Dr. Laila E. Woc-Colburn, M.D., DTM&H, FACP, FIDSA

Hey everybody Hope everyone's off to a good Tuesday or closing out a great Tuesday We're basically middle of the day here in El Paso where it's a little after 430 Mountain Standard Time and a beautiful Gorgeous day here. It was really windy the last few days got kind of chilly yesterday but today is a glorious day to be outside and While I'm with you on Instagram live Amy is out in the Franklin Mountains enjoying nature and hopefully bringing back Some good stories of her adventure and maybe some pictures that she's taken that we can share later But I hope everyone is safe. I hope everyone is healthy I hope everyone's being good to Yourself to those that you live with and others in your life and that you do your best to check on those Who need your help right now? Relatives who are older unable to leave the home those with underlying conditions that should prevent them from leaving the home Check on them and see if you can't pick them up some groceries or just make sure That they're okay or that they know that you love them and that you're thinking about them That's something good that we can all do right now Also our thanks to everyone who did not tune in to the president's press conference and all members of the press who did not carry That press conference live since we cannot trust what the president says It's really important that journalists and people have time to verify the information Correct lies or misstatements made by the president and in the middle of this pandemic share The truth with the American people and so we're grateful for that. We're going to have a wonderful guest on today Dr. Layla walk Colburn is In Houston, Texas with Baylor Hospital and the Harris Health System and Want to get her perspective as someone who works on infectious diseases and in epidemiology About what this looks like in southeast, Texas what it means for our state Answer your questions about what you should be looking for What you need to do how even you might be able to treat some of the symptoms in your home short of going to the hospital We had dr. Gilman on yesterday an Emergency room physician who cautioned us even if we believe we have kovat 19 Not to go to the emergency room unless we have to because so many of these ERs Some of these hospitals are becoming overwhelmed right now. So we might get dr Layla walk Colburn's advice on some of these issues, but I talked about making sure that we Traffic in the facts and in the truth, and I want to share with you what we know right now This is the latest information I have in the United States. We have 183,000 532 cases as of Tuesday afternoon with 3860 of our fellow Americans having passed away from kovat 19 Now I want to say in total cases over 183,000 and total deaths over 3,800 every expert that I've listened to tells me these are gross Underestimates because we have under reporting right now We don't have the tests to know who does and who does not have Kovat 19 in the United States and as we learned yesterday Even when someone dies from kovat 19 And has been tested there is a delay and being able to report that or sometimes a breakdown Entirely in being able to get that through we talked to a doctor who spent an hour on the phone Trying to share with I guess the Centers for Disease Control or whoever they report to About a patient who lost their battle with kovat 19. So these are at best Estimates or indications of the trajectory that this pandemic is taking it should by no means Tell us precisely how many people have kovat 19 or how many people have died? It is much much higher and we don't know if the factor is of 2 or 5 or 10 But it's certainly greater than the numbers that I've just shared with you Likewise keep that caveat in mind when I share with you the numbers from Texas This comes from the Department of State Health Services here in Texas 122 of the 254 counties of Texas are reporting cases of kovat 19 total cases in Texas reported 3,266 total fatalities in Texas reported 441 so again that number of 3,200 plus cases and 41 fatalities in Texas that's only an indication and is only really Important relative to the numbers that we got yesterday and the day before to understand the trajectory That this pandemic is on in Texas We know because there's been such little testing in Texas that the numbers have to be much greater Than this tests administered in the entire United States now, this is a country of 327 million people in the midst of the greatest pandemic that we've seen in the last century in the last 100 years only 103,000 945 Tests have been administered. It's almost 104,000 tests in a country of almost 330 140 million people which begs the question that should have been asked at the press conference today And I hope it was where are the tests that we have been promised for the United States? Where are the tests that we need here in Texas so that those in positions of public trust can make informed? Decisions so that we can begin the process of contact tracing so that we can isolate those who are infected Understand everyone that they've been in touch with so that we stop the spread of this pandemic Where are the tests question number one? Question number two having spoken to and listened to so many health care professionals on the front lines of this pandemic Where are the