SARATOGA LIVINGThe City. The Culture. The Life.

With the COVID-19 pandemic bearing down on the Capital Region right now, it’s tough not to panic. It’s a scary time, and we’re all worried about catching the potentially deadly virus. Not to mention the fact that New York State has the highest number of cases of any of the 50 states and those numbers are ballooning.

But what if it was your job to be calm, cool and collected all day, every day? You know, actually be around people that were possibly infected with the virus and try to help treat them as best you could, with supplies of protective gear dwindling. That’s what Dr. Elizabeth Sandel, DO, has been dealing with on a daily basis at Lettrick Family Medicine, a small family medical practice based in Castleton-on-Hudson, NY, just southeast of Albany.

Full disclosure: I know her as “Badass Beth,” one of the other gym-rat regulars that, up until recently, congregated at anatomie in Troy every weekday morning at 6am to get pulverized for 45 minutes. I didn’t realize she was a doctor until yesterday, when I saw her expressing frustration about her general, daily malaise on social media. It made me feel like a jerk for all of the times I’d complained about anything, work-related, over the last three weeks. And it got me thinking.

I asked her if she’d give you a peek into the life of a Capital Region doctor during the COVID-19 crisis, and she agreed. I’m hoping her answers below allow Capital Region residents to understand just how lucky they are to be in isolation at home right now.

Have you dealt with anyone that has displayed symptoms of COVID-19 or has come in thinking they might have it?
We definitely have patients who have had contact [and] were displaying symptoms—sore throat, cough, fever, shortness of breath—[but] so far, all of our tests have come back negative. Initially, we didn’t have the test kits, and we still have a very limited supply—[and] the recommendation had been anyone who came in direct contact [with someone who had COVID-19], came from a pandemic area or was displaying symptoms, we would send to these tents set up outside of [Albany] Memorial or Albany Med to get tested. We would triage the phone calls, and then send the order forms over. But, they ran out of tests, so now we’re at a point where we don’t really know [how many people have been infected].

Where are doctors getting these tests in the first place?
I work for Dr. [Michael] Lettrick and I know he got them through LabCorp. He was only allotted 8-10, and most offices have only been allotted 8-10, so we’re very, very, very careful with who we’re going to use those on, and if we were going to [test] somebody—and I’ve done this multiple times today—we just kind of suit up with the limited supplies that we have for our protection, and we go out to [their] car, and we do our visit there at their car to keep them out of the office. Because the last thing we need is everybody in the office getting it. That’s the current state of things.

We’re trying to limit our well-patient visits [i.e. routine checkups], we’re doing a lot of phone consultations. If somebody needs to be seen because they have abdominal pain or symptoms unrelated to [COVID-19], we will obviously see them, but we’re trying to keep [that down to a minimum]. Last week, in the mornings, we saw all of our non-COVID-related-illness patients, and in the afternoon, we would see more respiratory infections or strep throat or influenza that we didn’t feel were COVID-19 risks. This week, my boss really felt like that should be changed, so he does not really want any upper-respiratory symptoms in the office at all. That’s why I started going out to the car. There’s really not a good guideline for us, and we don’t have test kits. We don’t have the proper protective equipment for us or our patients, so it’s a little bit tricky.

What are you most worried about right now?
My main worry is that we are in a state where we are expecting our medical professionals to go in completely unprotected. You see these videos of hazmat suits—we don’t have the proper protective equipment. I’m allotted one N95 respirator mask a day. That’s not protocol. OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] says we’re supposed to use it on one patient, then throw it out. And that’s not what’s happening. We can’t do that right now. That’s a little concerning. Plus, are we going to run out of gloves? Are we going to run out of basic supplies? I know that the hospitals are dealing with it, it’s not just our office. To me, that’s a huge concern.

The other major concern I have is how quickly can we get [the] rapid [COVID-19] test that’s been approved and can detect [COVID-19] in 45 minutes. To me, that’s a huge benefit, because we’d have people drive up, we’d do the test, have them wait, you’re positive or negative…and that, I think, would reduce the spread, because we’ll be able to detect who has it and who doesn’t, and if we’re able to do that in large quantities, we’ll be able to test even the most asymptomatic patients to see if they are carrying the disease. We know that—or we think we know that—it’s most contagious in those first few days of symptoms. We really just need to know how contagious are you for how long, we really just don’t know any of those answers.

What is the most important thing people can do who have to go out in public right now?
If you’re going to stores, try going at times where they’re just opening or late at night, when there will be less people there. You want to reduce the exposure by minimizing the amount of people in the building. But I do think, at this point, [wear] a basic mask and gloves, [and] if you have access to an N-95, [wear it]. And just try to keep six feet apart from people when you’re at the store. I do think it would benefit the stores to allow only a certain amount of people in at a time. Maybe there needs to be some kind of a rule for people to follow—here’s the days, if your last name starts with an S-Z, this is your supermarket, and you wait in line and get what you need. Limit it to 30 people in the store at once. Something where there could be a less easy way for [COVID-19] to spread. But I do worry that there are people that are not understanding [what] true social distancing means. And it’s going to extend this whole thing.

