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covid-19 & pharmacists on the front lines
Bret Lentz, Caitilin Carriel, and Spencer Endecott of Drake University College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
Undoubtedly, the most newsworthy topic of the last three months has been the Coronavirus, or COVID-19. Rightfully so, the entire world has changed dramatically in a way that we have not seen at any point in history. Everything from businesses, cities and even entire countries have been placed on lockdown causing society to invent a term for staying home and avoiding unnecessary interactions - social distancing. Healthcare however, has dutifully stayed the course, although not without some major changes and challenges. Pharmacists are once again at the forefront of these changes, especially in the community as pharmacies are some of the only establishments still open and fully operational. Naturally, pharmacists are being asked a variety of questions regarding the pandemic. This article is by no means a one-stop-shop for all answers COVID-19, but it does provide some helpful background, current events, and perhaps a glimpse at what the future may hold. For the most upto-date information on COVID-19 visit IPA’s website with resources and weekly webinars at iarx.com/covid19.
Background
Let’s start with what the novel coronavirus is and how it is different from previous pandemics. There are a variety of coronaviruses that inhabit all kinds of mammals: humans, cows, bats, etc. This particular sequence is a betacoronavirus and like its two predecessors, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, it has been traced back to bats. This is why COVID-19 is occasionally referred to as SARS-CoV-2. The viral sequence in the United States, although slightly different, is similar to the one first found in Wuhan, China where the first outbreak of COVID-19 was reported. You may be wondering how this strain differs from its counterparts. For starters, this is the only coronavirus that has been classified as a pandemic. Before March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization had never classified a coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic. There have been four pandemics within the last century, all of which have been caused by a novel influenza virus. This suggests that this sequence of the coronavirus is far more contagious than its MERS and SARS relatives.
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| The Journal of the Iowa Pharmacy Association
Signs/Symptoms Hallmark Symptoms 1. Fever 2. Cough 3. Shortness of Breath
Severe/Emergency Symptoms 1. Troubled Breathing 2. Persistent Chest Pain or Pressure 3. Cyanotic in Lips or Face 4. New Onset Confusion or Inability to Arouse So how does it spread? It has been reported by the CDC that COVID-19 spreads primarily personto-person via respiratory droplets. Generally, this involves close contact with an infected person (within 6 feet) where a cough or a sneeze can spread the infection.3 Most reports from the CDC have suggested that people are most contagious when they are the most symptomatic. There have been rare incidents where someone is spreading the disease while asymptomatic.3 This is all the more reason to educate our patients of these hallmark symptoms, encouraging them to stay home when feeling ill or to seek emergency medical care when symptoms are severe. Symptoms can appear anywhere between 2 and 14 days after first exposure to the virus, so it is important to stay home to limit the spread throughout the community. However if the patient reports severe symptoms, they should be taken to the nearest emergency department for immediate testing and care.4 Now more than ever, it is important for pharmacists to be able to recognize these tell-tale signs and symptoms in order to protect our communities, flatten the curve, and relieve some pressure on a healthcare system that is seeing an exponential growth in reported cases.
Global/National Infection Rates
As of March 31st, COVID-19 has had 750,890 confirmed cases across the globe. The global death
