Perseverance
Back in July, we posted an article about how difficult it is to work through the conditions that 2020 has thrown at us. As this year begins to wind down, there’s still no end in sight. Our mission now is perseverance. We’re not out of the woods
It’s perhaps fitting that the scope of this pandemic we find ourselves living through this year started to become apparent on Friday the 13th in March. As of Halloween, that makes 232 days of social distancing, wearing masks, scrubbing rooms between patients, adjusting to ever-changing safety policies, explaining those policies to patients and visitors, sitting alone during lunch breaks, watching the daily reports of how many patients and employees have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and all the other challenges that have made 2020 so exhausting.
On Tuesday, October 27, OHSU saw a spike of 73 new cases, as our seven-day average crept back up to around 40. In the previous week, several members of Vice President Mike Pence’s staff tested positive for COVID-19. Even as the White House embraces a strategy of “herd immunity” — a concept rooted in veterinary rather than medical science — and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows proclaims that “we’re not going to control the pandemic,” those of us on the frontlines know that the numbers that OHSU Chief of Staff Connie Seeley send us every morning don’t tell the full human cost of the crisis we’re facing.
Hope is a valuable tool, but we have to accept that COVID-19 is something we’re going to be dealing with for many more months and possibly years. A recent study in the UK shows that post-infection immunity may decrease over time (though health-care workers’ antibodies seem high--probably thanks to the dubious honor of being constantly re-exposed). The ease of infection only increases as the weather gets colder and more people head indoors. This article describes several different scenarios and makes it abundantly clear how quickly the virus can spread in the kinds of spaces we’re likely to find ourselves in if we try to return to “normal.”
We’re all tired. We’re all facing burnout and fatigue. Vacations now are hardly the escapes we need to reset, and COVID-19 is hardly the only stressor that’s pressing our psyches like a vise.
In addition, the local fight for police accountability and racial justice is far from over. Just last week, despite having the proposal for days and hearing hours of testimony, the Portland City Council chose to delay a vote on adjusting police funding. This inaction is likely to accelerate the tensions that have spilled over every night for more than 130 days, rather than address the concerns of protestors and activists.
The election this week is the culmination of years of work and a huge source of stress for many of us, but we also need to accept that things aren’t going to magically change on November 3. In fact, there’s a likelihood that we won’t know who won for days or possibly even weeks after our ballots are cast. Election results are never “final” on Election Day, and it’s not unheard of that there isn’t a clear winner on the night of the election — it’s happened six times previously. This year, we may be facing days, weeks or months of court cases and attempts to undercount or suppress votes across the country due to the Trump campaign’s attempts to delegitimize the election and ignore the results.
It may feel a little like we’re laying out a story of doom and gloom, but our hope is to help you prepare for the stressful times that are surely ahead. We can and will get through this together, but only if we plan ahead and rely on each other. None of us have to face this uncertainty alone.