masks and the gloves and the visors and the gowns and the other personal protective equipment or PPE? That we so badly need which the president accused health care workers of stealing for what purpose I don't know but which in reality are in desperate need in so many of these hospitals where they're being rationed and in some cases being replaced with makeshift creations from doctors and nurses like garbage bags or patient gowns which don't cover The doctor or the nurse sufficient to protect themselves and their fellow patients last question after tests and PPE Where are the ventilators? Those governors in the state's hardest hit like governor Cuomo in New York say that they need ventilators That they're bidding against every other state in the Union in an eBay like system for these ventilators So they're working at cross purposes if you ever needed federal Intervention and federal leadership and a president who can manage a crisis it is at this moment Failing that and so far our president has failed us in that then we need these governors to be able to come together and hopefully negotiate distribution of these ventilators on their own and then all of us need to do our part in Pressuring those who are in these positions of power and public trust to do the right thing and last thing that I'll say before we bring our guest on for 15 or 20 minutes. However much time she can spare with us to answer your questions All of us on this Instagram live have been urging governor Abbott in Texas to issue a mandatory shelter-in-place Order we've asked you to call his hotline and so many of you called today That I think the switchboard literally shut down you were no longer able to get to somebody or to leave a message Thank you for doing that. Others of you took it upon yourselves To send an email or to fill out their contact form on the governor's website I think that pressure over the last days and weeks the contrast and leadership offered by people like Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has finally forced the governor to act and at two o'clock today Central Standard Time in Austin, Texas The governor announced something close to a shelter-in-place order for the state of Texas, though. He refused to call it that which invites some confusion Some suspicion and some misunderstanding of what's taking place But essentially I think what the governor's saying and what public health experts have implored us to do is to not leave your house Unless you absolutely need to unless you have an essential job. You're a police officer You're a health care worker. You work at a grocery store. You help to run a food bank jobs like those Otherwise stay at home shelter in place and don't leave if you are Running any risk of coming into contact with anyone else so if you want to walk your dog and You're not gonna come within six feet of anybody else go do that if like Amy you're walking in the mountains right now again, not coming within six feet of Contact of anyone else go do that Otherwise or go pick up some groceries or deliver them for your mom or dad or grandparents or that older person in your neighborhood? But do not touch anyone. Do not congregate with other people Stay in your homes one. It keeps you safe To it keeps the people in your life safe You may be young and healthy and seemingly invincible But you could unwittingly carry Coronavirus into the home of your parents or grandparents or under your friends home who will then pass it on to their parents or grandparents So if you care about the people in your life or in the lives of your friends and your family members You're gonna stay at home and second We don't want to put additional pressure on those courageous Extraordinary brave all-time heroic health care workers who are on the front lines of this right now So give them a break by helping to reduce the spread of coronavirus by staying home I'm a good friend who when she was sending out her holiday greetings a couple of years ago. She said The world is a narrow bridge and the important thing is not to be afraid now. This is Something that many of you have heard many times before it's not A new saying or a new piece of advice but never more resonant for me or more poignant than at this moment that the world is a narrow bridge and The important thing is not to be afraid be smart be kind be empathetic be thoughtful be courageous Don't be afraid don't give in to panic Be good be kind and be smart and I thought about that when I heard from that same friends family Who had learned that their mother had died they were flying back from Europe to attend the funeral learned that half of the flight had been in countries like Spain and Italy where coronavirus was spreading very quickly and when they were coming through customs in the United States Those people who had been in those countries who were given a special white form to fill out were in the same line as Everyone else coming into the United States. This was in I think the first or second week of March that person comes home Turns out they have coronavirus from which they recovered but their wife has coronavirus Covid-19 is now in the hospital in isolation is too weak to be able to pick up the phone So they have no means of communicating with her cannot visit with her right now That same person tells me that his father who's 90 years