Small gatherings contributed to surge
What does that mean for households and Holidays?
MARSHALL COUNTY — During a press conference with Marshall County leaders, advocates and representatives from Saint Joseph Health System (SJHS) last Thursday, the public was cautioned about how small gatherings have contributed significantly to the recent surge of COVID-19 positive cases. Officials expressed concern about how Thanksgiving travel and family gatherings might contribute to increase the growing number of COVID-19 positive patients.
Members of the public have expressed a wide range of responses to the suggestion being made that it might be in their best interest to keep their holiday gatherings limited to members of their own household and to avoid family members or loved ones of other households, particularly those who have a vulnerability such as a weakened immune system or the elderly.
Emotional testimonies were given during the press conference pleading with the public to adhere to the restrictions being placed by city, town, county and state officials to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus. A variety of sources reported openly that the surge was not coming from the school system or from large events; rather it was from small gatherings. Those gatherings included families of separate households who spent time together eating a meal or celebrating a wedding or a birthday.
The concern emphasized by CEO of SJHS Chad Towner was that hospitals are reaching a “pivotal point” in their ability to care for the increasing number of patients who require hospitalization to recover from COVID-19. Towner confirmed that staff shortages have compounded that challenge; in addition to a rising number of staff who have been quarantined or told to isolate themselves.
The emphasis of the message was focused on the public to avoid complacency. The public was reminded to wear masks, social distance, wash hands and avoid gatherings. Some members of the public have expressed openly through social media and other communication methods that it is “over reach” or “intrusive” to tell families how to spend their holidays or how to conduct themselves in their own houses.
The Pilot News asked for clarification:
“It is being suggested that some of the surge is coming from basically smaller household gatherings, maybe with family members of other
households. The public seems to be struggling a little bit with the idea of not getting together for Thanksgiving or Christmas, things of that nature. There seems to be some confusion as to how much of this is attributed to public community spread and those more intimate gatherings.”
Towner was the first to offer a response to the inquiry. “I’ve got a pretty strong opinion on that. It’s beyond just the large groups. It’s the small groups.”
He said, “The fact that in our regions we’ve got about a million people in our service area here. And only 4 to 5 percent of that million, so we’re talking 40,000 to 50,000 people here in our region, that are confirmed positive. This is a virus that is constantly looking for a host. As long as there is vulnerabilities, as long as there is people without immunity, we don’t have a vaccine yet. 950,000 people in the service area don’t have antibodies. They don’t have a natural immune system to this. So if you get exposed, you are going to get infected. So it’s up to your body, how strong your immune system is to fight that.”
Towner emphasized the importance of personal care and how it correlates with the strength of each person’s immune system. “How strong your immune system depends on your sleep habits. How are you eating? How are hydrating? Vitamin supplements. All of the things that you are doing to protect your own health and well being.”
He warned about the increased risk of the virus for those who smoke and vape. “We are seeing that the smokers and vapors are really struggling with this and at a far greater extent that those who do not.”
Towner said, “It is a signifiant issue in our region that is going to continue to spread until we have a good, reliable vaccine. We are going to have to protect each other.”
Chief Health Officer for Marshall County Dr. Byron Holm added, “It’s going to spread in small households if they don’t take and practice if somebody becomes positive... because the intimate relationship of the small household. So if there is five (5), or six (6) or seven (7) in the family, there is a good chance, unless you practice good isolation techniques that it’s going to spread throughout the family. So, I’ve seen where it didn’t spread because they practiced good isolation techniques. So, it will be in the little hubs. But they will pick it up from the outside and then bring it to that hub. So one person gets it and brings it to five or six and that’s the way it’s exploding at the present time.”
DJ Manjou of WSBT asked how the holidays and gatherings would impact the cases and hospital risks. Towner said that action today won’t be seen to aggravate or improve the situation in the hospitals for two or three weeks. “That’s because when you look at the sequence of things, and how long it takes for your body to have enough virus to even know that you have it; and then when the symptoms start, and then when it gets two to three weeks out from exposure is when people are ending up in the hospital.”
Towner cautioned, “So when you think about where we’re at now in this just massive surge that we’ve experienced here in the last couple of weeks, going into Thanksgiving, where you know, as Dr. (Byron) Holm mentioned, families are going to get together and we are going to let their guard down. Then what happens a few weeks after that? People start getting together for Christmas. So, I have prepared our team. I don’t believe the peak for hospitalizations or the peak for cases doesn’t come until maybe the third week of January. If there’s drastic changes; even with the drastic changes.”
Towner compared the viral impact to how a hurricane hits warning listeners that the impact of the pandemic will remain for a while. “Even with all the great news around the vaccines; that vaccines are going to start becoming available soon. But, most of you hearing this message may not be in line for a vaccine until summer time. That’s a very real possibility as far as the logistics of the vaccine getting out there.”
He emphasized the need for each individual to adhere to all of the recommendations, leaving nothing undone. “So we have to do what we can; masking up; the distancing; the hand washing; all of those together help. But if you are not washing your hands, even wearing the mask, when you take the mask off, and everything that has accumulated on your hands throughout the day; and people touch their face. So it all goes together to help to curb this.”
Loretta Schmidt, Chief Nursing Officer for SJHS spoke about the need for humans to connect. “I think this talk of the holidays, it really speaks to you know our humanness. One as humans; we want to connect. We want to be together. We have that need for human connection. But it also talks to the fact that we don’t like to wait. We want things now. We want them when we want them and we want them the way we want them.”
She added, “Right now is really a time to dig deep and to really have some courage and to really rise up above what’s happening. Because what we do over these holidays will absolutely impact the course of this pandemic. If we can just settle in to the fact that maybe our holidays will look a little bit different this year. Maybe our holidays this year are with the people that we live with in our houses today.”
Schmidt suggested a new way to connect for the holidays this year. “Maybe the extended families are, you know, a different connecting this year. If we could just change the way we are thinking about it and get through this holiday season we will have another holiday season. But if we don’t there will be some of us that are hearing these messages right now that will not have another holiday season.”