Southcoast Health Doc Answers COVID-19 Questions

A historical weekend followed a historical week, and it's left most of us with more questions than answers about a virus that most of us had never heard of in January.

COVID-19 brought life as we know it to a screeching halt yesterday when Governor Charlie Baker tightened restrictions on restaurants and bars, canceled school for three weeks, and banned gatherings of 25 or more.

We asked Dr. Eliesel Lacerda De La Cruz to join the Rock and Fox Show to try to sort through the latest developments. He's the Southcoast Health Infectious Disease Prevention Chairman and has been a tremendous resource to our show.

We asked the doctor if it was OK for kids to play outside during "social distancing." He said that it is fine to have your kids play in your backyard; however, allowing the kids to go to the park where groups of kids could come together is "not a good idea." The doctor suggested allowing a very limited number of children to play outside.

"You'll want to make sure that those other children aren't sick or haven't been exposed to people who are sick," he said. "It's not a wise idea to 'meet up' with other people at this time."

The doctor agreed that the bottom line for "social distancing" is that we want to be in contact with as few people as possible right now.

We asked Dr. Lacerda De La Cruz to lay out the best-case scenario and worst-case scenario for this coronavirus outbreak.

BEST CASE SCENARIO: "All these measures that the authorities have taken work, flattening the curve, and we see a number of patients going to the hospital slowly, and our health care system can manage them, treat them properly and send them home, and we have a mortality rate closer to what we've seen in other countries other than China."

WORST CASE SCENARIO: "Something like what we're seeing in Italy, with thousands and thousands of patients showing up sick at the same time at different hospitals and our health care system is overrun by it."