Speaker 1: Welcome to coronavirus. Explain. Here's your host Gorman. Right now,
Speaker 1: the entire world is dealing with the same issue, a
Speaker 1: global pandemic, from Asia to Europe to here in the
Speaker 1: United States. Life is rapidly changing as communities across the
Speaker 1: country work to mitigate the spread of this infectious disease.
Speaker 1: Here at IHAR Radio, we want to make sure you
Speaker 1: have the right information, So for the next half hour,
Speaker 1: we'll talk to a few experts about a variety of
Speaker 1: subjects related to COVID nineteen. In a moment, we'll talk
Speaker 1: to a top medical expert who will help explain the
Speaker 1: concept of social distancing and why it's so important. We'll
Speaker 1: also discuss what to do if a family member in
Speaker 1: your household comes down with symptoms associated with this particular coronavirus. Also,
Speaker 1: if you're someone who still works with the public, perhaps
Speaker 1: a first responder or a supermarket employee will tell you
Speaker 1: some better way as to better protect yourself. I'll also
Speaker 1: check in with the government response expert, who will explain
Speaker 1: why it's so crucial that we flatten the curve, a
Speaker 1: term I'm sure you've heard a lot recently. We'll also
Speaker 1: talk about where things stand with the medical equipment and
Speaker 1: supplies needed to treat coronavirus patients and help slow down
Speaker 1: this spread of the disease. And finally, we'll spend some
Speaker 1: time with a clinical psychologist to answer questions you may
Speaker 1: have about how to discuss these extraordinary circumstances we find
Speaker 1: ourselves in With children. It can be a frightening time
Speaker 1: for kids as they've had their routines turned upside down
Speaker 1: and may not understand why certain changes have to be made.
Speaker 1: All of that and more is on the way as
Speaker 1: we try to help you better protect yourself and your
Speaker 1: family and better understand how to navigate this public health crisis.
Speaker 1: Our first guest is going to help us better understand
Speaker 1: the virus itself. I'm joined now by the Chairman of
Speaker 1: Medicine at St. Joseph University Hospital, Dr Bob lahed Uh.
Speaker 1: Dr Lahda explain what the concept of social distancing is
Speaker 1: so important and also why it's vital to keep surfaces
Speaker 1: and objects clean. Well, let me take the second part first,
Speaker 1: because the first part is going to require a bit
Speaker 1: of an explanation. This bug lives. This bug with its
Speaker 1: nucleo capsid, which is protein around an RNA core lives
Speaker 1: for two to four days on surfaces, particularly surfaces like
Speaker 1: cushions and leather and arms of chairs, and on your computer, keyboard,
Speaker 1: and on your cell phone. So you've really got to
Speaker 1: be careful and you've got to really cleanse these various
Speaker 1: objects with wipes, with chlorox, it can be deluted clorox
Speaker 1: with lysol. All of that works for this virus. It's
Speaker 1: very sensitive to those agents. Now, with regard to the
Speaker 1: first part of your question, why are we quarantining? What
Speaker 1: are we telling people to stay home? Because we're We're
Speaker 1: doing two strategies here. One is what I call mitigation,
Speaker 1: which focuses on slowing the infection but not stopping it,
Speaker 1: and that means that we're going to reduce the peak
Speaker 1: demand while protecting most people who are at risk, particularly
Speaker 1: our elder population, you know, or those people with chemotherapy
Speaker 1: or um heart disease, or emphysema, chronic obstructive lung disease
Speaker 1: and bad asthma. And then the second thing is suppression,
Speaker 1: and that's probably the more realistic approach, and what that
Speaker 1: does is reverses the epidemic growth. It reduces the case
Speaker 1: numbers to such low levels that we we attempt to
Speaker 1: keep and you've heard this on TV and on the radio,
Speaker 1: keep the curve very low. We want there's there's gonna
Speaker 1: be cases, but we don't want to exceed. We don't
Speaker 1: want to go up that big hump so that all
Speaker 1: of a sudden we don't have enough hospital beds. We haven't,
Speaker 1: we don't have enough m I CU beds, and everybody
Speaker 1: goes nuts, which at the present time we are controlling.
