Right now it’s safest to continue to interact using technology. Better days are coming, but the timing isn’t clear yet. Photo by iStock.
For family members and friends living apart during the COVID-19 pandemic but hoping to soon be able to get back together, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center infectious disease physician has the following advice: Be patient. Soon, but not yet.
One of the particular challenges of COVID-19 is that people can be asymptomatic, carrying and shedding the virus but not knowing they’re infected and a potential threat to other people.
“If it’s not essential that we co-mingle, interacting with others outside of our home, we should limit that to the best of our ability. Some of the sacrifices that go with that are lack of direct contact with friends and family.”
“Because we think there’s a significant amount of transmission that happens between people who are not symptomatic, it makes it hard to predict on an individual basis, without being tested, who’s a threat and who’s not,” said David Aronoff, MD, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Addison B. Scoville Jr. Professor of Medicine. “So from a population health perspective, flattening the curve and slowing the spread of this virus depends on individuals buying into that and not participating in things that are nonessential,” which at this time includes groups of family and friends getting together, he said.
“You can imagine a situation where two households would get together and theoretically the risk of a COVID transmission occurring is really pretty low – but that’s looking at one individual encounter at the family level – a family who lives in house A and a family in house B,” he said.
“But looking at the public health perspective, preventing or slowing the spread of a pandemic depends upon the buy-in of a population of individual households participating and limiting these potential spread events, so you lower the risk as much as possible. Public health is about protecting populations, but it’s done at the individual level. It’s done by people choosing to make sacrifices for the greater public good,” he said.
Getting immunized against the flu or measles is another example of something individuals do for the good of themselves and others. “I might say if I get the flu, it’s not that big of a deal because I’m relatively young and healthy,” Aronoff said. “But that’s not the only point of me getting a flu shot every year. I also don’t want to transmit the flu to a health care provider or a susceptible individual. It’s true for almost every vaccine-preventable illness.”
“Look at information coming from reputable sources – some of the larger academic institutions, like Vanderbilt, that have people looking at data and developing a clearer understanding of where we are and where we think we’re going to be; county and state health departments; and the federal government, particularly the CDC.”
In the case of COVID-19, where no vaccine has been developed, following social distancing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is essential, Aronoff said. They include staying at least 6 feet from other people, not gathering in groups and staying out of crowded spaces and avoiding mass gatherings.
Aronoff said he believes “there’s light at the end of tunnel,” for when individuals can slowly begin getting back to normal, getting back to their offices and able to visit with family and friends. “It’s in the blurry period of time between weeks and months. I’m not thinking 6 months or a year.”
Whose advice do we seek out to tell us when that is? “Look at information coming from reputable sources – some of the larger academic institutions, like Vanderbilt, that have people looking at data and developing a clearer understanding of where we are and where we think we’re going to be; county and state health departments; and the federal government, particularly the CDC.”
But for now – keep staying at home and helping to flatten the curve.
“If it’s not essential that we co-mingle, interacting with others outside of our home, we should limit that to the best of our ability,” Aronoff said. “Some of the sacrifices that go with that are lack of direct contact with friends and family.”
