Speaker 1: Scott Flung Show on seven hundred w LW. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: got the cold, we got the ice, we've got the storm.
Speaker 1: Everything hopefully is behind us at this point. We'll see
Speaker 1: where we move from here. I do know this though,
Speaker 1: with everyone stuck inside, we're starting to see an increase
Speaker 1: the number of people presenting in emergency rooms and the
Speaker 1: like who are sick. Ohio's experience a high intensity flu
Speaker 1: outbreak right now. Also RSV respiratory virus season. This year,
Speaker 1: things have kind of stipled a little bit that way,
Speaker 1: but we're going to get a big surge again, I
Speaker 1: guess in February, so literally in a few days here.
Speaker 1: It is influenza AA super flu strain that is out
Speaker 1: there right now and right now even hospitalizations are nearly
Speaker 1: double what we saw at this time last year and
Speaker 1: about to get worse. Doctor Stephen Fagin's is the medical
Speaker 1: director for Hamlin. Connie Stephen, Welcome, Harry, doctor.
Speaker 2: Thanks got good morning, happy cold cold morning.
Speaker 1: Yeah no kidding, right, I mean that's the other element
Speaker 1: here too, with these sub zero temperatures.
Speaker 3: You know, what do you guys?
Speaker 1: You know at the Hemlin on the Health Department, most
Speaker 1: people had the last couple of days off anyways because
Speaker 1: of the ice and the snow and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: But what do you that deal with when we had
Speaker 1: a weather emergency like that.
Speaker 2: It is so cold just a few minutes outside, especially
Speaker 2: doing things like shoveling snow, which can be the most
Speaker 2: dangerous thing you do for your part and for other things,
Speaker 2: and always takes a few breakstes of the time and
Speaker 2: things like that. But so far, not a lot of hypothermia, thankfully,
Speaker 2: people have been inside. But the big issue is people
Speaker 2: can't leave the hospital. Yeah you got you gotta get
Speaker 2: them out.
Speaker 1: Right, and we're all stuck inside now, which also further
Speaker 1: complicates the issue of cold and flu on rs V.
Speaker 2: Right, it can, it can, And certainly, you know those
Speaker 2: people that you're stuck in, you've been around for a while,
Speaker 2: so they're not new people giving you stuff. But you know,
Speaker 2: you talk about the influenza, which really really skyrocketed sort
Speaker 2: of like in sort of early February, and because of
Speaker 2: the new trains actually coming down here in southwest Ohio
Speaker 2: and starting around the state, and so we peaked, you know,
Speaker 2: right at sort of Christmas or this Christmas holiday, probably
Speaker 2: three and a half times the peak that we've seen before.
Speaker 2: We're still above. We're still above the highest people. We
Speaker 2: we came down very quickly, and that's kind of what
Speaker 2: you'll see for something that a community is not accustomed to. Thankfully,
Speaker 2: the two mutations occurred on the part that makes it
Speaker 2: infectious rather than part that makes it, you know, virulent,
Speaker 2: are really bad. So the deaths and things like that
Speaker 2: not not as much, but it is coming down. In
Speaker 2: my own hostile I there were tons of flu, now
Speaker 2: now not so much.
Speaker 1: Are we going to accord that the what I said
Speaker 1: was from the CDC about we're expecting it to trend
Speaker 1: back upwards next month literally another week or so. Are
Speaker 1: we going to say that here in Ohio, south in Kentucky.
Speaker 2: That's the big question I on board would like to know.
Speaker 2: And you know you've seen one flute seven, you've seen
Speaker 2: one flu season. I do think we'll see a double
Speaker 2: second peak. You know, this is one strain of one strain,
Speaker 2: and so there are other strains of flu, there are
Speaker 2: other strains of restless stuff. So I do think in
Speaker 2: February we'll see some kind of increase. I don't think
Speaker 2: it'd be anywhere near what we saw in early January.
