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HomeMy WebLinkAbout060223 FW_ KPTZ Listener Questions for Monday June 5_ 2023 BOCC Update ________________________________ From: Lynn Sorensen Sent: Friday, June 2, 2023 12:50:57 PM (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) To: Allison Berry; allison.berry@clallamcountywa.gov; Willie Bence; Greg Brotherton; Kate Dean; Heidi Eisenhour; jeffbocc; KPTZ VTeam Subject: KPTZ Listener Questions for Monday June 5, 2023 BOCC Update ________________________________ ALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them. ________________________________ County Commissioners, Dr Allison Berry, and Willie Bence, Please see the KPTZ listener questions below for Monday, June 5, 2023 BOCC update. Included are some very thoughtful and multi-facetted questions for Dr Berry to address come Monday. I am interested in how much longer this forum for listener questions will continue, and at what frequency. Would you please address this at the BOCC meeting? Thank you, Lynn Sorensen KPTZ Virus Watch Team Questions for Dr Allison Berry: 1. At a previous public health update, you mentioned that more faintly positive rapid tests are being seen. What guidance can you offer if : a) a rapid test is faintly positive, or b) following a known exposure, with a negative rapid test, and positive symptoms What are the guidelines regarding quarantine, repeat testing, etc. in these circumstances? Also, is there any emerging data about the potential long-term consequences of repeated cases of Covid, especially in children? My fully vaccinated granddaughter is almost 6 years old, but has now had Covid 3 times - once a year ago, then twice only 4 weeks apart quite recently. Are there concerns about potential long-term health effects? That grandchild lives in a multi-generational household that includes a medically vulnerable elder. Any tips for these types of families? 2. In 2019, the TSA prohibited passengers from bringing more than 3 ounces of hand sanitizer through airport checkpoints. In 2020, the allowable limit of hand sanitizer was increased to 12 ounces. Can you quantify the increased level of danger the flying public has been experiencing since greater amounts of hand sanitizer have been allowed into aircraft cabins? Didn't the Department of Homeland Security determine that more than three ounces of any liquid going through a checkpoint presented a dire threat to safety on airplanes? Why did they change their assessment of the threat of hand sanitizer in 2020? 3. Could you please discuss the new definition of long Covid and the post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) score as proposed in the May 25 article in JAMA? What should people experiencing these symptoms be aware of? Which body systems might be affected - how and why? Where can an individual in our area experiencing a high PASC score receive specialized care based on the most up-to-date research on long Covid? Thanks so much for all you do! 4. If a family member has Covid (especially a young child who can not reasonably isolate), the recommendation is that close contacts quarantine for 10 days after the close exposure, masking in public and around potentially vulnerable individuals (such as elderly frail individuals in or outside of the family). But when does that period of "close exposure" end? If the child is symptomatic and tests positive and then isolates for 5 days, and then continues to wear a mask at home and in public for 5 additional days, when does the 10 day quarantine begin and end for close family members who have continuous contact throughout that time? If they continue to test negative throughout that 10 day period of isolation/quarantine for the ill child, do they have to maintain their own quarantine status for an additional 10 days? Or can they consider their additional 10 days as beginning on day 5 of the child's illness? In this particular case, the family consists of 2 parents in their 40s/50s, a 5 year old in kindergarten, and a medically vulnerable frail elder who lives in the home. All are fully vaccinated per current CDC guidelines. The child and both parents had Covid 1 year ago after a school exposure. Then the child had another school exposure and contracted Covid for a second time a little more than a month ago and again both parents got it, too. Then, exactly 4 weeks after her second case of Covid, the child once again became ill and tested positive. Interestingly, this time the child had some mild conjunctivitis, which is apparently linked to the Arcturus subvariant. Thus far, the parents have not yet tested positive, though she is still in her 10 day window. The elderly person in the household has not had Covid at all because of the extreme measures they have taken to protect her. I give these details only because it illustrates some of the challenges similar households might face. 5. My wife (who has just gotten over Covid) went to JHC for lab work this morning. Out of 12 patients in the waiting room, only she and another person were masked. Why has JHC dropped their masking policy? Not long ago we were at UW, and they have chosen to continue with mandatory masking. Both of us have multiple high risks, and we felt much safer in that environment.