here in the US the number of confirmed
cases continues to rise with more than
we direct a statewide order for people
to stay at home remain indoors to the
greatest extent all our residents will
be subject to a stay at home border and
for me the greatest priority is to keep
you guys safe and healthy and I think
for us that means having a bun working
so level three means hey that's gone
pretty good how you doing
oh good okay they're just gonna have
some questions for you so it's something
you don't feel like you can answer
that's totally fine my name is Jeffrey
Swisher MD I am an anesthesiologist and
chairman of the department of
anesthesiology at California Pacific
Medical Center in San Francisco
California
dr. Swisher how you done good I'm fine
how you doing
nice to meet you dr. sicher I just get
the straight to the questions for you
absolutely in comparison to past
outbreaks how long do you think this
pandemic Law School that's a good
question I think probably this is gonna
last for at least through November just
based upon data from yeah would that be
until like the cure is found or is there
a point where we can be able to go back
into society I think it depends on the
rate of infection in the community that
you live if you're talking about a
vaccine we're not gonna see a vaccine
for maybe more like 18 months we're
still very early on on the up peak of
this right now
or not at the downside so I think we're
gonna be isolated for quite a while what
would you say to those who still say you
know this is just a flu or the media is
being alarmist yeah the media is not
being alarmist we have not been hit with
the surge that Italy is seen we're about
two weeks behind that but if you look at
the rates the rate of infections and
also the rate the mortality rate we're
tracking it at the same rate and maybe
even a little bit higher than Italy is
right now if you look at the number of
worldwide deaths now we're starting to
approach ten thousand that's a lot and
again we're in the early stages of it in
the rest of the world so there's a very
good possibility that we're going to be
seeing millions of deaths from this
that's not the flu my dad is a flight
attendant for United he's 66 and he's
still flying internationally and I can't
convince him to stop yeah I don't know
you I don't know what you would suggest
I say that maybe would I have a better
perspective I would say that he should
take all judicious care I think he
probably understands the risks as well
and that Betty loves his job like I love
my job I have an 85 year old mom and I
you know color do not go out and it's
hard for them to listen so I'm thinking
about the food supply and maintaining
that the people who work in the grocery
store they have no protection and in
some ways I wonder if they should close
to the public and just employ shoppers
who bring stuff out to car any mechanism
that allows people to distance
themselves to decrease like you said the
surge that's the important thing I mean
ultimately this is a virus it's a very
virulent virus most everybody is going
to get exposed to it hopefully will get
immunity the hard part in this country
is that we haven't had a screening test
so not knowing the denominator in other
words how many people are infected makes
it a little difficult to predict
I know healthcare professionals all over
the world right now are working long and
arduous hours and it's only going to
increase as more and more cases come out
you're right we're working really long
hours and I think if you look at some of
the Chinese doctors that were I was just
on a conference call on Monday with 30
of these guys and they look exhausted
there's no question about it yeah
what is like the general morale like of
people like yourself and your colleagues
are fighting coronavirus on the
frontline this first the mood goes I
would say appropriately concerned and a
little scared and you know want to
protect ourselves from getting sick
ourselves and definitely want to protect
our families from getting sick from us
though most doctors nurses texts you
know people in the hospital the reason
we're in medicine is because we like
helping people and I think most of us
are really willing to do what we need to
do to make this go away have you seen
your case work or like the type of work
you're doing change or shift one of the
big things that that we're starting to
do and it is we're repurposing ourselves
and I will have to probably go in the
staff an intensive care unit so take
care of people on ventilators and we've
taken measures I would say in a graded
fashion since this whole thing started
to the point right now that we're not
allowing people to come in with their
you know families when they come in for
surgery so a lot of people are going in
you know pretty scared without any
support what's been like the most
heartbreaking story or experience for
you amidst all this well having somebody
I know contract this and and be
critically ill in the ICU who I work
with and so when you see someone that is
my age I mean he's otherwise was a
healthy person relatively healthy now
facing the possibility of dying that
really brings it home what ways do you
think the world will be different after
this especially for the kids of today
okay
well I think this is a somewhat of a
traumatic experience for a lot of people
so I think that it's going to make a
mark on a lot of people I have a
daughter who is a senior in college
she's my youngest and she's not having a
graduation ceremony because of this and
I think that we have to acknowledge that
there's a lot of loss the other issue
that's going to be certainly long-term
is economic I think that a lot of kids
are worried about that right now that
college age kids especially I am worried
because I do live with two parents who
are both getting old I've heard from the
government saying that we're gonna have
to shut down until August and a lot of
families now are not having jobs at the
moment so they're not making income
personally right now I just don't think
we're gonna survive until August cuz
that's just too long yeah so you can go
back to things like World War two when
everybody really had to collect if you
give up a lot of things and all work
together I think that that is sort of
where we're at right now I think when
this is all said and done we're gonna
look at this as a really seminal event
in American history world history I feel
like we are very individualized
- how about collect at this mindset when
it comes to stuff like this yeah but
it's it's it's it eventually it benefits
all of us to be collectivist in this
setting and I think it's the hardest
thing is to get people to get out of the
mindset of you know about me as opposed
to about everybody how are your supplies
do you gonna masks right now or you have
interaction mats
no we don't have enough supplies and -
yeah we're having to ration at this
point it's starting to get better we're
getting some donations from the
community like yesterday the Irish
Contractors Union in San Francisco just
donated us a whole boatload of n95 masks
if people have masks can they send them
to Hoth like their local hospitals yeah
they can actually there's hospitals are
have donation points obviously what type
of mask is important and you know if you
don't use equipment correctly you can
infect yourself and you know clearly
we're at the frontlines and we're with
people who are infected so we have a
very high rate potentially getting
infected unless we protect ourselves
what is one thing that you wish to
general public knew this is not fake
news number one this is real and that
the most important thing you can do is
to listen to the advice about social
distancing the more we can do that the
more we can flatten the curve and
decrease the number of cases acutely I
don't know overall if they're gonna
decrease the number of cases but what we
don't want is having a surge at the
hospital that overwhelms the resources
of the hospital I think this is going to
change our society and I mean hopefully
that we will be more compassionate that
will care more about other people I
think that hopefully the goal is is that
we're going to be a better country as a
result of it even though it's gonna be
hard I'm not saying it's not gonna be
hard to be hard
well thank you so much for your time and
for answering those questions and all
for your service I know that must be a
tough time for you it's tough yeah
there's no question about it
but I mean I I'm pretty optimistic
person I'm a glass you know have full
time person so I really think that we'll
get through this awesome
Sam great thank you thank you for you
know for being on the frontline and
things taking time I really appreciate
it thank you thanks for doing this thank
you so much for carving out the time
doctor
stay safe and thank you thank thank you
so much it was you - take care bye hello
thanks for watching the video and thank
you to everyone who came on to ask
questions and to dr. Swisher for making
the time for us please check out the
official CDC documentation that we will
have linked below or on me or something
if you feel like you need any more
information on what's going on and stay
safe and thank you for watching we
really appreciate you doing this with us
and everyone - as part of the call
appreciate this - yeah I really you know
it's like I tell you what gives me hope
is actually seeing people like you
seeing all these younger people you know
who actually have eight great questions
be seen concerns and it gives me great
hope for the future oh yeah it's good
cool glad you here