HJBR May/Jun 2020

34 MAY / JUN 2020 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE COLUMN LDH CORNER RESPONDING TO A PANDEMIC: RESILIENCE in the Face of a Crisis I must admit that I never expected a global pandemic of this magnitude in my lifetime. I believed a major flu outbreak was, and is always possible, but never did I expect that a new virus would spread through our nation and others, taxing healthcare services, closing businesses, churches, and schools, and calling for a stay at home order that kept most of us isolated in our homes, all in an effort to pre- vent the spread of COVID-19. AS I write this column, the stay at home order is still in effect, and Louisiana De- partment of Health regional models show that Louisiana could be grappling with the virus at least until the end of the year. Of course, forecasting what is going to hap- pen with COVID-19 in the state of Louisi- ana is challenging and nearly impossible, just as it is impossible to forecast the exact weather and temperature on a given day. The good news is that the planning pro- jections show the governor’s swift efforts have minimized COVID-19 exposure for each of us, protected critical health care resources, and saved lives. With each of us doing our part to follow the stay at home order, we have flattened the curve, or slowed the spread of this illness. The pro- jections also tell us that returning to the normal we all knew prior to March 9—the day the first case was diagnosed in Loui- siana—is not going to happen in anytime soon. It is time to prepare ourselves for a new normal. For example, restaurant dining rooms may reopen, but not to full capacity because it will be important to leave amin- imum of six feet of space between families. Every person in the state may be asked to wear a mask when in public settings. So- cial distancing will be a part of life until there is a vaccine available. Keep in mind that social distancing only means physical distance between people. We can still be social, and Louisianans are experts when it comes to socializing. We will just need to be more cautious and find creative new ways to have a good time together while maintaining physical space between our- selves and others. Again, never did I expect to see some- thing of this magnitude in my lifetime. However, I am incredibly proud of thework we have accomplished in a short amount of time. I am proud of the health care workers and first responders across the state. Avirus that we knew very little about made thousands of people sick. Instead of being frozen with fear, our health care pro- fessionals faced the unknown and cared for patients with a tremendous amount of compassion. While they may have been concerned and tired, they showed up any- way. They also worked to improve patient care for COVID-19 patients, finding ways to minimize the time spent on ventilators, and to reduce the length of time spent in hospitals. I am also proud of the Louisiana De- partment of Health team. Our first obsta-