Covid Corner with Dr. Gary Jacques

Covid-19 Update Week of June 8,2020

“The will to persevere is oft the difference between failure and success.” -David Sarnoff

Stats: On Tuesday, June 9th New Mexico reported 47 new cases of Covid-19 for a total of 9105 cases to date. The death toll rose to 404 and 193 people are currently hospitalized. Los Alamos is reported as still having a total of six cases although an employee of LAMC reportedly tested positive recently. I do not know details or what county that employee lived in.

Commentary: Last week was an eventful one. There were 331 new cases reported on Friday which was an all-time record for daily cases. The week ended with over a 40% increase in cases from the week prior. Our neighbor Arizona had a similar rise. These increases are speculated to be due to the “opening up” of the economy. There is an expected lag of several weeks from a spike in transmission to a rise in reported cases (4-5 days incubation period, 4-5 days to testing, 4-5 days for test results) so the spike we saw last week may correlate to NM relaxing mid-May. Fortunately, cases this week seem to be down... so far. Let’s hope it stays that way!

Inspiration: Our self-isolation took many of us through different phases. From novelty, to pleasant respite, to boredom, hardship and beyond—we are all now more than ready for this thing to end.

Perseverance is defined as persistence in doing something in spite of difficulty or delay. It occurs in the setting of suffering. Perseverance doesn’t just happen, it takes character and it builds character. We decide in advance to persevere. We will ourselves to persevere as long as it takes as our quote today suggests. That will be required to successfully get to the other side of this pandemic.

Keep in mind, experts are now saying 25% to 45% of infected people may be asymptomatic and some models predict up to 40% of transmitted cases are by those without symptoms. The WHO had to roll back some statements this week to the contrary. No wonder we need to keep our masks and our distance up as we get out and about.

Let’s all persevere Los Alamos!

Gary Jacques, MD