Will Hurricane Covid season ever end?

Hurricane Covid hit the US mainland in the Spring of 2020. Unlike most hurricanes that come up the southern coast of the US, this one started in New York and spread throughout the United States. As we do during hurricanes we prepare, we hunker down, gather supplies, and hope and pray that minimal damage is caused as the storm passes through. This storm was different. Its intensity was miscalculated by the administration at that time and therefore we were totally caught off guard. We did not learn from other countries across the Atlantic (UK, Italy, etc.) and tried to be like the ostrich and bury our head in the ground and hope the storm just passes through. Unfortunately, it did not just pass through, and it was the worst of storms to have hit the United States and the rest of the world in modern history.

Like a category five hurricane it caused extensive damage and left permanent scars in people lives and specially the lives of those of us in healthcare. Here in Florida when we have a hurricane headed to our cities we go into lockdown at our hospitals and that is what we did. We worked tirelessly to help slow the surges of Hurricane Covid as its squalls kept battering us. We used what we had at hand, we adapted, we quickly learnt what we could to help save those who were most at risk and those patients who were coming to the hospitals. We went into lock down; mask mandates were placed to stop the spread of the virus. We were caught off guard, with this came misinformation which spread faster than the gale force winds of a super storm, and with the help of social media and the experts on social media mistrust was spread through the United States.

What did it leave in its aftermath?

1. More misinformation that at the start of the storm.
2. Everyone and anyone who may or may not have a medical background is now an expert in Covid 19, its treatment protocols and vaccination.
3. A record number of deaths, with numerous families who lost loved ones.
4. Permanently scarred lungs and majority of survivors of severe covid 19 left with some respiratory complaints.
5. A tired and exhausted medical work force.
6. Information obtained on social media may be more misleading and little information is dangerous

What we learnt:

1. Even though we pride ourselves as the best medical system in the world we were barely able to sustain such a storm. A Cat 5 storm like this will expose our healthcare system.
2. A tired and unappreciated health care work force who withstood the worst of not just Hurricane covid but of the social media misinformation storm as well.
3. We lack the medical equipment to take care of large numbers of sick patients and specially the critically ill.
4. We do not have enough healthcare personnel (doctors, advanced nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists, and nurses). One can have warehouses filled with equipment but if there are no personnel to operate the equipment then it is of no use.
5. There needs to be a national database of health care personnel who can be moved from region to region in case of a pandemic to take care of patients. Treatment protocols should be standardized, and artificial intelligence can be used to create algorithms to predict outcomes, smart pumps, and smart ventilators.
6. Burnout is real and needs to be addressed by hospital leaders.

After any storm, the cleanup is still ongoing. We in health care are trying to catch up physically, emotionally and spiritually. Planning and strategizing against the next Hurricane Covid  variants to strike us and to be prepared. As the African proverb so aptly suggests, “it takes a village to raise a child”, it will take the entire community armed with realization and awareness to help fight  the next Hurricane Covid.  The cleanup has not finished and  a new variant has emerged. Hurricane Covid- Omicron has emerged in southern Africa and spreading. Travel shutdowns and quarantine is being reinstated as we get more information regarding its potency. We await to see what it will bring to our shores here in the USA.  

Hurricane Covid season will not end soon, there will be another variant and then another that will emerge somewhere in the world. What we need is not to panic and  listen to the experts- the true experts not the self-proclaimed social media gurus who do not have a back ground in science as little knowledge is dangerous.  How should we prepare for the next hurricane. Just like we did for the last few hurricane Covids’ we should continue to mask, practice hand hygiene and maintain distances as best as we possibly can.  Protect ourselves with vaccination and get vaccine boosters when advised. Hurricane Covid is here to stay unfortunately for some time. But together as humanity we can form a wall that can eventually help eradicate hurricane Covid.