Recently, the State of Maryland took steps attempting to slow the spread of the Coronavirus. Governor Larry Hogan commissioned a stay at home order for the state. The idea behind this order was to help enforce social distancing so that the spread of COVID-19 does not overwhelm the healthcare system in Maryland.
According to Johns Hopkins, the purpose of social distancing is to increase the physical space between people so that they decrease the chances of spreading COVID-19 among uninfected people. Since social distancing means that we have to decrease the amount of contact we have with others, the state has closed schools and limited gatherings of people to ten or less.
Hopkins recommends seeking medical attention if you are presenting signs of Coronavirus and to place yourself under a self-quarantine. When a person potentially comes into contact with the virus, the individual needs to self-quarantine, or isolate themselves from everyone, even others living in the same house, for at least fourteen days.
The idea behind these measures is that the disease will spread over a slower period of time so that hospitals do not become overwhelmed and have to turn away those who are sick. This decrease in potential patients is called flattening the curve. The graph represents how many people will potentially become sick over time against how many patients hospitals can treat at a time. Social distancing will help to make sure that the curve does not pass the point where hospitals are of little to no help.
This leaves us to wonder how long will we will be required to remain in social isolation. An article by The Atlantic outlines four possible outcomes. The most likely outcome is that we will have to remain in social isolation for several months in Maryland. The article does outline two possibilities where everything returns to normal in a few months, as well.
There is a scenario where the Coronavirus will subside in the summer allowing a limited return to life. This may include more restaurants opening and sports events being held, even if the games can only be televised. Sporting events may need to forego live audiences, but at least we will be able to once again watch sports from our homes. Even still, the virus might make a resurgence in the fall, causing us to return to the state in which we are currently living, unless a vaccine is developed.
The final scenario that the article presents is one where social distancing does not end in a year or even longer. If the virus does not recede in the summer, we will need to continue the safety measures that have been put in place until there is a vaccine that is available to a majority of the country or until a majority of the population gains a natural immunity, which can take months more than a vaccine. When one of these two objectives is reached, life can slowly return back to normal.
Dr. Rob Gibson is an ICU director and surgeon who operates at several hospitals in Maryland. Gibson recently volunteered at a hospital in the Bronx, New York, to aid in the Coronavirus pandemic and agreed to answer some questions about the Coronavirus:
What is being done at your hospital in response to Coronavirus?
“We are redoing everything that we do. Part of this is that we want Coronavirus patients to be treated, but we don’t want staff or other patients to catch it, too. To protect the staff, we are checking everyone as they walk in for signs of Coronavirus. We do this by taking their temperature, and if they have one, we send them home to self-quarantine. Also, all staff has to wear a surgical mask when they are in hospital. For Coronavirus patients, we are trying to save personal protection equipment (PPE), so we have IVs set up in the hallway so that nurses don’t need to put on PPE in order to change medications. We are also prohibiting visitors. The staff has been told to visit non-coronavirus patients first, then to check Coronavirus patients so there is no cross-contamination.”
What are the biggest concerns that you have about the virus and its spread?
“I think that my biggest concern is that [the virus] takes out crucial staff so that it becomes harder to care for any patients. And if my partner and I both get sick then my hospital has no ICU doctors to care for our patients. Another concern of mine is that I will bring it home and infect my family. Finally, I am concerned that I am treating patients correctly and that I don’t hurt them due to the lack of research that is available for Coronavirus.”
What do you think the Governor and the State of Maryland have done correctly?
“I think that the order to stay in place and the cancelation of schools from the governor had the correct timing because they were done soon enough to prevent more people from getting sick. I have also been impressed with the collaboration of the governors to stop the spread of Coronavirus.”
How long do you think it will be before we can return to a state of normalcy?
“I don’t know if we will ever return to a state of normalcy. I wonder if we now will have temperature checks before entering school or rock concerts to make sure that no one who is sick is entering. With that being said, I think that we will return to an almost normal state in August or September.”
What are two or three things that people should be doing to stop the spread of Coronavirus?
Disclaimer: Dr. Gibson is the father of the author Eddie Gibson.
For more information about what is happening in Maryland please click this link: https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/#Prevention
MOOSE PRINTS 