With the start of vaccine distribution for COVID-19, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
We commonly hear that the vaccine came out too quickly to be trusted, or that shortcuts were taken. This, like most misinformation, is part truth, and majority falsehood. The timeline was quick, due to the urgency and deadliness of the pandemic. And shortcuts were only taken in bureaucratic areas and financial areas where shortcuts were possible. The bigger and more important truth is that absolutely no shortcuts were taken when considering and assessing the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine in humans.
And even though there is light at the end of the tunnel, and we are working hard to combat misinformation, the tunnel that is left to traverse is more than bumpy. We are seeing surges of covid-19 spread, with ICU beds nearing capacity. Widespread shutdowns are once again popping up around the nation. Our healthcare workers are also being stressed even more than they have been since the pandemic began, living most of their waking hours in PPE. And to increase the stress, staffing is being stretched. In fact, with coronavirus being in our communities, a major problem is the lack of medical personnel who are out with the virus more so than available space and resources such as ventilators, etc. What this will mean is we have more death to deal with over the next few months. And even with better treatment of covid-19, daily deaths are now the highest they have been in the state, along with hospitalizations and number of cases. This means upcoming scenes of loved ones passing away, morgues filling up, and resorting to ordering refrigerated trucks to store our deceased loved ones. I’m not saying this to instill fear or to be scary, because the truth remains, that it is scary.
Around the nation, without relief, we see millions of Americans on the verge of eviction (as of writing this on 12/16/2020, congress is inching closer to making a deal on a roughly $900 billion relief package). We see crime inching upward, and desperation starting to set in. Access to food and housing security is starting to dwindle, and many are in the cold as furnaces stop working (as one resident has stated, what is the use of making rent if only to sit in a cold apartment’). And while we look out for our neighbors, we must also look out for our families by taking precautions. And precautions work.
Flu hospitalizations compared to a 5-year average are down, though we are not out of the weeds yet (In Ohio, January-March are the months with the highest hospitalizations due to flu). This is seen as a by-product of the covid precautions we are taking. This includes masks, social distancing, and keeping gatherings to a minimum. There are a lot of differences between the flu and COVID-19, such as incubation period, how long you are infectious, and how easily it spreads before knowing you have an illness, etc, which explains why COVID-19 is spreading at the rate it is while flu numbers are currently less than the 5-year average.
So yes, with the vaccine, there is light at the end of the tunnel, but until there is the widespread availability of the vaccine, we must keep up the fight by limiting gatherings to household members, masking up, and keeping away from places where you will be in close quarters and contact with those outside your household, unless necessary.
Sources:
coronavirus.ohio.gov
odh.ohio.gov
