By early next week, proteins from the blood of people who have recovered from COVID-19 could be helping patients at UW Hospital fight their infections.
UW-Madison will open one of its residence halls as temporary housing for medical workers serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last month, after UW Health’s volunteer services department sent an email seeking sewists to help make cloth face masks, Madison-area sewing groups got busy. But UW Health later said it was working with manufacturers to produce commercial masks and instead urged people to donate unused equipment, give blood or volunteer time with the United Way.
Madison community members’ hand sewn masks not accepted for donation to UW Health due to lack of standardization, effectiveness.
UW Health has an automated instrument capable of processing about 1,200 COVID-19 tests a day, or roughly four times the number that its lab now typically does.
The instrument has yet to be used for a single COVID-19 test.
UW Health’s lab, like others throughout the state, has been unable to get the chemicals, or reagents, needed to process specimens on the instrument.
Director of the UW Division of Information Technology’s Digital Publishing and Printing Services Geoff Larson got the idea to print face shields when discussing the PPE shortage with his wife.
Dr Claudia Reardon is a sports psychiatrist who works at the University of Wisconsin with athletes from multiple sports and is part of the IOC Mental Health Working Group. She spoke to Athlete365 about how athletes around the globe can cope with the current situation surrounding the coronavirus.
It may come across quite strongly, but one word I would use to describe what some athletes are going through right now is grief. We’re talking about the loss of the Olympics and other major sport competitions. However temporary that loss may be, it’s still significant.
Quoted: The University of Wisconsin-Madison joined the project last weekend and is expected to host one of the clinical trials.
The work in Madison will be led by William Hartman, UW Health assistant professor of anesthesiology. Hartman said Madison will be one of the clinical trial sites, though he could not say how many patients will participate.
“I think we can be very hopeful in that it has exhibited success with previous coronaviruses including SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome),” Hartman said, referring to the use of survivor plasma.
According to UW Health spokeswoman Emily Kumlien, UW Hospital is currently seeing “lower than usual” numbers of patients as the hospital puts off procedures and visits until the situation stabilizes.
Quoted: James Conway, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Global Health Institute, said allowing people to gather at polling locations during Tuesday’s spring election will also damage the effectiveness of state leaders’ message to stay away from each other to blunt the spread of coronavirus.
“It just seems really irresponsible to make this one giant exception,” Conway said in an interview. “I was a little naive a week or so ago in thinking, ‘Oh, they’ve got to realize they’ve got to delay.’ … And then time has crept on and I’m like, really? I am very concerned.”
“Traditionally, the ethics of medicine is, we always do everything we can for every patient in front of us,” said Dr. Norman Fost, a retired pediatrician who founded UW-Madison’s bioethics program and heads up the workgroup. “In an allocation crisis like this, that can no longer be the rule. We have to revert to a public notion of ethics — what’s in the interest of the greatest number, for the community.”
These days, Maggie Musgrave puts her anxiety, uncertainty and gratitude in a box. A pizza box. Musgrave’s husband, Andrew Pfaff, is an anesthesiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s University Hospital. His group of doctors is the “airway team,” responsible for intubating patients and keeping them breathing during surgery.
In a Facebook post, UW Health said the two systems are banding together to collect hand-sewn masks. In that effort, they are calling anyone who wants to make masks to review best practices, and to “start sewing,” according to the post.
Quoted: WPR’s WHYsconsin has received numerous questions about how to care for someone with COVID-19. WPR’s Melissa Ingells recently spoke with Patrick Remington, a physician and emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, to answer your questions.
UW-Madison researchers and the vaccine companies FluGen and Bharat Biotech are developing and testing a vaccine against COVID-19 called CoroFlu, they announced Thursday.
Amy Shircel and three friends traveled to Portugal early last month in search of sun, sand and scenery. Coronavirus cut the trip short, and within days of returning to her Madison apartment, Shircel felt fatigued. She had a mild cough, but didn’t think much of it.
The chemical is called bitrix and it’s used to make sure the N95 respirator is snugly on the face of someone wearing it.