Speaker 1: So I'm happy to say that suppression seems to be
Speaker 1: worth king. And that's the whole idea of home isolation,
Speaker 1: uh quarantine of those living in the same household as
Speaker 1: suspected people, and distancing socially the elderly and others, keeping
Speaker 1: them out of supermarkets during prime time, keeping them out
Speaker 1: of malls. You know, we're talking about closing malls, etcetera.
Speaker 1: And I suggested that we have older people have a
Speaker 1: certain time where they can go shopping. And I was
Speaker 1: told by one of my residents that that already happens.
Speaker 1: That the elderly people are given from six to eight
Speaker 1: in the morning in the local supermarket to buy groceries,
Speaker 1: which I had no idea they were doing, which I
Speaker 1: think is pretty neat what if there's a situation where
Speaker 1: someone with the family household begins to feel ill. Is
Speaker 1: there a way to mitigate the spread with it a home? Yes, um,
Speaker 1: that is to keep that individual. And I have such
Speaker 1: a case right now where I have a young woman
Speaker 1: who is sneezing, coughing, and has a temperature of a
Speaker 1: hundred and three, and she's home with her parents, who
Speaker 1: are both older, and she is staying by herself off
Speaker 1: in her room. And of course there's a way, uh
Speaker 1: to serve food to her and make sure everything is
Speaker 1: wiped down and uh if she if they have a mask,
Speaker 1: which God God I will I hope they do. If
Speaker 1: there's a mask, even if it's a cloth mask and
Speaker 1: not an end nine one of these snazzy masks that
Speaker 1: are in short supply, at least keep the sneezing and
Speaker 1: the coughing isolated and have only one person in that family,
Speaker 1: probably a healthy youngster, go in and serve that individual
Speaker 1: food and UH and have him or her take care
Speaker 1: of their toiletry needs, etcetera, in a very isolated toilet
Speaker 1: someplace where no one is in contact until such time
Speaker 1: as that patient symptoms go away. Now, as a as
Speaker 1: an added on. The question that's been raised to me is, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm home with my relatives, my mother, father, and my
Speaker 1: brother sister. Do we need to test everybody in the family.
Speaker 1: And the answer is no. Right now, you would want
Speaker 1: the patient to be test said for regular respiratory viruses
Speaker 1: like influenza or other types of coronaviruses and uh. And
Speaker 1: then if that patient clears up on Thailand all or whatever,
Speaker 1: not to do anything else, and not to test for
Speaker 1: COVID unless the respiratory panel is negative and the patient
Speaker 1: gets sicker. And of course, for all your listeners, if
Speaker 1: anybody has problems breathing, there to go to the hospital
Speaker 1: or to their doctor's office or to urgy care and
Speaker 1: have themselves examined, because we can determine by listening to
Speaker 1: your chest whether or not you've got pneumonia, or whether
Speaker 1: whether or not you're going to be have a positive
Speaker 1: X ray or positive cat scan, and then that's an emergency.
Speaker 1: We're joined here on I already by the Chairman of
Speaker 1: Medicine at Saint Joseph University Hospital, Dr bomb Leahida. Are
Speaker 1: there any other measures that those who still have to
Speaker 1: deal with the public should take, And let's start with
Speaker 1: first responders and healthcare workers. Now let's take first responders.
Speaker 1: I happen to be the medical director of two towns
Speaker 1: here in northern New Jersey, and all of my e
Speaker 1: m T s have been educated on COVID nineteen. And
Speaker 1: here's what we do. The dispatcher at the center gets
Speaker 1: a call, I'm short of breath and I have a fever.