old Who he visits every day by going to his home and waving to him outside of his window He's afraid that his father is exhibiting those same symptoms right now To him to everyone else in this country everyone who's watching this right now Who has a family member who is battling against kovat 19 right now and cannot be with that family member We are sending you our strength our love our power and we're reminding you Not to be afraid at this moment and to take courage and solace in all of us Who are with you right now at this trying moment all of us have to come together All of us have to see this through so just wanted to share that message with you I'm going to now introduce Dr. Layla walk Colburn and let me let me read an introduction To you so, you know who we're about to hear from and so that you can prepare your questions There's a little question icon at the bottom of your screen right there And if you click on it, you can pose a question and then I will ask that Dr. Walk Colburn recruited to Baylor College of Medicine by this section of infectious disease to start the HIV AIDS transition service at Ben Taub Hospital Started the first tropical medicine clinic at that same hospital and in the Harris Health System to prevent diagnose and treat common and neglected tropical diseases in the Houston metro area Has received two prestigious awards the Rising Star Clinical Award and the Rose Norton Fulbright Award in teaching and evaluation Her passion is to educate the next generation in the art of medicine and infectious diseases So I hope that you will help me welcome her by asking a question and a little question button I will push this other button to see if I can get her on right now And miss Connell, I don't see her on there We're looking for dr. Walk Colburn and Make sure Sorry about that miss Connell, can you can you reach out to her and see if she's still on the stream in the meantime? Let me bring up some of your questions and maybe there's some that I can that I can help to answer Yeah, there's a lot of great questions coming in for dr. Walk Colburn Hopefully Connell's watching this too and is getting in touch. There's questions about an update on a cure or a vaccine here's Someone who asked are you quarantined in your in your dungeon gulag? I am spending a lot of time in the basement where I've got my camping gear and where there's some peace and quiet from the kids who are upstairs homeschooling and Sometimes making a lot of noise. Hold on a second. I may have an answer from condom All right Doc, I'm looking for you Hold on one sec. I'm gonna figure this out. I'm slow, but I'll eventually get it No, I don't have anyone on by that name Connell So I've got requests from a few people none of whom are that doctor son of a gun All right, it says that we're about to connect with dr. Walk Colburn Hopefully this works. Hey, there we are Sorry about the delay. That is okay user error on my part Thank you for joining us So tell me how things look in Houston right now, what are you seeing so right now I'm here one of the hospitals that Baylor College of Medicine staffs and we're starting to see a surge of patients that in the Texas Medical Center We have some patients that we're ruling out and other patients that are in our general wards Isolation units and we have other patients that are in intensive care units a little mix What what kind of hospital capacity challenges are you seeing if any so far so, you know right now I participate in different committees to look at that and What we're seeing right now is PPE, you know, so we're Implementing areas where we are rationing our PPE in wait for the surge and What does that mean? So for example Is is someone unable to use PPE now? That would have otherwise been able to use it before or are you using it differently? Was it mean to to ration it or be conscious of the amount of PPE that you have? So what we're doing is we're following the CDC guidelines to ration our PPE so it means that we instead of we usually go into a patient room and That I have like for example MRSA or VRE which are infections that can be transmitted Not using those times because we do know that they transmit less And how would you judge Harris County's response and I'm not talking about the county judge or Political leaders when when you're on the street when you drive by a park when you go into the grocery store How closely are he are people heating the public health advice not to congregate not to leave the house Not to be with one another So so I definitely seen less people in the streets. I mean my commute is much better There's actually more traffic between my house and the hospital. So I actually can't make it there I do see you know, I mean a lot of our our restaurants and places have closed and they have only for takeout Less congregations. I'm a runner. So I usually run in the mornings On the weekends, I probably saw a little bit more people. They're trying to keep their distance as much as possible And do you have an idea of? How many reported cases of kovat 19 you have in in Harris County or Houston? I think this morning. I would have to look at the Houston Chronicle. They actually keep up how many people are And of course the numbers that you see there are not our true numbers because we are only testing patients that have the most severe Let me ask you