Speaker 1: Oh, well, that's good news. The other element here too.
Speaker 1: People hear this and go, okay, well it's a super
Speaker 1: flu strain. It's dominant virus. I know people that are
Speaker 1: getting sick and a like. Is it too late to
Speaker 1: get a flu shot?
Speaker 2: It was not too late to get a flu shot,
Speaker 2: especially since the probably next peak that we see will
Speaker 2: be exactly what the flu's four, so a good match
Speaker 2: and so no, it is absolutely not too late. It
Speaker 2: does take a week or two for it to have
Speaker 2: an effect, so you want to get it sooner than later.
Speaker 2: But we'll keep saying in a flu shot until the
Speaker 2: end of the flu season.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Ever, Steven Stector Figan's if you got a shot in
Speaker 1: I don't know, September October, the conventional I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's wisdom or just a livesteale, is that, Hey,
Speaker 1: that's only good for ninety days. You might have to
Speaker 1: get another one. Does the antibody stay in your body?
Speaker 1: Do you need a flu shot if you had it
Speaker 1: in September October?
Speaker 2: Yeh, that's a great question. You know, they do decrease
Speaker 2: and that's why you get it every year last maybe
Speaker 2: six months at most four months probably average some people
Speaker 2: like to wait until they kind of know the flu
Speaker 2: is really really coming out there, but it's still there.
Speaker 2: There is no recommendation for a second flu shot like
Speaker 2: a second boose or anything. In fact, they dons of
Speaker 2: studies and it really didn't make a difference.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for the season itself only six months, and that
Speaker 1: that shot should.
Speaker 3: Last year is what you're saying they should.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And if it doesn't, it's because well, we you know,
Speaker 1: it's a guessing game, you guys. You know they're working
Speaker 1: in the other half there, they're working on what they
Speaker 1: think is going to be the strain, and sometimes you
Speaker 1: do miss that. But it does protect you in a
Speaker 1: sense that your antibodies are up in your own body
Speaker 1: that you produce to protect you. So even if you
Speaker 1: get the flu. Can imagine this's happened to me last year.
Speaker 1: I always get the flu shot, and I got it
Speaker 1: last year, but it was only a couple of days.
Speaker 1: Hit me pretty hard, and I thought, well, thank god
Speaker 1: I had the flu shot, because it'd be much much
Speaker 1: worse if I didn't. I still got it, but it
Speaker 1: wasn't as bad as it could have.
Speaker 2: Been, exactly five days of badness. There's also influence of medication.
Speaker 2: It still works in too, thankfully the mutations has not
Speaker 2: really changed that. So but you got to take it
Speaker 2: within the first day or two of the symptom. You know,
Speaker 2: they started very suddenly for it to work, and really
Speaker 2: it really does. It just stops it from replicating, so
Speaker 2: it goes away faster when you take the medication.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you still got to get a script for that too.
Speaker 1: It seems like that's something like an epipenny before you like,
Speaker 1: by the time I get to my doctor, they call
Speaker 1: the script and it's uh, it's already advanced.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting, you know, making that over the counter.
Speaker 2: It is an anti viral. Sometimes there are certain nursing
Speaker 2: homes if there's an outbreak, then they give it one
Speaker 2: today to everybody for a couple of weeks, even force teams. Bamously,
Speaker 2: the US Olympic team had a flu outbreak and they
Speaker 2: took Tama flu and they won five gold medals one
Speaker 2: Winter Electics from that team. So you know who knows.
Speaker 1: Yeah again, doctor Stephen Fagin's he's director Hamlet County Medical
Speaker 1: Hamila County Medical Director. I guess I should say we're
Speaker 1: talking about the flu and RSV season where what these
Speaker 1: cold temperatures are going to be stuck indoors even more.
