Prescribing patience to patients

‘Folks are asking me when they can make an appointment with their hairdresser, barber, dentist, or eye doctor’

The following are excerpts of a Memorial Day message from Dr. David W. Gehring, an internist in Alexandria. Twice this week Virginia reported the greatest number of new COVID-19 infections in a 24hour period. The doctor has personally been treating his own patients for COVID-19: “I spoke with Dr. Alan Spier, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Fairfax Hospital and involved in the Inova COVID command center. He reports that the number of new COVID cases in Virginia has plateaued and is not declining in any meaningful way yet. He told me Inova hospitals admit 10 to 12 new COVID patients daily and have patients of all ages on ventilators in the ICU’s and even four teenagers on ventilators. He expressed grave concern about the ‘opening up’ of the economy because of what he sees in the ICU’s daily.

“I believe there are two realities — the hellish nightmare of people in the ICU’s clinging to life on ventilators and the rest of us. Not being exposed to the grim reality of the hospitalized patients with COVID seems to be giving people a false sense of security, a sense that somehow I am not at risk because [of] my age, my skin color, my address, my tax bracket confers protection somehow. However, the reality is that we are all potentially at risk . . .

“As the weather gradually warms and days grow longer, the urge to go to the beach, go to dinner at restaurants and simply be out and about will grow exponentially. We will want to begin to venture out. I do not believe that time is now. I think it is vital for us to see a decline in the number of new COVID cases in NoVa before it is advisable to widen our community activities.We will need to adapt to this new way of life and to live with COVID in our midst. Guidelines are helpful, but ultimately we will need to be able to trust that our family and friends are being safe and using precautions. We do not have control over people, so we must be selective, at least initially.

“Folks are asking me when they can make an appointment with their hairdresser, barber, dentist, or eye doctor. While we can all wear masks, social distancing can’t be maintained in those settings. These decisions should be postponed for another month or so, if possible. I hope the heat of the summer will attenuate the virus so that new COVID cases drop to zero for a few months. Then, I think there will be a reduced risk for those activities. So I am asking everyone to be patient for a little longer.”