About The Forest-blade. (Swainsboro, Ga.) 1996-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 2020)
2A The Forest-Blade • ummiEmaniielConntyLive.com • Swainsboro, Georgia • April 22, 2020 Coronavirus cases... (From front page) layers of fabric, allow for unrestricted breathing, and be machine washable. • Monitor your temperature twice daily and call your personal healthcare provider if you have a temperature of 100.4 or greater. • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after you have been in a public place and after coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose. If soap and ewater are not available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and run them together until dry. • Avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. • Avoid close contact with people who are sick. • Put distance between yourself and other peo ple. • Know that some people without symptoms IA Great Place For Seniors! 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We are continuing to SEpJ follow the CDC- ■ 1 guidelines or yo' i can shop online Trust ‘Em At... j 104 West Pine St., Swainsboro GA • 237-6483 Check out our website: '.customfumitureflooring.com FURNITURE • FLOOR COVERING CO, Facebook may be able to spread the virus. • Keeping distance from others is especially important for people who are at higher risk of get ting sick. Governor Brian Kemp has been delivering daily press conferences at 4 p.m. on Georgia's coronavi rus situation, and in his address on Monday, April 19, the governor announced positive changes to the preparedness plan, along with his intent to begin reopening parts of the state's economy. He also gave an update on the shelter in place order. The governor's decisions followed President Donald Trump's lead in his address late last week when he issued guidelines for states to begin safely reopen ing the nation's economy. This will be done in three phases. The first phase of the leaders' plan is to ensure states are experiencing the "flattening of the curve," have sufficient testing methods, and are adequately prepared to care for patients. According to Governor Kemp, the Georgia Department of Health has seen a decline in emer gency room visits for flu-like illnesses, documented COVID-19 cases have flattened and appear to be declining, and the state has seen declining emer gency room visits in general. Hospital bed capacity has expanded as well, including the temporary facility at the Georgia World Congress Center. In regard to testing, the state added to its part nership with the University System of Georgia, the private sector, and public health departments by tapping Augusta University to develop a telemedicine app to screen, test, and even treat Georgians. Governor Kemp encouraged asymp tomatic and symptomatic citizens alike to use the free app to begin the screening process. To do so, visit AugustaHealth.org or download AU Health ExpressCare on your smartphone. You can also call 706-721-1852. The user-friendly interface connects patients to physicians and advanced practice pro viders from AU Health and the Medical College of Georgia 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Patients will be screened through smartphone or other like devices, and should you meet the criteria for test ing, the staff of either AU or MCG will schedule a test at a designating location near your home. Test results will be available in roughly 72 hours. Also, Augusta University is now producing test ing swabs via 3-D printers in the Dental College of Georgia's innovation lab. These same 3-D printers were used to produce face shields for healthcare workers. The lab will produce thousands of swabs daily, thereby reducing dependence on vendors and boosting testing to get Georgians back to work. Governor Kemp authorized the Georgia National Guard to administer 1,500 tests per day at various hotspots and long-term care facilities. In regard to reopening Georgia's economy, the governor, during his presser Monday afternoon, gave permission to the following businesses to reopen with conditions on Friday, April 24: gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, cosmetologists, hair designers, nail care artists, estheticians, their respective schools, and massage therapists. Governor Kemp cited these businesses' inability to manage inventory, deal with payroll, and take care of administrative items as his reasons for allowing these businesses to resume operations. However, these businesses will not reopen for "business as usual." These entities must adhere to minimum basic operations, includ ing screening workers for fever and respiratory illness, enhancing workplace sanitation, wearing masks and gloves if appropriate, separating work spaces by at least 6', teleworking when possible, and implementing staggered shifts. The governor also called for these businesses to use social dis tancing and regular sanitation. Subject to these same mandates, theaters, private social clubs, and restaurant dining rooms will be allowed to reopen on Monday, April 27. Bars, nightclubs, amusement parks, and live per formance venues will remain closed. In regard to the shelter in place order, Governor Kemp stated this directive would remain in effect until 11:59 on April 30 for most Georgians. He called for all citizens to continue following CDC guidelines by sheltering in place as often as you can, meaning limit travel and wear face masks. Medically fragile and elderly Georgians should plan to shelter in place at least through May 13. The governor closed the press conference by thanking all the heroes who have been on the front lines of this pandemic and offered words of encour agement to citizens as the fight continues. Updates on Georgia's coronavirus situation are streamed live from Governor Kemp's office in Atlanta every day on your local news channels and on Facebook. Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, I am having trouble and I hope your read ers might help the most vulnerable in our com munities. I am referring to the nursing home patients in our home towns. After the tragedy at the Kirkland Nursing Home in Washington state where approx imately 47 of the 125 patients died of coro navirus, I have been researching for what I might do to help pre vent such an occur rence locally. Last week, I learned a phy sician in Texas treated the patients in a nurs ing home there with hydroxychloroquine. There are 135 patients in that facility and only one died of the corona virus. I have heard that Dr. Fauci of the National Institute of Health does not support use of hydroxychloroquine because there has only been "anecdotal" evi dence that it might help. Anecdotal refers to what has been "only observed" to occur, sim ilarly to what Sir Isaac Newton observed when he saw the apple drop from the tree and, by anecdotal evidence, determined that some thing must have caused the apple to drop to the ground. A French study as well as reports from India have supported the benefits of using hydroxychloroquine in patients with coronavi rus infections. The real difficulty for me to understand is although we all have agreed to stay inside our homes as much as possi ble these past few weeks and we have tried to wear gloves and masks when we think about it, as well as we are trying to maintain social dis tancing as encouraged, none of these have been proven by a random ized, double-blind con trol trial to actually be effective against trans mission of the coronavi rus! In other words, Dr. Fauci is having us all do these things based on anecdotal evidence and not based on scientifi cally proven trials that have demonstrated they actually prevent corona virus transmission. Please don't get me wrong, I have been recommending social distancing, hand wash ing, gloves/masks where appropriate and will continue to do so. However, we also need to provide our vulnerable nursing home patients with the prophylactic doses of hydroxychloroquine although the evidence for the medicine's effec tiveness is only anecdot al. What else do I have? Why not do this? Who can wait for test results when a patient can dete riorate so quickly? The medicine is not expen sive and it reported ly has few drug-drug interactions. Please, readers, call or write your state and national political office holders, especially your governor. Ask them to allow physicians to write the medicines they believe are in the best interest of their patients and allow our pharmacists to fill those prescriptions without legal threat of losing our licenses. Sincerely, George L. Smith, III, MD Diplomate, American Board of Family Medicine Covington, Ga. Dr. George Leon Smith III is a hometown doc tor with medical roots in Swainsboro dating back to Dr. Benjamin Darius Smith (1853), Dr. George Leon Smith (1881), Dr. De Saussure Dugas Smith (1908), and Dr. Henry Wilder Smith Sr. (1947). Many Smith family nurs es, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants were and still are members of Swainsboro’s medical community. The Forest-Blade The Forest-Blade is pub lished weekly by Eman uel County Newspa pers, Inc., 416 W. Moring Street, Swainsboro, GA. $1.00 per copy, $38 per year in-county and $49 per year out-of-county. POSTMASTER: Send POD Form 3579 to Eman uel County Newspa pers, Inc., PO. Box 938, Swainsboro, GA 30401. Telephone 478.237.9971. Periodical Postage paid at Swainsboro, GA 30401. (USPS 204-840)