Speaker 1: Of course, that causes it to be more communicable because
Speaker 1: you're around people the drier temperatures and other thing, which
Speaker 1: is why we advise having the humidity level in your
Speaker 1: house like around nice, comfortable thirty percent. It saves money,
Speaker 1: but also it may reduce you getting the sickness or
Speaker 1: at least passing on, which is in the workplace you
Speaker 1: don't really have that. This is why we see the
Speaker 1: flu spread as much as we do. Humidity is a
Speaker 1: big part of part of this too, right, that can't
Speaker 1: be understanding.
Speaker 2: It really is. And so why do you get cold
Speaker 2: in the cold. It's not necessarily the cold weather. It's
Speaker 2: the lower humidity and that's virus. So a ton of
Speaker 2: studies I've really shown that, you know, it's it's the
Speaker 2: lower humidity that doesn't really cause the virus and has
Speaker 2: a little veriance to break up. Like you look at
Speaker 2: versus say forty, you know you're gonna have a lot
Speaker 2: less vires. Property particles make it sixty plus for the
Speaker 2: higher humidity back here the opposite though, it's actually lower
Speaker 2: humidity that you want for bacteria that's how your operating
Speaker 2: rooms are all run at lower humidity on purpose to
Speaker 2: prevent bacterial infections. And so it's the viruses that are not,
Speaker 2: you know, inhibited by the lower humidity. So what about
Speaker 2: it humidifier, you know, and and for that little piece
Speaker 2: that it helps helps with symptoms, may help increase the humidity,
Speaker 2: may help with symptoms, but make sure that you wash
Speaker 2: it because you don't want the bacteria and humidifying.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's talk about maybe if we get a
Speaker 1: second wave. The FED saying okay, CDC looks like we
Speaker 1: may see a spike in February said got I hope not.
Speaker 3: But some of you plan for the worst, hope for
Speaker 3: the best.
Speaker 2: We always plan for, say, if you're a health system,
Speaker 2: you always plan for a third in anything. Right now
Speaker 2: children since my children that seem more ares to the
Speaker 2: hospital bass and flu, so there's always some virus or
Speaker 2: some kind of bacteria. It's going to be out there,
Speaker 2: so you always plan for that. As a house, you know,
Speaker 2: you always plan for treatment or being able to call
Speaker 2: a healthcare provider to get medication or at least to
Speaker 2: get an evaluation if need be. And so you know
Speaker 2: the usual things are the are the usual things just
Speaker 2: like you're just like your mont said.
Speaker 3: Yep, yeah, well how are we doing on RSV?
Speaker 1: So r C is up.
Speaker 2: In fact, if you look around, we don't know as
Speaker 2: much about our speakers. We don't test an adults. They
Speaker 2: tested children well than not. We don't test it, so
Speaker 2: it could be more than we know. So we look
Speaker 2: at wastewater and wastewater says show RSC levels being about
Speaker 2: half because they were very high this time last year,
Speaker 2: so maybe half to two thirds of what they were
Speaker 2: last year, but certainly typical of this time of year.
Speaker 1: Okay, So RSV is a different thing entire generally hits
Speaker 1: the younger and maybe the older as well, but all
Speaker 1: of us, I think we all amen. God, I hope
Speaker 1: I don't get the flu this year, and a lot
Speaker 1: of people are sick. And I think there's also a
Speaker 1: misdiagnosis too, would agree. Most people think they have the
Speaker 1: flu and it may not be the flu, or don't
Speaker 1: think they have the flu and they actually.
Speaker 2: Do, oh of course, and who knows what the you
Speaker 2: know what the cold is. And until you test, pretty
Speaker 2: much everybody who comes in works department or at least
Speaker 2: gets in the hospital gets at least a flu test
Speaker 2: A and B and A and a COVID test. Sometimes
Speaker 2: we do more if we're not sure. But yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean there's all kinds of stuff you know, you you
Speaker 2: may or may not have had, and you get through it.
Speaker 3: How's our COVID rate?
