The lockdown has ended, the businesses have started to re-open their doors. It was a welcoming change to see the empty parking lots fill with cars again. We have revamped the entire office setting, scheduling, etc., educated my staff with the new safety protocols and screening procedures.
Few nervous days went by when we were still learning to breathe, talk with our N 95, and face shield on. With those multiple layering on the face, I felt so distanced from my patients, in addition to the new social distancing norms. The face shields often fogged, giving me a feeling of getting submerged underwater. We could not get enough hand sanitizer bottles in our office, we scrubbed our hands 100 hundred times, enough to make us look like skinless chicken! So it was only natural to get appalled on finding a doctor's office right in the same building break all the rules. As I walked into my office building on a fine morning, to my displeasure, shock, annoyance, etc etc., I found patients waiting right next to each other shoulder-to-shoulder outside a locked office. Thank god they were at least wearing their masks!. When I confronted that physician, he was angry, and in denial! I was talked to as if it was my own battle against the virus, and he was immune to it.
This is the real problem in America and around the world when the people in the leadership position are either being arrogant enough not to follow the safety precautions or they are in absolute denial of a dire situation. I find educated people acting like morons. We seem to have wrong role models and leaders in a crisis situation. Why is America being the most developed in the world topping the chart as number # 1 country with the highest number of cases of COVID-19? The death toll has surpassed 100,000 more than the Vietnam war and the sad part is our first outbreak has not even ended. We still have to face this harsh reality for many many more months until we have a safe vaccine in hand.
Our own neighbor Canada where the outbreak started just about the same time as in the US seem to have done a commendable job of bringing it under control by following strict safety measures, staggered re-opening, keeping the politics out and most importantly listening to their Prime minister who is not ashamed to wear a mask in public. Countries like Singapore,Taiwan having learnt their lessons from SARS had set up an excellent task force to act promptly in any epidemic/pandemic. On the contrary our own task force was dissolved long before the mandatory mask rules were enforced. The warnings from doctors,scientists are being ignored constantly and we are seeing its repercussions every single day. There is no one national policy for the safety mandates, instead every state, even county is acting independently.
America saw people hitting the beaches the past 2 holiday weekends as if this pandemic was long gone. I don't understand what type of wake up call they would need to wake their inner conscience from a deep slumber. While these imbecile party, the most vulnerable are succumbing to this deadly outbreak and the selfless healthcare workers are putting their lives at risk. More than a vaccine or anti-viral we need proper leadership to steer this country in the right direction. The public is constantly getting bombarded with conflicting opinions. The WH and WHO are not thinking alike,that's the issue. When Dr.Fauci is pleading with the public to be compliant with wearing the mask, listen to the expert. Getting a mask alone is not sufficient but wear it correctly matters. Mask is meant to cover the nose and mouth... not the chin or forehead!
All disasters require active participation, ownership by everyone to curb it. The current crisis is the mother of all crises, aren't we supposed to show solidarity at this time at least! This virus has not been partial to anyone, the rich, the poor, the doctors, the celebrities, the millionaires to the homeless...all equally vulnerable. No firearms or missile can protect us, only masks can do it at this time. It has to be a joint effort by everyone to follow the rules to protect themselves and the people around them. Until everyone realizes that we are morally, ethically bound by this new social rules our only hope is holding on to our dear....masks!!
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