‘The hardest part is that we don’t know where the end is’

What’s it like as a doctor fighting COVID-19?

For Dr. Erica Kaufman West, Franciscan Health’s infectious disease expert, she could only compare it to the grueling, open-endedness of a war or a marathon with no finish line.

“Looking back, there’s a point where you have to numb yourself to what you fear is going to happen,” she said. “You have to put your head down and go.”

“I was never in the military, but I was thinking … you just have to take care of the tasks ahead of you.”

Since January 2020, more than 520,000 Americans officially have died from the virus, including 884 people in Lake County and 276 in Porter, according to the Indiana Department of Health dashboard.

Health officials are concerned about the pandemic’s ripple effect, including people who have missed critical cancer screenings or medical care for chronic diseases.

“I’ve never ran a marathon,” she said. “I would imagine that you just keep running till the end. The hardest part is that we don’t know where the end is.”

Cases, hospitalizations and deaths have dropped again since December, while vaccination efforts ramp up. The Post-Tribune spoke with Kaufman West about her year in COVID.

What did you think when cases first appeared in China in December 2019? Could you foresee it would become the biggest pandemic in a century?

“I didn’t think it would take hold like it did,” she said. “Back when I first heard about it starting in China, I thought it was probably going to be like SARS (bird flu), which burned out overseas.

“When we started hearing about cases in Chicago and Washington (state), I thought, ‘Well, maybe this is like Ebola,” she said. “By the end of March, when it was apparent it was everywhere, it just got really real and definitely scary.”

What was it like early on?

In COVID’s early days, Kaufman West was responsible for helping the hospital figure out how to safely treat patients during a time it wasn’t fully understood how the virus best spread.

“What should we do about surgery, bringing food to patients? Do we need disposable pens? Every aspect of a patient’s care from the minute they came in the door to the minute they left had to go through us to say, ‘How can we do that safely?’”

In the early spring, her team stopped taking days off, which lasted until midJuly. Meanwhile, the PPE supply, largely coming from China, collapsed, with isolation gowns and N95 masks in short supply. Medical workers were worried they could catch it and infect their families.

“It was really quite scary,” she said. “Then, going home and stripping in your garage and showering before you see your family. It was really not something that anyone had been a part of.”

What has been the biggest surprise actually working in a pandemic?

“I have been incredibly surprised at the refusal to wear masks,” she said. “I think it’s an easy thing to do. It shows you respect other people. In a country that, yes, individual rights are important, but there’s a respect for each other. I was shocked when the science came out that people didn’t just climb on board with it.”

“I wasn’t surprised by vaccine hesitancy. I was very disappointed by the amount of misinformation,” she said. “What seems to be immense smear campaigns, outlandish, wild posts or reports or whatever. Flat out lies.”

“I don’t know if it’s because I’m in the sciences. You read the data and that’s what the data says,” she said. “That’s the facts: the world is round. There’s things that are true.”

“That was the biggest slap in the face back when all this started,” she said.

What was it like getting the vaccine?

“I know for a lot of us, when we got our first vaccine, it was just like, we could finally breathe,” she said. “It felt like hope. You could see the weight come off people. It was really a remarkable thing to be a part of.”

What about those reluctant to get the vaccine?

“People that get COVID really have long-term consequences,” she said. “Are people going to end up with bad hearts and bad lungs? There are all those question marks. Get vaccinated so you can protect yourself and your loved ones.”