As we embark on third year of pandemic, reasons for hope (opinion)
We’ve recently passed a milestone we never wanted: Two years of living amid a pandemic. Many are asking — what’s next?
It’s not over yet, and the losses from COVID-19 have taken an incredible toll on us as a society. Yet we — an infectious disease doctor and a pediatrician on the frontlines of the pandemic — are cautiously optimistic as we look to the future.
Let’s start with the optimism. Today, we have safe vaccines that work and are readily available. We personally see the daily evidence that these vaccines are keeping COVID-19 patients out of our hospitals and ICUs.
In Pennsylvania, 84% of the population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number gives us hope. We’ve suffered far too many deaths from this virus, and evidence-backed vaccines give us a way to prevent more people from dying.
One hundred years ago, the leading causes of death in America were primarily infectious diseases such as influenza, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. Vaccines have changed that story, and they will help us live with COVID-19, too.
We’re also encouraged by our health care colleagues, who have demonstrated the best of humanity over the last two years as they consistently go above and beyond, and then yet further, to take care of our patients. They’ve been creative, dedicated, and self-sacrificing, offering personal time to share expertise, advise leaders and run vaccine clinics.
And we’re seeing the number of patients in our hospitals with COVID-19 plummet as the initial Omicron surge wanes.
There are many reasons to hope, but also several reasons to stay cautious.
With many children unvaccinated, we still want to work hard to protect them from COVID-19 — which could lead to troubling cases of long COVID, where symptoms persist more than a month after initial infection, or the dangerous Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, or MIS-C. It takes about two months after each new variant to determine if it will lead to a surge in MIS-C cases. Parents should stay on alert, taking their kids to the pediatrician if they see symptoms like persistent fevers, unusual skin rashes and even heightened fussy behaviors.
The reports from early 2020 that children were less susceptible to COVID-19 are no longer true for the variants we have today, and that’s why we’re continuing to advocate for children to receive vaccines and look forward to safe and effective FDA approved vaccines for children under the age of 5.
Although the number of children hospitalized with COVID is far lower than adults, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, as adults usually experience severe illness at higher rates than kids. Instead, the medical community compares the number of MIS-C cases to the prevalence of other serious illnesses that can lead to children’s hospitalizations or fatalities, and it remains severe.
That’s why caution still matters, and our goal is to use every tool at our disposal to return children, as well as the rest of us, to normalcy in a world where we can safely exist alongside COVID-19. The first, second, and third steps towards that goal are increasing vaccinations.
No one wants COVID-19 to be behind us more than the medical community, but the reality is that this virus will continue to mutate and develop new variants. We — as doctors, parents, and Americans — will need to continue to be flexible as new strains emerge, making data-based decisions and living thoughtfully alongside the virus.
That said, with growing immunity, vaccines and more than two years of medical research and experience, the future looks a lot brighter than it did at the start of the pandemic. And that’s something to celebrate.
Dr. Olubunmi Ojikutu is Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Reading Hospital-Tower Health. Dr. Debra Powell is Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Tower Health and Medical Director, Infection Prevention.
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