Reassimilation

It is one thing to shut down society, it is another to open it back up.  As you have seen, this is quite the controversial topic these days.  There are lots of opinions to go around but very little data to draw on.  We do have some of the earlier countries to watch and learn from.  So far China, South Korea and Taiwan seem to have a good handle on things.  However, Singapore, which was felt to be a model of how to proceed has had to take a few steps backward as cases of the virus have jumped up after reopening their society.  Without the proper plan in place, disastrous consequences can follow.

This happens on not just a macro scale in relation to our city, state and country but on a micro scale as well.  When I was assigned to work ICU shifts on the COVID floor, I moved to the basement to keep my family safe.  I have had my own bedroom, bathroom and refrigerator.  I have been eating breakfast and lunch down there and coming up for dinner without helping to prepare it.  As my assigned shifts in the ICU was not needed after my initial training, I have not been in that area of the hospital.  It has now been two weeks since I have had any significant exposure so this weekend my wife and I discussed having me more fully rejoin the family.  It is not an easy decision.  I still go to the hospital to see my normal patients.  My risk is low but it is not zero.  It is likely that the virus will not be fully eradicated for many months.  Ultimately, the decision we had to make could not be found in a medical guideline or news report.  We made it a matter of prayer.  As we did so, we felt it safe enough for me to “come upstairs.”  We certainly still clean surfaces every day and our wash our hands all the time.  I made tacos for everyone today and am typing this post upstairs right now (in my designated chair).

Our communities are starting to make such plans as well.  I am glad that there is still a 10 person limit on gatherings and that social distancing is still encouraged.  Our ability to test has opened up a bit more again this week, but there is far more that needs to be done.  Contact tracing is a big concern of mine.  Apple and Google have come together to offer an app which will keep track of everyone around us by “pinging” our device while we are near.  This is done anonymously. If one of those contacts should come down with COVID-19, health officials would be able to download information off of their phone and be able to notify everyone who had been pinged.  There is the obvious concern about privacy infringements but do any of us really believe that Google doesn’t know where we are all the time anyway?  I think that it is a great idea.

For myself, I will be helping out in the “Respiratory Clinic” later this week.  This is a clinic that we set up to keep those with any sort of cough, congestion or fever out of our regular medical offices.  It hopefully will also keep many people out of the Emergency Room as well.  The patients register by phone and wait in their car until their appointment. They are then brought into the clinic through a dedicated door and placed directly in an examination room.  The staff are all in full PPE (personal protective equipment), changing the gown and gloves between rooms.  Not everyone who comes will have COVID but some will. We will be able to not just examine them but test their oxygen levels, do labs (including COVID testing when appropriate) as well as chest X-ray all right there in the clinic.

I suspect that we will need to have this respiratory clinic in place for many months.  I will have to determine what I believe my risk to be once having my turn This week.  Hopefully I will be able to stay “upstairs.”  I am grateful to the many, many people who have taken the “stay at home” order seriously.  The next few weeks will be the key here in our area to see if we can all get back to living a more normal but different life.  Amid the uncertainty, I do feel at peace and will continue to go to my knees when having to navigate the many choices that lay before me.