this we don't have Enough tests to test everyone who wants one and probably don't have enough tests to test everyone who who should be tested Do you have any idea of? What the scope of this is in Texas that the numbers sound really low we read them off at the beginning there are only 3,266 cases in a state of nearly 30 million people And 41 fatalities so far one fatality is is too many and 41 is a lot But from talking to and listening to an ER doctor in New York City yesterday He feels like there is gross underreporting and The failure in providing testing means we don't have a have a good idea any light that you can shed on that So so I so first of all we're about probably two or three weeks behind what New York is seeing Our cases came later. So by the time New York was starting to peak on the roller coaster We started to see our face face first important cases now we have community spread Because now they're not related to people that have traveled outside the state So we're hoping you know there's different mathematical models that are you know? Saying that we're gonna pick over the next two to four weeks, so we're at the beginning We're kind of in the middle of that roller coaster to go What we don't want is to peak at the top of the roller coaster and have what happened in New York, so Testing is important because if you test and test you can isolate We'll isolate the symptomatic cases the one that can transmit the virus and it's easier to isolate You know for people that are going to transmit it to a to 16 that to isolate a hundred people Because it actually It's helpful to to hear you say that in terms of understanding why it's important for us to shelter in place and not to congregate and how we Know the phrase flatten the curve has been used so much But it makes a lot of sense you don't want this to peak in a way that overwhelms Capacity at our hospitals and the ability for doctors to be able to treat those patients, and you don't want to get to a point where Physicians and frontline medical teams are having to make decisions on who they're going to treat who they're not going to treat because of limited resources and incapacity so if anyone's concerned about that becoming the situation best thing for you to do is to stay home not congregate and Isolate yourselves from from other people physically If you don't mind, I'm going to take a few questions from the folks who are watching There's a question that I don't know if you have the information to or if anyone does What what are we seeing in terms of rates of recovery And how long does it take someone to recover if someone and I don't know if you have this information But if someone is placed on on a ventilator, which I assume is more the extreme end of the spectrum of these cases, what is their prognosis for recovery Ages And so What we hope as you recover By Soldiers that remember So you don't get the other 20% that 5 is the people that my end up in an intensive care unit Those are the ones who worry the recovery can be a long Once you are over the disease what you're left with your lungs are very damaged And people can stay in ventilators for many months So let's talk just a patient without Kobe or anything someone that has this ARDS patients can be You know can have a couple of months on the respirator You get a tracheostomy though, but the lungs never recover quite complete other patients that really need a lot of ventilations and which is a machine that lets you breathe and it makes makes your lungs recover slowly because you have scar tissue You mentioned it the antibodies that are produced talk to us about what you're seeing in terms of cures or vaccines I read a story another fully understood it about Using blood maybe this is an experimental treatment using the blood from those patients who recovered from kovat 19 because of the antibodies that it has and perhaps transfusing that to Patients who have been unable to recover I might have that completely wrong correct me and tell me what hope There is out there based on this kind of Experimental treatment or other things that give you some some hope or give us some promise that we're gonna get through this So so right now. We don't have any treatment everything So the two things that we're studying is a therapeutic which is a treatment and a vaccine The treatments there is a lot of things going out on Facebook the social media Because everybody's looking for work here, so one of them something that we've done many many years ago Convalescent plasma we used to get this from horses infected their horses Someone which is actually you get some other side effects, so you know for example there is Hospitals here in Texas Medical Center that I have looked at doing the plasma convalescent Clinical trials which one I'm going in New York one. I'm going with Hopkins To look at this the idea is that you inject. This is just like a blood transfusion It helps your immune system states. We have little soldiers fighting We want to do that at early stages It's not when you're already on a ventilator day 21 when you're going to act because that might be too late You want to hit it at the beginning where your body still can fight that and you're not debilitated because you've been in intensive care unit for two or three weeks Doctor will I look for the next question from our viewers can