his favorites, which he would go on to play in the Killingly and Moosup Little Leagues, the Plainfield and Sterling Recreation Departments, American Legion Baseball and as a student at Sterling Memorial School and Plainfield High. That love of sports was something he would continue into adult life, not just as a spectator, but as a coach to his son Michael and others, and as a competitor in Mixed Martial Arts. He was true to his New England roots and a fan of the Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots. 

Sean furthered his academics attending Eastern Connecticut State University. In Higher Education Sean became a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. 

His one love greater than sports was his family. He was proud of his Irish American and French Canadian roots. He shared a love with more aunts and uncles and cousins than can be counted. But when it came to brothers, he had only one, Thomas. As the older brother, Sean strove to support and protect his younger brother. He felt a similar responsibility toward his parents. 

In 2008 he married Paula Davis, and gained a family of his own. Sean, Paula, Michael and Zoie became a family. Sean loved being a dad. He loved playing ball with Mikey and attending school events. Being a father was his greatest joy. 

Sean also had a love for animals, especially his many cats over the years. We are sure his latest BFF (Best Feline Friend) Nushie, misses him. 

“They say Irish Eyes can smile. Sean’s deep blue eyes were a window to his soul.” 

Our Sean’s candle flame was one that raged rather than flickered. Even now, in these hours which follow his passing, his warmth can be felt against our cheeks. Even now, amidst the cacophony of emotional waves, we embrace the warmth of his memory. Even now, absorbable is the beauty that is his spirit gazing upon Us. 


Sean was a Brother. He was a Son. He was a loving Husband and adoring Father. Yet, to say that these designations could ever amass to adequately capture the True, often times cloaked, essence that was Sean, would levy an injustice to Humanity. May the entirety of his legacy and subsequent message never be forgotten... 

Sean joins his grandparents, Paul and Gloria Bessenaire and John and Shirley Brady, Uncles Wayne Bagley and Ira Nadler, and his cousin Keith Brady, in heaven. He is survived by his wife Paula Davis and children Micheal and Zoie Castillo of Plainfield; his parents John and Michelle Brady and brother Thomas Brady of Sterling, and his nephew Elijah Brady and sister-in-law Lydia Brady of Moosup; as well there are many, many close aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends of Bill.