WMRN: Latest COVID-19 Developments As Ohio's Cases Rise
On November 10, Ohio set another record for daily positivie COVID-19 cases with 6,508 new cases. Why are cases continuing to rise?
Joseph Gastaldo, MD, OhioHealth system medical director of infectious diseases, spoke with WMRN radio this week about the latest developments in the pandemic.
Dr. Gastaldo stressed that the pandemic is a marathon, not a sprint. "We are in a world war against this virus and there are three basic things that we need to do to defeat the virus. Number one is the mitigation strategies we are all familiar with: the physical distancing, wear a mask and focusin
g on good air ventilation. Number two is theraputics, specifically medications to treat people with COVID-19. We're at a much better place now than we were in the springtime. And the third strategy is a vaccine. It's not one of these things individually, it's all three of them together to beat COVID-19."
Dr. Gastaldo said the reason for the spread is multi-factorial.
"We all have COVID fatigue. We're all tired of talking about it. But the mitigation strategies are scientifically based. Wearing a mask will save potentially someone's life. It will prevent you from hopefully getting it and offer more protection to someone at risk. Another factor is what people are doing in their private lives. The mitigation strategies are out there in public, but it's very foreign to do things in your house like wear a mask or physcial distancing. You don't have to do that with the people that you live with, but it's a riskier proposition when other people come into your house. Depending on the scenario, you need to consider using the mitigation strategies in your house. And thirdly, we know that being outside is safer than being indoors. But as the temperature changes, it's going to be too cold to go outside. And then we have a lot of holidays, a lot of things we traditionally do in the fall months, that are indoors with people outside of your house in your house. The mitigation strategies work, but they are more challenging for people to think about inside of their homes.
To hear more from Dr. Gastaldo on about best practices for the next few months, an update on the COVID-19 vaccine and lifesaving antibody treatments, click on the WMRN logo below.
