Greetings from California where we are sheltering in place. Newsom did the right thing to save lives, but this will not be easy here in the Golden State. I worked in the emergency department last week, but I was in the less acute side – not managing high risk, respiratory patients. From what I have seen, hospital systems in the area have tremendously organized plans in place. My concern is that they will get overwhelmed soon.

Like most of you, I’ve been reading a lot on COVID-19, both in the lay and medical press. I’ve compiled some of my favorites as of this writing:

A must-listen-to interview from the New York Times’ Daily Podcast of an Italian ICU doctor managing the crisis in his country. Forward this one to your family and friends. 

An Annals of Internal Medicine piece on incubation period of COVID-19 with a visual abstract.

A visual representation and accompanying article on hospital bed capacity exhaustion from the Harvard Global Health Institute published by the New York Times. 

A widely circulated “ICU one pager” for clinicians on COVID-19.

I’m also now subscribed to a daily update on COVID-19 from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

The St. Louis versus Philadelphia 1918 flu mortality graph with accompanying article. Send this to anyone who doesn’t understand why social distancing is important. 

Please stay home as much as possible, and encourage your family and friends to do the same.