Speaker 1: So he or she gets more answers to those questions,
Speaker 1: dispatches an ambulance. When the ambulance arrives, we have one
Speaker 1: e m T who's gowned, gloved, and wearing a mask
Speaker 1: and possibly a face shield, who goes in and sees
Speaker 1: the patient and evaluates the patient, verifies the temperature, may
Speaker 1: listen to the patient's chest with their stethoscope. Of course,
Speaker 1: might call the paramedics to come and evaluate the patient
Speaker 1: if the patient is very sick. And then when the
Speaker 1: patient doesn't have what appears to be the signs of
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen, the rest of the team who have who
Speaker 1: are wearing masks and gloves but are not so exquisitely gowned,
Speaker 1: will go in and get the patient out and take
Speaker 1: the patients of the hospital. So we're being very careful
Speaker 1: because the first responders, like the fireman and the police
Speaker 1: to the police officers, they have no choice. They have
Speaker 1: to respond and they have to do so judiciously. So
Speaker 1: what I'm doing is educating and I'm advising, and everybody
Speaker 1: in the State Office of Emergency Management, both in New
Speaker 1: York and in New Jersey knows this that our first
Speaker 1: responders have to respond carefully because all we need is
Speaker 1: one positive COVID infection and knocks out the entire ambulance
Speaker 1: squad and then you don't have an ambulance. Everybody's quarantined,
Speaker 1: so we have to be careful. What about those working
Speaker 1: in restaurants, providing food through delivery or takeout, or supermarket
Speaker 1: and pharmacy employees, Well, there you have a very interesting
Speaker 1: uh thing, because you know, eighty percent of the people
Speaker 1: who get this infection are asymptomatic. That means they have
Speaker 1: no symptoms whatsoever, but they can still be infective. So
Speaker 1: what I suggest for workers in restaurants, in take out places,
Speaker 1: wherever they're in in headed with the public, wherever they're
Speaker 1: face to face, they should make sure they wash their
Speaker 1: hands and avoid anybody who's sneezing or coughing a dry
Speaker 1: cough ree member sneezing, a dry cough, and a fever
Speaker 1: are really the signs of active infection. Now, that could
Speaker 1: just be influenza. It could be a regular cold, or
Speaker 1: could be seasonal allergies. But it's never too much to
Speaker 1: be too careful. So hand washing I got. I washed
Speaker 1: my hands twenty five times a day. Hand washing is
Speaker 1: very critical. And not touching your face if you're one
Speaker 1: of these servers or waitresses or waiters, be careful there,
Speaker 1: uh and you'll be fine. We're talking to the Chairman
Speaker 1: of Medicine at Saint Joseph University Hospital, Dr Bob Lajda
Speaker 1: here on I her radio. Finally, the impact of the
Speaker 1: virus on young adults. I want to touch on this.
Speaker 1: We know those who are most at risk for the
Speaker 1: most severe symptoms are older adults and individuals with serious
Speaker 1: underlying medical issues, but we've also seen some in that
Speaker 1: millennial age group get hit hard by this disease. Just
Speaker 1: because you're a certain age doesn't mean you should just
Speaker 1: assume you'll be asymptomatic, right, that's correct, that's correct. We
Speaker 1: have twenty year olds and thirty year olds who are
Speaker 1: around respirators with the pulmonary failure because of this virus.
Speaker 1: So you're not necessarily immune, and I use that that's
Speaker 1: a pun your immune system. Everybody's immune system is quite different.
Speaker 1: And I was reading a report from China today where
Speaker 1: over a thousand children were tested below the age of
Speaker 1: fifteen and a hundred of them were critically ill. So
Speaker 1: children are not immune to this at all. But remember
Speaker 1: that's about that's about ten of those who were ill
Speaker 1: who wind up being very very ill, and so nobody
Speaker 1: is totally immune, uh, to this condition. People are out
Speaker 1: there who have glitches in their immune function, not just
Speaker 1: those on chemotherapy and those with chronic illnesses. We don't know.
Speaker 1: You'll never know what you're what your true immunity is
Speaker 1: until you get infected and see what this virus does
Speaker 1: to you. So that's us to be very very careful.
Speaker 1: But most of the big problems come with the elderly
Speaker 1: people above the age of seventy. Chairman of Medicine at St.
