 Okay, we're back. We're live with our corona watch show It gets harder to do this every week because it's more of a dismay It really gets on your nerves, but we all study it. We'll hear about media. We read about it And we all we all learning about it regrettably we have to so we have Winston Welsh and Stephanie Dalton Continuation of our trump week group Welcome to the show you guys. Let's talk about corona watch. So well, I'm fairly impressed I was just going to say the numbers Yeah, I was going to ask you about the numbers. What are the numbers? That's the first order of business. What are the stats? Well, the latest numbers I have are the world numbers 196,000 cases and 7,800 deaths And the Italy portion of that is 31,000 cases and 2,500 deaths And the us cases that have been reported. Remember, we're slow on the testing here The u.s. Number is 6,300 Cases reported and 109 deaths probably up until yesterday or today And hawaii. Yeah, hawaii hawaii has 14 cases And As of today we have 14 cases one was added in the last 24 hours a hawaii island person No deaths right now And no dense Magic Winston, you know, I think big question. I always I would hear these numbers and I hear about Italy especially and for that matter Iran Who is you know used to be our enemy maybe still is but somehow we're we have a kinship with them now So why are the numbers so bad in Italy and Iran? Why are they remarkably worse than other places? It's a good question and I think Yeah, there was one Italian doctor who said don't do What we did or what we didn't do and I think it's this whole idea of shut things down right now when you get these first things everyone These new words that we didn't even have You know last week, which was a social distancing and self-quarantine and flatten the curve all of these things are New to us, but they're They're what we need to do right now. We need to just Stay away from each other So that we can stop this spread as quickly as possible or at least flatten the curve from what I understand It's not it will reduce the number of total cases, but it's really just about being able to handle the crush of payments That really need that care Um, most folks it looks like 80% will be able just to write it out at home a lot of that number or maybe 15 20 percent won't even know They really have it so We can be carriers out there. We need to be vigilant We need to understand that our presence in public right now Is like a typoid Mary For the kids out there watching, you know, it just means you are Potentially a carrier of this disease and if you aren't worried for your own health Think about the other folks in society your neighbors your friends your grandparents your parents Your co-workers who may be devastated by this disease Are killed so right now we just need to do what the italians say buckle down be prepared and Practices social distancing and for total isolation for at least a while Well, you know, all of this seems to be showing a basic principle and that is a stitch in time saves nine That if you start, um, you know employing these these These steps early You're going to save a lot of lives, you know reduce the number of cases and in any event you're going to flatten the curve And I guess it Italy didn't do that and we didn't do that and hawaii didn't do that either But we're a smaller market So don't you think that that's got to be one of the factors involved for both For both Italy and Iran that they didn't do anything at a time when it was, you know, going logarithmic From what I understand, it's also based on their cultures when you have people that were storming a couple of mosques for devoted festivals or holidays You know when you had a leader coming out and saying there may be millions of people dying in Iran Because they haven't been practicing these Social distancing and quarantine procedures. You have other countries that have done very well like, uh, Singapore, Hong Kong Taiwan to a different extent, uh, south korea while they've been hit very hard their death rate hasn't been as hard and they have Massively employed testing there, which is what we really need here We need it to be to the point where when we want to take a test a self-test every morning before we go out to the store We know okay. I'm safe today until this thing basically Is extinguished and it's going to flare up, you know from Mike penn said it may go until july, but it may be around for another 18 months or longer. So We just have to look at these other countries and say What went right and what went wrong and apply that as quickly as possible as we can and of course There's different states of different scenarios But the washington of today washington state or new york State is the kansas and the houston and the honolulu of tomorrow potentially. So no one's immune from this This is a human disease. It affects everyone and we need to Just be aware of that this. Uh, well, you may not particularly feel like you're a vulnerable person Uh, or that it's a hoax or whatever you think it is. It's not it's real Just look at look at italy where folks are um, they're not even treating people apparently who are over 70 now because there's so many cases that are Just overwhelming their hospitals and untold numbers that they said are Have died in their homes and nobody knows Along with the fact that uh, they do have a much older population there. So that may have a part of it and um Let's face it older folks smoked more. They may be still smoke In europe, uh, that does play a part of it and as well in china from what i understand that that the risk factors are older male Smokers and then underlying health conditions. Uh, and because more men smoke than women. That's that's part of it Stephanie, I wonder if part of it is also that Seems to mutate and right now. I think it's generally recognized that there's a there's a lesser aggressive Mutation and uh a more aggressive mutation. Do you think that plays into this? Oh, i'm certain it does and along with many other factors that we're going to discover about this, uh, This new bug. Um, I um I find the the reminder from winston about former smokers to be Particularly on harming as well. That is a risk factor. I think that um, dr. Fauci's statement um, um about when