PHYSICIANS: Please protect most vulnerable

As the health care providers for our community, we care for those who are most at-risk for contracting COVID-19 and are asking our residents and visitors to do the same.

While we continue to learn more about this disease every day, we now know COVID-19 is an easily transmissible, potential fatal respiratory illness. COVID-19 is transmissible even by individuals who are not currently showing symptoms of the disease and who do not know they are infected (asymptomatic carriers).

Together, we are asking our community to protect those who are vulnerable and slow the spread of COVID-19 by doing three things:

• Wash your hands frequently

• Wear a face mask in public places or when you’re around vulnerable populations (like when visiting grandma)

• Distance yourself 6 feet from others whenever possible

There is much still unknown about the severity and long-lasting consequences of COVID-19. COVID-19 has no standard treatment or vaccination. This virus can cause a range of symptoms including mild illness to severe respiratory issues, blood clots and organ failure.

Masking and maintaining proper hand hygiene have long been used by health care providers to help prevent the transmission of respiratory illness such as COVID-19.

Recent research provided by CDC suggests that communities who adopt these best practices effectively reduce the spread of COVID-19. This keeps our health care system from being overwhelmed, allows businesses and recreation to remain open, and of course, protects those with weakened immune systems or other risk factors.

While our primary focus is health care, we are also community members with a vested interest in our local economy. We understand the significant hardship of lockdowns on local business. Recent economic analysis from Goldman Sachs found universal face coverings is a potentially effective substitute for business closures, keeping our economy moving forward.

As health care providers at a community-owned hospital, we have a role in advocating and protecting the health of our community and fellow health care workers. At this time we view the above mentioned actions not as a matter of politics, but as a matter of public health and civic duty. Together we can manage this disease effectively without needing to close businesses or move backward in the governor’s reopening plans. Together we can protect those who are most at-risk of falling ill. The more we do now to implement meaningful interventions to slow the spread, the better prepared we will be in the months ahead.

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This letter was written by Kootenai Health Medical Staff Leadership.