Tag: coronavirus

Where are you going?

Where are you going? I really need the ridiculous number of people outside during a global pandemic to answer this question. Because I don’t get it.

Same as my fellow NHS workers, I go to work because I have to, because I need to, because the health and well-being of the public requires it. Just like with many other healthcare workers, there are parts of my job that cannot be done from home.

About 50% of the people I see on my walk to work are observably out for the government prescribed reasons – essential shopping, dog-walking, exercise, going to work. The remaining 50% – I will ask you again – where are you going?

  • Dentists and GP’s are not seeing patients face-to-face and hospitals have restricted their appointments/surgeries significantly – so the reason can’t be medical.
  • Supermarkets have restrictions on number of items purchased and number of people they allow inside stores at any given time so a trio of people walking together couldn’t possibly be popping to the shop.
  • Most temples have closed, following government advice on gatherings, so it can’t be for religious reasons.
  • Schools and Universities are shut so you are not going to class or collecting your kids.
  • While having a chat and a laugh with your buddies standing on a random street corner, you are clearly not waiting for the bus.
  • Having the entire household of 5 people out for a walk at the same time not only maximises your family’s risk of exposure but also kills the possibility of any social distancing when we pass each other on the pavement. 6ft is tricky with 2 people involved, let alone when there are 6 of us.

And the part that baffles me the most is what part of this situation has not been clear? We have over 6000 TOTAL UK DEATHS. Young and healthy people have lost their lives to a very aggressive disease THAT WE DO NOT HAVE A VACCINE FOR! The Prime Minister is in INTENSIVE CARE… What exactly needs to happen for some of you to start giving a shit and finally take this seriously?

I genuinely wonder why you would actively disregard scientific and government advice on social distancing. Two possibilities emerge. You must be either incredibly selfish or incredibly stupid.

I KNOW it sucks.

I KNOW it’s hard.

I KNOW it has an effect on mental health.

I KNOW many businesses are loosing money.

I KNOW many pre-paid events are being cancelled

I KNOW keeping your focus and productivity while sitting at home can be hard.

I KNOW home-schooling is tough.

HOWEVER…. Unlike so many of our grand-parents were, we are not at war. We are not being forced to hide in a bunker or improvised shelter with little food, no day-light and no fresh air.

We are being asked to sit at home and send business emails from our sofas. To stay indoors and binge Netflix specials while rolling around in hoarded toilet paper.  It is basically government mandate to work in your pajamas. Yet somehow, for some of you that is too much to ask!

  • I still have people arguing with me EVERY DAY over why the hell we won’t do their routine hygienist visit, or re-cement a wobbly bridge, or why they can’t collect their whitening trays…
  • We still have people being rude to supermarket staff and other key workers over restrictions and queues.
  • We still have couples on a stroll as if it’s just a regular spring day.
  • We still have people gathering at local outdoor hang-out spots.
  • We still have people sunbathing in parks.
  • And family picnics in parks.
  • And idiots complaining that the decision on park closure after 3000 people gathered there in ONE day is unfair and overly-restrictive.

I can go on and on and on….. The reality is this:

The longer you ignore this, the longer the lockdown will last.

The longer you act like this has nothing to do with you, the longer you will have no access to your dentist or GP, or any other primary care services except over the phone (in the best case scenarios).

The longer you casually roam around outside, the more the NHS will struggle to provide life saving medical care.

The more you pretend this couldn’t affect you, the more elderly and vulnerable people will be put at risk of infection.

The more you complain about your favourite cafes, shops and restaurants being closed, the less respect I will have for you.

The UK government has been very polite in asking, requesting, pleading, recommending,  and advising to please stay indoors and follow isolation rules to minimise the coronavirus spread,  protect the vulnerable, and the NHS. I myself, wrote a “please stay home” piece not long ago. But clearly propriety’s to no avail.

So instead, to conclude, I will borrow from Adam Mansbach’s words (as read by Samuel L. Jackson on Jimmy Kimmel last week):

“…you can still see your friends. Use the motherf**king app on your phone. But unless you just ran out of groceries, please! Stay the f**k at home!”

 

 

On behalf of your primary care providers: PLEASE, STAY HOME!

I cannot stress this enough – unless your job or health absolutely mandates it – please stay indoors!

In a time of a global pandemic,  why should the government of any country issue threats of strict lockdown measures in order to have its citizens comply with simple, straightforward advice on social distancing?!?! Is it ignorance? Selfishness? Malice? What part of it is so impossible to understand?

I am not a doctor or a virologist. I won’t be discussing the health implications of COVID-19. A lot of people seemingly don’t care about them, anyway. But I will explain the effect this level of carelessness actually has on health professionals on a local scale.

I work in dentistry. We have an NHS contract and over 5000 patients. We are classed as a primary care provider, meaning we are part of the set of services in charge of the day-to-day healthcare of the general population. We are also part of the network of urgent care providers – in our case toothache, dental and maxillofacial trauma, minor oral surgery, oral infections and abscesses, oral cancer detection, etc. Just like we cannot advise on what blood pressure medication would be best for you, most of what we do cannot be substituted with advice from your GP or local pharmacist. Most A&E departments are not equipped to assist with dental problems either. And currently all of the above are overwhelmed.

In a time of mass business closures, NHS dentists remain open as part of the general effort to provide essential health care services to our local communities. We follow strict infection control and decontamination procedures at all times. And since COVID-19 made the global headlines, those measures have increased tenfold. Yet, the risk to our health and to our ability to provide those essential services has not decreased a single bit. Why?

Let’s see:

  • People ignoring government advice
  • People ignoring GP advice
  • People ignoring dentist advice on non essential visits.
  • People not wearing face masks when in public
  • People ignoring our pleas to use the hand sanitiser available in the practice
  • People coming to the surgery with flu-like symptoms
  • People having picnics in the park while a contagious viral disease is sweeping through the country, etc,

Our team consists of 9 people (only 4 of whom are dentists). What happens if one of us gets sick? Even with the current escalation of case numbers and deaths, the authorities still refuse to test  primary care workers for suspected COVID-19. Following the current advice form Public Health England, the sick individual plus everyone they have been in touch with recently have to self-isolate for 14 days. In a team of 9  – that is the entire practice!

Other surgeries have already had to shut down due to staff shortages, putting an additional strain on an already struggling NHS. We are doing our best not to join them. But trust me, no amount of Personal Protective Equipment and surface disinfectants INSIDE the surgery can protect us from the level of disregard for public health some people are displaying on the OUTSIDE.

We are here to help, but we can’t help you if we are all on sick leave. And there are only so many NHS dental practices and community dentists able to remain open in each area. So please, don’t ignore the specialist advice! Help us (and your GPs and your pharmacists) help you. Protect the elderly and the vulnerable, protect the very young.  Protect your healthcare workers. Wash your hands and PLEASE, STAY HOME!

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