we can expect some relief Um from him, uh from the nyh. He's with the director of the arthritis and metabolic diseases unit of the national Institute of health and but that's to maryland. Um, and he's been one of the experts guiding the effort I think well, I hope that that is definitely the case because he's such a his expertise is deep and wide But he said that it's only it he said only but several weeks in several weeks We should be able to know about the trajectory of this Mushroom cloud that we're going to have out of this virus here in the u.s. So I I found I find that uh That comforting to some degree because I think we we want to not be as bad as these other Countries and in having it peak like it has there and uh, and a few weeks We'll know that with more that more data and we'll have a better idea in maybe two weeks two and a half weeks 14 15 days something like that Um 20 days that that's good news that we will be able to do a dipstick there and know if we're going to millions or Hundreds of thousands. I suppose is really what's realistic as far as people being really sick Much less dying. Um, so I think that was important to to to put on the timeline here That was will be a marker. Well, you know, uh, the china seems to have Reached and and going over the other side of the tipping point As I recall yesterday. There was only one case or one death one just one Um in china in all of china that is really something So they're you know draconian methods, uh, winston Have have had some effect. I mean you have to believe them and we know there's a a fair amount of disinformation Coming from china, but uh, if it's believable, I would tend to believe it You know, they have achieved um, they they have flattened the curve They have they have actually gone over the tipping point. Uh, doesn't it sound like that? It does seem like that and uh, you know when you have people in this country that That don't believe either in science or just think that it's not real. I saw kids partying on the beach in, uh Florida yesterday and not everywhere has not all the states have taken these As more stringent precautions like san francisco where you were you were sheltering in place This is as if I mean it's it's as much as it gets and we're going to see a lot more of that one thing that We see about this and and there's a great, um, what? website Gretchen lasal la s a l l a m d dot com and in there she has information about the seasonal flu versus COVID and COVID is not the flu. COVID is something completely different But for young folks that think this is not me this flu is On based on chinese information Uh through february 11 14 to 25 times Higher for zero to 19 year olds than regular flu is as far as um infection and perhaps death rates for people who are 50 to 59 it's 9 to 21 times higher than the flu and for all people it looks like it's about 2 point 3 percent of the folks that get sick are you know have a A fatality rate there. So it's 12 to 24 times higher than the flu This is for everybody. I think as we're as we're coming down and we're going to see different In this country different cities how they react and I think you can go back to the the spanish flu The so-called spanish flu of 1918 And they had two examples one was philadelphia and the other was st. Louis and st. Louis They were able to flatten the curve in philadelphia. They weren't they had Mass outbreak and mass deaths we're going to see a lot more of that here But I think because of the internet because of what are evolving best practices. We're going to see some really stringent controls on people And it's not coming from the federal government. It's going to come from states from municipalities and from companies a lot of companies are just saying It's you're just not coming in. You know contact with work. You may not go to your work related groups Um, they're viewing it if nothing else through liability issues, but it's it's it's more just The only way that we know right now to flatten this thing out is just to stay home and away from other people Yeah, but i'm reminded uh, and and surely if we all follow the rules Um, that should flatten the curve such as it did in china knock wood of course you run the risk of Of being complacent about it and and then having a sort of a reinfection if you don't watch out If you send everybody back to work you wind up with a with a reinfection and in certain areas that's happened But definitely I want to go back to your point about well first I want to I want to go to the news article that winston sent us both about what was it sweden Where the swedish government or the swedish people are saying to american to kids swedish kids in american schools Come back home. America's not safe. It's safer in sweden. You know when I was a kid my mother Yeah, the norwegian university of science and technology. I'm close to sending out Yeah, I said that the poorly developed health services and infrastructure for example the usa yikes Yikes, you know when I was a kid my mother was saying to me be thankful be joyous You were born and raised in the united states of america is the best country in the world But all that has kind of changed now Um, the first trump gets to be president now this uh, and there are other places that are safer singapore for example recognize the problem earlier And took steps and I think singapore is safer than the united states and there are other places like that too But it's not only the contagion aspect and following the rules of you know social separation. It's the beds It's the beds china could build a hospital in I don't know 19 days and 50 story hospital We can't do that. We're not doing that. This is democracy. You got to get a building permit Right can't do emergency things like that. So the result is we don't have enough beds And frankly we don't have the money to buy the beds or the staff to staff these hospitals The people are going to be lining up in the corridors and intense outside What do you thoughts about that because if you know if you don't get treatment when you get really sick, you know, it's over for you Well, it's about that. I mean I think at at one level It's time we had some Reality check back At we haven't had that all we hear is everything is perfect and