Letters to the Editor - 9/8/2021

Response to the pandemic

To the Editor:

In response to Richard Esterman’s letter of August 11: There is a thorough review of studies supporting the effectiveness of masks in reducing transmission of the COVID-19 virus which was compiled by CDC available on their website CDC.gov. It is titled “Human Studies of Masking and SARS-CoV-2 Transmission” and includes reviews of 16 different studies.

A brief search online led me to this information, so it is readily available to anyone. Now that the delta variant is here we need to return to wearing masks outdoors since people refuse to stay over six feet apart! Standing side-by-side, even out in the open air, is simply not safe. It’s unknown whether cloth masks will prevent the delta from spreading, so I’m going back to N-95s.

The response to the pandemic is a work in progress. The world has not seen a crisis of this magnitude since the Spanish Flu, which was prior to vaccines and only stopped by masking and a (fortunate) decline in potency of the flu virus not fully understood. Meanwhile, there have been 150,000 new cases and 1,000 deaths every day in the last week in August in the U.S., according to the New York Times!

Sharon Booth, M.D.

Monoclonal antibody treatment

To the Editor:

Central Oregonians — it is so very important that you are aware we have an excellent treatment for COVID-19 that is extremely effective and may keep those positive COVID-19 patients from needing to use our hospital.

The outpatient therapy, monoclonal antibodies, must be prescribed by your physician. There are several requirements to be eligible, but please, most importantly, ask your doctor. This outpatient treatment is available through St. Charles, and Summit BMC will have a soft opening for this monoclonal antibodies treatment by October 1.

Deschutes County had over 1,000 positive cases this past week and our health department said the supply chain of this treatment was adequate. You do want to be treated in the first 48 to 72 hours of the diagnosis.

Please do your research. In addition to this outpatient antibodies treatment, I was told by a COVID-19 survivor to use CD Zinc, which of course, means Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and zinc to keep oneself healthy.

Patti Adair