CentraCare Seeing a Decrease in Covid-19 Patients [PODCAST]

CentraCare Spokesman Dr. George Morris joined me on WJON today. He says St. Cloud Hospital still has Covid-19 patients in their hospital and ICU but that number has decreased from the week before.  He says with the numbers decreasing in the state and the tri-county area that has also shown in their numbers.  Listen to our conversation below.

We talked about ventilators and why so many people who end up on ventilators die despite using them. He says when people get to the point when a ventilator is needed they already have so much lung damage.  Morris says he isn't sure the lung damage that recovered patients have after having Covid-19 is permanent because we just haven't had enough time with the virus to know for sure.

Dr. Morris talked about masking the importance of wearing them to reduce the spread of the virus.  He says wearing a mask helps those around them from getting the virus and it doesn't protect the person wearing the mask.  He says the N95 medical masks that are worn by health care workers aren't readily available to the general public.  He says the N95 masks protect the mask wearer but the those cloth masks only protect those that come in contact with them.  Dr. Morris says wearing masks outside without proximity to others isn't necessary.  He says wearing masks inside within close proximity to people or outside with groups is recommended.

Even though the St. Cloud area has seen a decrease in the amount of confirmed Covid-19 cases Dr. Morris says they are monitoring states who have seen increases in cases.