Speaker 1: Joseph University Hospital, Dr Bob Lihida. Dr Lohita, thank you
Speaker 1: for taking the time to help us better understand the
Speaker 1: medical issues related to COVID nineteen. We appreciate it. Oh
Speaker 1: It's my appreciation to give out good information, and I
Speaker 1: hope we speak again. Next, let's turn to an expert
Speaker 1: who can shed some light on the local, state, and
Speaker 1: federal response to the coronavirus outbreak and why flattening the
Speaker 1: curve is so vital for our health care system. Joining
Speaker 1: me now is a former counter terrorism and community outreach
Speaker 1: official and former chief spokesman for the New York City
Speaker 1: Office of Emergency Management, and Jared Bernstein. Jared, thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us here on iHeart Radio. Things are moving
Speaker 1: fast these days, and new challenges related to the coronavirus
Speaker 1: outbreak continue to emerge. People are hearing a lot about
Speaker 1: the need to flatten the curve, and I want to
Speaker 1: make sure they fully understand what that means and why
Speaker 1: it's so important. Can you explain what could happen if
Speaker 1: we don't get ahead of the spread. Sure, well, you know,
Speaker 1: we can have an unprecedented UH outbreak here where we
Speaker 1: have you know, larger and larger percentages of the population,
Speaker 1: particularly people with underlying medical conditions and older people get sick,
Speaker 1: get tremendously sick and require the use of ventilators and
Speaker 1: quickly overwhelm our impatient hospital capacities and certainly overwhelmed our
Speaker 1: number of ventilators that we have on hand. There is
Speaker 1: a stockpile of ventilators at the federal government mainteam for
Speaker 1: scenarios like this that is quietly being deployed, but really
Speaker 1: that even that stockpile could be overwhelmed if people don't
Speaker 1: exercise the universal precautions here and use some social distancing
Speaker 1: and really listen to authorities when they say stay at
Speaker 1: home unless you are at first responder, healthcare worker or
Speaker 1: other coal employees. And if things get out of control.
Speaker 1: In addition to an issue with ventilators, you can also
Speaker 1: have a shortage of hospital beds, right, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: there's some some of the scenarios are are truly scary.
Speaker 1: I think that's why you saw the President authorized the
Speaker 1: deployment of a Navy hospital ship to New York, which
Speaker 1: brings another thousand beds of hospital capacity. You know, in
Speaker 1: the last ten years, more and more things that you
Speaker 1: used to need to go to the hospital for and
Speaker 1: stay over for it to in an outpatient setting. And
Speaker 1: so because of that, hospitals have actually gotten smaller and
Speaker 1: smaller in terms of the number of inpatient beds and Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: when you have a pandemic situation like this, that kind
Speaker 1: of downsizing, which is good overall, is not good in
Speaker 1: the pandemic situation. We're talking to former counter terrorism and
Speaker 1: community outreach official and former chief spokesman for the New
Speaker 1: York City Office of Emergency Management, Jared Bernstein. One issue
Speaker 1: in particular that's gaining more and more attention are shortages
Speaker 1: of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and supplies needed
Speaker 1: to conduct the tests. We're seeing more and more tests
Speaker 1: being allocated across the country, but you need supplies to
Speaker 1: actually conduct the tests. Talk a little bit about that
Speaker 1: and the measures government officials can take to try to
Speaker 1: meet the demand. You know, government, government organizations are really
Speaker 1: they are having to be very judicious about how they
Speaker 1: apply how they deploy resources, everything from ventilators to masks, gowns,
Speaker 1: rubber gloves and masks. And that's going to be how
Speaker 1: we get through this in the long long haul. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: our supply system will catch up probably in the next
Speaker 1: you know, thirty days, will have more and more production
Speaker 1: capacity coming online. Uh, the manufacturers of the nine masks
Speaker 1: only makes so many in a year because that's what
Speaker 1: the demand is. But they've certainly ramped up production, and
Speaker 1: that's something that we're all going to have to just
Speaker 1: be very judicious at every level of government, making sure
Speaker 1: that only the responders that need them get them, but
Speaker 1: that every responder who does need them get them. And
Speaker 1: while we're on the topic of supplies, despite the fact
Speaker 1: that a lot times when you go to the grocery
