Corona virus update 2020-03-21. Strength and Resolve.

With the growing Covid19 outbreak, Illinois is instituting a stay at home order.

Strength and resolve are needed at this moment.

We need to recognize that frontline doctors and nurses need more supplies such as masks, gowns, and gloves.

We also need to recognize that medications such as hydroxychloroquine/plaquenil and actemra/tocilizumab while being tested for Covid19, already have an important role in various autoimmune conditions.

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Hello, this is Siddharth Tambar from Chicago arthritis and regenerative medicine. It’s currently March 21st, 2020. It’s roughly four pm about an hour before the state of Illinois essentially goes into shutdown. Basically trying to prevent the spread of the Corona virus. It’s a really interesting and surreal situation down here in downtown Chicago where it’s really almost a ghost town in terms of people who are outside and walking around or traffic. Really unusual obviously for Saturday late afternoon in the city, especially when the weather is nice. But obviously important that people are avoiding going out for the next few weeks.

I think really strenuously encourage people to follow the guidelines and the requirements that the state has right now. And that’s important because we need to prevent the progression of this condition and this outbreak. The reality is that we are just at the beginning of this and we have a lot of challenges. Namely that we’re at the stage where there’s going to be a surge of cases, we know that. We’re starting to see that and it’s really only going to escalate for the next few weeks probably. It’s likely that the quarantine that’s going in for about three weeks, 2-3 weeks is probably going to be extended beyond that to be on the safe side. And that’s frustrating but the reality is when we’re seeing what’s happening in Italy and other countries I think that’s the right move.

There are a few things that we can all be doing to help our frontline healthcare workers. What I’m hearing from colleagues, doctors and nurses that are at the front line is that they’re worried, and part of it is because they don’t have enough supplies to protect themselves. Part of it is they’re worried that they don’t have enough beds and equipment to all way to help all the potential patients that may be coming in. So things that you can do right now number one, please respect the fact that healthcare workers don’t have enough supplies. And so let’s make sure that there is more availability for the masks and gowns that they need, let’s not buy all those up.

Number two. there’s been mentioned in the lay press that there’s a couple of medications that may be helpful for Coronavirus. Understand that those medications these are just reports. It’s not really definitely proven that these are helpful. The two medications that have been mentioned one is called Plaquenil the other name is hydroxychloroquine, which is used for Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjogren’s syndrome. The other medication is called actemra or tocilizumab that’s used for rheumatoid arthritis and giant cell arteritis. In both cases these are meds that have been used for a number of years for those conditions and the people that take those meds it’s very important that they continue them. And so I’m already starting to hear from patients that Plaquenil is starting to get in short supply. It’s hard for people to get their full supply of medications. And again, let’s be respectful for our fellow community members and people in society, let’s not buy up all the medications in case this works for Coronavirus when people really need it for their condition. I think the main thing is let’s take care of each other. Be safe. Take care of your family, take care of your community, and you know, we’ll get through this together and be stronger and smarter. It’s going to require some strength and resolve to get through this for the next few weeks. At least probably a couple of months.

We all know that there’s going to be an economic consequence to this as well. This is going to be a challenge for all of us in this country. And as we get out of this we will be stronger, but some resolve and hardiness is needed at this time. I hope you all stay safe. If you need any help, my existing patients or anyone else out there, we are still available, generally doing things by telemedicine. But we are here to still help and if I can help in any way contact us anytime. Please be safe. Have a good day and live Well, bye-bye.

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