Shelby gives local COVID-19 update with GC Library
The Garland County Library hosted a one- hour COVID-19 update with Dr. Gene Shelby, Garland County health officer, Wednesday on Facebook, tackling a wide range of topics, including how the coronavirus is more deadly, and contagious, than the seasonal flu.
The event will be one of many such updates with Shelby hosted by the library as the COVID-19 pandemic persists.
Shelby was asked questions from both Paul Kagebein, the library’s adult services programmer, and viewers.
The full interview can be found on the library’s Facebook Page, @garlandcountylibrary.
After noting Arkansas is at “a statewide high of hospitalizations” with 529 reported as of Tuesday, Kagebein asked if Shelby could “talk more in detail about how Garland County’s hospitals in particular are doing?”
Shelby said the hospitals report each week and that “a while back, I think maybe in July, there were really no cases in the hospitals, but certainly over the past month or two, they continued to have cases on a regular basis, and deaths on a regular basis.
“I don’t think we have come anywhere close to max amount, or capability, to take care of people who are ill from this infection, and I know both hospitals
have contingency plans set up in case we do have a higher hospitalization rate we’re having now, in terms of bringing in additional staff and having the place in the hospital to take care of these people.
“So that is occurring, and I don’t know that we’ve had a really large spike in hospitalized people with this disease,” he said.
Kagebein noted Gov. Asa Hutchinson had announced Tuesday that the restrictions regarding visitation at long-term health facilities will be relaxed in several ways. “Could you go over those, and does this give you any concerns about transmission of the virus both in and out of nursing homes?” he asked.
“I think,” Shelby said, “one of the important things that we’re doing is having expanded our capability of testing, so we’re identifying and isolating people early on. And also, I think one of the things that has shown up in our numbers over the last couple of weeks is that they’re testing the staff at the nursing homes, and are really identifying a number of staff people this past week, out of 200 people in our database that were positive or under investigation, 28 of those were health care workers and I feel like a vast majority of those are from the nursing home.
“So, you know, I think nursing homes are doing a really great job under difficult circumstances, so I think if we can move forward with the visitation that’s a good thing, but I really feel like they have the protocols in place to keep it safe, and if they do have cases, they’ll have to shut down the visitation. I think the key to this is the increased testing, especially on asymptomatic people that are coming in and out of the nursing home,” he said.
One viewer, Eric Wilson, asked, “What’s distinctive about COVID-19 from other respiratory sicknesses?”
“Well,” Shelby said, “I think the main thing is it’s so contagious. It’s about five times more contagious than the seasonal flu, and it’s also much more deadly. … It affects the lungs, but it also affects how the immune response to the virus and can cause a lot of problems, and that’s kind of what makes it really more deadly.
“You know, the flu is a really bad disease, and more so in some years, than others, but one thing that Dr. (Jennifer) Dillaha at the (Arkansas) Health Department mentioned a few weeks ago that I thought was a good comparison: We usually have, I think last year we had like 120 deaths in the state from the flu, but with the
COVID-19 here in the last eight months, we’ve had 1,400 deaths, so you can see the fatality of this virus, it’s very disturbing, and it’s very real, though,” he said.
“Usually, there’s about 60
70,000 Americans who die from the flu every year, and that’s disturbing, and I think some people don’t take the flu as seriously as they should,” he said.
“One of the things that I find bothersome is the fact that only about 50% of people take the flu vaccine, and it’s a very widely available vaccine. If anything, it can cause some side effects, but it’s a very safe vaccine.”
Kagebein noted there is “definitely a lot” of misinformation circulating about how serious COVID-19 is compared to the flu, and vice versa.
“So,” Kagebein said, “other than comparing it to the flu, are there any other myths or superstitions you hear a lot from people that you can debunk?”
“I think,” Shelby said, “that we’ve been in this for a long time and people are getting tired of the things that we have to do to try to slow and eventually eliminate the spread. But I think it’s been well-proven that properly worn masks do make a big difference, and I don’t know that everyone really accepts that or have gotten used to wearing a mask, but that’s something that is vital in order to stop the spread of this.
“It can be kind of a hassle, but it’s something that’s effective, and we as a community really need to do all we can to stop this virus, and that’s something that everybody can do.”