you address something? I saw you on a local news piece in Houston, Texas talking about Acetaminophen and ibuprofen and when it's appropriate to use either in relation to those who may think that they have COVID-19 Yes, so at the beginning of you know, so one of the things we're learning about COVID-19 in our experience of four or five months is that every week, you know, it's like drinking from a firehose We get a lot of information. So one of the things and this comes from dr. David Arnold Is the chief of ID and Vanderbilt is and he studies the use of ibuprofen Infections is that we know that when someone is sick, you might overuse And that might actually damage your kidneys and have other things. I know that the FDA came with Comments saying it was okay, but we prefer to use acetaminophen no more than two grams Just for your fever. That's what you need it for And so that causes less damage You know, there's a lot of techniques out there, but you know, keep it in simple hydrating yourself Taking your Tylenol and you know eating and you know, that should do fine Let me ask Three quick questions for viewers first one What are your thoughts on masks for all the case that I've heard for this is that in China and in other Asian countries? There is no distinction between those who have a respiratory illness and those who do not so there's no shame And so people are more likely when they should be wearing a mask to actually wear one because they don't stand out Do you agree? Do we have enough mass to even contemplate doing this? How would you answer that question? So, you know, so one reason it's a cultural part so in Asia It is not unlikely that someone uses a mask one because of pollution and two out of respect that if you have an illness And you're coughing you don't want to transmit this between a highly populated In in our countries around we are not used to seeing people on mass But he also wearing the mask is That stops the spread it's like putting a little barrier, right but you have to know how to use the mask I mean, I've seen it that people don't cover their nose. So you have to cover your nose If you're there, but the mask also can give you a false sense because touch the front of the mask And it's wet and you can shake someone you might so but at the same time I Would have to be cautious It's the same thing people wearing gloves You can wear a glove feel protected But if that glove is touching everything around and you don't take it off or you don't wash your hands Then you cannot actually transmit it to Now is there enough mask that is always a question I mean we have you know, if you go to Amazon or try to order mask right now, they're out of stuff, right? So what we have said at the beginning when this started is to be aware that all the first Healthcare workers we use them because we're in a highly Environment that has a lot of things going on One of the units it's gonna have more virus than if I go outside So just be diligent about it. If you are, you know, you have to press It's okay to use it but cover your nose careful not to touch the front always wash your hands Great. Here's another question. Is there a risk for reinfection regarding kovat 19? so 14 days to 28 days will have fully Once you have those who are less, you know, we're not going to get it now. How long does those antibodies last? That's a different that is the basis of building a vaccine. That's how the past It's a momentary time and when we build the vaccine is the same thing We are making renewal system make this antibody so you don't get Great, and then this will be the the last question I take from a viewer. I know that you have to go soon So the question is do you think this will be over by July And and maybe the spirit of the question is How do you think this ends? What does this look like over the next 12 months? We were talking to Andy Slavitt the other day who talked about four phases of this with the last one being a vaccine and treatment for those who have kovat 19 Do you want to venture any kind of a time frame or timelines or what we should expect and And what might give you some hope that we're gonna get through this. I think that's something we all need So right now we're a naive population. We're like a virgin We're seeing this virus. We will probably keep but this is this is a corona virus and we know from virologist That is a seasonal one So we'll see it more doing winter less during the summer and there's a lot of reasons why So this thing go like the flu where we have a pig in December January and February and it comes down and then come back again. That's the reason for developing the vaccine Will it be over in July? We we certainly hope so But one of the things that works is when you stay at home Because people have to work we have an economy and everything But one of the reasons is that that way we can actually see how this works the best for example San Francisco has a stain stain stain shelter and they've seen in University of San Francisco a very small app search and they are able to take care not just of the Kobe patients But other patients that might need it And this missile I promise you'd be the last question in a quick one But I want to ask it on behalf of another population that's on the front lines food and grocery and restaurant workers Possibly hipster asked I work at a