College Students: You Need to Take the Coronavirus Seriously
If not for yourself, then for those around you
Update 3/13: Dr. Ora Pescovitz, medical doctor and President of Oakland University, has prepared an informative video explaining the severity of this pandemic.
Like many university students across the nation, I’ve recently learned that I will not be returning to my campus next week for classes. My program will be transitioning to online instruction.
In the past 24 hours, I’ve heard many of my peers voicing variations of a similar opinion:
“Why are they cancelling classes and banning travel? It’s just the flu, isn’t this a huge overreaction?”
No, it is not. Here’s why.
COVID-19 is not “just the flu”
“The flu,” or influenza, infects hundreds of millions of people a year, but we can treat it. Every doctor’s office and corner pharmacy in the country has the influenza vaccine and millions receive it every flu season. We also have medications that can shorten the duration and severity of flu if a person does fall ill.
For COVID-19, we have none of this. It’s a new virus. No vaccine yet, no known cure. Our only treatment is supportive, meaning this virus will place many more individuals in hospital beds than the seasonal flu.
Flattening the Curve
If this virus spreads too rapidly and many people become sick at once, we will overwhelm our healthcare system. We do not have enough beds. In Italy, where more than 12,000 have been infected, doctors are facing an impossible choice: deciding which patients will be left to die. If we are not careful, there is a very real possibility of this happening in the United States. We have been here more than once before in the past century.
“[The new guidelines begin] by likening the moral choices facing Italian doctors to the forms of wartime triage that are required in the field of ‘catastrophe medicine.’”
— Yasha Mounk, contributing writer at The Atlantic
So, what can we do? Simple: We have to run the clock on the virus. We have to flatten the curve. People may still get sick, but by practicing social distancing, cancelling large gatherings, and requiring employees to work from home where possible, we eliminate points of transmission in the chain of contagion and limit the number of people sick at any one time.
College students: Listen up. This is not about people our age getting sick. It is about who we spread the virus to if we become carriers. We have to protect those who are most vulnerable such as older persons, people who are immunosuppressed, and those with other health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and COPD or other lung diseases.
Do not use university closures due to this virus as an excuse to travel or host large events. This is reckless, shortsighted, and likely to bring harm to your friends, family, and community as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country exponentially increases over the coming weeks.
The Bottom Line
This is not about people our age getting sick. It is about who we spread the virus to if we become carriers.
Concerning as this discussion is, it is not had with the intent of sowing panic. We will make it through as long as we practice due diligence and take this seriously, but sanely. Yes, it’s a pandemic, but don’t panic buy everything at Meijer — take what you need and move on. You should only wear a mask if you have symptoms or are in direct contact with someone suspected to have the virus, as this ensures healthcare workers and those who need them most will have them. If you must wear one, use it correctly.
Do disinfect high-touch surfaces like doorknobs and elevator buttons more frequently at home and at work, and make sure you and those you care about have an adequate supply of any important medications they are taking in the event self-isolation becomes necessary.
People will say we are overreacting. All that means is our efforts are working. Proper pandemic preparedness should look and feel like an overreaction. We have to inhibit means of viral spread before the virus actually infects a large fraction of the population, or else it will be too late to flatten the curve. This is why we’re shutting everything down so quickly. We board up homes and buildings in tropical communities before a hurricane makes landfall to protect them; in much the same way, we’re cancelling school and events before this viral storm begins to protect people and prevent the collapse of our healthcare system. Only difference here being rather than evacuation, we just have to take precautions, shelter in place, and ride it out.
This week, I’ll be setting up a home study space and keeping myself distant from others while we wait out this storm. Yes, it’s tough, but it’s the right thing to do.
Take this situation seriously. Thousands of lives are in our hands right now.
(Literally. Wash them.)
