Thread by @ShikhaJainMD

I have been getting so many questions about boosters, omicron, etc. Here are some thoughts on the State of #COVID19 and how to stay safe right now.

📢 If you haven't gotten your booster yet, get it ASAP. We KNOW the booster is helping protect people even more from #Omicron.

📢 If you got Johnson and Johnson as your first shot, get a Pfizer or Moderna booster, they are more effective. It is OK to mix and match. And if you got Pfizer and want a Moderna booster or vice versa, that is also ok
cnn.com/2021/12/16/hea…

📢Delta is still surging, Omicron is very transmissable. Hospitals are reaching capacity because we have both COVID cases going up in this latest surge, and people still need regular medical care. We are seeing a rise in COVID19 and non-COVID19 admissions.

📢Unlike in 2020 when hospitals were primarily full of COVID patients, they are now overflowing with COVID patients and ALSO with people with other medical problems. In 2020, many were delaying care until we understood more. Now those people need care, and they are coming in

📢I PERSONALLY know of patients across the country who have not been able to get medical care for heart attacks, emergencies, etc that are NON-COVID related.

📢 I also know many hospitals that do not have beds, and HCW are again trying to find hospitals miles away where patients can be admitted or transferred. The pleas from physicians in private conversations and social media groups for beds and transfers have started again.

📢 But now in 2021 WE KNOW how to turn this around. I know many people feel the pandemic is over, or if you are vacccinated it won't impact you. I want to remind everyone, this impacts all of us. Because people need medical care. Whether it's COVID related or not.

📢Vaccinated individuals get less sick if they contract #COVID19 So getting vaccinated remains incredibly important.

Here are some tips as holidays 🎄🕎🎅are upon us. So...

💉Get your BOOSTER (or vaccine if you haven't yet)
🧪Everyone should get tested before you socialize with friends/family
😷Wear a mask when indoors and with members outside of your household
🤒If you are having symptoms, get tested

I feel sometimes that I live in two worlds. One where I see the devastating impact this virus continues to have on our communities and people are still taking precautions, and one where people have thrown their hands up and want to pretend like the pandemic is over.

Trust me when I say, even though I talk about #COVID19 a lot, I WISH this pandemic was over and I didn't have to talk about it. I WISH we could live our lives in a pre-pandemic way. But #Delta variant and #Omicron variants are here, more transmissible, and numbers keep going⬆️

Our healthcare systems are pushed beyond the brink, and with the mass resignation, burnout, understaffed beds, necessary COVID and non-COVID medical care is being sacrificed.

I am hearing stories from across the country where medical care is being practiced in a manner that could be described and triage and determining care based on who has the highest chance of making it.

That is not how our healthcare systems should be functioning, but a lack of control of the spread of #COVID19 has led to this. I don't say this just because our healthcare workforce is overwhelmed, but also because medical care is being delivered in a suboptimal manner.

When "elective" surgeries are canceled, just remember, cancer surgeries are often labeled as "elective." So elective does not mean an optional surgery, it just means not an emergency. When someone having a heart attack can't get care because there isn't a bed...that is a problem.

We can turn this around. Get your booster. Re-up your mask game (and wear a GOOD mask, surgical or N95 or KN95). Talk to friends and family and ask them to get vaccinated. As we enter this holiday season, please realize, you may be done with COVID19, but it is not done with us.

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