Speaker 1: store these days, they're out of a whole bunch of
Speaker 1: different items, there really hasn't been a disruption in terms
Speaker 1: of the amount of supplies that we have for these
Speaker 1: stores or the ability to get those kinds of supplies,
Speaker 1: whether it's toilet paper, paper towels, those kinds of products
Speaker 1: to supermarkets. Right know, what you're really seeing is a
Speaker 1: little bit of panic buying, um, where they're short terms,
Speaker 1: short term shortages, but they will usually last less than
Speaker 1: a week um. And you know, it just takes a
Speaker 1: while for supermarkets to sort of restock because there again
Speaker 1: not used to selling, uh, you know, as much toilet
Speaker 1: paper as they normally sell, and so their supply chain
Speaker 1: is sort of not always set up for that. But
Speaker 1: you will see in the next few days that h
Speaker 1: that that supply chain will sort of start to catch up,
Speaker 1: and you know, as long as people can get to
Speaker 1: the grocery stores, there will be grocery, you know, the
Speaker 1: grocer We've not seen any problems with supply chains like
Speaker 1: that so far. There was an interesting situation that took
Speaker 1: place recently at Chicago Midway Airport. It involved a couple
Speaker 1: of individuals who worked in the air traffic control tower
Speaker 1: testing positive for COVID nineteen and contingency plans had to
Speaker 1: be put in place. Talk a little bit about some
Speaker 1: essential professions doing that planning and how important it is
Speaker 1: to have a contingency plan to go to. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a really great question, a really great point. You know,
Speaker 1: every one of these critical UH pieces of infrastructure, they
Speaker 1: are going through what's called a continuity of operations plans.
Speaker 1: That's something that they do typically on an ongoing basis,
Speaker 1: but for sure, UH they placed renewed emphasis on it
Speaker 1: in the last few weeks. UM that in many cases
Speaker 1: involved dividing up your teams into separate teams where people
Speaker 1: don't overlap. So that way, if you have somebody get
Speaker 1: sick on one or more of the teams, you can
Speaker 1: still stretch out your existing team into UM, make sure
Speaker 1: you fill all the spots that you need to and
Speaker 1: that's going on from everything from air traffic control to
Speaker 1: firefighters and these police officers, uh you kill public utilities,
Speaker 1: any kind of critical infrastructure. Everybody's going through this continuity
Speaker 1: of operations planning to space out their critical folks so
Speaker 1: that if somebody gets sick, you don't uh you don't
Speaker 1: you know, have some you know, lose the whole operation.
Speaker 1: We're talking to former counter terrorism and community outreach official
Speaker 1: and former chief spokesman from the New York City Office
Speaker 1: of Emergency Management, Jared Bernstein as somebody who used to
Speaker 1: deal with counter terrorism talk a little bit about our
Speaker 1: government's ability to handle this pandemic while also working to
Speaker 1: keep America safe. Yeah, I mean it's a significant challenge.
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, having those uh sort of
Speaker 1: twofold challenges of the pandemic and people who are out
Speaker 1: to disrupt our way of life in whatever whatever way.
Speaker 1: You know, it's something that's been planned for for lots
Speaker 1: and lots of years. Ever Sinceeptember eleventh. How do we
Speaker 1: face multiple threats at once? Uh be they you know,
Speaker 1: maybe it's a hurricane and then we want to make sure,
Speaker 1: you know, after a hurricane we're prepared to deal with
Speaker 1: a tax on our critical infrastructure. So you know, I
Speaker 1: think when you when you you know, wonder what our
Speaker 1: public employees are being paid for and the next time
Speaker 1: collective bargaining agreement has come up, and we wonder why
Speaker 1: paying people what we're paying? Uh, you know it should
Speaker 1: be No, it's not lost that that the police officers
Speaker 1: police Department doesn't get the ticket day off, you know,
Speaker 1: Customs and Boarder Protection doesn't get to ticket day off,
Speaker 1: The FBI doesn't get to take a day off. And
Speaker 1: so they need to figure out ways to work through
Speaker 1: that because there are still people who are out to
Speaker 1: hurt us stump that way of life. And so that's
Speaker 1: a very real concern and we'll have to you know,
Speaker 1: we're all gonna have to pitch in here. Uh. The
Speaker 1: flip side of that is that because there are lots
Speaker 1: and lots of you know, far fewer people out on
Speaker 1: our streets and out in general circulation. Uh, those who are,
Speaker 1: we're probably gonna get a little bit more scrutiny on them.
