Practice Flexible Vigilance
MEDICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH UPDATE
Hello, Monday, and WELCOME to Phase 2 of re-opening in DC.
TODAY our city (like many others around the country) will allow for indoor dining and the reopening of stores, camps, swimming pools, worship services without singing, and gatherings of up to 50 people.
Restaurants and stores will be able to operate at 50 percent capacity. Gyms, tanning salons, and tattoo shops can reopen as long as social distancing among customers is maintained.
And as people move about more, it also means that MY DAY JOB (aka doctoring) has ramped up in a big way! Checking in with more of my patients—virtually and in person as needed—has been a wonderful reminder of why I am here.
So what does this mean for YOU?
It means that you COULD get the “I HEART MOM” tattoo (kids) that you’ve been pining away for, but it doesn’t mean you should.
It means that you COULD enjoy the plush, cozy interior of a Shake Shack, but it doesn’t mean you should.
It means that I COULD continue to write a newsletter every day, but that would entail not sleeping or practicing what I preach about self-care. So now that I am back in the saddle at work, I’ll pivot to writing a few times a week instead of daily. I love writing so much I just can’t give it up!
I’ll continue to provide COVID-19 news and my doctorly “take” on what is the what—tossed in with anecdotes, patient FAQs, guest writers, and attempts at dumb humor (sometimes of the potty variety).
ARGH!!! But what should YOU do, you ask?? So many decisions and so much change!!!
Let’s acknowledge that Phase 2 of re-entry ushers in phase 2 of ANXIETY: the kind where you now have choices and don’t know what to do with them.
Lockdown afforded us the bread-and-butter variety of anxiety, the kind of heart-racing, palm-sweating fear you experience when you step off the curb not seeing a bus coming right at you.
In a way, lockdown anxiety was almost easier because we had no choices to make. Kind of like when you’re on antibiotics and your doctor says you can’t drink alcohol for 10 days—there’s no decision to be made, no options to be weighed, no anxiety over “what if.”
But in phase 2, you now have to THINK. It’s time to awaken those sleepy decision-making brain cells and DECIDE whether a trip to the tanning salon is worth the risk of infecting one of the good people working to bronze you—or getting the virus yourself and then infecting grandma when you visit her.
Once again, you need to decide what activities matter most to you, know your personal risk, understand your risk to OTHER PEOPLE, and use every precaution to mitigate risk as you engage in activities.
Let’s take, for example, going to the newly reopened gym. Exercise is essential for our physical and mental health, and I highly recommend it. But going to the gym is not risk-free, and there are still many ways to exercise outside. Walking is IN! And great for our overall health. But if you prefer the gym, it is worth taking precautions like wearing a mask, wiping down exercise equipment before and after using it, bringing your own water bottle and hand sanitizer, distancing yourself from other exercisers, and showering and changing at home to avoid the bathrooms if possible.
In other words, we need to exercise what Scott Gottlieb recently called “FLEXIBLE VIGILANCE” as we re-engage in parts of our public life. We can’t let down our guard against the virus; we simply need to think through the risks and benefits of each activity to ourselves and others.
This virus isn’t going away. Even though DC’s rates are improving, as of today twenty-two states are seeing spikes in cases, and we can expect a second wave in the fall. Which, to me, is why I recommend taking small, calculated risks NOW (like getting a mammogram or your check-up with your doctor) while we have a “window”—with full disclosure that the crystal ball I ordered from Amazon is still on back-order.
Nor am I going away! I started writing this daily newsletter on March 15 to reach my patients, and over the past three months my dream came true: I began reaching a wider audience to share my thoughts and real-time, fact-based information and guidance on managing our mental and physical health in tandem.
I am indebted to you, my dear readers, for supporting me through the last three months! You have kept ME afloat with a renewed sense of purpose during the pandemic, and I’m forever indebted and still here for you. In fact, I will check in later in the week! Until then, be well.
P.S. Join me and Dr. Clay Ackerly TONIGHT on Facebook Live at 8 pm for a COVID-19 news roundup and discussion about decision-making in phase 2.
P.P.S. Join me and Michelle Palmer, Executive Director of the Wendt Center for Healing and Loss on Wednesday, June 24 at 2 pm ET to discuss managing mental and physical health in tandem during the pandemic. Also on Facebook Live.