Craig Spencer MD MPH is the Director of Global Health in Emergency Medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. You can read his bio here. After doing so, you will be impressed. He knows a thing or two about diseases and the treatment of them. Five years ago, after treating patients in West Africa, where he coordinated Doctors Without Borders national epidemiological response during the Ebola outbreak, he was diagnosed with the virus and treated in New York. He remembers the hysteria surrounding Ebola as well as the jokes ‘e-bowling’ – and how it dissipated. But Ebola and Covid-19, he warns, are very different.
I don’t know him. I found him on Twitter the way you do when you are holed up in your living room, scouring social media for something heartening. It was one of those “You must read this thread!” imperatives from a stranger I follow that got my attention. It might get your attention too. It should.
Working on the frontlines in the ER, Dr. Spencer is using his Twitter feed to share some thoughts about how we can stay safe and protect others. I am taking the liberty to post them here, in one place, so that those of you who are not on Twitter can help spread his message. Please just stay home.
March 24, 2020 from Dr. Spencer’s Twitter Account
Nine days ago . . . from Dr. Spencer’s Twitter account
Every one of us will be impacted. Maybe you read about ‘social distancing’ and don’t totally understand/agree why it applies to you. You may think it’s fine to go to bars/restaurants, cause you’re young and healthy. You hear it’s ‘just the flu’ . But this is a big deal. We must stop the spread of the virus, and we all have a role.
Every interaction – at large concert halls & small dinner tables too – is another opportunity to spread this virus. Even when we are being extra cautious, us humans are not perfect. Viruses spread. We can only slow this by limiting our exposures. So why is that so important?
Even if the virus doesn’t hit you as hard (and there’s no guarantee it won’t – there’s been lots of young people put on life support), so many people around us are older, have weakened immune systems, or are more prone to infection. Limiting OUR exposures limits theirs too!
I’m just leaving work in the ER. We already have #COVID19 cases. The # increases EVERY day. If they keep going at this rate, our system will be overwhelmed. We won’t have the space, personnel or supplies to provide the best care to our #coronavirus AND our regular patients.
Our best hope right now is social distancing, or limiting our exposure to others. This slows how fast the virus moves in our communities, which decreases how many people get infected, which slows the spread of the virus, and so on . . .
If we can do this NOW by limiting these exposures – at bars, restaurants, schools, etc – we can decrease the number of people coming to our ERs every day. Our system will still be stressed, but not overwhelmed
