HJBR May/Jun 2020

DIALOGUE 12 MAY / JUN 2020 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE   as we’ve treated more patients and learned more about the disease. This has been a very stressful, and at times, scary situation, but we’ve also seen people step up in a remark- able way. We’ve had providers, nurses, and staff volunteer to serve on the frontlines of COVID-19. Physicians and APPs in non- COVID-19 areas have embraced telemedi- cine in their practice and changed the way they care for patients. Editor  According to the CDC, the 2019-2020 flu season hit Louisiana earlier and harder than any other U.S. state. What are your thoughts on why Louisiana was impacted so much earlier than other states? Hart  I can’t speak to the timing of the recent flu season, but the steps people are taking now tomaintain social distancing and prac- tice good hand hygiene may protect us and limit the spread of future flu outbreaks. Editor  If the human race were to put this much concentrated effort (i.e. faster trial turn arounds, drug approvals, daily death numbers, etc.) into other diseases, such as cancer and heart disease, do you believe they could be eradicated or at least greatly reduced? Hart  Cancer and heart disease are very wide topics with lots of variations, so you can’t really compare. Efforts on one virus like COVID-19 can be more focused and allow us to concentrate better on understanding, treating, and stopping it. We’ve seen a huge focus on health and wellness over the last few weeks, and hope that people continue to focus on getting well and staying healthy moving forward. Editor  What are your thoughts on the con- cept of contact tracing? Hart We’re at a point now (April 27) where the doubling time of the virus is above 40 days in Louisiana, which is positive news. To get back to “normal”, we need to go to a containment strategy instead of just a miti- gation strategy. Contact tracing is an impor- tant piece of this, as it helps us identify and stop potential spread. We’re seeing technol- ogy companies, including Google andApple, invest in reducing the spread through the development of apps that can track whether you’ve potentially been exposed to someone positive for COVID-19. These apps would track your location, if you opt in, and alert you if you were in the same location as someone who tested positive. We anticipate more conversation and tools around contact tracing in the near future. Editor  What can we learn from this pan- demic? How do you think it will end, and how will we evolve as a result of this crisis? Hart We’ve learned a great deal about and fromCOVID-19, and we expect these learn- ings to change how we behave and deliver medicine moving forward. We had a false sense of security when the virus began in Wuhan, and hoped it might be contained there. Mother Nature is more powerful than technology; however, we can’t assume that we won’t be impacted by issues happening elsewhere in the world, and must prepare and act quickly to protect our communities. We can’t predict the exact impact of a novel virus, but we know that something no one has been exposed to can cause a great deal of damage when there is no baseline immunity. Wemust get smarter about recognizing and preparing for issues like this. This will end with a vaccine, and we’re likely to see some lasting changes in howwe go about our lives and howwe practicemedicine. We’ve seen a big spike in utilization and interest in receiv- ing care virtually, and expect that patients and providers will continue using telemedi- cine in the future. n

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