There had been concern among the health care community that coronavirus cases could spike among thousands of people attending protests in reaction to the death of George Floyd. So far, nearly a month after the protests began, that surge hasn’t happened.
“Frankly, we weren’t sure if it was going to occur,” said Dr. David Hilden, HCMC assistant chief of medicine and host of WCCO’s Healthy Matters. “And it might not.”
Among the reasons the surge hasn’t happened is that the demonstrations took place outside, and the people involved were moving.
“People were outdoors, and that’s probably the number one thing,” Dr. Hilden said Tuesday on the WCCO Morning News with Dave Lee. “Number two, it wasn’t like everyone was sitting, packed side-by-side for a long period of time.”
Not that there might be an increase before long.
“It’s still early, but, we would have expected to see some by now,” he said. “All of us are breathing a quite a big sigh of relief over that fact.”
There are some aspects of personal health care that are lagging, possibly because of the pandemic, and that’s not good, according to Dr. Hilden.
“Heart attacks went down, and strokes, that was a phenomenon no one saw coming,” he said. “Those didn’t go away, it’s just that people weren’t seeking care. For obvious reasons, that’s not good.”
Also way down are vaccines for children.
“This is getting to be quite a big secondary worry of ours,” said Dr. Hilden. “Things like measles can come back, and whooping cough and things that we have vaccines. We’re really encouraging parents to get their kids vaccines.”
Dr. Hilden said it’s important for people to resume contact with their doctors, either by phone, video conference or in person.
“People weren’t seeking care,” he said. “We’re hoping that trend reverses now.”