Speaker 2: By the way, So covid you know, kind of popped
Speaker 2: up and in fact I sort of see more in
Speaker 2: the hospital myself, and maybe peaking. Uh probably you know,
Speaker 2: half of what last year and you had a little
Speaker 2: little peak in August that we're roughly about that level.
Speaker 2: And so that's why, you know, when you look at
Speaker 2: the winter, you look at it as a whole respiratory season,
Speaker 2: it always seems like something's gonna fill it. Flu comes down,
Speaker 2: COVID goes up, RSB, whatever, And so the actual number
Speaker 2: of respiratory ialits is a kind of constant curve through
Speaker 2: the winter, right.
Speaker 3: Uh is that part of the problem too.
Speaker 1: You mentioned all of the confluence all these things, and
Speaker 1: with multiple respiratory viruses cost circulating, I think people need
Speaker 1: to know to make treatment decisions. For example, you know
Speaker 1: mentioned tamil flu for the flu, but what is the
Speaker 1: state here of accessible affordable testing in the county.
Speaker 2: It's pretty good, and so we do recommend, you know,
Speaker 2: going tho Stor and you can get a combination of
Speaker 2: flu and COVID death. And in fact, you know, sometimes
Speaker 2: employers will ask employees to do that, like, hey, you're
Speaker 2: feeling bad, go and check that. Check that before you come.
Speaker 2: And certainly sports teams, Hey, you feeling bad, go ahead
Speaker 2: and check that. Law sports teams travel with those with
Speaker 2: those testings. So it's pretty pretty available, like twenty dollars
Speaker 2: or so you can get there. You need to do two.
Speaker 2: And so you do need to do one. Okay, it's negative,
Speaker 2: you know, wait twelve hours or maybe the next day.
Speaker 2: The second one just to confirm. And that's why there
Speaker 2: are two tests in those in those tackets that you buy.
Speaker 1: Gotcha, what does your shelf life for that? By the way,
Speaker 1: most people don't even bother reading expiration.
Speaker 2: Dates, well, you know, they're pretty good, pretty last at
Speaker 2: least a couple of years. I always check the expiration date,
Speaker 2: hopefully on self stuff that's expired. But they continue to study,
Speaker 2: you know, whether these things are still correct. Even though
Speaker 2: COVID changes, the test still picks it up and the
Speaker 2: influenza changes. The new flu still picked up by the
Speaker 2: point care or the typical influenza test. They checked that,
Speaker 2: so there's still reasonably accurate. Hardst part is getting the
Speaker 2: thing up your nose to the point that it needs
Speaker 2: to be.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: If you've been around during what FU six years ago,
Speaker 1: you remember jamming that thing up until it came out
Speaker 1: of the top of your head, So you know those
Speaker 1: days are back when you get the two we should.
Speaker 3: Be used to this stuff, doctor, well sort of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's always uncomfortable to get that thing and get
Speaker 1: that good sample, but again, then you know what you
Speaker 1: have and can seek treatment relative to that. Especially with flu,
Speaker 1: you can get early treatment and really knock that thing down.
Speaker 1: Between the vaccination and tamil, food products anti virals, you're
Speaker 1: probably in pretty good shape. It seems like we are
Speaker 1: weathering the storm quite well.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 1: We are, like, you know, it feels like we're halfway
Speaker 1: through winter. Although winner doesn't want to give it up,
Speaker 1: it's going to be a while here before we can
Speaker 1: stop having this conversation. But you see them on top
Speaker 1: of things and ready for whatever mother nature throws out.
Speaker 2: It sounds like, well, thanks, And there's a ton of
Speaker 2: people epidemiologists and a ton of people always watching, always looking,
Speaker 2: want checking down the sort of you know, expects the
Speaker 2: disease fighters there who are working, working all the time,
Speaker 2: and anytime something pops up, there's a conversation, discussion, and
Speaker 2: we talk not just with the health apartments, with the
Speaker 2: health systems, and so we have a pretty good network.
