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Fox News contributor Dr. Manny Alvarez gave his diagnosis for the state of America amid the coronavirus pandemic: "The patient is critical but stable."
"You still have increased rates of coronavirus admissions to hospitals, especially in big cities, that's happening and that's going to continue to happen for the next couple of weeks," said Dr. Manny on the latest episode of Fox Nation's "Wise Guys," hosted by Bill Bennett.
Dr. Manny was joined by a panel of experts, including former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.
Despite the challenges posed by the outbreak, Dr. Manny noted there are positive developments in the country's fight against the virus.
"The doubling of very critical patients is slowing down," he said. "You're going to see a little flattening, if you will, in the critical phase of the very sick patients."
Additionally, Dr. Manny said that clinicians are studying and developing promising new treatments, including the drug cocktail of anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic medication, known as z-pac, which has been touted by President Trump.
"I go to the hospital every day. And we have to try everything we can. I deal with pregnant women," said Dr. Manny, who is also chairman of the department of obstetrics/gynecology and reproductive science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey.
"I have three or four women intubated at the present time, which to me is one patient category that I have to pay a lot of attention to on my team," he continued, saying that he has used the hydroxychloroquine, z-pac drug combination to treat these patients.
"There's a lot of new therapies that are being produced out there," he continued, "whether there's anti-AIDS, anti-viral drugs and there's new studies looking at immunotherapy, looking at stem cell therapy, ways to alternate ventilator modalities so that the patients improve their respiration... that's why I said we're critical but stable."
VOLUNTEER DOCTORS GO ABOVE AND BEYOND ON CORONAVIRUS FRONT LINES
Dr. Manny also pointed out the persistent challenges in the health care system, especially in hard-hit New York City.
"The biggest problem that we have is capacity. You know that we're landlocked when it comes to many hospitals in the city of New York."
"The other thing is, which I think a lot of people missed the boat on, is the manpower... a lot of my doctors, many of them are sick, they're staying home. I'm losing staff. I'm losing nursing staff."
Last month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on medical workers around the country to come to New York to help relieve the strain on the workforce. Dr. Manny said that the logistics of getting those health care workers into the hospitals have proven challenging.
"The mechanics of that are not easy to execute. So we're running short," he concluded.
To watch all of this episode of "Wise Guys," including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's thoughts on President Trump's handling of the crisis, go to Fox Nation and sign up today.
For more information about the coronavirus pandemic, watch "America Vs Virus" with Dr. Mehmet Oz, "Pandemics and Epidemics 101," with Dr. Nicole Saphier, a full-time practicing physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and "Fox Nation 101: Making Vaccines," with Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.
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