Residents need to listen to the experts to defeat COVID-19 in Bradenton | Opinion
In 1597, the British philosopher Francis Bacon wrote a sentence that would become famous: “ipsa scientia potestas est.” Knowledge itself is power.
Knowledge is power. But during a time of a Pandemic , there is a possible approach to knowledge and power that we need to implement in our community.
Responsible Governments and Communities share information, transparently, with their citizens. They spread knowledge to enable solutions. Such transparency requires courage among political and community leaders, but is highly precious because it promotes confidence among citizens.
Let’s look at lessons learned from Italy.
Its leadership shared all decisions with the population. There has been a succession of detailed medical bulletins and press releases . Italians have been made aware of the problem and many of them, particularly in the critical areas, are responding to the huge sacrifices the government is requesting.
Italy has been criticized for being a hotspot of the disease, but it should be lauded for its transparency and the strict actions it took immediately. Other countries have not been so effective so far.
Let look at some lessons learned from our past. During the 1918 influenza pandemic, city’s such as St Louis implemented strict social distancing from the onset of the pandemic and placed a ban on public socialization. This in contrast to a community such as Pittsburgh, the sister city of Bradenton. They “kind of” practiced public gathering restrictions and closed schools for a limited time. They experienced a spike and increase in mortality that could have been avoided.
The scale of the challenge
In spite of all these heavy measures in Italy, the epidemic has continued to spread. The diffusion index (a measure of how many people one patient can infect) is high (2.5), and the mortality rate is 3.5 out of 100 patients. As of today, March 21, Italy has 41,035 cases, 3,407 dead, and just today had 429 deaths. . These are the numbers we know, but the virus is very likely to be far more prevalent than we think.
A majority of those whom the virus has killed are men over 81 years old with other health complications.
Twenty percent of those who have been infected and present serious symptoms need to be intubated for respiratory failure because interstitial pneumonia develops. The healing process for pneumonia cases is very long: at least two weeks in intubation, two weeks in the hospital, and then another two weeks at home. Public health experts expect the epidemic to peak in Italy in one month. So, the road remains a long one and risks damaging the entire national economy.
The real problem is the lack of adequate intensive care facilities. At the moment in Italy, the number of hospital wards that are open to patients in need of other care (not related to COVID-19) has been cut in half, and hospitalizations not related to the virus occur only in emergency situations or for serious oncologic (cancer) problems. Routine surgical operations have been postponed en masse to leave intensive care facilities available.
What Bradenton should do
Our community should share every decision with the population. Ir Italy’s case is any guide, the public will likely prove extremely collaborative. The county government, business leaders and community leaders must not try to minimize the importance of science, nor the aggressive nature of the virus and let specialists, medical providers and our physicians handle the matter publicly. At the end of the day, this challenge can be overcome if treated with the right procedures.
The coronavirus is not only a curse: It is also an extraordinary chance to improve our facilities and health care infrastructure — and above all, to learn and be more ready for the next emergency.
Kevin DiLallo is CEO and group vice president of Manatee Memorial Healthcare System.
This story was originally published March 22, 2020 at 4:39 AM with the headline "Residents need to listen to the experts to defeat COVID-19 in Bradenton | Opinion."
