Veterans Day is upon us and we celebrate and commemorate the sacrifices that have been made by those who served and in particular those who gave their lives for our country. For members of the college who served or are serving, thank you so much for that service.
I am not a veteran, but my father served for four years in the Army in the South Pacific during World War II, followed by many years in the Army reserve after the war. My uncle, my mother’s brother, was a career Air Force pilot who was shot down and killed during the Vietnam War.
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As I was growing up, I heard many stories from my father about his wartime experiences. However, I also heard stories from my maternal grandmother and my mother, the latter who moved to Washington, D.C., to work as a secretary in the office of the congressman from her district in Minnesota.
There was an expectation that everyone on the home front did their part for the war effort. This included the planting of personal “victory gardens” to increase food production, rationing of key food items and gasoline, and scrap metal, paper and rubber drives to provide resources for war production. Everyone on the home front was doing everything possible to keep casualties down and support the effort of those on the front lines.
So, why do I bring this up? Approximately 292,000 soldiers died in World War II due to military action, and another 114,000 died due to other causes. Thus, over the four years of war, the total was about 406,000 — a little over 100,000 each year, recognizing that these deaths were not uniformly spread over those four years. By comparison, in eight months, COVID-19 already has killed nearly 240,000 Americans, more than half the number of soldiers lost in all of World War II. Yet, as citizens, and in contrast to those of the World War II era, many of us continue to place our individual freedoms and desire to avoid minor discomforts and inconvenience over the safety and lives of our fellow citizens. Ironically, it is many of those Americans who lived through World War II who are most at risk from death from COVID-19.
Behaving in a manner that keeps our fellow citizens safe should not be viewed as a political statement but an expectation of being a member of society. I understand that masks are not comfortable and, as I can attest to as I walk to work, cause glasses to steam up as it gets colder. But that is a minor inconvenience compared to the proven evidence that masks and social distancing keep others safe, particularly those for whom COVID-19 could prove deadly. This includes me, who is on the wrong side of the age and the BMI risk factor criteria, neither of which I can do much about in the short run. I would appreciate your looking out for my safety, as would my family.
Please also rethink the risks and benefits of traditional family gatherings for Thanksgiving, particularly if older family members might attend. Holding a large family event that includes older family members because “they may not be here next year” is not a good reason. You don’t want it to turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy due to transmission of COVID-19 by an asymptomatic COVID-positive attendee to a COVID-vulnerable senior member of your family. We will be missing my son and his partner at Thanksgiving this year, but we all agreed that the risks were too high.
So, barring legitimate medical reasons, wear a mask, social distance, don’t congregate indoors, etc. Nebraska Medicine and all other hospitals in the state are already full, with COVID patients occupying 50% or more beds than they did at the time of our fist COVID peak in June. The ability to expand services is limited by bed capacity, but more significantly by the lack of ability to staff them. This provider shortage is further worsened by the rising infection of our health care workforce that is ongoing, mostly through community acquisition. Herd immunity is not an answer. Continued community spread of the virus will overwhelm our already full facilities and emotionally and physically stressed workforce.
The recent announcement of preliminary evidence of an effective vaccine and the release for emergent use of monoclonal antibodies that appear to be effective in early stages of disease offer great hope and light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s all work for the best interest of our nation and commit ourselves and our families to do what we can to limit viral spread while awaiting widespread vaccine implementation.
I close by wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving. And I’d like to offer my thanks as well to all of those who are working so hard to provide care for the growing number of patients and to those who will be giving up their Thanksgiving to be in the hospital providing that care. We appreciate all that you do to keep our community safe.
Bradley Britigan, MD
Dean
UNMC College of Medicine