Speaker 1: So if you're a bad guy out trying to plan
Speaker 1: some bad things, uh, and you're out there when everybody
Speaker 1: is being told to stay home, You're probably going to
Speaker 1: arouse some suspicion, uh and and stick out in terms of,
Speaker 1: you know, attracting the attention of law enforcements or it
Speaker 1: does cut both. Please, but certainly it's a challenge that
Speaker 1: we have to overcome in the nation. Final question for you.
Speaker 1: Lockdowns have started to go into effect in some parts
Speaker 1: of the country, most notably San Francisco. What kind of
Speaker 1: general powers do local government, states, and of course the
Speaker 1: federal government have during a pandemic. You know, most states
Speaker 1: and mayors, you know, cities have a curfew authority. UM.
Speaker 1: It really depends upon the individual city code and how
Speaker 1: that city code interacts with state law. UM. You saw
Speaker 1: in New York there's a little bit of the difference
Speaker 1: of opinion at the moment between Mayor di Blasio and
Speaker 1: Governor Cuomo about who has what power to do what.
Speaker 1: Generally speaking, when you bring out the national Guard, only
Speaker 1: the governor or the president the United States can can
Speaker 1: bring out the national guard for police type actions. UM,
Speaker 1: and the mayors typically can't do that. So I think
Speaker 1: that you know that it varies from state to state,
Speaker 1: and and you know, it's very difficult to do the
Speaker 1: larger the scale, the harder it is. In San Francisco,
Speaker 1: they've done something where they are allowing people to go
Speaker 1: to the grocery store, to go outside and exercise, but
Speaker 1: they are basically curtailing pretty much everything else. Um, and
Speaker 1: I know that you know that that is something lots
Speaker 1: of other cities in America are looking at right now.
Speaker 1: Former counter terrorism and Community Outreach official and former chief
Speaker 1: spokesman from the New York City Office of Emergency Management
Speaker 1: Jared Bernstein, Jared, thank you again for the time and insight.
Speaker 1: We appreciate it. Thank you. Finally, to offer advice on
Speaker 1: how to explain to children this major disruption of everyday life.
Speaker 1: We're joined by Dr Jamie Howard, clinical psychologist at the
Speaker 1: Child Mind Institutes Anxiety Disorder Center and the director of
Speaker 1: the center's Trauma and Resilience Service, who's been a leading
Speaker 1: voice on talking to kids about the coronavirus. Dr Howard,
Speaker 1: there's so many things occupying the minds of parents these days,
Speaker 1: as everyone's life has been completely flipped upside down. One
Speaker 1: issue that could easily get overlooked is how children are
Speaker 1: processing so many changes. What's your most important piece of
Speaker 1: advice for parents during this coronavirus pandemic. My most important
Speaker 1: piece of advice would be that parents should definitely talk
Speaker 1: to their kids, even if you think they already know
Speaker 1: everything that's going on, even if you think they don't
Speaker 1: have any questions. You definitely want to have an open
Speaker 1: line of communication, and when you do talk to them,
Speaker 1: you want to model sort of calm emotions. Um, it's
Speaker 1: okay to say, you know, I'm feeling I'm feeling worried
Speaker 1: about grandma, Grandma, I'm feeling frustrated, But you don't want
Speaker 1: to do too much processing of your own emotions and
Speaker 1: you don't want to appear to distressed in front of
Speaker 1: your kids. What do parents say to their children about
Speaker 1: a break and visits to grandma and grandpa, older relatives
Speaker 1: that they just can't see right now that perhaps they're
Speaker 1: used to seeing on a regular basis. Yeah, it's so
Speaker 1: it's really tricky for younger kids. I would say, you know,
Speaker 1: kids who are ten enough probably would understand, right, They
Speaker 1: really get sort of the catchiness of certain illnesses for
Speaker 1: younger kids. Though they do talk a lot about um,
Speaker 1: good hygiene in preschools, washing your hands a lot because
Speaker 1: of germs who can sort of build on that kind
Speaker 1: of conversation and you can say, Grandma and Grandpa really
Speaker 1: want to see you, or we really want to see them.
