As if we didn’t have enough anxiety…
It’s been a long week, and unfortunately, we need to talk about COVID.
What is REALLY going on?
Iowa is surging tremendously. It’s bad. This is the worst week yet, nationally and locally. With no national or statewide cohesive strategy for containment, individual actions matter so incredibly much.
Iowa has the 4th HIGHEST CASE RATE PER 100,000 in the country, along with neighboring and near states. Hospital administrators across the state are emphasizing the urgency of this situation. Our healthcare workers are tired, yet we’re setting up surge facilities. We cannot sustain this. It’s November. It’s not even that cold yet.
At the highest point early in this pandemic, we reached ~413 hospitalizations statewide. We are currently at 912. That is nearly 1,000 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in addition to people needing care for every day emergencies.
Moving out of hysteria…what do we need to do?
· Put the mask on. Every SINGLE time you leave your home. EVERY single time you leave your home no matter who you’re around or for how long. You get a pass for strenuous outdoor exercise. That’s it.
· Have the hard conversations. Just like voting, we need to talk to each other about how to be safe and why we choose to be safe. I have these conversations almost every day. They are not always easy. If you ever need research articles or resources, contact me. I will help you.
· Limit errands. Consider whether that errand you need to run is truly a “need” or are there other ways you can shop. Consider where you shop. Are masks required? Do the majority of people in the store wear one?
· Rethink quarantine and isolation at home. CDC is recommending mask usage even INSIDE your home when you have someone undergoing quarantine and you have to be in the same room. We went through this last week. My son became sick (non-respiratory symptoms) at socially-distanced swim practice, so I immediately isolated him in his room, had him tested, and brought him food with both of us wearing masks for three days. Thankfully he was negative.
· Rethink the holidays. Honestly, we should let Thanksgiving go. If you have a FEW family members who are really, REALLY good at COVID-19 rule following (who are also young and healthy), then MAYBE. Decorate for Christmas early, make a smaller turkey. There will be other holidays. And we will value them even more after this is over.
· Consider hybrid school or virtual, if you have the ability. Cases are surging in schools too.
· Stop advocating for full-time in-person learning. Now is NOT the time. See previous post on 10/27.
· Try to keep your anxiety in check. Your immune system needs you.
Last call for flu shots! Get yours now!
Stay safe and healthy .
Hospital data - https://coronavirus.iowa.gov/pages/rmcc-dataIowa case data - https://coronavirus.iowa.gov/pages/case-counts
Cases per capita - https://www.nytimes.com/.../us/coronavirus-us-cases.html