Is it possible that the cure for or end to the COVID-19 pandemic is buried somewhere deep in a field of 1s and 0s? That’s what the White House is hoping. On Monday, March 23, it announced that it had formed the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium to enable worldwide researchers to better and faster research the virus and potentially put an end to it.

At press time, more than 370,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, and the virus has killed more than 16,000 people. In terms of the US, New York State has been hit the hardest of all 50 states, with more than 20,000 cases having been reported and causing more than 150 deaths.

“America is coming together to fight COVID-19, and that means unleashing the full capacity of our world-class supercomputers to rapidly advance scientific research for treatments and a vaccine,” said Michael Kratsios, US Chief Technology Officer, in a statement. The consortium includes tech world giants IBM, Amazon Web Services, the Google Cloud, Microsoft and Hewlett Packard Enterprise; experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Troy, NY-based college, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI); US Department of Energy laboratories, including Illinois’ Argonne National Laboratory, California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and New Mexico/California-based Sandia National Laboratories; as well as government agencies the National Science Foundation and NASA.

The White House put out an open call for researchers to submit proposals via an online portal, which would then be matched with the powerful computing resources, along with a panel of scientists and other researchers to see if there would be any public health benefit.

This comes in the wake of criticism regarding how the White House handled the initial response to the COVID-19 outbreak and its subsequent spread throughout the US. While the threat of the virus’ spread was initially downplayed by the president, the White House has since been on the offensive, declaring a national emergency, as well as announcing a previous partnership with the Ad Council, a number of major media networks (such as NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS) and digital platforms to get the word about the virus and safety measures that can be taken to prevent its spread.

My wife and I recently made the executive decision that it would be much safer to do all of my Saratoga Springs-based parents’ grocery shopping for them until the COVID-19 pandemic ended. Our reasoning? At press time, there are more than 350,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, which have caused 15,000 deaths. Of those, more than 35,000 cases are in the US alone, and the virus has killed more than 450 people here. By a long shot, New York State has the most cases at 16,900 total, with some 1,100 new cases cropping up daily. One-hundred and fifty New Yorkers have already lost their lives.

We realized the severity of the situation when my parents didn’t even resist. The way we looked at it was this: Even if some local supermarkets, like Price Chopper/Market 32, were offering “senior hours,” leaving their home was still a major risk. We knew that my parents were more vulnerable to the virus, and we wanted to keep them safe because we loved them. So, we had my mom send us her shopping list, decided on a drop-off location, packed up our reusable bags and set out to the local grocery store for the first time since the governor told everybody to stay put. (Grocery store trips have been deemed “essential,” if it wasn’t already obvious.)

Because I’m not really interested in pointing fingers during this particularly trying time, I won’t be identifying which supermarket we went to, but let me tell you, I had a panic attack within two minutes of setting foot in there. I’m already starting to worry about the next time we have to go and stock up. First of all, there were at least 300-400 people there (that’s an estimate), and many were milling about, as if it were just another morning at the grocery store. When we went to get our grocery carts, the first thing we did was wipe down the plastic bars on them with disinfectant wipes and then put hand sanitizer on our hands. The woman who came in immediately behind us did nothing of the sort and looked at us as if we were from Mars. Not a single person in the entire market was practicing social distancing, and none of the market’s employees seemed too concerned about it. None of the market’s employees appeared to be using hand sanitizer after touching customers’ items or wiping down their conveyor belts after usage. (That’s, partly, due to the fact that there were no managers enforcing checkout lines or food aisles or how many people could be in them at the same time.) And none of the market’s staff, including our cashier, was wearing gloves or face masks.

If you think I’m playing the blame game here, you’re wrong. In fact, I can’t think of a more brave person in the greater workforce right now than grocery store workers. They’re daily dealing with panicking people on a daily basis, who are under a lot of stress and may lash out. As it were, per this NBC News story, “Grocery store workers, unlike health care providers, are not on the whole being given masks or other protective gear to wear on the job.” Hence my observations; it makes them sitting ducks.

As I walked briskly through the market, making sure to check off the many items that my mom had meticulously added to her shopping list, which was supposed to last her and my dad for two weeks, I passed within inches of strangers, time and again. One man had a face mask and gloves on and was desperately trying to get one of the nut dispensers to work. He was rattling it, frustratingly, within a few feet of me. He was one of just two people I noticed in the entire market wearing a face mask, so I figured I didn’t technically have to social distance from him. (That’s not entirely accurate, per the Guardian.)

