Last week I attended a meeting where I was invited to share a public health perspective with a group of professionals that typically have very little interaction with public health. I was happy to be a part of the conversation and provide input during the discussion. I learned quite a bit during my time with these folks and I found it to be a very productive meeting.
I spent about 90 minutes with the group as we worked our way through the topic at hand. Although we covered a variety of subjects, at no time during the meeting was COVID-19 mentioned or discussed. There was no placeholder for COVID on the agenda and the conversation had nothing to do with COVID. I was not asked for my opinion on the matter, nor did I share it, at any time during the presentation. From my perspective, there was no place or relevance for COVID in the conversation. However, my perspective did not align with the perspective of some in attendance.
As the meeting concluded, one individual walked up to me and asked, “why are you still talking about COVID?” The tone of the question was not of a teasing or playful nature, but it was not threatening or aggressive either. The inquiry had a tone of concern, frustration and a real desire to know why COVID is still a thing. With the continued ebb and flow provided by COVID data and some attention-grabbing headlines, much like this one, I anticipate there are some in our community who are asking this very question, “why are we still talking about COVID?”
In public health, we have a bad habit of discussing topics like substance abuse prevention, communicable diseases, and radon maps around the water cooler. It isn’t uncommon to hear conversations about flu, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), septic systems, or diabetes, at the lunch table. For public health professionals, these topics are not scary or embarrassing, they are part of everyday life and conversation. Much like a quick conversation between two auto mechanics can help diagnose engine troubles, or a good tax professional can cite tax code verbatim, having conversations about touchy subjects is what we do. Honestly, given the nature of some content, we aren’t always the best people to have lunch with and tend to sit amongst ourselves at the lunch table.
Given what we know, as public health professionals, we have accepted that COVID is now a part of everyday life and will be for the foreseeable future.
Much like most seasonal illnesses, we have a general understanding of how COVID is transmitted, the seasonality, and the symptoms. We also know how to protect ourselves, limit our risk, and manage a COVID infection. There are seasonal vaccines available that are specific to COVID variants of interest, a practice that is also applied to the flu each year. Given everything we know to date, we can apply lessons learned to help educate, vaccinate, and protect the community to help reduce COVID infections.
With this information, COVID is no longer associated with an emergency response and does not wear the title of a pandemic. Now, more than three years after the first case in Summit County, discussions about COVID carry a similar tone to other common and reportable diseases. COVID rates are included on the Summit County Health Department Respiratory Disease Dashboard alongside influenza and RSV with no special distinction beyond the other disease data. Additionally, COVID has been added to a long list of reportable diseases in Utah like influenza and tuberculosis that are constantly under surveillance at the state and local level. And, when I see COVID nestled among other diseases on the list like chickenpox or pertussis, it provides some perspective as to how far we have come with this disease. We talk about COVID as if it were any other disease on the list.
Let me say, I recognize the strong emotions connected to COVID. It was a difficult time for all of us. I also recognize that COVID is real and present in the community still to this day. That is why we continue to talk about it. However, the way we talk about it now is much different than it was just a year ago, and very different than how we talked about it two years ago. Now, the tone is different. It has to be. We share what we know (data), when we know (relevance), and what to know (how to protect yourself) so folks are informed and can make decisions based on their individual situation. The context of this conversation is the same as it might be with tickborne diseases, norovirus, and flu.
So, the next time you hear a COVID and flu report from the Summit County Health Department, please know that it is not an attempt to beat a dead horse, remain relevant, or sound the alarm. Instead, it is us cordially inviting you to join us at the lunch table or around the water cooler while we discuss all things disease-related in Summit County.