Speaker 1: We're not mad at them, but we just can't touch
Speaker 1: them right now, because we need to give scientists and
Speaker 1: doctors a chance to learn quickly about this illness, and
Speaker 1: they will learn all about it. And so in the meantime,
Speaker 1: we're going to talk over FaceTime or Skype and maintain
Speaker 1: a connection, and you can write letters and do all
Speaker 1: sorts of other kind of special things without actually seeing
Speaker 1: them in person. We're talking to Dr Jamie Howard here
Speaker 1: on I radio clinical psychologist at the Mind Institute's Anxiety
Speaker 1: Disorder Center and the director of the center's Trauma and
Speaker 1: Resilience Service, who's been a leading voice on talking to
Speaker 1: kids about the coronavirus. With school out, is it best
Speaker 1: for parents to continue to stick to some kind of
Speaker 1: a routine or does that really not matter? Right, So,
Speaker 1: as much as possible, it's helpful to keep kids on
Speaker 1: a routine where you have breakfast, lunch, and dinner at
Speaker 1: the same time. If your school has sent out remote
Speaker 1: learning instructions, you try to follow those that kind of thing,
Speaker 1: and then a lot of times parents are working from
Speaker 1: home right now, I know I am, and I'm really
Speaker 1: hoping my own kids don't walk in while I'm talking
Speaker 1: right now. So we we kind of have to devise
Speaker 1: the schedule for for grown ups as well to to
Speaker 1: watch over the kids. Um. And it's going to take
Speaker 1: a little time. This is still pretty new for everyone
Speaker 1: and we're all sort of dealing with accepting this still.
Speaker 1: And I think within a week or so you want
Speaker 1: to have a routine in place, but take the next
Speaker 1: few days to think through what's going to work best
Speaker 1: for your family, and then you'll do the best you can.
Speaker 1: It's not necessarily something we're prepared for. So the best
Speaker 1: you can is the best you can do. What's your
Speaker 1: parents tell their kids about seeing their friends? Children are
Speaker 1: used to interacting with friends every day in school and
Speaker 1: now that's not possible. So again you can, um, you
Speaker 1: can validate the disappointment, like, I really miss my friends too. Um.
Speaker 1: It's totally makes sense that you miss your friends and
Speaker 1: they want to see you just like you want to
Speaker 1: see them. Um. So let's think of some other things
Speaker 1: we can do so that we stay connected to them,
Speaker 1: and that can be arranging for video calls with friends,
Speaker 1: similar to parents. It can be um here similar similar
Speaker 1: to grandparents and ants and extended family. You can make
Speaker 1: projects and send cards. It's very important that we think
Speaker 1: of this as physical distancing more than social distancing, and
Speaker 1: that we maintain these important connections. We're a social species
Speaker 1: and we need connection, so we want to maintain that
Speaker 1: in these creative ways. Right now, what would you suggest
Speaker 1: parents tell children if they happen to come across some
Speaker 1: alarming information online, like say a study that says a
Speaker 1: million people could die from this disease or something along
Speaker 1: those lines. Yes, so that's why you want to keep
Speaker 1: an open line of communication and keep checking in with
Speaker 1: your child, and also tell them please come to me
Speaker 1: if you if you read anything or hear anything that's
Speaker 1: really scary, and I'll talk to you about it and
Speaker 1: I'll let you know if it's true or not. And
Speaker 1: so then what you would do is you would say,
Speaker 1: I don't know that that's true, Let's look at that
Speaker 1: news source, let's look for more information, and then you
Speaker 1: can sort of get the facts with them. We don't
Speaker 1: want them to be sitting with sensational misinformation for any
Speaker 1: period of time. So that's why you'll want to really
Speaker 1: be monitoring them and let them know that it's not
Speaker 1: a burden to to bring it up. It's always most
Speaker 1: important for kids to get news from trusted adults rather
Speaker 1: than from news sources like newspapers and TV shows and whatnot, because, um,
Speaker 1: they do tend to present things in a more dramatic way.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Dr Jamie Howard, clinical psychologist at the
Speaker 1: Child Mind Institutes Anxiety Disorder Center and the director of
