How will history judge our response to the pandemic?

We are in the midst of a historic and unprecedented event. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 will be one for the history books. How will history judge our response to this crisis?

Certainly, we as a nation and as a health system were unprepared for a pandemic of this magnitude. It has exposed the flaws and weaknesses in our system and pointed out the real need for expanded primary care in our country. It has also been a stark reminder of the importance that social determinants of health play in an individual’s and communities’ overall health. African-Americans have been disproportionately at higher risk of contracting and even dying from COVID-19.

As I write this the week of April 13, Alabama now has over 3,800 cases of COVID-19, a doubling of cases in less than one week, with approximately 109 deaths in our state. We now have cases in all of Alabama’s 67 counties.

Like governors, mayors and other local health officials across the country, Alabama’s state health officer, Dr. Scott Harris, has been recommending self-isolation and social distancing for several weeks now. Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statewide shelter-in-place order effective April 4. For a contagious respiratory infection for which we have no treatment, isolation, social distancing and public avoidance are our only effective means to slow the spread of this disease and save lives.

The closing of schools and day-care centers, the shuttering of nonessential businesses, the avoidance of large group meetings, the delaying of elective medical procedures are all disruptive and will cause economic hardships. But it will save lives. That has to take precedence.

Stay at home, folks. The life you save may be your own, or mine, or someone you love.

Dr. John S. Meigs Jr. President Medical Association of the State of Alabama