With a new variant spreading like wildfire around the world, several Bay Area counties have walked back their indoor masking requirements this week, now mandating everyone wear them inside, even those who are vaccinated.
This isn't the first time health policies have changed as a new variant makes the rounds, but the constant roller coaster is giving some whiplash, and healthcare workers are feeling the pressure.
Although the likelihood of hospitalization due to COVID-19 has gone down in the last year, due to widespread vaccination, there are fewer healthcare workers to help care for people in need of medical attention, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security on KCBS Radio's "Ask an Expert" on Thursday with Dan Mitchinson.
With the new variant, communities with lower vaccination rates are the ones that are going to see an uptick in hospitalization, and hospitals strained for resources. Almost two years into the pandemic, healthcare staff numbers are dwindling.
"There's something beyond burnout that's going on with our nurses and our doctors," he said. It wasn’t quite this dire last year.
"I think it probably has to do with the behavior of the population," said Adalja. "Because when you see a hospital stressed right now, getting crushed, overcapacity, you have to realize, that's willful."
"The people in that community chose to do that to that hospital," he said. "By not getting vaccinated they chose to destroy their hospital, and then we in those hospitals are left to take care of these patients who chose to put themselves and others at risk."
Dealing with that on a regular basis does not help perpetuate a positive outlook on one's career, said Adalja. It gets frustrating and demoralizing.
Last year at this time, no one was really vaccinated yet, "you were in it to try the best you could."
But now, with people choosing not to get vaccinated, to get sick, to take up hospital resources, has pushed many healthcare workers, Adalja included, into a place "beyond anger," he said.
"I'm just disgusted with people who don't get vaccinated and then appear for care at a hospital," he said.
The strained communication about the virus and subsequent healthcare policies have not helped matters with this population, said Adalja.
It's been difficult to follow the changing recommendations of what to do to keep oneself safe, others safe, and "compound that with all the disinformation, misinformation, and outright lies and conspiracy theories that are out there," he said.
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One such example is the return to indoor masking, particularly in areas such as the Bay Area that has a high level of vaccination and good hospital capacity. In these areas, requiring masking for those who are vaccinated is not as essential as it is in areas where vaccination is low, he said.
"It's not surprising the general public don't know who to turn to and have lost trust in basically everybody," said Adalja.
This issue is going to prolong the current pandemic, and hurt future public health emergency endeavors as well, he said.
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