Slight Increase In Covid-19 Patients at SC Hospital [PODCAST]

CentraCare spokesman Dr. George Morris joined me on WJON today.  He indicated that St. Cloud Hospital is seeing a slight increase in positive Covid-19 patients that need hospitalization and they now have Covid-19 patients in the ICU.  Last week Dr. Morris told me that as of Wednesday last week they had no Covid-19 patients in the ICU but that has changed this week.

Dr. Morris says Covid-19 deaths rates range anywhere from 10 to 40 times worse than  influenza.  Morris says the drug Remdesiveer is helping Covid-19 patients in St. Cloud with the respiratory effects of the virus.  He says this drug can reduce the need for ventilators for some patients.  He says the virus is affecting more than just the lungs but evidence is now showing that Covid-19 is effecting other parts of the body including the digestive systems.

The St. Cloud City Council voted for a mandatory masking policy in public places starting immediately on Monday. Dr. Morris says this should help limit the spread of the virus.  He is a proponent of the mandatory mask policy and says there is little down side to wearing them.  Morris suggests people should launder cloth masks every day to reduce bacteria.  He acknowledges that masks can be bothersome and annoying but the benefit is there.

Progress continues to be made in pursuit of a vaccine for Covid-19.  Dr. Morris says estimates for distribution of the vaccine once it has passed all the necessary tests will be 6 to 18 months.  Dr. Morris says even with a vaccine we will see that masks will become more prevalent in our society.