ST. LOUIS – A BJC and Washington University Medical expert warned St. Louis has a brief window of opportunity concerning the coronavirus.

He said citizens can decide if the virus is tougher on our community or not in the coming weeks.

The physician, Dr. Steven Lawrence said now is the time for folks to commit to strictly follow the health safety guidelines and reap the reward.

“If we do all of this right, we will reap the benefits of having fewer people sick fewer people dying and the ability to take care of everybody’s sick who needs care,” said Dr. Steven Lawrence.

The Wash. U infectious disease specialist said there’s proof the health safety measures are already working. The number of influenza cases has dropped off dramatically in the St. Louis area, much faster than usual. Those same measures could lessen the impact of COVID-19.

“These things work. It’s not going to stop it. That’s impossible to stop. It is possible to minimize the damage it’s going to do.”

St. Louis was recognized by the world in 1918 for following safety measures and cutting down on Spanish Flu cases and we could do it again.

The chief nurse executive at BJC, Denise Murphy, wants nurses across the hospital system and potential patients not to worry about a shortage of medical equipment for medical personnel or patients.

“We do have enough medical-grade masks for many weeks to come, so we’re projecting how the cases will increase and know how many masks we could use every day and we are very prepared for the next several weeks,” said Denise Murphy, Chief Nurse Executive, BJC.

For generations, medicine has created vaccines for influenza to the point that doctors can now more or less predict when an outbreak will end. They’ve had much less experience with COVID-19. No one knows when it will all end.