How many of you have seriously thought that we would be living our lives the way we are approx. 6 months ago, and that a virus would place us in a position of such compromise?

As a medical practitioner and a part of our HPA group, I was humbled to be asked to elaborate on this topic for a bit. My background is akin to the orthopedic society, yet I will take a stab in somewhat of simple explanation. A sincere medical explanation would be to understand the state which we are in and why we are instructed to do the things being done.

To begin with some basics, this is a viral product as many of you have heard and not a bacterial one. It affects us like the flu and most of us now know and to put in simple terms, a more aggressive flu. This is one of the reasons many infectious disease specialists will dictate that the elderly or more immunocompromised individuals are at higher risk of morbidity. To date, if we have been keeping up with our daily dose of media input, the one common acceptance is not knowing how long or what the duration of this viral existence or pandemic will be. This is on each beings’ mind. Diseases like such have a propensity of recurrence and hence it is vital to formulate a vaccine, just like the flu vaccine which some of us may attain each fall. To put simply, we do not understand the complete nature of this organism and therefore the most basic preventative measure humans can take is to limit exposure to each other, that is why we have social distancing.nTo keep and stay at home if you should have a fever or flu like symptoms which initiates the so-called quarantine period. This also warrants anyone who may have been around someone who may have been diagnosed with this virus. Why 2 weeks or 14 days? Simply put, the reason for this is that it may take this much time for the symptoms of flu like or sickness to possibly develop. Hence the quarantine. With the numbers we see each day, of the spread of people afflicted with this in any given state of our nation, along with the number of deaths, we are more inclined to be cautious in heeding to advice from our medical leaders.

As you all witness, we are careful in our daily life with routine hand washing, being more observant of what we touch or grab, the demise of our handshaking, the distance we keep to refrain from hugging as a hello, and along with foregoing the proverbial kiss on the cheek. The instructions given to us of not attending large gatherings, or crowded places, the cessation of sporting activities, schools which children becoming the source of travel for this, are all incubators for this virus to thrive.Kudos to our medical community and first responders especially in the Emergency Room who are diligently and tirelessly caring for the sick and to give support in healing them accordingly with any amenable equipment they possess to utilize.

Going forward, our concern is how long are we to live like this. It is an unknown factor that is still being worked on. One aspect that is clear is, this is causing havoc in medical care issues but more so in our economic well-being. Little did we realize how the restrictions can truly affect our income and sustainability. Unemployment due to distancing and not conducting business as usual marks places to close under government advice. A trickle down effect to each aspect of our lives from work to home to the growth of our nation. But let me shed some light on this, we have come through as a society from other epidemics and pandemics. The Spanish Flu, considered to be the most highly acclaimed disease, which most of us may or may not have learned, let alone witnessed it, has come and gone. This too shall pass. One thing I can conclude with is, we as a society need to look into ourselves as to who we are as a society, and what is our purpose of being here. This, a simple version of understanding, to all those who question a medical professional, as to what and where are we headed, is the unknown. We are all in this together and we all stand strong. Hope is our savior. Let us be optimistic for we shall remember these moments for our future to come. Ty