Letters to the editor: Donate blood, lack of medical supplies, using inflated numbers
Donate blood
I am so proud of our health care workers – their dedication to helping people, even if doing so means putting themselves at risk. But did you know that you can save lives?
The coronavirus pandemic has caused the cancellation of many blood drives. While we are absorbed with this health threat, we must not forget that every day, patients across the country need nearly 36,000 life-saving units of red blood cells, 7,000 units of platelets and 10,000 units of plasma. Every single day.
We can make sure that kids and adults with cancer or other medical conditions or those with life-threatening injuries don’t needlessly die due to lack of blood.
If you have fever, cough, shortness of breath or have been diagnosed with or had close contact with a person with COVID-19 in the last month, stay home and protect others. But if you are healthy and feeling well, please reach out to your local donor center, schedule a donation and encourage your friends and family to do so, as well. Blood donation is safe and instead of staying home, you can save a life. Visit www.redcross.org. I have donated 27 units of blood in Idaho and I will be back to donate again next month!
David Pate, Meridian
Supplies
I am a local physician. COVID-19 is now spreading in our state. By the most conservative estimates we have less than 25% of the hospital beds we will need. I, as many other health care workers, have signed up for our general workforce that may redirect us from our regular practice to other patients in need. Many of us are now on call 24/7. When we are not doing clinical care, we are trying to figure out ways to preserve our supplies and keep our other patients safe. We do not have adequate protection. We do not even know our true exposure due to insufficient testing. We are putting ourselves and our families at very high risk of getting sick. I am writing to plead with our Governor to act NOW to close all meeting places and our population to strictly heed social distancing -- even OUTSIDE. If EVERYONE follows this advice we have a chance to improve our odds. We are not a dense population and we have a lot of space in our state. Strict social distancing can work, especially if done EARLY. The health care workforce has stepped up, please support us and do all that you can do, as well.
Dr. Amy Kirk, Boise
Inflated numbers
Sunday’s front page article by the Statesman’s editorial board was a call to action for Idahoans not to “drag our feet” regarding the coronavirus.
Okay, that’s VERY important, but in the article’s attempt to point out a potential lack of hospital beds, a hypothetical situation was offered, which based on current data from around the world, is simply unsupportable.
“…with 700,000 people in the greater Boise metro area, if we have just 10% of the population infected, that’s 70,000 people.” While that math is correct, this “if” statement is wildly overstated compared to actual data.
Consider the two most seriously impacted places on the planet. Hubei province has 67,800 cases and a population of 58.8 million or 00.115%. Italy has 53,578 cases and a population of 60.55 million or 00.088%. (See March 21 storymaps.arcgis.com) While there will be many more cases in both these places, to suggest that the Boise area will get to a 10% infection rate is, to me, blatant hyperbole, unreasonable conjecture and fear stoking.
Quoting “one Boise doctor” in this wildly overestimated “if” statement is doing your readers a terrible disservice, in a time where accuracy and reason should be the key points of the day.
Steve Cannariato, Boise