[Music]
we have new numbers on testing for kovat
19 in the United States the government
is ramping up its response and as of
today at least 3,700 Americans have
tested positive more than 33,000 have
tested negative I can't say that enough
that's a number that we don't talk about
enough all this as the White House Task
Force says testing is now available in
all 50 states nearly 2 million high
speed tests will be available this week
and at least 10 states have implemented
drive-through testing sites meanwhile
Vice President Mike Pence who heads the
task force as you know says even though
more testing is available those who are
most vulnerable will get the top
priority watch a priority will be placed
on on health care workers and first
responders who are out there coming
alongside people that are being impacted
by the corona virus and then Americans
65 or over with a cough or a fever or
other symptoms will be prioritized over
other tests that are extended doctors
mark Segal Nicole Safire back with us
now and I want to bring in dr. Amy
Compton Phillips as you know she's been
on the show a couple of times she
oversees all patient care at 51
hospitals including the one that treated
and released the very first you u.s.
corona patient good to see you let's
before we get to the first question I
just want to ask what it is like right
now in Washington State where so many
things have changed
lockdowns in certain areas things that
you've been doing and I know your health
workers on the front lines are really
really working hard can we hear her dr.
Amy Compton Phillips okay I'm I'm home
and can you hear me okay yep we got you
oh yeah there we go okay fantastic
I think everybody's working from home
today in Washington State the roads are
empty and the Wi-Fi is full so it's
pretty tough getting connections the
so daily life has changed dramatically a
restaurants are shut down our markets
are shut down everything with the
exception of grocery stores
so it's interesting walking around
unless you go to a health care facility
and so here in the Puget Sound area in
the Seattle metro area the healthcare
facilities are hoppin and that's because
we have so many people both with fevers
and cough as well as with everybody else
and so so trying to figure out how we
have an already busy healthcare system
and now we're putting in germ Attica lis
escalating cases of people with
respiratory symptoms including multiple
people who need to be in the ICU it's
it's gonna get ugly before it gets
better all right now you talk about the
situation with technology we're gonna
try something here all doctors sit by we
have a live question from Paul Bloom who
was in Israel right now Paul go ahead
with your question for the doctors and
thank you sure hello everybody I'm
currently in Israel I'm 68 years old and
in relatively good she'll by planning a
trip back to New Jersey
later the sweet so my question is and
I'm like putting myself in extreme risk
and if not what precautions can I take
to minimize the risk of infection for my
upcoming trip dr. Siegel well it's late
at night in Israel over there so I hope
you're getting your rest but I would say
that I don't like air travel right now
and I wish you weren't getting on a
plane but if you're 68 years old and
have no severe underlying health
conditions I think I would take these
precautions know that the help of
filters above you are helping with
viruses keep well hydrated on planes
that's really important because the the
hairs in your nose really help you
against viruses wipe down those tray
tables with Clorox wipes I also don't
think you should use the water in the
bathroom by the way I think that can be
contaminated most importantly you don't
want to be sitting next to anyone that's
sneezing or coughing that's a that's a
where we're really worried right now
it's close confines so I don't like air
travel but if you're going to go and
you're healthy you'll probably be okay
all right thank you dr. Siegel and thank
you to Paul bloom in Israel stay stay
safe if you have to travel Diane Johnson
writes question for the show if you
think you may have had a mild case of
kovat 19 virus how long should you wait
to go back out into the public
after being symptom free dr. sapphire
that's a really good question there have
been kind of varying reports that dr.
Siegel talked about it a little bit
earlier in the hour but the point is it
seems like after infection when you're
not being symptomatic anymore you're not
sneezing you're not coughing you can
still be shedding the virus of - a
couple weeks after that it's likely you
may not be able to be contagious anymore
but you are shedding so what we're still
trying to find out is if a person is
shedding can they actively infect
someone else and we don't have those
answers right now so if you believe you
had some mild illness and now you're
asymptomatic I would still consider
giving yourself a good 14 days before
you go out around in your normal life
yeah now that brings me to this point
about testing excellent answer I
completely agree so but should that
person get a test to make sure that they
had in fact a mile dacovia 19 well
certainly I think that's what we're
heading for we want everybody that has
symptoms to get tested now you heard in
the earlier soundbite that we're not
there yet we're only we're only gearing
up to test very ill people and those
that those at high risk conditions and
those that are very sick and those that
healthcare workers but we want to be
able to test the mild cases because
that's what they do they spread kovin 19
to sicker people dr. Compton Phillips in
Washington State I know your signal has
been in and out so before we take a
quick break I just want to ask you about
the first responders and those people
who are up close and your fifty one
hospitals that you lead first responders
bringing in patients your staff treating
what types of things are you seeing walk
into the emergency rooms are they mostly
influenza what what are you seeing we're
seeing a significant array everything
from again it's not like our emergency
rooms aren't aren't full normally but
what we're seeing on top of that is a
significant number of people with fever
and with cough and and some people
actually who come in quite ill because
they stay home until they get
particularly bad and with this germ for
some reason when you get bad you can
that fast so something we're actually
doing in order to streamline who comes
into our emergency room is we built
tools so that people can go online and
triage you know are you somebody who you
think might need testing we have put up
those drive-through testing centers that
you talked about earlier so you can get
testing without coming into an emergency
room and then we have virtual care we're
doing a significant number of virtual
visits I think over 700 of them
yesterday with people to say do you have
other opportunities to get care all
right everybody sit by I'm gonna take a
quick break what's it like being horan
teamed with a coronavirus our next guest
has been in isolation separated from his
wife for weeks after a nightmare
vacation he's taking another test today
and can explain the at-home testing he
shares a story there he is right there
stay close
[Music]