Take Stock of Where we are
This weekend I took a dose of my own medicine. I went outside, breathed in the spring air, sneezed my ass off (I'm wildly allergic to pollen), took two long walks, slept late, went out with friends, drank tequila, guffawed with my family at dinner, and emerged this morning with a bit more perspective.
Last week’s news felt crushing. A beloved patient of mine died. The images of India hit hard. The J&J vaccine flip-flop naturally generated anxiety (here is my take on that news). Probably like you, I needed a good exhale.
Unwinding is healthy. In fact, it’s a great time for all of us to take a step back and take stock of where we are. At some point or another, we’ll need to reflect on our unique pandemic story.
But first, let’s look at where we are right now.
All Americans ages 16 and up are eligible for the vaccine. Teens ages 12-15 likely will have access to the Pfizer shot next month based on the FDA approval timeline for the adult vaccines (please don’t hold me to that). Now that many of us have been fully vaccinated, we’re starting to reclaim our lives. As more and more people become vaccinated, kids and other unvaccinated folks are safer each day. (Recall that vaccinated people are at very low risk of transmitting the virus to others.)
Spring is in the air. Nature is beckoning us outside. Black leggings and yoga pants around the country are finally enjoying some alone time — un-stuck to human limbs — after a year of gripping and grabbing. Many of us are back to socializing, shaving, and shimmying into slacks. We’re dusting off our social skills and testing out our post-pandemic personalities. (If you’re anything like me, it’s a mixed bag of foul language and fun.)
The vaccine data continues to dazzle. Just today, this study on the real world effectiveness of the mRNA vaccines showed that in 49,220 individuals, the Pfizer-BioNTech shot was 78% effective after one shot and 96.8% effective after both shots. The Moderna was 91% effective after one dose and 98.6% effective after both. This data adds to the already enormous pile of evidence on the vaccines’ stunning efficacy, safety (even in patients who are pregnant and immunocompromised due to a bone marrow disorder called CML!), and their ability to crush the circulating variants.
Next, let’s think about where we’re going.
I’m starting to say to many of my vaccinated patients, “Your Personal Pandemic is Over.” Clearly there’s much more nuance to this statement, as everyone’s risk is different and we must continue to respect vulnerable, unvaccinated folks, but the gist is this: for most vaccinated people, there’s not much you CAN’T do two weeks after you’re fully vaccinated. The CDC just hasn’t updated its guidance. (For a GREAT 11-minute listen on this subject, check out NPR's All Things Considered with Drs. Leana Wen and Monica Gandhi.)
Soon we’ll be able to drop outdoor masking. As I explained last week in my newsletter (and on national TV), masking outside, particularly for vaccinated people, isn’t medically necessary; the CDC is (finally) slated to acknowledge this tomorrow.
Of course not everything is sunshine and roses. People are still dying from COVID-19, young people are filling up hospitals, and states like Michigan and Oregon are badly struggling. Unvaccinated people continue to be vulnerable to COVID-19. Vaccine hesitancy is a big barrier to achieving herd immunity. Fear, anxiety, and diseases of despair run roughshod through the population. And of course kids under 12 won’t have access to a vaccine for a long while. (I’ll talk more about kids, the vaccines, summer camp, and whether or not we even need them to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity later this week or next.)
But I think we can agree that we’re crushing the curve. The US had approximately 32,000 COVID cases yesterday, the lowest number since June. Last week in Israel, only a few months ahead of us, recorded no new daily COVID deaths for the first time in 10 months! The UK is also just a bit further along than the US. Hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 have plummeted, and people are resuming regular life.
And now let’s step back, reflect, and breathe:
If the pandemic has reminded me one thing, it’s how vulnerable we are as humans. We like to think we’re in control of our existence — with our Apple watches, FitBits, Noom apps, and sleep trackers. But at the end of the day, the gadgets and gizmos only rack up more data; they don’t actually care one iota about our health. They make us feel in control in the very areas we struggle the most, but they don’t give a damn about disease and despair.
That’s where we humans have to intervene.
Pandemics end. This one will, too. So it’s a good time to think about authoring the final chapter of our pandemic story. For me, I always start with the basics — by trying to meet my basic biological needs: sleeping, eating, moving, and connecting with other people. On a good day, these things are hard; add a pandemic, and we’ve been lucky to get by.
Now that the pandemic is gradually easing up, we can start to think about reclaiming our safety and sanity. We can start to rebuild our social, emotional, and physical health. It won’t happen overnight, and we can’t do it alone. We need support from each other, our loved ones, and our communities. We need to connect with the outdoor world, take our allergy meds, laugh with friends and family, and practice our post-pandemic punch lines.
We need kindness and compassion for ourselves and one another. Even though I can see the horizon (I hope you can, too), recovery from the pandemic will take time, work, and a lot of patience. But if we pace ourselves and take some deep breaths now, we’ll have an easier time later on.
I will see you later this week. Until then, be well.