I'm an infectious diseases doctor. Tennessee needs to get its COVID act together | Opinion

• Titus L. Daniels is an infectious diseases physician in Nashville.

Gov. Bill Lee, it’s long past time for you to lead.

The COVID-19 pandemic will be judged the most significant event in our lives, much as the 1918 influenza pandemic was for those living one hundred years ago.  Now, we have 100 years of knowledge to guide us in how to fight a pandemic, but many elected leaders have chosen politics over saving lives.

Data that conflict with the leaders’ desires are ignored, while our hospitals are filling up and our health care professionals are burning out.

Asking people to do things they don’t like is hard, but leaders sign up for making hard decisions in the interest of the common good, even when they are unpopular.  

Mask mandates should be in place everywhere.  Despite recent studies conducted in Tennessee demonstrating the importance of mask use and limitations on indoor dining, many county leaders consider these policies as optional. Gov. Lee, you must act to protect all who live in the state.

A compounding problem

The entire country is now consumed with out-of-control infections.

Today’s new infections will become hospitalizations, which then become deaths several weeks later. 

This pattern is very predictable.

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While most cases are mild, skyrocketing infections will lead to extreme numbers of hospitalizations and death. How do we decide who will die because of our unwillingness to implement tough measures that are proven to save lives?

With the current infection trend, hospitals won’t have enough beds to care for patients, nor will there be enough doctors and nurses to care for patients. The resulting delays in other types of medical care will cause even more morbidity and deaths. 

We need to prioritize testing supplies for essential purposes. When we test athletes for the sports that distract us or celebrities for awards shows that entertain us, those precious resources are not available for providing testing that would protect children in schools, family members in nursing homes and essential workers to keep our economy moving. We can’t wait for a vaccine. 

A vaccine won’t make restrictions unnecessary any time soon

Recent news is very promising and exciting, but we are months away from having enough people vaccinated to allow for resuming our normal activities. 

We need mask mandates, restrictions on public gatherings and capacity limits on bars and restaurants.

Government should provide relief for unemployed workers and support for small businesses. Testing and tracing programs should be extensive and accessible to all.

We need regional coordination of hospital resources and support for healthcare workers to maximize the capabilities of the entire system. 

As we did for World War II, if we come together as a country, we can win this war against the virus. 

If we do not tackle the pandemic fully and forcefully, it will kill hundreds of thousands more people, and the economy will be severely damaged for years to come. Let’s not continue to waste time. Coronavirus doesn’t care about your political party or for whom you voted.  It infects, harms and kills without consideration of politics.

Consequential decisions

I implore all governors and elected leaders to act with courage now. This is not a political issue – it is a public safety one. Your decisions now are more consequential for the health and welfare of your constituents than any decision you will make in your lives.

Titus L. Daniels is an infectious diseases physician in Nashville.