restaurant What precautions should I be taking obviously washing their hands, but talk about the services that they're touching What disinfectants they should be using? What they should do in those kinds of essential jobs, we still have to be around other people So same thing I do every day over here. Wash my hands with soap and water I know that some distilleries in Texas are doing hand sanitizers. So that's that's gonna be helpful also, it's You know cover your mouth cough Try to disinfect the surfaces you're around because this kind of stays on the surfaces So are the same things I told my nurses the same things I do every day Is is it very simple to wash your hands keep six feet apart and disinfect the surfaces? Wonderful. Thank you for what you are doing and and through you we want to thank all health care workers and all public health Advocates who are making sure that we do the right thing at this critically important moment We're so grateful that you took a half hour out of your day to answer our questions And I hope make us a little bit smarter and a little bit safer Please be safe, and we hope we get a chance to thank you in person when we can again travel back down to Houston Thank you for having me over Beto and I saw one of the questions. How can you help our health care workers by staying home? We're working for you. We can't stay home. Some of us have to be away from our families So don't get them infected. So we want to win this we're all in together. That's right. Thank you again We're very grateful. Bye. Bye Okay, again, that was dr. Layla walk Colburn. She's in Houston with the Baylor Health System and Made me a little bit smarter. I don't know about you But I'm grateful that she answered our questions and really really grateful for what she and other health care workers are doing all over this country So thank I want to thank her for being on Send us suggestions for who you would like to to hear from What will make you smarter who you'd like to be able to ask questions of and then we'll do our best to get them on One this this is a way for me to connect with you and others at a time that were otherwise isolated So I enjoy this it's a way for me to get smarter on this the most important issue That's facing this country right now, and I appreciate it from from that standpoint But I want to make sure that this is good for you as well So so please let us know all suggestions, especially all complaints send to Cynthia Connell She would be happy to take them and I think we are going to have Jim Ward on Sometime this week. In fact, I'm gonna try to get Cynthia on so she can tell us Connell where are you? And if Cynthia can join us she can tell us who we're gonna have on later this week I watched a really interesting race this weekend My friend Jay Klayberg in Austin, Texas ran a 30-kilometer race But because we're in the moment of social and physical distancing He had to run that race on his own and then I guess report back his time. It's a training run for the Leadville 50 but he Instagram lives his part of the race and then he split-screened it with his running coach really interesting so much innovation and ingenuity born of this moment and If you've got great people like that that you want to have on I thought maybe we'd have Jay on and maybe he could talk to us about what it's like to get ready To run this 50k race and what that means to training Connell when do we have Jim Ward on? so Jim Ward Sparta a sleeper car of at the drive-in of just being Jim Ward of Eloise which is a fantastic restaurant on the west side that he and Christine own and run I thought it might be fun to Just to see him because he's just such a great guy to talk to and so interesting to hear from then I also thought he offers us this perspective of a musician A touring musician who's now unable to tour who just released an album. So how does he support that album? How does he get the music out there? What does he do when he's got a shelter-in-place like like all of us, so that's Thursday Okay And who do we have for tomorrow tomorrow? We have Gina and her daughter summer. Oh great Gina and summer from Las Vegas That's right. Yeah, okay, Gina Gina reached out to me and she said We met Gina when we were on the campaign trail in Las Vegas and Just really impressed me in terms of some of the struggles she has in her life How devoted she is to her daughter who has disabilities and for whom she cares the number of jobs She's working. I think she's working four jobs when I met her and at the time she was Homeless or living in her car, but didn't have a home that she could go to an apartment that she could live She just literally couldn't afford one and she reached out to me the day before yesterday and said Beto I'm worried about you. I want you to go get tested and And so we got back in touch with each other. I said, I'd love to hear how you're doing I'd love to share your story with with those who tune in to this Instagram live so Gina is tomorrow Jim is on Thursday. How about Friday? I'm waiting. Come on, Connell. I know I'm sorry, but I need to look for somebody And so if you guys have recommendations, which they do and they send me a message So you can that's what you can get in touch with me I'm Co Connell and you guys can see it right there So send me your messages and your suggestions and then I