ED. NOTE: This is one of a series of questions posed by AL.com to AIDS and infectious disease expert Dr. Michael S. Saag at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Saag, who sounded the alarm Friday that Alabama was not prepared for the coronavirus invasion, has tested positive himself. We have a few more of these Q%A’s from Saag taken before his test will continue as he is able.

A reader asks: Why can’t reports of cases can’t be more localized instead of just telling us the county? Jefferson is a big county and she would like to know if there were any clusters geographically.

Saag: Great question. Ideally, we would want to track infections by their local ‘geo-code’ (think of it like a more sophisticated zip code with more granularity). And ideally, we would want to do surveillance testing in neighborhoods that seem to be ‘hot spots’ and use more restrictive isolation measures.

Unfortunately, we are just now getting to the point where we can test at all (!). We are well behind in our testing capability and are restricting tests to only those who present with symptoms. Typically, the positive tests are reported by the county where the patient lives. Hopefully, over time, we can become more granular in locating ‘hot spots.’ Right now, that is not possible owing to the speed with which this infection is moving through our state and nation. We are struggling simply to keep up

That is why it is SO IMPORTANT for all of us to do our part: Stay at home unless you absolutely have to leave the house for an essential task. Try to work from home, if possible. When we go out, make sure we use ‘social distancing’ (avoid crowds, keep 6 feet away from others, wash our hands frequently, clean surfaces prior to touching them, and try not to touch our face).

To me, our response to this epidemic requires a good bit of sacrifice for ALL of US. I liken it to what the Brits did in 1940 and 1944 when London was being bombed during the “Blitz.” It was scary. It disrupted life. Things were not normal. But with the right attitude, civic pride, strong community leadership and hard work on everyone doing their part, they pulled through it. We can too! The leadership in our state is strong, especially from our local and State Public Health Departments. It is going to require each of us to do our part and follow their lead. We can do it!

This Q&A was written before Saag’s positive test. This morning in an email Saag called his infection an “irony worthy of Shakespeare.”

Saag said the ‘messaging’ from this incident is it helps drive home the point that this virus is everywhere and can affect anyone, even if we are careful.

“We need to all take this seriously and change our day-to-day behavior to minimize our risk.”

Click here for more of Dr. Saag’s opinions. Read Mike Oliver’s blog at www.MyVinylCountdown.com

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