Speaker 2: We've been texting all morning of the health systems and
Speaker 2: the health departments here in this part of the country.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you work together to make sure that
Speaker 1: you know, you see the trends coming before we know
Speaker 1: about them for sure. Is there something on the horizon
Speaker 1: do you know about you can maybe in the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks or a couple of months, how and
Speaker 1: how far in advance you kind of figure these.
Speaker 3: Things out well.
Speaker 2: And so there is this thing called the winter vomiting
Speaker 2: Thickness Vote of our you know, the things see on
Speaker 2: cruise it and stuff like that. And we in the
Speaker 2: past week or so have in fact seeing uh one
Speaker 2: or more of our wastewater treatment plants start to come
Speaker 2: up in voatavirus and so probably put out you know,
Speaker 2: the alert here in the next next day or so.
Speaker 2: And so that's not something you want either, And so
Speaker 2: it's not a bit so, you know, but I will
Speaker 2: tell you it's that that right now it's roughly half
Speaker 2: of what it was this time of year, but this
Speaker 2: time of year last year we had one of the
Speaker 2: highest amounts of roatavirus that we've seen a long time.
Speaker 2: So so we're at typical levels, but we are. You know,
Speaker 2: the wastewater is showing that. And you know, wastewater doesn't
Speaker 2: lie for rotavirus because that's how it how it breads.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so rotavirus routine facts and intents get it a
Speaker 1: lot too. But is it solely hand washing? And what
Speaker 1: is the as you call the vector the same?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 2: What? How?
Speaker 1: How do you want to contract dirty hands?
Speaker 2: Right? The same thing? Hand washing? Good hand washing more
Speaker 2: of our of ours. Both of those are kind of
Speaker 2: the same. And so you know, good good hand washing,
Speaker 2: and especially especially if you find the family is really
Speaker 2: throwing up a lot it is that you know that
Speaker 2: vombit it that's in Texas, and so you want to
Speaker 2: sanitize that and make sure it's washed with soap and water,
Speaker 2: not hand sanitizer because the alcohol really didn't didn't take
Speaker 2: nore virsto of ours.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, So that's good news. Okay, I'll throw alcohol.
Speaker 1: You know, hand sanitizer that does not do it. It's
Speaker 1: got to be soap, uh sur factor. And then you
Speaker 1: wash your hands for twenty seconds and get all those
Speaker 1: germs down the sink.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, and only touched a second. Just rub your face,
Speaker 3: touch your hand to your face.
Speaker 2: You got it.
Speaker 1: If you got that habit, it's not a good one
Speaker 1: to have this. This is this time of year, that's
Speaker 1: for sure. Doctor Stephen Fagan's uh he is the medical
Speaker 1: director Hamlet County. Thanks again so much for the information.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Be well, take care every day.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a few.
Speaker 1: More people back at work today, but again we're not
Speaker 1: we're not the full strength, as we say in hockey.
Speaker 1: We'll do a news update and if you have met
Speaker 1: that's a cold is gonna last. Here's a spoiler avert
Speaker 1: for you. With the weather, it's gonna last for a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. It's a good feel like anyway, maybe
Speaker 1: a week from Thursday possibly, I guess this is when
Speaker 1: we may get near freezing. At this point, who knows.
Speaker 1: You just gotta bear down. We're gonna white knuckle it
Speaker 1: literally and figuratively for sure. So that's on the way.
Speaker 1: We get news update, latest to Minnesota, and we'll return
Speaker 1: a little money tune up. Andy Shaeffer drops in once again.
Speaker 1: He's with Simply Money and all Worth Advisors. Lots to
Speaker 1: talk about the markets, including India and the European Union
Speaker 1: getting together to try and gang up on the United
Speaker 1: States to try and circumvent tariffs. What does all that mean?
Speaker 1: We'll talk about it next with Andy Shaffer from Alworth
Speaker 1: on the Scott Sloan Show. This is seven hundred wo