#SocialDistancing
Are you skeptical about “social distancing,” wondering exactly what this means and why it is so important?
First, let’s explain what exactly COVID-19 means. This term refers to the disease, or the typical constellation of symptoms displayed by people who are infected with a virus now identified as SARS-CoV-2. This specific virus has never been seen before, and that is why a vaccine does not already exist, and creating one is not a speedy process. At worst, patients with COVID-19 develop terrible pneumonia that prevents the lungs from supplying the body with oxygen. Many patients, unfortunately, begin to improve from the pneumonia only to develop devastating heart failure. COVID-19 is most deadly in people over 60, smokers, and those with other serious health problems.
So, what exactly is “social distancing”? It is basically the concept of keeping enough distance between people in social situations to prevent the spread of disease via droplets in cough, sneeze, etc.
Social distancing is crucial for slowing the spread of COVID-19 by separating potentially contagious people from healthy people. Adopting these measures NOW will make or break HOW, not IF, the epidemic hits our population and our medical system.
Some individuals who contract the virus will develop no symptoms. They won’t seem sick.
Most people with COVID-19 will develop mild to moderate cough, fever, body aches, and sometimes GI symptoms.
The majority of these folks will never be tested because they won’t meet current criteria in the United States for testing. But they will be very able to transmit the disease to other individuals.
Even if a relatively small percentage of persons with COVID-19-related viral illness require hospitalization and advanced medical care, IF THEY ALL BECOME SEVERELY ILL AT ONCE IT WILL BE DEVASTATING. There are only so many hospital beds. There are limited numbers of ventilators. There is a fixed number of physicians and nurses and respiratory therapists and support workers to facilitate necessary care, assuming they all remain well, which they will not.
If we (the population) slow the disease’s spread, we (the medical community) will be able to keep up. If we fail to slow the spread of the disease, we will not be able to tolerate the stress to the medical system. People will die.
You may think, “I’m young, I’m healthy, this ‘social distancing’ nonsense is bad for the economy. It’s like the flu. It’s overblown by the media. It won’t affect me.” Ok. Well, you may be right, you may be at very low risk of suffering personal harm from COVID-19. Let’s assume you don’t care much about infecting higher risk people, because it still leaves you directly unaffected. But, if ALL the hospital beds are overrun with critically ill patients, and you or a loved one has a stroke, or a heart attack, or a car wreck, or a bad case of influenza, or any serious common malady, and need critical care that is completely unavailable, then it suddenly becomes a big personal problem for you. Or maybe you’re in a small community where the odds of infection are lower, but your local hospital can’t get critical, basic, everyday supplies necessary for routine care of your chronically ill self or relative? It affects you. Then what?
Worse, if the system gets severely overrun, you can expect the triage system utilized for managing critically ill patients to change, as is happening NOW in northern Italy. Instead of care going to the sickest patients as it does under normal circumstances, care instead goes to the patients most likely to survive. Put simply, when there aren’t enough medical resources to keep everyone alive, people who could have been saved are going to die. Like in a war. Because under those circumstances, our society will be at war with SARS-CoV-19. This scenario is unthinkable, but it can be prevented.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/who-gets-hospital-bed/607807/
How? First of all, admit there is a serious problem. Realize that when we were told days and weeks ago this issue was “locked down” or “not serious” or that the “system” is “totally prepared,” we were woefully misinformed. Understand that because most patients don’t get tested, the actual number of positive cases in our communities are probably vastly underestimated. Prepare for the fact that this will get worse before it gets better. Listen to the epidemiologists and scientists who spent a lifetime studying this stuff. Cooperate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3URhJx0NSw&feature=share
https://peterattiamd.com/covid-19-update-03152020/
Please don’t panic. Please don’t hoard supplies. For the love of all that’s holy PLEASE wash your hands and please STAY HOME. Get rest, exercise, eat well, and do the best you can to keep yourself healthy. Need something in the community like groceries or carry-out food? Fine. Get what you need and go back home. Don’t go out and get infected and then be the reason other people get sick and die. Don’t travel to areas where the infection rate is high (Seattle, New York) and then bring the disease back home to your elderly community members. Work from home if you can. If you develop symptoms, call in to get advice from your doctor’s office. Don’t go to the ER unless your symptoms are severe, and even then, call first. Don’t “demand” a test because the kits are often administered only under specific circumstances as directed by the CDC and local health departments, or not available at all. Becoming angry and yelling at the medical professional trying to help you is not productive. (It is worth noting that countries where COVID-19 is well-controlled enjoyed widely available testing, administered those tests early, often, and at minimal inconvenience and cost to the patient, and that our current protocol is entirely backward. But we will save that discussion for a less urgent day)
Accept that everyone will be majorly inconvenienced. There are people delaying weddings and postponing funerals. Long-anticipated travel plans are being quashed. Lives are being disrupted. People will be profoundly disappointed, but we must do everything we can to slow this thing down. Please don’t give up hope, because it CAN be done. Finally, don’t let negativity drown out the good in the world. Look for it. It’s still there. Please go be part of it.
https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/03/13/nba-players-teams-help-arena-workers/
https://apple.news/ADQAV3MDQQICrn13g-ltKhA
Lisa Rollison, DO, is a general surgeon in Missouri.
LisaRollison.com 