Page 25 - BusinessWest October 26, 2020

“We aren’t seeing an influx of hospitalized patients like we saw here in the Northeast in March, April, and into May, but we see the data, and it gives all of us some reason for caution, if not broader concern regarding what the colder season might bring. There’s a lot for us still to be cautious about,” Roose told BusinessWest.
That said, local hospitals have learned a lot
didn’t have lot of experience with this particu- lar virus — how it behaves, how it’s contracted. There was a lot of back and forth in the scientific community on how to best handle it.”
While the medical community saw a great deal of variability in protocols, the goal was always to keep patients — and the community at large — safe. That’s still the case, Ahtaridis said,
the corner.
“There’s concern about the cooler weather
driving everyone indoors, and concern with the flu as well,” said Dr. Estevan Garcia, chief medical officer for Cooley Dickinson Health Care. “We’re beginning to see upper respiratory infections, which are concerns as we move into the fall and winter timeframe. But is it COVID? Is it a cold? Is it the flu? We treat them differently, and we need to make sure we’re isolating the COVID cases.”
Garcia said area hospitals have engaged in a remarkable show of cooperation over the past eight months, communicating with each other on a regular basis and making sure sufficient testing is available. With testing more widely available than it was in the spring, he encour- aged not only symptomatic people to be tested, but healthy individuals planning on visiting a grandparent.
He and Ahtaridis both noted that some coun- tries — Australia being the most-cited example — saw much less severe flu seasons than usual ear- lier this year, and experts credit the widespread use of masks and social-distancing protocols.
“My suspicion is it might be a light influenza season,” Ahtaridis said. “But we are still actively vaccinating patients and making sure patients have information about the flu vaccine, so they’re ready for the season. It might be less severe than last season, but there won’t be zero cases.”
Garcia agreed. “Because of the protections they’ve been taking for COVID, some coun-
tries have seen a less severe flu season. But that shouldn’t give people a false sense of security; you should still get a flu shot, use physical dis- tancing, mask wearing, hand washing ... all those things are good against the flu.”
DR. ESTEVAN GARCIA
“It’s clear to me that folks are all tired of all the precautions. Until a vaccine is proven effective against COVID, we can’t let our guard down.”
but part of the challenge is encourag- ing them to do their part.
“In terms of thinking about a sec- ond wave, a lot of it will depend on the behavior of the public and that virus fatigue. We thought it would be a few weeks, and we’ve seen it drag on and on,” he noted. “The risk is
the public starts to lose that caution they’ve been displaying, where they’re not wearing masks, they start to let their guard down. That can lead to a second wave in and of itself.”
since the spring as well, he added. “We gained a lot of knowledge we can use to directly improve the health and safety of patients and our col- leagues in the community. We have also imple- mented ways to ensure that care can remain accessible, timely, and safer throughout the pandemic.”
Dr. Simon Ahtaridis, chief medical officer at Holyoke Medical Center, said shortages of key supplies in the spring — not just personal protec- tive equipment (PPE), but reagent and transport medium for test kits — led to reviews of pro- cesses that will leave hospitals more prepared if a second wave does ensue.
“This virus is unpredictable, and a lot of our early conclusions didn’t bear out,” he said. “We
Mercy is certainly not letting its guard down, Roose said.
“It’s important to recognize we will continue to maintain the safety protocols in our care that have managed to keep infections much lower than they otherwise would have,” he said. “We’ve managed to reduce and, in some cases, elimi- nate clusters of infection in hospitals and other settings.”
Local medical leaders hope that trend con- tinues — and they’re doing much more than hoping.
Virus, Meet Virus
That’s because there’s always a new wrinkle — the latest being flu season, which is right around
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