Do Doctors Wash Their Hands Properly?

There is no person unaffected by the coronavirus pandemic.  It does seem that the public and the government are responding belatedly in a manner commensurate with the threat.  I write this knowing that less than a week ago from the time I am composing this, Florida beaches were teeming with vacationers.  A memorable quote from one of these selfless and enlightened partiers was:

“If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I’m not gonna let it stop me from partying.”

This individual, from my own state of Ohio, did apologize for his remarks.  I would suggest that his mouth be mandated to take a 14 day quarantine from all speech. 

Look, we’ve all said dumb stuff.  I know I have.  My advice?  If you sense some dumb words about to erupt, and there are cameras rolling, sprint in the opposite direction as if the coronavirus is on your tail and gaining ground.

Right now, Ohio and many other states are in a ‘shelter-in-place’ status, in an effort to enforce social distancing.   I’m trying to do my part.  I’ve learned about curbside grocery pick up.  I haven’t shaken hands in weeks.  I try to keep my distance from others as best as I can. And, I am practicing telemedecine.  I watched a video that demonstrated ideal hand washing technique.  I’m in a profession that should be model hand scrubbers.  I’ve washed my hands probably hundreds of thousands of times and I’ve seen many colleagues lather up.  But I’ve never seen hand washing as depicted in the training video. This was no mere soap & water exercise.  It was a performance, a veritable choreography of cleanliness.   In other words, I think my own profession could use a hand hygiene refresher course, as could the rest of us.

Scrub Vigorously

(You Don't Have to Get This Deep.)

Interestingly, when the president and his medical minions are giving their frequent news conferences, they all seem huddled together, much closer than 6 feet apart. 

But, at most I’ve been inconvenienced during the pandemic.  For so many, this pandemic has been devastating medically and economically.  The job losses and company closures are horrifying.  I am more sanguine about prevailing over the virus than I am over recovering our economy.   And, there is tension between public health experts and many in the business world about when to permit economic activity to resume.  

As I write this, the U.S. Senate has still not agreed on the zillion dollar recovery package, which I anticipate will occur shortly.   If there was a legislative bill that was against cancer, would it be able to pass the House and Senate easily? I wonder.

We will get to the other side.  And, we will recover eventually.  But we will not be the same. We and the world will have learned about the ferocity and tenacity of an invading microbe and the strategy and tactics necessary to defeat a wily and stealth enemy.   And, we will surely need these battle skills again and again.