TN
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) — The Tennessee Department of Health announced two new cases of COVID-19 in Middle Tennessee.
That brings the total number in the state to 6
SOUTH KOREA
How A South Korean City Is Changing Tactics To Tamp Down Its COVID-19 Surge
As the virus spread in the early days of the outbreak, a slow trickle of patients entered Daegu’s hospitals, which were equipped to handle it, Lee says. “Daegu city’s policy, at first, was to put every patient in a negative pressure room, regardless of the severity of their symptoms,” he says. Negative pressure rooms isolate infected patients by preventing contaminated air from escaping the room.
The trickle soon turned into a deluge of hundreds of patients, and by Feb. 23, when the increase in new cases in Daegu exceeded 100 per day, the city’s hospitals became clogged with patients with mild symptoms. As of Friday, some 1,800 of Daegu’s coronavirus patients were at home awaiting hospital beds. Two of them died waiting.
...
Kim Hyeonggab, president of the Korean Association of Public Health Doctors and a medical volunteer in Daegu, says he’s seeing a shift in tactics from health authorities from trying to contain and trace the virus to trying to mitigate its impact and prevent deaths. This has been done nationwide and involves a range of actions, from canceling schools to calling off K-pop concerts.
“Since last Saturday, I’ve seen government efforts shift to securing more hospital beds and building a triaging system,” says Kim — prioritizing patients with severe symptoms at health facilities.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/10/812865169/how-a-south-korean-city-is-changing-tactics-to-tamp-down-its-covid-19-surge