everything is wonderful and at some point where Was the feedback going to enter into the process of of development So I I appreciate getting that feedback from our neighbors across the pond here Um other than britain and I I really think it's important to get that that international View of the us now. I mean we used to be What number one and we we had the capacity and have it evidently still likely If we could start over again We have all of the means to be a world leader in managing and solving this crisis But because of the issues that the facts that have already been brought up at the light start and All of these other concerns that have been mentioned That didn't happen and we didn't get on our scooter And we didn't get that first kickoff to get with our own needs And then to meet the needs of the whole world I mean, that's that's what we expect to to do as americans. We didn't we win world war two I mean, I've heard that mention is that a country that that led the win for world war two Can also lead the win for this a long time ago men for shot And so uh that feedback is really important for us to have that Not just our leader and leaders, but the people need to understand how our potential is is there We've been there and uh, we need to step back up to that level. I have confidence you know, one of the big issues is uh, is the us up to Up to the um, it's it's it's uh, up to its standard in developing Viral viral cure medicines and viral vaccines And um, I haven't heard that much about it. You know, you hear vague statements about There's all these laboratories working, but I think the laboratories you hear about are overseas Do you have a handle on that winston? Are we working on stuff now? Have we got candidates ready to go to trial? Are we going to be able to develop real medicines here? Or is it going to happen somewhere else in the world in china? For example, they got a lot of medicine. They got a lot of technology a lot of science a lot of ai whatnot in europe too Well, you know, I I am big believer in america. I love this country. It is the shining city on the hill We are also Able to learn from our mistakes. That's a great thing about this nation We can look at this point. We can look at this whole period in recent history and say Yeah, that really didn't work out well, but let's course correct. Let's change. Let's say we need more investment in Well, like having a pandemic task force. Uh, that's always there to have a surplus space in hospitals to invest in our science and technology And we do lead the world in science and technology The difference is is that the world has risen up to our level in some cases It may surpass it in in certain things and we are collaborative in all of that But it has been emitting the way for decades and decades and now we may Have some things not only to to learn but also to share it's a give and take when this vaccine is developed It may be in france. It may be in china. Maybe in korea. It may be a collaborative thing. It may be Google I and 12 year olds that are combining Their knowledge It's going to come from all over the place and it doesn't really matter where it comes from but I think that uh, we just need to Like we always have look at the situation be honest with ourselves Be truthful And adopt what is best for us So when we're armed with the truth and we're armed with integrity I think that uh, we will beat this thing. We're going to have No doubt a lot of pain and suffering right here. There are not enough machines are not enough hospital beds are not enough workers That's where we have to step up as individuals. That's where we have to step into our community That's where we have to go to our neighbors and ask them Do you hey do you have food? Are you feeling okay? Here's my number if you don't have it Oh, did you you know and all of that it's it's making sure that we're connected to our communities and to our loved ones Because uh, that's where the front line starts is right with us and take they said put on your mask first I guess in this case, uh, maybe the literal mask, but maybe not and then assist those around you, but By all means I I believe that this country is going to um To be up to the challenge States are doing it cities are doing it We're going to learn from each other and we just have to Each step up is banned on whatever level that That means in society Read better So, uh, you know Stephanie one one of the things about previous epidemics both in the spanish flu and I think it was in sars maybe in mirrors too Was that 20 of the fatalities were health workers? This is a great concern because health workers get demoralized Um, you know if now if you're on a hospital ship and you're in the army or the navy running the hospital ship Your family is hundreds thousands of miles away. You don't have to go home at night And and if you somehow get infected well, you might you might get sick you will get sick Um, but but um, you don't you don't have to uh, you're not worried about You know your family catching it from you in in the case of a local hospital like here in other states Um, if you're a health worker and you work on Virus patients all day and then you go home. You got a substantial risk That's going to infect your family before you even know you have it Unless as as winston said you test in the morning and test in the night and all that but we don't have to test So, you know, doesn't that demoralize the health workers and for the lack of health workers What do we do in every great outbreak in history? There have been You know charitable souls altruists go out and be health workers And they save other people and they are selfless and we you know, we owe them our greatest admiration But they tend they tend to get sick And the question is whether you get more whether you can find more As the process goes on. What do you think? Well, this is a concern. I think there's more attention given to it now Uh, then it ever has had before. I mean, I think didn't even want to read who gave us the You saw yellow fever didn't he die in the practice to do that to accomplish that A task of solving that problem. There are many novels and And stories about people who have actually given their lives in order to help other people get through