The food aisles were pretty well stocked, but some of the staples such as fresh vegetables, pasta, red meat and cereal were picked over or completely gone. (Supermarket News reports that, despite some rumors, there are no nationwide food shortages.) The meat counter was closed—but surprisingly, the cold cut counter was open for business, with people in line that were definitely not six feet apart from one another. In the meat shelves area, I nabbed one of the last few organic chickens for my mom—and had to substitute ground turkey for beef, because there just wasn’t any of the latter left. Making my final round out of the frozen goods aisle, I thought I heard a man cough or sneeze loudly. My head was spinning. I called my wife, and we met up at checkout.

In the checkout line, there were yet more people standing around, just a few feet away from one another, and once it got to be our turn to check out, we found ourselves sandwiched between our cashier and the other one to our immediate right. (Psst! Here are some checkout aisle etiquette tips you can follow for the remainder of the outbreak.)  My wife smiled at me and triumphantly held up a roll of toilet paper. “Look what I found?” she said.

Earth to the Capital Region: This is not a drill—and it’s certainly not fake news. It’s real life. So, when the governor orders you to stay at home and practice social distancing, do it. If that means getting out of your comfort zone for the 20 minutes you’re at the supermarket, so be it. Think of it this way: By doing so, you might be saving lives. Because, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few weeks, it’s been clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is only going to get worse before it gets better. And we, as Upstate New Yorkers, need to do what we can to keep everyone around us safe. You with me, Saratoga?

Yes, it’s a major bummer that many of you have to work from home indefinitely—or have lost your jobs entirely. But just take a second and think about all of the doctors, physicians assistants, nurses and medical staffers at local hospitals, who are working around the clock to help the sick and stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, try to picture the unimaginable: These healthcare workers running out of the supplies they need to protect themselves from COVID-19 and potentially contracting the virulent virus. You don’t need an MD to know how bad that could turn out.

For that reason, Saratoga County and New York State have put out a desperate call to owners in industries that use personal protective equipment (PPE) products such as latex gloves, N-95 masks and gowns, to donate their currently unused equipment to local healthcare providers. (Think of it like the close cousin of rationing chewing gum during World War II.) These could include nail salons, tattoo parlors, barbershops and nonessential manufacturing companies.

Interested in pitching in? You can reach out to Carl Zeilman, commissioner at the
Saratoga County Office of Emergency Services either via email [email protected] or phone 518.221.6989.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has also put out a call to local businesses that have the ability to mass-produce PPE equipment, encouraging them to start the manufacturing process immediately. The idea here is that it wouldn’t be on the business owners’ dime; in fact, the state is willing to pump funds into any company looking to obtain the proper equipment to manufacture the goods, as well as the proper personnel to make it happen. Businesses interested in receiving state funding to manufacture PPE products should contact Eric Gertler at 212.803.3100 or email [email protected]. (If you are a Saratoga County based business, please email us and keep us informed so we can help support your efforts.)

Lastly, Governor Cuomo is also asking all PPE product providers to sell any products that are nonessential or not currently being used to the state. Businesses interested in selling products to the state should contact Simonida Subotic at 646.522.8477 or email [email protected].

Come Sunday, Saratogians, things are going to get a whole lot quieter out there in the Spa City. An executive order from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office was issued today (Friday, March 20) effectively locking down the entire state, as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic. In New York alone, confirmed cases have escalated above 7,100, with an alarming 3,000 new cases since Thursday. In a rigorous effort to stop the spread of the virus, Governor Cuomo has pushed forth “Matilda’s Law,” a provision named after his mother Matilda to represent the population most vulnerable to the virus, including the elderly and immunocompromised.

The mandatory shutdown requires that all nonessential businesses across the state close by Sunday at 8pm, leaving only essential businesses open. All nonessential employees must work from home during this period, and all nonessential gatherings of individuals will be prohibited. Places that can remain open include banks, gas stations, laundromats, grocery stores, pharmacies, transportation services and other businesses deemed essential by the state. Restaurants may remain open for takeout and delivery service only. Even the US tax deadline has been delayed from April 15 to July 15.

This statewide mandate follows California Governor Gavin Newsom’s orders for a stay-at-home lockdown as well, which began on the night of March 19. The number of COVID-19 cases is nearly 210,000 worldwide, with the number of deaths doubling in one week to over 10,000, as of today. In the US, there have been more than 200 deaths and 15,000 cases. In New York, there have been 35 deaths as of today.

“We’re going to take it to the ultimate step, which is we’re going to close the valve,” Governor Cuomo said during a media briefing.

To stay up to date on local, national and worldwide news concerning the coronavirus, check out the sources that Saratoga Living has compiled here.