Officials at Owensboro Health are supportive of reopening the economy but emphasized that it must be done slowly and methodically.
OH Chief Medical Officer Francis DuFrayne and Vice President of Medical Affairs Michael Kelley have looked at data from countries across the world who’ve reopened their economies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One thing became clear: Countries that reopened quickly, without a step-by-step approach, saw spikes in coronavirus cases, while countries that reopened slowly and methodically did not.
“In the U.S., everyone is antsy and wants to get back to normal,” DuFrayne said. “We’re going to have a spike if we do that right away. It’s going to take us a good four to six weeks to get back to [a semblance of normalcy].”
Gov. Andy Beshear said Friday that it will be a “new normal” that will still include social distancing for many, a continuation of telehealth services, and working from home for businesses that are able to do so.
DuFrayne said health officials will have to see no new infections for two weeks before fully opening the economy back up. Then, he said, we can relax a little bit.
“If anyone gets sick again, we’ll have to take some steps back for two to three weeks each time,” he said, with Kelley adding that the absolute last step in reopening the economy would be removing all restrictions.
“We still have to protect our immunocompromised and elderly populations,” Kelley said. “No one is invincible in this. It affects everyone, but people with health problems are affected more vigorously.”
DuFrayne said people should continue to physically distance themselves from one another as the economy slowly reopens. They should also take extra care to wash their hands and make good decisions about where they go and how often as the situation unfolds.
There’s a big misunderstanding out there, DuFrayne said, that the numbers of infections are lower than originally expected because the virus is just running its course, or that it isn’t that serious, or that the healthcare providers and government leaders across the country have over-hyped the whole thing.
“People think we made it too big of a deal, they will tell those of us here at the hospital that,” DuFrayne said. “No, we didn’t. All of the things we did prevented us — you, me and so many others — from getting it.”
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