What To Do About Delta
Consider What We Have Learned In The Past 18 Months
VACCINATE (If you are able to, and if your doctor says it’s ok.). Remember that vaccination is for those around you. Vaccination works in a population. Public health is about the community and not the individual. Please visit my vaccine posts to read about my personal experience. A lot of free services related to covid-19 will likely go away due to vaccination including insurance coverage on treatments for those who are unvaccinated. Hospitals are beginning to become overwhelmed in certain states and cities. We don’t want to wait for this to happen in NYC. We do not want to overwhelm our already traumatized and overworked healthcare workers. This can mean rationing care, being turned away at an ER and not being able to get care for COVID or non-COVID emergencies. Vaccination can help prevent a lot of this and gives you an extra layer of protection and anxiety relief!
MASK UP -We can all do this and should continue to when indoors vaccinated or not. Masking especially around those who are more vulnerable, unvaccinated, elderly, immunocompromised, and those you do not live with. Masking is even more important if you are unvaccinated. Masking is meant for source control, but it does also give you, the wearer some protection too. Double masking during times of prolonged contact or in enclosed or crowded public spaces could be a really good idea.
ISOLATE- Did you just go to a gathering? Hung out with multiple households? Instead of visiting your elderly parents this week, ease off of socializing in-person. Take time to isolate and reduce contact between social gatherings. Avoid socializing with others every single day and instead spread out contact so that it is 1-2 weeks apart at minimum.
TALK ABOUT IT - Continue to discuss comfort, risks and activities together with your friends, family and community members. Go over in details your recent exposures and check in with people you’ve made plans with to be sure they’re ok with following through with in-person gathering that you’ve planned.
CANCEL, CHANGE PLANS -Just say no! Change your wedding to an outdoor venue. Decline an invitation to a gathering. Infection numbers change all the time. Guidelines change accordingly. We can change plans to be safer too. Be understanding to your friends who need to change plans due to safety as well.
PLAN AHEAD - Make an action plan with you and members of your house hold, those you plan to gather with on what will happen and what you will do if you or people you’ve been with become sick. Be prepared to help monitor each other and notify others you’ve been in contact with.
GET TESTED - If you’re not vaccinated, getting regular PCR tests is a good way to keep track of your exposures. Whether vaccinated or not, if you’ve gathered with multiple house holds, been to a party, wedding or any indoor event, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Go get a test!
By Dr. Emily Grace Siy, DACM on Aug 9, 2021
Photo by Tommy Kha