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State failed on several fronts
The numbers are staggering after one year of COVID-19: Globally, 2.62 million dead. Nationally, 530,000. In California, 55,000. And in Solano County, 177, with 30,500 cases.
Questions from the start: Shelter-in-place or not? Open or close businesses or open indoors or just outdoors? Should churches be open, semi-open or closed?
Dr. Bela Matyas, the Health Officer and Dep. Director of Solano Public Health, lived each minute of the last year bearing the brunt of the local public’s ire — but understands that underneath his latex gloves there has to be thick skin. Not that the doctor isn’t human. “It is kind of frustrating, but I respect people” who blame him and others for policy inconsistencies through a year of COVID-19, says Maytas.
“I understand why they do it. In our community, there are a lot of residents and business owners harmed by decisions that have been made,” Matyas said by phone. “When they’re frustrated, they want to reach out to anyone who will listen. Local health officials are just more accessible. I think expressions of frustration are appropriate. I welcome them. I don’t
take it personally.”
Matyas realizes it’s never going to be win-win.
“We really have a diverse county with many complaining from one side as the other,” he said. “We get complaints, ‘Why not have a mask order?’ and get complaints, ‘Why do we have a mask order?’ That reflects the democratic process. I value that. It’s a source of strength that we have to retain. If I can’t take the heat, I have no right to be in this job. When people are unhappy, I’m a good target.”
Matyas has done his own complaining to state officials — usually a futile effort. That’s been most frustrating in Year No. 1 of COVID-19, he said.
“The unwillingness of the state” to make policy “in a way that best suits our community,” Matyas said, adding that in many respects the state “forced a one-sizefits-all for all counties. The biggest (frustration) is not having the freedom to do what’s best for our own community.”
Matyas said the Solano County Board of Supervisors would have been more reliable in determining COVID-19 policy.
However, “their hands have been tied and my hands have been tied,” he said. “Most (county) health officials have been frustrated.”
It’s not as if the state has explained decisions, Matyas added.
“Really, I’ve gotten no response. I don’t know if they even read” the emails to the state, the doctor said.
Matyas isn’t a fan of the tier structure — Solano recently “progressed” from purple to red tier, opening up venues at a certain percentage of capacity.
The tiers “make certain assumptions that haven’t proved to be accurate for Solano County,” said Matyas, believing local restaurants earned the right to keep their doors open with “distancing protections.”
Acknowledging that “bars are problematic; concerts are problematic,” Matyas said “our restaurants have invested a lot of money in making it safe to be indoors.”
Ditto for gyms, hair salons and beauty salons, Matyas says.
“The tier structure is far too rigid and I’ve lost track of how many times the state changes its guidelines. One thing that has become apparent is a certain group with enough political sway gets what amounts to special treatment,” Matyas said.
The pandemic has altered Matyas’ outlook, but not his responsibility, he said.
“My job is driven by external reality so it has become my job’s focus to deal with the pandemic this past year,” he said.
In terms of public health, however, “I have not been able to perform a lot of services we did prior to the pandemic,” Matyas said, grateful for the availability of “telehealth” chats with patients.
On the other hand, “Certainly, we’ve not been able to push new initiatives,” he said.
Just as there are those promoting mask-wearing and those against it, many urge the governor to open schools and others say it’s too soon, Matyas said.
“People have strong opinions,” he said. “These are contradictory times. There’s no making everyone happy. That cannot be your goal. We’re doing what we believe is right to the best of our ability. Am I going to say we’ve done everything correctly? No, we’ve made
mistakes.”
If told a year ago that more than 525,000 Americans would be dead from COVID-19, “I would have been disheartened to believe that was possible,” Matyas said. “A year ago, I saw things very differently than most of my colleagues.”
Matyas said he “believed there was much more legitimate path that would have created nowhere near this much harm, nowhere near this much death.”
It was a pivotal error believing COVID-19 could be contained or conquered, Matyas said, believing a better approach “to mitigate” the disease would have been a far better direction.
“Don’t fool the public into believing you can contain this disease,” he said, believing mitigation would have accomplished the “flattening of the curve” when it came to ICU capacity.
“It was never necessary to do the shelter-at-home. Never necessary to do the business closures in order to protect hospitals and minimize death,” Matyas said.
While there are details that “you’ll always have to do on the fly,” Matyas said there “is a manual on how to handle” a pandemic “that was not followed. If basic epidemiology had been followed, it would have resulted in a very different path.”
Unfortunately, said Matyas “the narrative has been that the virus is the enemy that we must conquer. You can’t conquer this virus. You live with it and minimize the harm.”
For example, banning flights from China was a futile act, continued Matyas.
“Nobody bothered to realize there are more ports of the world than China? Just go to the next country and fly from there,” he said.
It’s also flawed to continue to screen people for a fever “when only 5 percent” of those with COVID-19 have a fever, Matyas said.
Again, “the narrative that we can bottle this up and contain it has been a false narrative from day one,” Matyas said, lamenting that “It’s embedded in American culture to win.”
Matyas is a supporter of social distancing, including handwashing, space between people and masks, believing it should be standard winter behavior since it’s proven to lower common colds and seasonal flu victims.
And the next 12 months? “I think it evolves naturally. I do believe what we’ll see in the next couple of months is that those who want to be vaccinated will be vaccinated and it will become harder to tolerate limitations on our activities,” Matyas said, believing that “we can control risk through social distancing and vaccinations.”
Matyas hopes that by summer “well have things return to a normal state,” believing that “we might need proof of a negative (COVID-19) test to travel.”
In time, he continued, “I think we’ll see COVID as akin to the flu — a disease you have to worry about every season and contemplate getting vaccinated for every season. I think that’s the right path. I don’t think that Americans are going to sustain mask-wearing indefinitely. I don’t think that’ll be part of the culture.”
When the pandemic finally runs its course — or most of its course — it’s not as if Matyas will be seen doing cartwheels.
“I don’t do emotion,” he said. “I will be ready to move on to things I have not been able to do that the public needs us to do.”