David Gong and Zhiyao Ye

On April 18th, 7:00 AM PST, Wuhan United hosted their fifth seminar in the “Living Through A Pandemic” series. This seminar was organized with the joint effort of Wuhan Tongji Hospital Tongji medical school, UC Davis Health, and Wuhan United. The topic presented was: COVID-19 Case Studies, ICU Management & Research on Severe and Deceased Patients. The seminar was hosted on zoom and streamed on YouTube simultaneously. There were close to  200 concurrent streams on zoom and YouTube live streams together. People from 49 different countries signed up for the seminar. 

The seminar started with Mr.Tom Gong welcoming the audience and introducing the two co-hosts, Dr. Anlin Xu and Dr. Nick Kenyon. Next, Dr. Anlin Xu introduced the topic of the seminar and the three presenters: Dr. Tao Chen, Dr. Qiang Zhong, and Dr. Li Yan. The three part format of the seminar was also laid out. 

Part one: Immunological and clinical characteristics of severe and deceased COVID-19 patients. 

Part two: Dialogue about COVID-19 patients in the ICU. 

Part three: Q&A session from doctors in the audience.

Part one was presented by Dr. Chen and Dr. Yan. Dr. Chen, an Associate Professor, Deputy Director at the Infectious Disease Dept in Tongji Hospital, presented first. He went over characteristics of deceased COVID-19 patients based on a study of 113 deceased COVID-19 patients in Tongji Hospital. Next, Dr. Li Yan of the Emergency and Critical Care Dept of Wuhan Tongji Hospital discussed two case studies. These case studies examined the approach, outcome, and observations. 

Part two involved a dialogue between Dr. Kenyon and Dr. Zhong. Dr. Kenyon is a Professor of UC Davis Health, Division Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine. And Dr. Zhong is an Associate Professor, Deputy Director, Critical Care Dept at Wuhan Tongji Hospital. The dialogue was translated between English and Chinese by our host, Dr. Xu. Dr. Kenyon asked Dr. Zhong questions relating to his experiences in the early stage of the outbreak. The two were able to examine the past and what lessons they are able to learn from it. 

Part three was a Q&A session involving audience questions. The first question was asked by Dr. Chenna from Washington University in St. Louis. He shared his personal experience at the seminar. The second question was asked by Dr. Sali Urovi from Basildon & Thurrock University Hospital in the UK. He asked about how clinical trials will be able to remove bias from ventilator use when testing new drugs. Dr. Kenyon responded with an anecdote with the remdesivir clinical trial. The third question was asked by Ritchelle Broadnax from the Bellevue Hospital in New York City. Her question was about the false sense of security that young people without comorbidities had despite many of these people dying. Dr. Zhong responded by saying that young people without underlying diseases are at risk of dying. Young people were less frequently tested and hospitalized, which may have caused studies to be inaccurate. Young people may also have stronger immune responses overreaction. The fourth question was asked by Peggy Dai from UCLA medical center. Her questions were whether obesity was a factor in severe cases and if you could continue feeding a patient in prone position. The final question was asked by Ms. Chen Yu, a Pediatrician in Wuhan Tongji Hospital. She made a comment about the effects on mental health of doctors such as PTSD and anxiety. She explained that doctors in Wuhan felt anxiety at first due to many doctors getting infected. Later, doctors felt less anxiety due to better PPE and more support from doctors around China. 

Overall, this seminar has been successful at spreading information to doctors in the ICU to help fight against COVID-19. Wuhan United is a non-profit organization established in California to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. This seminar is the fifth in the “Living Through A Pandemic” series, and Wuhan United aims to host more. 

Wuhan United is a non-profit organization established in California to fight the epidemic. Starting in March, the focus of Wuhan United’s work is building a platform to organize doctors in Wuhan and global doctors to communicate on the fight against COVID-19.