Doctor’s orders: Stay home for Christmas
COVID is surging. We need your help. Again.
In many ways, this nightmarish year has been defined by isolation and loneliness. My heart broke for my 80-yearold patient, a devoted father and grandfather, as he lay dying from COVID-19, alone in his hospital room. To limit the spread of the lethal virus, he was surrounded only by the beeping machines and an iPad broadcasting his last moments to his family.
My heart breaks for the families who are missing one of the more than 300,000 people who have died this year from COVID-19. These hundreds of thousands of people will be missing from dinners and celebrations this bittersweet holiday season.
Unfortunately, these families do not have a choice: Their Christmas and holidays will be smaller and lonelier. But for those of us who do, we must voluntarily choose to keep our holiday celebrations smaller, limited only to immediate household members, so that our future celebrations are not scarred by the death of loved ones.
We failed Thanksgiving test
This is not the year to travel and visit family for the holidays. COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to be at an all-time high. Mobile morgues are being used because the regular morgues are full. More ominously, hospitals are stretched to capacity with COVID-19 cases.
According to data from the Department of Health and Human Services, in more than 100 counties around the country, hospital occupancy exceeds 90%! This is straining the health care system and exhausting doctors and nurses, and could lead to more deaths as PPE and specialists trained to operate ventilators dwindle.
We need to slow the spread of the virus. We failed at Thanksgiving. Despite pleas from medical experts and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stay at home, there were a record number of flights this year.
Don’t fuel COVID fire
On the Sunday after Thanksgiving alone, almost 1.2 million people flew on packed airplanes. Already in the midst of a surge, cases continue to rise and we are beginning to see the “surge upon surge” that Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, predicted from these Thanksgiving get-togethers.
There is hope on the horizon. Vaccines are rolling out, but it is important to realize that wide distribution will not be for weeks or months. Plenty of death and devastation can happen in the meantime. In addition, vaccines will be more effective and quicker in controlling the pandemic in an environment where the incidence of COVID-19 cases is lower.
President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee
for CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, put it well. “If I have a cup of water, I can put out a stove fire,” she tweeted. “But I can’t put out a forest fire, even if that water is 100% potent.”
Let us not fuel this continuing fire that is the COVID-19 pandemic. This holiday season, we need to stay at home and not risk further viral spread by visiting family. I had recently written a similar plea to stay home and opt for a virtual Thanksgiving and received a nice letter from a retired educator thanking me for “giving permission” not to gather for the holiday. She shared the piece with her family so they could understand that it was not for lack of love, but because of love that she was staying away.
Please show your family this column. I am again giving permission — actually, this time, I am giving doctor’s orders: Opt for virtual Christmas and holidays, and please do not travel. Stay at home to celebrate.