these diseases and get them themselves, but um I think they're willing now to step up and talk about that that this is also a professional topic and not to be Ignored or avoided because they can't do the job and no one will be there to do the job They see that more clearly. That's what's alarming. Is it now they see that more clearly? I think then in any of these other infestations because they see that they're getting sick They're looking around they're getting sick either by transfer of the of the virus or just by not having the right equipment And so I think that's driving much more commentary on this And that there are great efforts to get them the supplies and the materials that they need And the conditions of work that they have to be in because they have to be they can't walk up to that bed and start Slapping on a thermometer somewhere or you know the blood pressure thing all of that stuff requires touching And so they really have to be thinking a lot about how distance themselves and take care of themselves I think that this is really important and it's going to be Critical to our total total survival holes in other words What's going to happen once we get to what dr. Fauci says in a couple weeks? We're going to find out what it might be. What does our mushroom cloud here in the us look like? What's that trajectory and can we um, can we keep that? Curve flatten there. Are we going to succeed in flattening that curve? That's big question big question Yeah, let's take a short break Stephanie We take a short break and come back and we're going to answer the question that everyone wants to hear about What's the latest and greatest? What's the current advice the best advice we can provide or The medical community can provide on how you deal with your own health. We'll be right back after this very short break I think okay. We're back alive. I'm jay fidel. This is corona watch Here on think tech Hawaii and we have Stephanie Dalton and winston welch to talk about what's happening And what what the current advice the current? What do you want to call it the current? Community suggestions are for how you can protect your own health So winston what what appeals to you? How have you changed your life and what other solutions are you considering? Well, uh, it's it's a good question because we're all swimming in information right now, but basically Yeah, take a break from social media if you need to We Most people get the message don't touch stuff Don't touch your head when you come in when you go out wash your hands Use alcohol sanitize your your spaces that you actually do go to where you might have been out and Uh Right this very moment in hawaii we don't have a lot of sick people But it's going to come We need to Look out for each other. We need to look out for ourselves. We need to make sure that we have Enough to eat in our house in our houses and our neighbors have enough to eat We're not talking courting situations So I think basically it's just looking out for each other right now And making sure that we know that we're here that we're still a community We're gonna get through this the main thing I think is half of it or more is Mental and emotional and spiritual fortitude right now so that we can deal with the physical when it and if it comes Yeah, so what about this issue about the masks, Stephanie? You know, we've been told that we really don't need masks unless we're sick But they you know, the the wisdom is on that seems to have changed. Do we need masks or not? Well, I think it's a good idea and with the models of recovery that Japan and Korea and China these people wore masks all the time So I think we have an example of the behavior and we've seen that it has certainly not diminished their recovery It probably has accelerated it So we probably in America ought to get used to that. It's not something we would nearly do But I think it's a good idea. Also, we're carrying around our Clorox wipes So we're also trying to remember to keep ourselves sanitizer sterilized with Clorox Treatment as much as we can as we move through our daily Tasks and especially if they take us away from the home Two questions. One is uh, so I I wearing my mask. I do not have the disease I'm wearing my mask and somebody is, you know, a few feet away from me and droplets get on the mask Now I got I got droplets. I'm walking around with droplets. How do I prevent that? Like there's some wisdom that says you got to change the mask all the time And there's some wisdom that says well, you got to clean the mask with the alcohol What do you do to make sure that you're not carrying around an infectious piece of gear? Winston, what do you think about that? Don't go out of your house if you don't need to so that you're not exposing yourself on others It would be the first thing that I'd say and practice social distancing There was a lady behind me at the drug store the other day and just coughing up a storm with no concern about anyone around her and We're gonna deal with that. It's gonna be around there So Again, just don't go out if you don't need to especially right now in these next in this next little while If If you got a mask, it's probably better protection than not but we have a big shortage I saw that the national government is going it has invoked a sort of a korean war Policy that allows them to Maybe take over some production of facilities for more masks As stefanie was saying we need to get these first and foremost to our first responders and healthcare workers And then after that we can go to the general population when you go to asia Way before this crisis it was not unusual to see a lot of the population wearing masks anyway just to avoid picking up some Anyways Yeah, well, where do you go? Where do you go stefie go to walmart in walmart? They have no sanitizer left I'm sure you can't find a mask in walmart. Where do I go? You don't uh, yeah, there's there only three suppliers in hawaii and they're just totally stricken with Absence of of any of those and they're not coming in for a while as it takes a long time to get things over here But my health care worker in the family My favorite dentist has told informed me that we can wash And as you said Jay wiped down with chlorox or alcohol these masks