Surgeon's View of Returning to School

[2bynight]

Found on College Website. I view it as a positive article:

HI all. I am a general surgeon and frontline caregiver. In April, at the height of the pandemic here in NYC, I was deployed forward to help fight the virus with my colleagues. I am seeing patients daily that are either COVID + or have been COVID +. I am still COVID neg, thank goodness, and take all the same precautions that all of you are (hopefully still doing).
I am looking forward to my son returning to classes in the fall. So is he. I look forward to my daughter returning to classes in the fall at her HS as well. They have my full support. None of us are afraid.
Having been in the middle of this, fighting it, seeing pt's in critical condition on vents and, as a physician and scientist having to make decisions for my family, I will share some thoughts. Now, this is not anything political nor am I making suggestions on what you should do for your family. I am sharing what both my children and I have discussed in our 'family town hall meetings' based on the available science that we have today.
It is most probable that we are NOT going to eradicate the coronavirus. Similar to influenza, it is probably here to stay. Like terrorism, you have a choice to make, live in fear, negatively impact your life, hide, barricade, or, figure a way through this. There is NO antiviral medication to date (no antibiotic like we have for bacteria). A vaccine is in the works but no one knows yet how effective it will be. No one knows if the virus will mutate each year similar to the influenza virus. No one knows if any antibodies we generate will provide a longterm resistance.
The facts we know so far:
-nearly all young healthy adults who contract the virus have minimal to no significant morbidity or mortality
-European schools that are open have done well
-leading pediatricians support the return to school of children
-people at greatest risk have underlying medical issues we are all familiar with by now
Are there outliers and rare situations when a young person can get ill, absolutely, but, this is the minority. Perhaps, if your child has risk factors, then, returning to school may be a more difficult choice for you.
In making decisions for your family, try and stick with the facts vs much media hype. Eg, the media talks about increasing COVID-19 cases, but, they do not tell you:
-how many are asymptomatic converted positive, no symptoms
-hospital admissions?
-placed in ICU?
-vented?
Where I am, we are in normal mode, using precautions, no increase in any of the above.
Most of the country is going to convert or contract at some point. Remember, this is an invisible viral particle. In addition, we may improve with herd immunity over time.
So, my children have my full support to go back to school. I have no fear for them. I HAVE counseled both of them to continue their PPE as needed and what situations should be mandatory PPE and things they can do in a classroom to keep precautions, when to decide it may not be safe, etc, constant handwashing, etc.
I contacted the PSU's president's office to make one suggestion. It may benefit many of our PSU families to have our student's COVID tested around the week of finals, prior to coming home. This may provide some comfort to families to know if there is any risk to any family members that DO have risk factors. If positive, the family can discuss quarantine. If negative, a big welcome home.
In my entire surgical career, I have never seen anything like this except for one brief Ebola case a few years ago. I wish you all good health and safety. WE ARE!!! (using facts, not fear-mongering like burning dumpsters)

[NCRAVEN]

Makes some good points. Especially the number of positive cases. We’re not hearing how many are serious or not etc.

[Ortizer]

Found on College Website. I view it as a positive article:

HI all. I am a general surgeon and frontline caregiver. In April, at the height of the pandemic here in NYC, I was deployed forward to help fight the virus with my colleagues. I am seeing patients daily that are either COVID + or have been COVID +. I am still COVID neg, thank goodness, and take all the same precautions that all of you are (hopefully still doing).
I am looking forward to my son returning to classes in the fall. So is he. I look forward to my daughter returning to classes in the fall at her HS as well. They have my full support. None of us are afraid.
Having been in the middle of this, fighting it, seeing pt's in critical condition on vents and, as a physician and scientist having to make decisions for my family, I will share some thoughts. Now, this is not anything political nor am I making suggestions on what you should do for your family. I am sharing what both my children and I have discussed in our 'family town hall meetings' based on the available science that we have today.
It is most probable that we are NOT going to eradicate the coronavirus. Similar to influenza, it is probably here to stay. Like terrorism, you have a choice to make, live in fear, negatively impact your life, hide, barricade, or, figure a way through this. There is NO antiviral medication to date (no antibiotic like we have for bacteria). A vaccine is in the works but no one knows yet how effective it will be. No one knows if the virus will mutate each year similar to the influenza virus. No one knows if any antibodies we generate will provide a longterm resistance.
The facts we know so far:
-nearly all young healthy adults who contract the virus have minimal to no significant morbidity or mortality
-European schools that are open have done well
-leading pediatricians support the return to school of children
-people at greatest risk have underlying medical issues we are all familiar with by now
Are there outliers and rare situations when a young person can get ill, absolutely, but, this is the minority. Perhaps, if your child has risk factors, then, returning to school may be a more difficult choice for you.
In making decisions for your family, try and stick with the facts vs much media hype. Eg, the media talks about increasing COVID-19 cases, but, they do not tell you:
-how many are asymptomatic converted positive, no symptoms
-hospital admissions?
-placed in ICU?
-vented?
Where I am, we are in normal mode, using precautions, no increase in any of the above.
Most of the country is going to convert or contract at some point. Remember, this is an invisible viral particle. In addition, we may improve with herd immunity over time.
So, my children have my full support to go back to school. I have no fear for them. I HAVE counseled both of them to continue their PPE as needed and what situations should be mandatory PPE and things they can do in a classroom to keep precautions, when to decide it may not be safe, etc, constant handwashing, etc.
I contacted the PSU's president's office to make one suggestion. It may benefit many of our PSU families to have our student's COVID tested around the week of finals, prior to coming home. This may provide some comfort to families to know if there is any risk to any family members that DO have risk factors. If positive, the family can discuss quarantine. If negative, a big welcome home.
In my entire surgical career, I have never seen anything like this except for one brief Ebola case a few years ago. I wish you all good health and safety. WE ARE!!! (using facts, not fear-mongering like burning dumpsters)

I had no idea Penn state was coming back in person. I will say the hospitalization and icu numbers are definitely provided, at least here.

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[Ortizer]

Makes some good points. Especially the number of positive cases. We’re not hearing how many are serious or not etc.

Symptomatic vs asymptomatic would be interesting. I would assume hospitalized would be a good surrogate metric for serious.

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