On Nov. 22, 1963, America’s handsome young president John F. Kennedy was slain as he rode in a motorcade as thousands looked on in Dallas, Texas. That unthinkable horror brought America, indeed the world, to a standstill.
At 8:43 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, a fully-fueled American Airlines Flight 11 plowed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. We watched in disbelief as they replayed the slow-motion drama over and over. Eighteen minutes later, United Flight 175 collided with the South Tower, suddenly crystallizing for us all that this was an intentional terrorist attack on America. As those beautiful American icons collapsed on thousands of innocent people, the world stood still.
The spread of the coronavirus disease has seemed like a giant is stomping across the earth in big, slow steps reverberating through all nations, gaining in volume and impact as it came our way — first China, then Iran and Italy; next Spain, Germany and other parts of the EU, and now the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic can’t be tied to a single moment, but it has nonetheless brought the world to a virtual standstill.
Although we felt the giant’s steps distantly at first, we ultimately had to face the grim inevitability that it would stride onto our shores and maybe even hurt us personally. America began to react, slowly at first. But day by day, then hour by hour, our leaders took preventive unprecedented measures we could hardly imagine just weeks before. The common description is that it’s surreal.
How could we have fathomed in January with no U.S. cases (other than Americans on cruise ships) that by early March, our schools and colleges would suspend classes, hundreds of thousands of Americans would be working from home, restaurants would be limited to providing only drive-thru and take-out service, gatherings, including church, weddings and even funerals would be limited to not more than 10 people, and people over 60, being highly at risk, would be strongly counseled to take special precautions by self-isolating for the next several weeks? While some of these measures seem drastic, most of us have realized they are necessary to halt the spread of this highly contagious virus.
We have little experience with a disease which spreads so rapidly. It is not as fatal as Ebola and SARS. Most people have few or no symptoms and nearly half of those infected have recovered. Still, worldwide, COVID-19 has infected nearly a quarter of a million people of whom more than 9,200 have died. There is no vaccine, and treatment options are limited. Swift, decisive action is needed to mitigate the number of cases in our community. The hashtag we must embrace is #flattenthecurve, which has the twin goals of limiting the number of cases of infection and deaths, but also spreading over time the serious cases which experts tell us will inevitably come. This extra time will lessen the risk of overwhelming our system as has happened even to northern Italy’s sophisticated health care system. Various places in Washington state and New York state are flooded with cases, straining their resources to the limit. Hopefully, Utah can avoid the devastating surges they now face.
As president and CEO of the Utah Hospital Association I can tell you that Utah’s hospitals and health systems support the actions taken by our state and national leaders to contain the outbreak. Our hospitals are prepared for a surge of patients. Fortunately, we have world-class health care in Utah with many resources. However, we must all take seriously the precautionary measures urged by our government leaders so we can have adequate medical supplies, staff and beds for those who need them in the days and weeks ahead.
We are confident that as we work together to treat the citizens of Utah in communities all across the state, we will succeed in turning the tide on COVID-19 quickly with as few infections and deaths as possible.
Greg Bell is president and CEO of the Utah Hospital Association. He is a member of the Utah COVID-19 Community Task Force formed by Gov. Herbert and led by Lt. Gov. Cox and serves as chairman of its Hospitals Task Force.