A Medical Physician's Advice on What We Can Do for Each Other in the Face of COVID-19
In this challenging time we find ourselves in, uncertainty abounds. We are facing the unknown as we try to make the best decisions for ourselves and our loved ones. But even amid the darkness, we believe great strength and optimism is found in sound counsel. By honoring the acumen of some of the world's bravest—the doctors, scientists, and health care workers—we can begin to carve a more clarion path forward.
We were grateful to garner the insight of Jack Kreindler, MD this week. Founder and medical director of the Centre for Health and Human Performance in London, Kreindler is a leading expert in health optimization and risk management, and a medical technologist revered for his work in artificial intelligence and wireless biosensors. Amid a sea of clinical cases, Kreindler took a few moments to provide his advice on the most important things we all can do right now. While his words were informing, they were also incredibly unifying. "You should wash your hands of the virus, but don't wash your hands of the people," he says. "Times like these are a great opportunity to think of others."
A Q&A with Jack Kreindler, MD
In our measures and precautions against COVID-19, what is essential for us to know right now?
It is much harsher than a normal seasonal respiratory infection like influenza. It is a SARS coronavirus. It is much more severe for the people it is going to be severe for. Therefore, we must protect, as humanly possible, the people this is going to affect worse than usual. Those people are: older people and those with well-established chronic conditions, including things like diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, lung problems, weakened immune systems, and people with cancer because the chemotherapy drugs can compromise the immune system. Those are the people we need to think about.
What does social distancing do?
What we're doing by social distancing is saving the lives of the people for whom this virus is ten times worse than the really bad flu. That is the crux of why we have to work really hard to properly isolate our elders and our most vulnerable. We need to make sure that they are sympathetically, compassionately isolated, if at all possible.
For the rest of us, it's about decreasing our actions, and the amount of people we see, by ten or twenty times. What this does is it flattens the curve. It enables the spread to slow and it enables more [hospital] beds to be open. It would enable enough capacity for those people who need it. It is obviously still going to be difficult, and a lot of people might die. But if you don't have beds and the support people need, the number could be four to five times worse.
You’ve said there are “three practical things we must all do." What are those?
#1: As best we can, we must isolate our elders. And we have to do it compassionately and sensitively.
#2: We must decrease our actions and contact with people by one-tenth or even one-twentieth. If you can, work from home. If you can't, take more care. Avoid public transit when possible. Collectively as a city or a neighborhood or a country, if we can reduce our interactions to ten or twenty times less, then we will be able to pace the spread of the disease—the virus—and leave enough hospital beds open.
#3: Don't panic. This is not dangerous to the vast majority of people—younger, fitter adults and kids. Only a tiny percentage of the not-at-risk group will need more help, for which that will not be a problem if there are available beds.
What else is essential to know?
You should wash your hands of the virus, but don't wash your hands of the people. Times like these are a great opportunity to think of others.
The people who are the most anxious are the ones that are thinking of themselves. As soon as you become less anxious, you start thinking of others. It's almost like a deeply ingrained parental love. I'm not saying that people need to give up their lives, but if you give a part of your life to help someone else, the anxiety goes away.
There will be times, in order to completely flatten the curve, that we may have to stay indoors. And this may feel horrible. But we have got to understand why we're doing that. The curve needs to be properly flattened so there are still beds for women to have their children born, for people who have appendicitis to have an operation, for folks who have been diagnosed with breast cancer to have a vital operation, or for someone who has poked themselves in the eye to have vision. We need those doctors and those beds. That sacrifice that we're making for our freedom, albeit as scary and as frustrating as it is, is allowing people to get the treatment they need.
Editor's Note: Dr. Kreindler recommends visiting https://www.flattenthecurve.com/, which he says "really explains simply, from the evidence base, why it's important to start to flatten this curve."
To learn more about Jack Kreindler, MD and the Centre For Health and Human Performance, visit: chhp.com and follow Dr. Kreindler at @drjackUK.
——
At The Conscious Investor, it is our goal to shed light on topics that we find interesting, inspirational, and educational. Therefore, this article is strictly for inspirational and informational purposes only. It is in no way intended to substitute for professional investment advice, professional financial advice, or general counsel. To the extent that an article features the insight, opinions, or advice of an expert or company, the expressed views are those of the cited person or company and do not necessarily represent The Conscious Investor and its employees or affiliates.