“If you have any kind of symptoms, the moment you sneeze, that homemade mask is going to get soaked,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection control at UW Health. “You take it off, you contaminate your hands and you contaminate the environment.”
“UW health would never ask any of our employees to do something that’s dangerous, to not use the PPE they need,” said UW Health’s Chief Quality Officer Dr. Jeff Pothof.
In an effort to fill the void, UW Health has started N-95 respirator mask “fit tests.” The tests make sure the masks fit appropriately to protect a person’s face.
“I was genuinely afraid I would fall asleep and not wake up,” 22-year-old Amy Shircel said.
Wisconsin has received its second shipment of personal protective equipment for health care and EMS workers.
“I thought I was going to die,” Shircel said. “I was like, ‘I’m going to fall asleep and I’m not going to wake up because I’m just too sick.’”
A UW School of Medicine and Public Health fund plans to award $1.5 million in grants for projects that help lessen the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin.
Two Fitchburg Police Department officers transported a man to the emergency department for evaluation and treatment. The man attempted to disarm an officer, a struggle that led to a shot fired into the ceiling of the waiting room.
UW Hospital converted 10 ER rooms to negative air pressure, for a total of 15 such rooms, to prevent air from being recirculated into other parts of the hospital, spokeswoman Emily Kumlien said Tuesday. The separate respiratory care unit in the ER for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients opened Friday, she said.
UW Hospital has joined the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project, which plans to study the use of antibodies from people who have recovered from the viral respiratory disease to treat patients newly infected with it.
The hospital has expanded its Emergency Department capacity by creating a Respiratory Care Unit for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients.
Quoted: Experts say the logistics will get tougher to solve. “There’s a lot of specifics about this situation that makes this particularly risky for food-insecure households,” said Judi Bartfeld, a food security researcher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “So in many ways I think it’s a perfect storm.”
What began two weeks ago with a pair of scientists urging the use of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients to rescue the sick has blown up into a national movement.
Shilagh Mirgain, UW Health psychologist, said some of her clients actually prefer virtual health care because they get to talk with her from the comfort of their home.
UW Health, Marshfield Clinic Health System, Promega and Exact Sciences will now work alongside Wisconsin Clinical Lab Network to share resources and technology to increase testing capabilities.
According to a statement from Gov. Tony Evers’ office, Fitchburg-based Promega, Madison-based Exact Sciences and UW Health, and Marshfield-based Marshfield Health Clinic System will work with the laboratory network to share knowledge, resources and technology to boost the state’s ability to test patients for the virus, which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19.
“Getting that confidence and training to go in with these high risk patients is important,” said Shannon DiMarco, the Clinical Simulation Center’s Operations Director. “I think it isn’t something that we look at carefully every single day, but now that we’re faced with it we have the opportunity to bridge that gap.”
The UW Health Clinical Simulation Program trained more than 1,400 physicians and staff on the proper use of personal protective equipment in the past seven days.
Measure comes after several students returning to Madison tested positive for COVID-19.
Quoted: “This is a tale of two proteins, one viral, the other human, getting close and familiar and interacting more strongly,” said Michael Sussman, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: But the experience in the United States appears to be different, so far. Jeffrey P. Kanne, chief of thoracic imaging at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said that U.S. experts are not currently recommending CT scans to diagnose patients without the genetic test.
On the other side of Dane County, workers are assembling face shields for doctors based on a design sketched out by UW-Madison engineers and a Madison design firm.
UW-Madison is telling students who traveled over spring break to quarantine themselves for two weeks, whether or not they have symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
UW Hospital is treating “a few” patients with COVID-19; SSM Health, which includes St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, also has “a few”; and UnityPoint Health-Meriter has “several,” hospital officials said Friday. As recently as a week ago, the hospitals said they weren’t treating any such patients, though Meriter said it had discharged one.
The Interim Medical Director of University Health Services, G. Patrick Kelly, said on the university’s website on Friday that he had received reports of several students testing positive.
In a letter shared with students and posted online, UHS’ Interim Medical Director Patrick Kelly said that any students who traveled during spring break, regardless of whether or not they have symptoms, should self-isolate for 14 days.
