Finding Balance in the age of COVID-19, Part I: The Basics

Hi, as you guys know, I’m a physician. This blog was written with the express purpose of discussing the situation going on with the coronavirus and how we, as medical professionals, are being affected by it.   What’s going on right now and what’s on everybody’s mind is obviously COVID- 19, AKA the coronavirus. There are lots of questions surrounding the coronavirus. What I see right now in my social media life are two extremes. Most of my physician friends are scared. Physicians don’t generally scare easily. We see too much. Medical professionals are trained to be prepared for the worst, but we are also afraid at times. We’re frightened because we know it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Agendas are going on that aren’t presented to the public. The coronavirus was definitely downplayed at the beginning by our government. Congress has known since January this was coming, they sold off stocks but did not warn the public. Physicians are on the front-lines. I am in many physicians COVID -19  Facebook groups, where we’re all sharing information with each other because we all want to be able to do the best for our patients. What I am seeing is that we all know that people are dying from apparent COVID-19 related diseases that we don’t even have the ability to test, so they’re not counted in official numbers. We know that there are physicians and whole hospitals without hand sanitizer, without proper masks, without gloves. We know that physicians have been required to do procedures without adequate protection. This technique not only puts our lives on the line but, just as importantly, puts our patients in danger. If we get infected, then everyone we come in contact with is at risk of being infected. 

I see a lot of posts saying, “the coronavirus is not new; this is all just hype. “YES, the coronavirus family has been around forever. There are many strains of the coronavirus, including the common cold.  What is different about COVID 19 is that it is a new strain of the coronavirus. That’s why it’s called the novel (meaning unique/new and original, never been seen) coronavirus. So NO, it is not the flu nor similar to the flu (even though your symptoms might be flu-like), which some non-medical officials would like you to believe. Why does that make it more dangerous? Well, think back to a few hundred years ago when the British arrived on what was soon to be the Americas.  A large part of indigenous populations was decimated due to diseases that were new to them, but the Europeans were resistant to it.

That said,  we don’t know the actual death rate because there are people that are getting sick, recovering, and even dying that are not being officially counted in the numbers.

– Loucresie Rupert MD

You know initially, they came out, and they said, “oh, just worry about the older people or people with comorbidities. Well, first of all, older people and people with comorbidities are important. So, we shouldn’t say things like “just those people will die” because they’re still people, and we don’t want them to die either, however, as someone who is seeing what’s really happening on the front lines.   I want you guys to know that it’s not just older people and people with comorbidities that are passing away from COVID-19. We are seeing people in their 40s, in their 30s, who are passing away, or who are getting seriously ill from COVID- 19. We’re also seeing kids, who have been largely spared, (babies and toddlers) getting sick . Especially kids with other conditions that might weaken their immune system or is premature. So, it’s essential to keep in mind that you want to act like you already have COVID-19 and that you wish to prevent that spread to others. You feel fine? That’s great!! That’s awesome!!  No one wants you not to feel bad. But we want you to prevent the spread of disease.