Pilots Prevent
September 21, 2021
UP has done a tremendous job handling the COVID-19 pandemic as a campus community. To date, I can’t really think of anything that I thought was an inappropriate response or mishandling of the situation and I would have spoken up if I did. There will always be opinions that UP overreacted or underreacted to the pandemic, that is just the nature of how things work and public opinions.
UP followed the latest scientific evidence, consulted available experts and when things were uncertain, it erred on the side of caution. We are currently four weeks into the semester with students living on campus and most classes in-person and have only seen a relatively small number of COVID-19 cases. Are all COVID-19 infections accounted for and reported? Most likely not, but we no doubt have a greater proportion of cases captured and reported than across the city of Portland.
In some ways, the UP campus is one of the safer places to be with all the control measures in place. Of course, a college campus can also, by nature, be an environment where transmission can run rampant. As a campus community we must continue with caution and trust the measures and policies in place, and not get complacent even during periods of low transmission. I trust that UP will continue to monitor the everchanging situation and evolve our policies and practices as the circumstances and environment continue to change.
Vaccines are by far the most effective, efficient, and readily available tool available in the fight against COVID-19. Without the development of safe, extremely effective and easy to access vaccines, we would be in even more devastating circumstances, which is hard to imagine. Without the development and distribution of effective vaccines, it is unlikely K-12 schools, universities, restaurants, and businesses would be able to open, especially with the highly contagious Delta variant. The vaccine (along with masks and other measures) allows us to make steps toward what the new normal will look like for society.
This is the most poignant question at this time that we have been diligently working on in the public health community and will continue to seek to understand. I have researched the underlying causes of vaccine hesitancy extensively in the community and there are generally a few main reasons that individuals cite for why they do not want the COVID-19 vaccine: the shortened timeline in which it was developed and approved, the political influence, and fear of side effects or long-term effects.
Ultimately, individuals are running out of valid reasons to not take the vaccine. At this point, there have been around 6 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines given globally. It is one of the safest and most effective vaccines we have at our disposal. Over the short-term it is also one of the most well studied.
The reality is that those who are refusing to get the vaccine are not only putting themselves and others in danger but overall holding our communities back from thriving. In addition, the majority of cases and most of the transmission of the virus are due to the unvaccinated. Unvaccinated individuals are less likely to take other precautions against the spread as well, such as masking and limiting gatherings. The irony is that they are often the most vocal about getting society back to normal but are unwilling to do the single most effective act that would help us move towards a healthier and better future.
As a county epidemiologist, I’m frustrated about vaccine hesitancy and refusal. As a father of a two-year-old daughter who can’t get vaccinated and therefore relies on the adults around her for protection, vaccine hesitancy and refusal are beyond frustrating as we continue on in this pandemic.
There are so many lessons that we could learn from this pandemic. One of the issues is that governments (local, state, and federal) are hesitant to spend millions or billions of dollars to prepare for something that might happen, whether it is a pandemic, natural disaster, or other potential threat. It isn’t seen as a good investment for the present time (or for getting re-elected). However, this pandemic has showed us the importance of investing and preparing for potential threats such as a highly contagious novel respiratory virus.
Unfortunately, most of our health dollars are spent treating preventable chronic disease in tertiary care and not on the preventative public health side. We need to have better disease prevention, surveillance, preparedness planning, and a more robust public health workforce.
The healthcare system itself is more complicated. It doesn’t necessarily make sense to have thousands of hospital beds sitting empty for the next pandemic, but we do clearly need better planning for surge capacity during periods of crisis, whether it is a pandemic or a natural disaster.
We also need to find ways to prevent our healthcare workers from getting burned out and leaving the field. We have over 3,000 counties, boroughs, and tribal authorities in the US and we saw significant gaps in coordination and communication between all the levels of government. We need to find better ways for federal, state, and local public health agencies to work with private health care systems and pharmaceutical companies. The complexity and mix of public and private health care entities presents a significant challenge that needs to be addressed.
Ultimately, I believe the greatest lessons are much bigger than just the healthcare system or public health response. I truly believe that working on our resiliency as individuals, families, and communities, by looking out for each other better, and focusing on collective problem solving and learning to believe and respect that we are stronger together rather than divided, are the most important lessons we can learn from this pandemic.
A very positive highlight that has come out of the pandemic is a societal awareness around basic infectious disease control and prevention practices. The same things that we do to prevent COVID-19 work really well for influenza and the other common coronaviruses. There is a reason that we saw such low number of flu cases last year. It’s because we limited the spread of pretty much every virus (and bacteria) through shutdowns, working from home, wearing masks and hand hygiene.
Now that things are back open and work and schools are in-person, wash your hands, limit your interaction with others when sick, and get your flu vaccine!
Lastly, COVID-19 has underscored of the importance of health and wellness in all dimensions, including psychological, social, spiritual, and physical health. What we know is that those with higher levels of health and wellness across those dimensions had better outcomes even if they did get infected with the virus. Our health and wellness extend beyond just this pandemic time. So, as always, try to take care of yourself and encourage others to do so as well.
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