UW-Madison’s University Health Services has committed to finding alternative ways to support students during this time of uncertainty as the novel coronavirus continues to steer public policy away from face-to-face interactions.
Letter to the editor from Lisa Reisig Ferrazzano, a linguist, writer and Italian instructor at UW Continuing Studies. She is a mother of three and the wife of a pediatric intensive care doctor at American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison.
UW-Madison School of Pharmacy is stepping in to produce hand sanitizers for UW Health.
UW Health is considering using the vacant rooms as potential hospital overflow rooms. Brendon Dybdahl, the marketing and communications director of UW Housing, said the residence halls are being considered because of the variety of rooms, the number and the location downtown.
UW Health has been getting questions from individuals and businesses asking how they can help the hospital fight COVID-19. In other news, UW Health and the UW School of Pharmacy are teaming up to manufacture hand sanitizer for the hospital.
The nursing shortage has been a historic problem, said Linda Scott, dean of UW-Madison’s School of Nursing. What’s particularly problematic in this case is that there aren’t enough nurses nor are there enough educators to train future nurses. And many of those educators will soon retire. … UW-Madison’s traditional nursing program alone receives about 400 applicants for 160 spots. At least half of the students not admitted are qualified for the program, Scott said.
The worst and most notable flu outbreak in modern times is the 1918 influenza pandemic, responsible for millions of deaths worldwide. Peter Shult, director of the Communicable Disease Division at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, discussed the factors that contribute to pandemics during an Oct. 10, 2018 presentation at the Wednesday Nite @ the Lab lecture series on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus,and recorded for PBS Wisconsin’s University Place.
For Alta Charo, a bioethicist with the University of Wisconsin – Madison, withholding treatments is a very pragmatic decision. ’It doesn’t help anybody if our doctors and nurses are felled by this virus and not able to care for us,’ she said. ’The code process is one that puts them at an enhanced risk.’
Quoted: R. Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin-Madison bioethicist, acknowledged the prospect of withholding such care is unsettling but pragmatic. “It doesn’t help anybody if our doctors and nurses are felled by this virus and not able to care for us,” she said. “The code process is one that puts them at an enhanced risk.”
The hospitals in Madison have been in communication with the University of Wisconsin – Madison about possibly using their dorms in some capacity during a surge.
“I know how many people are depending on me to get the supplies here,” said UW Health Inventory Control Coordinator Sandy Kreger. “A lot of long hours, nights, and weekends just to get the supplies here.”
Quoted: “We’ve had some children,” said Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection control and prevention at UW Health in Madison. Safdar said she was not allowed to reveal the exact number of children who’ve come to her hospital with the disease, but said, “It’s very few.”
Quoted: “Stay well hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids. Warm tea with honey and broth soups (yes, chicken soup!) can also be soothing,” Morgan says. The most important thing is to stay hydrated, emphasizes Dr. Jeff Pothof, chief quality and safety officer at UW Health, which is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Featured: Dr. Thomas Brazelton is medical director for UW Health’s telehealth program and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. In an interview with WPR’s “The Morning Show,” Brazelton said many providers haven’t invested in telehealth services because of the cost of the equipment or the desire to improve in-person treatment options.
Quoted: Even in communities where no one has tested positive, it’s important people avoid contact as much as possible, said Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Charo cited recent information coming out of Iceland, which claims to have tested a larger percentage of its residents than any other country, showing only about 50 percent of people with the virus felt symptoms.
Quoted: A 2015 study of influenza and credit card and mortgage defaults in 83 metro areas found the largest effects were for 90-day defaults, suggesting a flu outbreak has a “disproportionate impact on vulnerable borrowers who are already behind on their payments.”
“And that’s just a regular flu, not a pandemic where you actually are having people sent home before they’re sick,” said J. Michael Collins, one of the study’s authors and professor and director of the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Johnson Crosby is finishing her final semester of nursing school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Under most circumstances she would be poised to start her final clinical rotation at University Hospital while preparing to join the workforce in May.