will do my best to try to get them on. I was so impressed Listening right now to the doctor. She was amazing It really really I think a lot of us have a lot of questions To hear her talk about the best practices. Hey Connell, there's somebody with the screen name great station and They say they need help and that they're sick Do you mind following up with them? Well, it's hard. It's hard to tell through the comment I'll make a comment and so I'll go back. I'll look okay. Yeah So yeah hard to tell what's going on through the comments Want to take that seriously Here's a great Sorry Cindy you go first Yeah, don't let me get in the way So some folks were telling me that they really you know, I think on the weekends maybe you might have some time You know, it might be good to see you cook I think a live stream of you making one of the lemon chicken that you talked about. I read that in an article today Maybe it would be good to see you make something. I would enjoy that Suggestion Somebody suggested that we get somebody on from Texas Workforce Commission they said they've been trying to get help through the website and it's not working for them and I thought about Leila Melendez here in El Paso who I think has been very involved with the El Paso Workforce Commission and maybe just get an idea of the volume of unemployment claims What in this new two trillion dollar relief bill? will help those who are filing for unemployment or who do not have work right now, so Maybe maybe we can get Leila on on Okay on Friday. That's a great suggestion. I will work on on that and I will go back and read some of these You know St. Stacey reminds you to stop touching your face And I thought about that when we were listening to the doctor just now She said even if you have a mask, but you touch your mask And your mask is wet because you've sneezed or coughed in it or just worn it for too long That'll spread the virus as well. So you keep touching your face But it's just a best practice because you may be out in public again Before long or you may you may touch your face then touch a letter that you're gonna put in the mail Then the mailman touches that then he has what you have. So wash your hands and don't touch your face There you go, okay last last thing maybe Somebody asked how what can you do? So someone asked how do you help health care workers and The good doctor said well you stay at home so that you don't Create additional need and stress out the capacity in our hospitals and our clinics. I thought that was good advice Someone asked how they can help or volunteer safely and I'll just put a plug in for your local food bank If it's anything like our local food bank in El Paso, they're seeing unprecedented demand for food nutrition and calories for the food insecure population that already existed more than 200,000 in El Paso before kovat 19 and now an unprecedented demand Because people have been let go from their jobs are unable to afford food May have gone from a two income family to a one income family to a no income family and they need that help and there Was a line in El Paso two miles long last week Amy and I are gonna go volunteer again this week and we want to volunteer in a more regular and a more frequent basis But we can tell you that you're you're asked to wash your hands when you get there you wear gloves you keep six feet apart from the other volunteers and So they do a good job of keeping you safe and keeping the people who depend on your help safe while Facilitating your ability to help those who are in need right now and so if you can volunteer at the food bank volunteer at the food bank if you can't volunteer or you shouldn't because you're older or you have an underlying condition that might make coronavirus or kovat 19 fatal for you Then if you have the means make a financial contribution To your local food bank and I can tell you the one here in El Paso could could really use the help so Those are some ideas on how to volunteer safely And make sure that you're doing the right thing Buy produce from local farmers says Ms. Rocco agreed and there's some restaurants here that are sourcing Local produce I think tabla Downtown is doing that our friend Gwen just picked up a box from tabla with local produce there are other Restaurants, and I don't know if any of the grocery stores are doing that but I like that That's a great idea a lot of restaurants are also selling off their Inventory that they can't use anymore. No art of you knows Desert Crossing in Sutherland Park New Mexico was doing that I went some friends went out bought some meat from their Freezer and also picked up some bottles of alcohol from their bar and There you go Okay, is that it Connell? Okay, everyone be safe stay at home be good to one another And join us tomorrow when we're gonna have our friend Gina from Las Vegas join us Thursday We have Jim Ward and mystery guests on Friday. We'll see you guys same time by the way 430 p.m. Mountain Standard time that is 530 central 630 Eastern 330 Pacific same time every day and Somebody just remind us. Sorry last thing and then I'm done Our good buddy storm in Ohio says today is trans day of visibility so for all those who've been working for and Sacrificing for trans rights. Thank you for your work and Storm, thank you for making sure that we we said that right now adios Bye