COVID-19 Changes Holiday Family Times
December brings not only the traditional American holiday season but in 2020 it is heralding the worsening of the much expected COVID-19 Fall surge. Clearly, the warnings of this surge being worse than the devastation of the Spring and Summer of this year were accurate. Infections are exploding as evidenced by the over 205,000 new infections diagnosed yesterday. Hospitalizations in the US reached a pandemic high record of 101,000 yesterday. The lives of over 277,000 Americans have ended due to this virus, including over 2,700 snuffed out yesterday. This number represents the deadliest day since the pandemic began. We have lost more Americans in the last two days than the total number of our soldiers killed during our two-decade conflict in Afghanistan. An infection rate of less than 5% is present in only seven states. The White House taskforce is predicting another surge on top of this current increase due to this past Thanksgiving travel. We are likely to see another dramatic rise in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths 2-3 weeks after the recent Thanksgiving weekend. These health impacts are in addition to the severe economic devastation associated with this viral pandemic.
There is some good news! Two vaccine manufacturers have requested Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA. Pfizer says that its vaccine is slightly over 95% effective and Moderna is reporting 94.5% vaccine effectiveness. If the EUA’s are granted these two vaccines will be available to health care providers and nursing home residents during the latter part of December 2020. It is projected that vaccines will be available for the public, depending upon people’s severity of risk, beginning in January 2021. It is further expected that every citizen will have the ability to be vaccinated by the end of June 2021. Because we are in “the most difficult time in the public health history of this country”, according to the Head of the CDC, we must still mask to save tens of thousands of lives.
African Americans continue to be disproportionately impacted by this dreadful disease. People of African descent, compared to Caucasians, are 2.6 times as likely to contract the disease, 4.7 times as likely to be hospitalized, and 2.1 times as likely to die from Covid-19 infection. If the death rate from COVID-19 was the same for African Americans as for Caucasians 25,000 more Black Americans would be alive today. A greater proportion of Black businesses are shuttered, non-essential jobs lost, and the education of Black children is more severely affected by being out of the classroom. It stands to reason that those who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 will be assured the appropriate benefit of vaccines. Unfortunately, the historical understandable distrust of the healthcare system is superimposed on the politicization of this rapidly developed vaccine. A Pew Research poll from October 2020 revealed that only 32% of African American adults would take a COVID-19 vaccine. Convincing the skeptical will require data transparency, the silence of any politician not promoting the public health good, a monumental public relations campaign, and buy in from trusted community members. It takes extraordinary effort to overcome mistrust.
No matter your ethnicity or religious identification, family and friend gatherings are the hallmarks of this American holiday season. The CDC advice for us not to travel over Thanksgiving was not adequately heeded. The USA is about to see the ramifications of these individual decisions. We healthcare providers hope and encourage all Americans to heed the CDC recommendation over the remainder of this season (CDC.gov/covid19). Do not travel, but still celebrate this Holiday season with those who live in your household. The CDC also recommends that we wear masks when outside of our homes, or even at home if someone visits who does not usually live there. New data shows that if 95% of Americans wear masks, 66,000 American lives will be spared by April 1, 2021.
Because of the emotional stress caused by COVID-19, Americans assuredly anticipated this Holiday season as a respite from isolation and despair. Yet, we must dig deep as Americans and wait a little longer. Get your flu vaccine, MASK up, WASH your hands, WATCH your distance, avoid crowds, and WAIT to get vaccinated.
