Being Healthy (Redefined) in the Age of COVID
As we wrap up a week with a lot of not-so-good COVID news, we need collective action (a revolution?!?) to redefine what it means to be healthy
As we wrap up the week, here is the COVID state of affairs —
Omicron, the newest COVID variant, has been identified in the United States and there is clear evidence of community spread (this should NOT surprise anyone!). There are still more questions than answers about Omicron.
The current outbreak of COVID cases in the US continues to be driven by the Delta variant (note: Omicron can be detected through a PCR test, the fancy genetic sequencing is only needed for confirmation. Hopefully, this will allow the public health system to accurately and in real-time track Omicron vs. Delta).
In the US, the case count has increased by 4% over the past 14 days; hospitalizations are up by 17%.
National data show that individuals who are UNVACCINATED are 5 times more like to be diagnosed with COVID and 13 times more likely to die from COVID compared to vaccinated individuals.
In semi-good news (and this is being very generous, I really do not think this is good news), the FDA authorized the emergency use of the Merck antiviral pill to treat COVID-19. The pill is sort of effective at preventing severe disease among individuals who are diagnosed with COVID. Serious concerns about the drug’s ability to cause the SARS-CoV-2 virus to mutate were raised by the FDA advisory committee as were concerns about the drug’s potential to cause serious birth defects if taken by pregnant women.
In light of the state of affairs — here is a simple list of dos and don’ts for the weekend:
Amidst the current state of affairs, our family has been spending a lot of time outdoors. We have hiked a lot of miles during the past couple of months and have big plans to be on the Appalachian Trail (just a portion) before the end of the year. Being outside is good for my mental health, but it also has provided me with time to think about the collective effort that is needed to slow the spread of COVID-19.
All too often we (myself included) think about health as the absence of disease: I do not have COVID or flu or cancer - therefore, I am healthy.
Health is a very individualized concept; we have personal care providers (PCPs), not community health providers. Health is often talked about as something we can control or influence as an individual. A quick google search of “how to be healthy” results in steps we can take to be healthy as an individual — exercise, get enough sleep, eat a balanced diet, drink plenty of water, and the list goes on. All of these things are important (VERY important) components of being healthy. I encourage all of you to take steps such as these to be healthy (and have been doing so since the start of the pandemic).
However, being healthy is more about individual actions.
Being healthy must include creating healthy communities.
As an epidemiologist, I have been trained to think about and conduct research related to community health, but the pandemic has made me realize that the foundational concepts of epidemiology need to be included in our understanding and work toward being healthy (read: how we define and think about our health).
Just as we teach kids about the interconnections and relationships between organisms, populations, and communities that make up an ecosystem, we need to reframe our understanding of and conversations about being healthy to include individual health, the health of our friends and families, the health of our communities, and environmental health — our Health(eco)system.
Public health can no longer be just a field of study or branch of government. It needs to be included in a revolutionized redefinition of HEALTH. Our Health(eco)system.
To do my part to slow the spread of COVID-19, I need to be healthy. This starts with prevention — get vaccinated, wear a mask, avoid big crowds. But my family and close friends need to be healthy, too. They need to be preventing disease or else I am more likely to become sick. And my community needs to be healthy, too. I need bus drivers, cashiers, teachers, my colleagues, the other students in my yoga class, and my neighbors to be healthy, too. And then we all need a healthy environment in which to live. We need access to care, affordable health care, safe places to exercise, safe schools, access to food, clean drinking water, proper sanitation, buildings with adequate air circulation, and so much more…
Our whole health(eco)system needs to be healthy.
Our definition of what it means to be healthy needs to shift drastically. We need to add to the definition of health and reframe our thinking about being healthy to include individual actions PLUS working towards healthy families, healthy communities, and healthy environments.
If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that my health is intimately tied to your health and yours to mine.
(I believe) The fields of public health & epidemiology include some of the key concepts and vocabulary that will allow for the reframing and redefining of being healthy. And so (I am sharing a secret with all of you who have read this far!), I am planning to host a community epidemiology class online (for free!!) beginning in January 2022. Details will be forthcoming, but the idea is to introduce the foundations of epidemiology so that we can work collectively to redefine what it means to be healthy and ultimately slow the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 through collective action.
If you are interested in the community epidemiology course —
The course will be asynchronous (meaning you can take it at your own pace on your own schedule) and open to individuals of all ages and education levels. Together we will learn about epidemiology and work to rethink what it means to be healthy.