Speaker 1: the center's Trauma and Resilience Service. Let's talk about social
Speaker 1: media usage during these unusual times. Do you try to
Speaker 1: limit it more so than maybe parents already do well. So,
Speaker 1: on one hand, it's the only way kids can connect
Speaker 1: right now is virtually, so you want to give them
Speaker 1: some latitude to connect, which is different than everything we've
Speaker 1: always been saying for them. We've always been trying to
Speaker 1: sort of limit it, but right now we want to
Speaker 1: encourage them to use some kind of virtual communication. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, you want to make sure that they're
Speaker 1: not getting misinformation or dramatized sort of news. Um, So
Speaker 1: you've got to strike a balance. I would probably recommend
Speaker 1: that you talk to older kids who are on social
Speaker 1: media and say, you know, I think this is important now,
Speaker 1: so you can stay in touch with your friends, but
Speaker 1: I want you to know that all the news that
Speaker 1: might pop up is going to be accurate, and so
Speaker 1: I want you to come talk to me if you
Speaker 1: see anything that's alarming. And I also kind of want
Speaker 1: to sit down with you for a minute while you
Speaker 1: look through your Instagram feed just to see, you know,
Speaker 1: if if you're going to be inundated with stuff about
Speaker 1: the coronavirus, because our brains need a break from that now.
Speaker 1: Teenagers older teenagers will definitely not want their parents to
Speaker 1: sit down and look at it with them, and they're fine,
Speaker 1: but you can just say to them, you know, simply,
Speaker 1: it's not good for you to be inundated with this.
Speaker 1: Our our brains need a break. So so please let's
Speaker 1: I'm gonna check in with you. I'm just gonna say,
Speaker 1: after you know, twenty minutes, Hey, do you do you
Speaker 1: need a break right now? Because we can get sucked
Speaker 1: in and then forget to sort of come out of it. Finally,
Speaker 1: what can parents do to make sure teens and young
Speaker 1: adults are taking this seriously? Yes, so you you should
Speaker 1: be in daily contact with your kids right now just
Speaker 1: because they need socialization. They can't be isolated um and
Speaker 1: and still need to hear from their parents and UM
Speaker 1: I would say like a lot of young adults seem
Speaker 1: to be taking it seriously if they're if they're in
Speaker 1: the workforce, because a lot of them have been forced
Speaker 1: to go home. Teenagers tend to have a bit of
Speaker 1: an invincibility about them. That's developmentally normal, um and, so
Speaker 1: that is something we want to keep an eye on
Speaker 1: right now, is teenagers who are like, I won't get it,
Speaker 1: I'll be fine, and that might be true, but this
Speaker 1: is more about social responsibility, UM. So we want to
Speaker 1: make sure they understand that and take it very seriously.
Speaker 1: Dr Jamie Howard, clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institutes,
Speaker 1: Anxiety Disorder Center and the director of the center's Trauma
Speaker 1: and Resilience Service, a leading voice on talking to kids
Speaker 1: about the coronavirus. Dr Howard, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: your time and expertise. We appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for
Speaker 1: having me, and of course a big thanks to all
Speaker 1: of our guests, including Chairman of Medicine at St. Joseph University,
Speaker 1: Dr Bob Lahita, former counter Terrorism and Community Outreach official
Speaker 1: and former chief spokesman for the New York City Office
Speaker 1: of Emergency Management, Jared Bernstein, and Dr Jamie Howard, political
Speaker 1: psychologist at the Child Mind Institutes Anxiety Disorder Center. And
Speaker 1: I'd like to thank all of you for trusting us
Speaker 1: to provide you with the right information during these unprecedented times.
Speaker 1: Hopefully our guests were able to answer some questions you
Speaker 1: might have about this public health crisis and provide you
Speaker 1: with strategies to deal with any challenge associated with this
Speaker 1: coronavirus that may come your way. Also, you can find
Speaker 1: even more resources on our iHeartRadio app, from daily updates
Speaker 1: on the outbreak to a breakdown of coronavirus facts first
Speaker 1: coronavirus Fiction. We appreciate you listening to Coronavirus Explained. I'm
Speaker 1: Ryan Gorman on iHeartRadio.