Texas Awakens
Like a waking giant, streets are filled with noise, restaurants are beginning to peak open their windows, and beaches are covered in sandcastles and towels again. On May 1st, my home state of Texas began a multistage process of reopening the economy. It began with malls, museums, libraries, restaurants, and theatres opening to 25% capacity. By May 8th the openings were extended to weddings and salons. And most recently gyms and child-care centers have been re-opened.
Balancing the economy and public health proves itself difficult in these unprecedented times. In terms of the medical industry, opening actually provides both positive and negative impacts. While the most pressing issue for public health is the threat of another COVID-19 spike, doctors also believe it may solve other health problems that have arose in the wake of quarantine.
“We worry, as doctors, that patients are facing serious health concerns are choosing not to come into the office” states Dr. Arunima Misra at the Veteran’s Affairs Office. “Veterans tend to be a higher risk population and because of that they’re choosing not to go to the emergency room and ignore strokes and heart attacks.”
Dr. Misra hopes that as Texas opens, people facing serious health concerns will be able to get treatment and see their doctors.
Dr. Theresa Viceroy, a general internist cites, similar problems amongst her own patients: “Pre-existing conditions continue amidst COVID. People still need to get treatment for serious diseases like cancer and heart disease, and the threat of corona has definitely made it a lot harder, especially since we’re talking about vulnerable populations. But they need treatment.”
While opening up may increase treatment accessibility, it’s also a double-edged sword. As Texas opens up, more and more people venture outside into public areas- facilitating the spread of the coronavirus.
“At that point it’s not up to the law, but it’s about education. We need to recognize that even as we slowly open up, a pandemic is still happening. The virus is still here. We have to limit exposure, try and stay in the house, wear masks… its not suddenly over because the state opens up” Dr. Viceroy reminds.
“Washing your hands, maintaining safe distances- these lessons shouldn’t be unlearned” states Dr. Misra.
Abbott’s new protocol in containing the spread involves slowly opening companies up to 25%. However, his new policy falls flat in addressing the number one problem doctors are facing: contact tracing and test accessibility.
“I do think opening up is okay as long as it is done responsibly really meaning that there is sufficient public health infrastructure to test, contact, trace and isolate infected or potentially infected individuals” states Pamela Das, an attorney with a background in public health and epidemiology. However, Das doesn’t believe Texas has the infrastructure and capabilities in place to safely re-open.
“In Texas, we’ve opened up without seeing a decline in cases, adequate testing, contact tracing, or containment strategy. What we’ll see happen is the spread will broaden, infections will increase, and more people will die.”
The main problems with Texas opening up is we’ve seen lack of enforceability in their new policies to maintain social distancing, such as the 25% capacity limit. Contact tracing and testing is also severely lacking. Texas, despite having the second largest population in the US, has the lowest rate of coronavirus testing per capita in the country. This lack of testing can find itself disastrous in terms of containment as the state continues to open up, ultimately proving to be counter intuitive.
“As we have seen, failure to act early on containment leads to a greater likelihood for more drastic and aggressive measures in the future such as another shutdown,” states Das.
For me, watching my state open up has been frightening. While many years in the future as people study the 2020 pandemic, it may be clear what decisions were right and wrong, now we have limited understanding on what steps to take forward. And when we do, it can be frustrating when our officials choose not to follow them. Texas has found itself as a guinea pig in policy, and its citizens- who are struggling to pay their rent, who are worried about they and their loved one’s lives, who are real people facing an unprecedented pandemic- have found ourselves as part of an experiment.
There are an innumerable amount of outcomes from this situation, all of them different from our previous lives, and we can only hope we take the right steps towards ensuring the brightest future.
