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The Road Less Traveled, Part III

WHO IS MOST AT RISK?

As I did in the first part of this series of posts, I would like to begin today with a thought to consider as we discuss our current “COVID situation”: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.” -Robert Frost

Much of what I will present today is once again taken from Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. As a reminder, Dr. Bhattacharya is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. He also holds a Ph.D. in economics. He is also a director of the Stanford Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. With this background he is well suited to comment on the current situation in which we find ourselves.

LESSONS LEARNED?
I would like to focus now on what we have done to date to mitigate the spread of COVID. I think we can all agree that some of the things we did when the virus first began to spread were totally wrong. I also will acknowledge that this was an unprecedented pandemic, at least in recent history, so unfortunately, we had to learn as we went along. Such things as placing hospitalized individuals with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis into nursing facilities we now know was totally contrary to what we should have done. While this was done in numerous states by numerous governors, it was simply wrong! This policy actually cost more lives. We learned that lesson the hard way.

I can relay to you on a personal note that as recently as three months ago my wife had to be hospitalized for a condition totally unrelated to COVID-19. Her hospitalization occurred on a Sunday. On Friday she was tested for COVID-19 due to some of her symptoms, and on Sunday morning in the hospital they informed us that the Friday test results came back negative. We had not been anywhere on Friday since the test was performed until we went to the hospital on Sunday. One of the tests that they ran on my wife when we got into the ER was another COVID test. While this in my opinion was not necessary and a waste of time and money (which the medical director later agreed with in a conversation that I had with her) it was done anyway. The results of this test came back as negative also. In spite of this fact, when they were ready to place my wife in a room, they stated that they would be placing her on a floor with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients. Well, I will tell you that Dr. Pfeiffer lost it a little with the young physician’s assistant who informed us of this. I believe that my words were something to the effect of, “Here is how this is going to work. We will stay here in this room in your ER until you can find us a private room with NO COVID-positive patients on the floor, or we will have you transport us to another hospital where we can do that.” With that the young P.A. stated that she would call the medical director of the ER. She came back in about 20 minutes and handed me the phone stating that the director was on the phone and wanted to speak with me.

In our conversation, the director apologized and stated that particularly since my wife’s condition was a pulmonary issue that they would certainly not be placing her on the floor with COVID-positive patients. She then stated that she had a private room with no COVID-positive or pending patients on the floor. Oh, and she then also acknowledged that the second COVID test was unnecessary.

THE MORAL OF MY STORY
The two take aways from this were that we are still doing some foolish things, and if you don’t have an advocate in the hospital, you are in trouble.

So, what else have we done wrong during these unprecedented times? Before we go further it is important to understand that we have never in the history of our country used widespread lockdowns such as what we have done with the COVID pandemic. We have quarantined individuals or specific groups in the past, but that is different than the blanket lockdowns that we have seen recently. This was originally done in an effort to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed, which never became the case. Even in New York city, where the President sent military hospital ships to take up the overflow of patients requiring hospitalizations, this was simply not the case. It was later determined that the ships were not necessary and were sent away when this fact became apparent.

“I think we must now evaluate the mistakes
that we made with these ‘lockdowns’
and the significantly adverse,
and yes even deadly,
effects that this unprecedented technique
has had on millions around the world.”

I think we must now evaluate the mistakes that we made with these “lockdowns” and the significantly adverse, and yes even deadly, effects that this unprecedented technique has had on millions around the world.

The U.N. estimates are that 130 million additional people will starve this year as a result of economic damage as a result of the lockdowns. Dr. Bhattacharya notes that in the last 20 years we have lifted one billion people worldwide out of poverty. Unfortunately, this year we are reversing this progress.

Another adverse factor of the lockdowns is that people have not themselves gotten in to see their doctors for routine physicals, and blood work. They have not gotten their children in to have standard check-ups either. This was not only true here in the U.S., but also around the world. Therefore, 80 million children around the world are now at risk of contracting preventable diseases.

It is also anticipated that we will see a rise in cancer diagnoses and death rates simply because individuals avoided the doctor’s office for routine screenings and treatment because they were more afraid of COVID than they were of cancer.

The other issue which has been mentioned, one not focused on by the media, is the problem of poor mental health caused by the lockdowns. This is one of the most shocking areas of statistical increase since the pandemic began. A CDC survey in June of last year found that one in four 18- to 24-year-olds have seriously considered suicide. Think about that for a moment. 25% of these young adults has considered ending it all!!! We have seen a significant increase in the suicide rate overall since the pandemic began.

Unfortunately, a great deal of the psychological effects of this virus have been born by the young adults and children. They have all been denied the much-needed socialization that will shape their future interactions with others in relationships personally, in business, and in their careers. Think about the young children who are all wearing masks. Masks which conceal facial expressions, which is one of the ways which we use to communicate with one another. For this reason, we are not only stifling communication, but hindering these children in their ability to learn how to effectively communicate.

What we have done is effectively placed a great deal of the burden on the young people in our society. Unfortunately, this is the group that poses the least risk of acquiring and communicating the virus. This is just the opposite of what we should have been doing. Instead of controlling the infection rate as well as the death rate of the disease by protecting the most vulnerable population – those 70 and older – we placed a strong emphasis on children. We also did this by applying questionable mitigation techniques such as forcing children to wear masks, staying out of school, and learning from home, which according to every teacher I have spoken with has been an utter failure. The sad truth regarding virtual learning in our K through 12 grades is that the children have not learned as well as they would have in person. Unfortunately, we will be pushing them along to the next grade level totally unprepared for what they will face there.

SUMMARY
You see the truth of the matter is that human beings were not designed to live alone or in seclusion. We are social animals. We thrive on interaction with others. Think about what we have sacrificed for this virus. A virus I might add that is “novel”, meaning it has not existed previously. There are many theories about where COVID-19 originated. Some believe that it started in a “wet market” in Wuhan China. Still others believe that it originated in a Wuhan lab in collaboration with the CDC. I will not waste time in speculation on that issue. It is here now, and we must deal with it and the widespread effects of our mitigation efforts.

In my next installment, I will follow up with some thoughts as to where we go from here.