At a meeting with emergency personnel Monday night, Dr. Bert Beisel offered his insights into the coronavirus affecting the nation and community.
“It’s coming. The virus is here; there is no doubt about that,” the physician said.
Beisel, a family physician at the University of Southern Mississippi Student Health Center and a volunteer with the Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department, said a major concern is overwhelming the medical system with everyone getting sick at the same time.
“We need to minimize exposure. We are at a unique opportunity here because we can do this collectively with cool heads and no chaos. We can think and talk about this now,” he said.
Both he and Marion County Emergency Management Director Aaron Greer said believe things might be different in two to three weeks as COVID-19 becomes more widespread.
Beisel stressed it is very important to limit person-to-person traffic.
He was asked if the warmth and humidity of South Mississippi would have any effect on the virus and said in the laboratory it did. However, in Australia COVID-19 is in full swing and it is the middle of summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Beisel said hot and humid conditions might flatten the curve some of how many people get sick at once but probably not a lot.
Beisel said the attack rate of the virus is very high and that up to 30% to 40% of the population is probably going to get it. The good news, though, is 80% will probably have a fairly mild case, while 20% could be severe or critical.
“All of this is speculation from data from other countries, which are in the middle or full swing,” he said.
The main goal, he said, is to make sure the 20% of those who are severe and/or critical do not happen at the same time. That would be a disaster and would totally overwhelm everyone, he said.
“Responses should be sensible and done in a step-wise fashion,” he said.
Jason Harris, superintendent of Columbia School District, said he and Wendy Bracey, superintendent of Marion County School District, would issue a status response once a week. Beisel agreed that with all of the information flooding in, it would keep people from being overwhelmed.
Beisel said the cases in China are rapidly declining and cases in Italy are starting to decline, and if the U.S. follows the same trend, decline should begin in about two to three months here.
Cole Robbins, chief of Tri-Community Fire Department, asked what were the ages most affected by this disease. Beisel said according to the information received from China the average age of a person contracting the virus is 52. The average age of a person who dies from it is 65. Based on what is coming out of China, 2% to 5% of the cases are children, he said.
Beisel stressed washing hands and social distancing are the best things to do right now.
