Abdullah said they have “a pretty good system here (at the jail) of keeping the new in-takes separate and evaluate them, and evaluate the other inmates. After all, these inmates are the friends and family of the community of which we live, so we’re keeping them very safe.”
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Abdullah reinforced the guidelines outlined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Ohio Department of Health, including regular hand-washing for at least 20 seconds, covering coughs and sneezes, use of hand sanitizer, and stay home if you don’t have to be out.
He also said anyone feeling ill with cold or flu-like symptoms, they should contact their physician, or go to an urgent care. Only go to the hospital if a doctor recommends it, he said.
But if there is something serious, like a heart attack or broken limb, “by all means come into the hospital,” Abdullah said. “You want to see us, and we want to see you.”
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The doctor said emergency rooms are seeing a lot of COVID-19 cases, and the virus and precautions should be respected, but “it is not necessarily a death sentence.”
“The majority of the cases as the statistics show are a mild illness...,” he said. “Most people who get it, it’s like a cold or a flu.”
On Wednesday, Ohio public health director Dr. Amy Acton said there have been 2,577 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ohio with nearly 700 hospitalizations. Sixty-five in Ohio have died related to the virus.
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Hospitals will have separate entrances for suspected COVID-19 illnesses at emergency rooms, and visitors, including family members, will not be allowed in the ER, Abdullah said.
“It’s hard for us to do that because we want the family members to be there with the patient as well. However, we all have to take some responsibility in this situation. It’s the only way to flatten this curve.”
The doctor said anyone who is asymptomatic with COVID-19 — which means someone who may be a carrier of the virus but shows no symptoms — will have the virus just as long as someone with symptoms, about two weeks.
“The person is most contagious with COVID-19 if they have symptoms,” Abdullah said. “We really don’t know but we do suspect that people who are asymptomatic can pass it, and it can pass as if they were infected. This is why we’ve gotten all these recommendations from the federal government on down and from the governor about staying inside.”
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