Education & Empowerment

In order to be healthy and to create healthy communities for everyone

(For those of you who don’t know) Nearly two years ago as we began our lives in lockdown, I received a request from one of my County Commissioners to host a question and answer (Q&A) time on the newly created COVID info page for our county. Having no idea what to expect, I said (enthusiastically) yes. Since then I have hosted weekly Q&As (with one short pause) and built a community online where asking questions and being curious is valued.

In preparation for my Q&A yesterday evening, I scheduled an event on Facebook and encouraged people to ask their questions in the comments. No questions were posted. Instead, it became a battleground for polarizing ideas, an open space for the airing of grievances, and a virtual protest.

In response, I shared the following last night (recording and transcript are below).

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Let’s start by acknowledging that we are in year 3 of a pandemic. We are all exhausted. None of us signed up for this. In fact, I think in March 2020 what we all expected was two weeks at home (in lockdown) and then the pandemic would be over.

But — here we are. We are coming up on the second anniversary of our lockdown, and we are exhausted. And some people (many?) may feel that they are done with/cannot take any more from COVID-19. Keeping up with all of the COVID news, policies, evolving science, information, and misinformation is a full-time job (note: it doesn’t just feel like a full-time job; it is a full-time job with overtime required on the regular).

To everyone who has shared or posted their fears, anxieties, and frustrations on social media, and to those who have not posted, but are feeling all of the fears, frustrations, and anxieties that are tied to the evolving pandemic —

I hear you.

I have read so many of the posts online and have thought about all that has been said. I hear your concerns and frustrations, your annoyances and your anxieties, your sense of loss and concern that things may never return to normal. Thank you for taking the time to share (documenting what this pandemic has been like for you) and voicing all of your feelings.

As a human being, who is also exhausted by this pandemic, I understand —

Recommendations have changed. Policies have changed. The “facts” seem to continuously change. There have been so many changes.

And here is a list of other things that continue to change —

• The number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from COVID

• The number of missed school days

• The number of hospitals that are adjusting care to accommodate the overwhelming number of patients they are treating

• How medical care is being jeopardized by an overwhelming number of hospitalized patients with a vaccine-preventable disease. This is resulting in scheduled, necessary procedures being delayed or canceled

A lot of things are changing.

The virus is also changing and evolving. So too is our understanding of it.

Let’s go back two years ago — to a time when the words SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 were not yet part of our vocabulary yet. We called this new virus a novel coronavirus because it was so new. It was novel and, honestly, continues to be novel/new. We are still learning about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, specifically how is similar to and also different from other respiratory viruses such as influenza, common coronaviruses, and RSV.

In the midst of all of the changes that are occurring, we all have the right and ability to make our own decisions and conduct our own research. I really want to acknowledge that each of us has the freedom and ability to make individual choices for ourselves and our families and friends.

BUT —

while we have the right to make up our own minds about what to do with our health, what to share on Facebook, and what we argue or yell about —

we must also recognize that there are individuals in our communities (both locally and globally) in leadership positions, who are charged with preventing disease, striving for health equity, caring for children in school classrooms, treating patients who are sick and dying, and developing policies to slow the spread of disease.

None of these leaders are perfect. But we are still leaders. We have the expertise and experience to lead us through the pandemic. And here is what these leaders, our physicians, school superintendents, and public health authorities, are seeing around the world —

1. They are seeing emergency rooms and intensive care units filled with unvaccinated COVID patients.

2. They are seeing teachers out sick, not having enough substitute teachers available, and missing bus drivers (because of so much disease)

3. They are seeing (as we all are) the obituaries bleed onto additional pages of the newspaper because more than 2000 Americans are dying each day from a vaccine-preventable disease.

We all have the freedom to make up our own minds and do our own research, BUT we must also recognize that there are public health and medical leaders across the globe who are saying this is what we are seeing, this is what we are experiencing, and this is what we know. In light of what our medical and public health leaders are telling us —

It is irresponsible to do nothing.

We all must get vaccinated. We all need to wear masks indoors until this current surge is over. And we all must accept that change is the only constant.

The point of public health is to FIRST prevent disease.

Public health also aims to identify, mitigate, and (ultimately) eliminate disease when it occurs.

Public health is my job. And I love my job.

ASPPH = Association of Schools & Programs in Public Health

Because of my love for public health, I answer questions and blog week after week. It is why I advocate for vaccines. It is my job, first and foremost, to prevent disease from occurring in the first place, but also to mitigate and try to eliminate a disease that does occur. I want you to know that I am also working locally with county commissioners, who are trying to manage the pandemic in a rural community without a local public health department. I am also working with superintendents who are redefining and trying to determine what it means to have a safe and healthy school environment in the midst of a pandemic.

My goal is to —

Educate and empower each of you to be healthy as individuals and to create safe and healthy communities for everyone.

We cannot all be healthy until every one of us is healthy.

I hope you will join me in my work. Or at least be curious enough to ask questions and participate in a community where civility is practiced.