So even the the ones that are not the n95 they're clothed though So it is possible to do some sanitizing of them and even washing them If if we wish and that could keep our our masks going for for longer Then uh, then then getting hit with just one one time knowing we're contaminated But it is Go ahead The one thing i'd read is that they the problem with the mask isn't that the mask isn't Effective it is effective to a large degree, but it's that we touch our face two to three thousand times a day And therefore we're kind of recontaminating ourselves and that's not especially useful. Um, I noticed I was Glasses too, and I'm thinking maybe glass. I think somebody has put out that Admonition is clean your glasses Leave and of course don't touch them. I'm I'm an important example of that today, but Clean your glasses because Yeah, clean your cell phones Clean your cell phones because it's probably the dirtiest thing that you own Yeah, if you look at your cell phone in the right light, you'll see all these fingerprints on it An accumulation of winks and fingerprints and those fingerprints could easily have the virus So but do not clean your cell phone with soap and water. That's probably not a good idea Alcohol would be better Get your cloaks wipe out That was the only so what about alcohol? What about alcohol? I mean, what do I do? I get a little squeegee jar of alcohol Say Drink liberally Fine If you can find alcohol right now to clean your stuff with That's great. But chances are you're not going to find it like Stephanie said there's It's not anywhere. So just assume you're not going to have If you check your you probably have Probably have something that's better than nothing so look and see what you've already got look in your office Look and maybe even your car where you've got this and and you you've kind of pre-prepared even without knowing it Yeah, that's that's what we're and then wait for the supplies to come back in There are plenty of supplies in this country We've just kind of stripped them for right now, but they're coming back folks Food medicine All of it is is being restocked as fast as our retailers can do You know the ironic thing you both pointed out Um is that this is the time Right now is the time to follow these rules. We're on a timeline. If it's later, it's not as effective It's you know, if it had been sooner, it would have been better But here we are and it's a right now So all the rules we have to follow the rules because that will help that will save lives It will it will flatten the curve and so forth So even if your point your point even if these chemicals are not available Even if the masks are not available, whatever other rules we have to follow We have to follow them now It's very important And that's why we like that you shows remotely like this Okay closing comments on how you have changed your life Over the past few weeks Stephanie How you see things differently because of this epidemic And how you see the future. I mean you're may I ask you for your state of mind? Well, my state of mind is chlorox bound chlorox white bound I am using those wherever I go. I like when I did go to a restaurant I did wipe down the entire menu and the table and acted probably out of order By courtesy standards we used to use but that that's not important anymore It's just thinking about what it is that is going to Infect you and trying to prevent that with the tools we have and certainly those whites also alcohol The 60 percent rubbing alcohol that's that's good, too And maybe you can if all you have is a bottle of vodka you can put that on an napkin, too And that's a disinfectant But I would like to say too that as far as our numbers at the beginning I I also read that and heard that west virginia Is the 50th state? To get the virus so they have one case there now And so that fills out the map completely so it's made its way everywhere So it's so insidious That we really are up against a dreadful attack In the steps that we've been told to take we need to take them and as Jay says we need to do it now Yeah, Winston. How about you? What what have you changed your life? What things are you doing now? Even in the absence of some of the equipment you'd like to have And what is your state of mind going forward? You know, I think it's like It's almost like Elizabeth Kubler Ross's stages of death denial type type of thing you get the shock you get a denial And then you get into an acceptance mode. We've had fundamental massive changes in our society in the past Four days five days Our society is by and large being shut down for right now so that we can have a reboot This is our chance as you said, this is our chance to make the difference to stay at home Learn to love the people that you live with again, you know, learn who your neighbors are That's what I've been doing I've been connecting with people that I love and that I care about making sure that they're okay because a lot of them are in a world of Of confusion and pain. They've lost their work. Their work has been shut down They may not be covered at all by unemployment Or other, you know, whatever the government may or may not give They may not have prepared well as we all should be For whatever reasons it doesn't matter. It's not a time for judgment It's a time for stepping up and seeing how you can be of service and also having some The conversations with the people that you love about protocols about not Going out about when they come back Who's going to take care of who if they get sick and who's going to look out for grandma and all of those Those conversations that we really need to be having right now as contingency plans while we are Still in a pretty calm period Yeah, some of which are uncomfortable But which are all necessary Well, thank you you guys, uh, I was going to suggest, um, you know other areas of discussion for next time we meet Next wednesday, but I but I think let's let it let's let it unfold Because there'll be so much news so much change in our world It's hard to predict what we'll be talking about next time But we will be talking about the evolution and the unfolding of this crisis Which is changing our world as we speak. Thank you, Stephanie Dalton. Thank you, Winston Welch Aloha till next week