Stephen Parodi, MD, shares cautious optimism on social distancing with Politico

State leaders and physicians are “cautiously optimistic” that the San Francisco Bay Area’s decision to “shelter in place” 2 weeks ago has so far prevented surges of coronavirus patients from overwhelming the region’s health care capacity, according to an article in Politico.

Stephen Parodi, MD, an infectious disease physician and associate executive director with The Permanente Medical Group in Northern California, said in a statement to Politico that Kaiser Permanente is “seeing a leveling off of COVID-19 cases in our hospitals” across Northern California, where it serves 4.4 million members.

He added that Kaiser Permanente also has seen calls related to colds and coughs drop by more than half since social distancing took effect, a key indicator that precedes hospitalization.

“While we still predict an upcoming surge,” Dr. Parodi said in the statement, “the partnership between the health system and public health officials on the local and state levels to implement social distancing has given us more time to put a lot of pieces in place to prepare for a potential surge.”

To read the entire article, visit the Politico site.