President Mark Killingsworth presided over today’s meeting. Lucy Sanguinetti provided the opening prayer and Mark led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. The meeting was held at the Holiday Inn North and on Zoom.
Joe Bost thanked those who helped with today’s meeting. There were no guests.
Richard Topp then introduced today’s guest speaker Rambod Rouhbakhsh, M.D. Dr. Rouhbakhsh is a faculty physician and program director at the Forrest General Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program. He is also the principal investigator for MediSync® Clinical Research at Hattiesburg Clinic. His topic today is a COVID-19 Update.
As of today, 24 million American have been infected with the virus. Now 400,000 Americans have died due to the virus. There are 64 deaths per 100,000 infections. Approximately 80% of those under the age of 20 who are infected remain asymptomatic. Mississippi now has 1,300 individuals who are hospitalized with the virus.
Dr. Rouhbakhsh stated that if 10 people are in a room together for 15 minutes, each person has a 48% chance of contracting the virus. If that number increased to 25 people, the risk of infection rises to 73%. Those with diabetics, hypertension or obesity are those most seriously affected by the virus. Symptoms can begin 1 to 2 days after exposure, but they can also occur 10 days after exposure. About 80% of everyone who gets the virus recover without any treatment. About 20% are hospitalized.
Two vaccines are now available to Americans. They are both messenger RNA vaccines. Dr. Rouhbakhsh says neither of the vaccines affect your DNA and they cannot give you COVID-19. Some who receive the vaccine have a slight fever, a headache and muscle aches. All these symptoms are short lived. If you have any of these symptoms, it is likely that your body is telling you the vaccine is working. Two doses of the vaccines are required, and they cannot be mixed. After 7 to 12 days after your second vaccinations, you have 90 to 95% protection against catching the virus. However, Dr. Rouhbakhsh says even though you are vaccinated, it is still possible for you to pass the virus on to others. He says we should continue to wear masks, social distance and keep our hands washed.
There are only two ways out of this pandemic according to the doctor; either you get it or you get vaccinated.
Mark thanked our speaker for today’s presentation. He reminded board members that they will meet at 5:30 p.m. this Thursday. He also showed club members a flyer that Wes Brooks has created to help benefit the DuBard school. Club members are encouraged to buy tee shirts with proceeds offsetting our quarterly contribution to the school.
There being no further business to come before the club, Mark then adjourned the meeting with our motto: “Service Above Self.”