Don’t forget about influenza and the lessons learned from COVID
“When the public was made aware of the risk of transmitting the virus and the far-reaching measures of social distancing, closing schools, and lock-down, most Americans willingly complied. After all, they became aware, for the first time, of the risk of aerosolized viral particles present in theatres, churches, restaurants, and classrooms. But we physicians already knew that. We knew that when we went into the operating room or the bedside to repair a laceration in the emergency department, we wore masks to protect our patients from the microorganisms living in our noses and mouths. We already knew that the spread of norovirus and other food-borne illness can be mitigated by the use of hand-washing and the use of sanitizing cleaners. Physicians already knew that the world was a rather naïve and scary place in terms of infectious disease.”
Joan Naidorf is an emergency physician.
She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, “Influenza: a deadly risk in schools before COVID.” (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/03/influenza-a-deadly-risk-in-schools-before-covid.html)
