The Current COVID 19 Situation
Right now, as we approach the holidays, we are entering the predicted second wave of the COVID19 tsunami. We have over 52 million cases and 1.3 million dead from COVID in the world. In the US, we have now almost 11 million people infected and this number is growing at a rate of over 100.000 cases a day a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. This means 1 million new COVID19 cases every week! This number may be doubled in a couple of months if we do not act now.
We have over 242,000 deaths in the US now. Hospitals are having record numbers of hospitalizations for COVID 19. Some 61,000 in the US right at this point in time. This is the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic. Many hospitals are reaching their capacity and may collapse in the next month if drastic measures are not taken right now.
The current US political situation and COVID19
While we continue to have unnecessary political turmoil caused by an undefined election, people keep on getting infected and dying in massive numbers. On the hand, we have a federal government and a president more interested in perpetuating himself than in finding a more effective way to protect the American people from infections and death. On the other, we have rational state authorities trying to do whatever they can to fend off all alone this renewed onslaught of virus infections. But We as individuals have to realize that our lives at stake: We have to take this matter into our own hands.
I know we are all SICK AND TIRED OF THIS PANDEMIC. But this is NOT THE MOMENT TO GIVE UP OR GIVE IN. We cannot slack off on our precautions now. In fact, we need to double down on them through every possible means available.
The current challenges to beat COVID19
Our main challenge now is the Holiday Season. Thanksgiving and Christmas are around the corner and winter is almost here. And, of course, we want to get together with our loved ones. Even more so since we have not gotten together for over 11 months now!
But this is not the time for big gatherings. We will endanger our loved ones if we do not heed this sound advice from the scientific authorities.
The CDC (US Center for Disease Control and Dr. Anthony Fauci are warning us daily about the risks of not wearing masks, of not keeping social distancing, and of continuing to socialize in spite of the pandemic worsening by the day. If we do not do what the scientists are telling us, the authorities will be cornered into declaring new lockdowns that none of us want.
COVID 19, the economy, and the back to school conundrum
We all want and need our economies to keep going. But this cannot be done at the expense of the loss of more human lives and the human sacrifice of the health care personnel.
We all want to be able to send our children back to school. But this is not the moment. This is a moment to hunker down and stay put at home as much as possible and stay away from ANY unnecessary human contact.
What are we to do at this stage of the COVID 19 pandemic?
The following are considerations you need to keep in mind as we get into the holiday season:
1-The COVID 19 is wreaking havoc with our people, our economy, and our lives. It must be top priority for EVERYBODY to engage in this fight against our common ENEMY: COVID-19. This is not a time for political bickering over life and death issues.
Again, this is a PUBLIC HEALT EMERGENCY NOT A POLICAL ISSUE. Everyone on both sides of the aisle MUST UNDERSTAND THIS REALITY AND FOLLOW THROUGH ACCORDINGLY.
2-Every person–no matter how young or healthy—must be considered a potential carrier for the virus. This is so as up to 40 percent of the population carries the virus but does not develop symptoms. This is important to understand as people are eager to send their children back to school. These children will most likely carry the virus home. These innocent healthy carriers will then infect other members of the family, particularly the elder members (the grandparents). Many of these older adults will die if they get the illness.
3- Keep in mind that many children in our society today–in which parents are absent or have become unavailable because of death or irresponsibility–are brought up by their grandparents. It is these people we have to think of protecting when we discuss whether to send children back to school. If these older folks catch the virus and die, then these children will become orphans creating a massive humanitarian crisis. We CANNOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN.
4-By now, taking the temperature of individuals is USELESS. This screening method should be abandoned as a way of discriminating between potential COVID 19 cases and healthy ones. At this point in the pandemic, if we want to win the battle, we need to assume that we are ALL infected to be effective and act accordingly.
5-Keep in mind that there are many forms of the COVID19 infection that are not the typical respiratory form. People can have gastrointestinal problems (diarrhea, nausea, vomiting) or severe headache of unknown origin due to COVID 19 infection. All of these cases must be tested for COVID19.
Keep in mind that people can start with a milder form of the illness and then turn for the worse in an unexpected manner. For this reason, sick people must be monitored very carefully. They must be isolated from others at home–and if they are in the high-risk groups–hospitalized sooner.
6-The good-news is that the vaccines are around the corner. But it will take a full 6 months to a year or more to carry out the vaccination campaigns. And vaccines are only effective for the population as a whole if at least 70 percent of the population get vaccinated. This ritual of vaccination will probably have to be repeated every year from now on as the virus will remain with us in an endemic form.
7-The challenge for individuals is to understand that vaccines– even if they may have minor side effects–are much safer than developing the illness. These vaccines against COVID19 have been developed with cutting edge technology and will have a very acceptable risk versus benefit profile. The prejudicial ideas sustained by antivaccination groups–both on the right and the left of the political spectrum–are scientifically groundless. But these mistaken assumptions about vaccines can become a serious obstacle to our eventual victory over the virus and society’s general well-being.
Keep in mind that while we have effective flu vaccines and the flu claims some 35 thousand American lives a year, only 37 percent of the population in this country gets vaccinated every year.
So, what are we to do now?
- We should stay put at home. We must have as little social interaction in person with others as possible.
- Avoid gathering for the holidays even if you miss your loved ones. Use technology to communicate and be present with other family members.
- Have your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at home with your immediate family. Keep a tablet on the table to see and interact with other members of the family using meet apps, such as WhatsApp, zoom, and others.
- Making this extra effort now this year will save thousands of lives and billions of health care dollars.
- Hang on a little bit longer. With the arrival of the vaccines next year life will go back to the “old normal.” By the end of 2021, we will have been vaccinated, will have been healthy, and we will have survived the COVID 19 pandemic of the 2020’s. If you do all of those things right as we are recommended, you will be there to tell the story to your grandchildren.
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Hope to see you in my next post,
Till then, stay safe and sound
Dr. T