dr-akhter

btw, since this one is 'trending,' copying and pasting my response that i gave elsewhere:

This is a tough one. I was initially surprised when the AAP recommended going back to school. I had to read up on the literature, and it seems like what they’re using as support is that there haven’t been large outbreaks in other countries due to school classrooms. Seems like, at least for COVID, kids aren’t as big a vector as we feared. MY fear is that we’re using other countries’ data, despite the fact that CLEARLY other countries are better about following customs of distancing and masks. And we KNOW that reason the common cold and the flu spread so virulently during the ‘winter’ is bc kids are in school. So much so that, in fact, in the summer in Arizona – when people are MORE likely to be indoors rather than during our winters – our flu season is STILL during the ‘winter.’ Kids pass it to adults, people travel, and then it spreads in Arizona about a month after flu season everywhere else. So, is COVID miraculously different? Perhaps. And even if it isn’t, I suppose if ONLY kids get it, they do seem to be very resilient. But how will you prevent kids from seeing elderly people? Or immunocompromised people? Those people can get extremely sick. And, as my wife mentioned (she’s a teacher, and was at Title I schools), how about the kids who clearly live with their grandparents b/c their families are poor? Are we neglecting the inability of poor people (and don’t forget the racial implications) to distance so that we can send more well off (and whiter) kids to school? Those are my fears. Again, there are data suggesting that schools may not be massive outbreak centers. But those data seem to contradict everything else we’ve seen from other virii - and they come from other countries as of now. If everyone could distance, school would probably be ok. But that’s a big if – people aren’t distancing even now, and sheriffs are going so far as to say they won’t enforce any rules governors place. So ridiculous.

just answered this question on another poster's question, in terms of my thoughts. as for hospitals, clearly the pediatric EDs will see more patients. the real fear is, how much of it will spread to adults? perhaps not much, as the AAP is suggesting, but hard to know, in my opinion. at the very least, there'd be more cases coming to the hospital. again, see my response to another post who asked similar

I think things are dire. The Governor is holding a press conference today. Rumor has it that he may impose a lockdown. It’s sad that people need to be “forced” to stay home, because they refuse to listen to what experts are saying. There are some things that we do a great job of – we have stopped smoking in public, we pull over for ambulances – all these things we do just to be reasonable members of society (not out of fear of punishment). But distancing and wearing masks hasn’t gotten there yet, and maybe we need executive orders until it becomes more of a social custom. So, the hope is that we do so many other things well. But in the acute setting, RIGHT NOW, I’m quite concerned about what the next couple weeks are bringing, to put it mildly

Hi, all, thanks for joining, and thanks for the questions. In full disclosure, I am quite new to Reddit, so apologies for any faux pas (apparently the singular is the same as the plural!). Also, just being honest, but I've been on TV mainly because Arizona is terrible right now, and I've been honest about it on air - not because I have mad medical skills that are better than anyone else's. I mention this because I know Reddit users are particularly smart, and I look forward to the questions, but not everything I say is necessarily gospel (which is tough for someone with an ego like I have to admit). I will try to answer now ...

Hospitals are very focused on TREATING and not as much on PREVENTING. This isn’t anything new in the US. But it would be really great if we could teach people how to wash hands. Even doctors could get better at hand hygiene, if I’m being honest. Add to that teaching people about masks and distancing, rather than just saying, "stay apart from people," and that could potentially go a long way