ANOTHER VIEWPOINT: Have you heard what doctors and nurses are saying about COVID?

<p>South Bend Tribune</p><p>This is not a lecture.</p><p>This is not an attempt to pick a fight.</p><p>This has nothing to do with politics.</p><p>We are simply relaying the words of our local medical community.</p><p>These are doctors and nurses in our cities. These are the neighbors who work in our local hospitals. These are the folks who safeguard our health.</p><p>And their words reveal a level of anxiety and stress that we can’t recall being revealed publicly, with this type of urgency, for at least several years.</p><p>They’re not just asking and pleading. They’re begging.</p><p>The topic, of course, is COVID-19.</p><p>Dr. Sam El-Dalati, chief clinical officer for Beacon Health System: “We don’t want to end up rationing care in the hospital.”</p><p>Dr. Dale Patterson, vice president of medical affairs at Memorial Hospital: “We have to have people to take care of these patients. And we’re running out of people.”</p><p>Amber Hodges, respiratory therapist at Elkhart General Hospital: “We don’t have enough resources. We’re running out of everything right now.”</p><p>Dr. Michelle Bache, VP of medical affairs at Elkhart General: “The time to act is now. We really just need something to change.”</p><p>Chad Towner, CEO of Saint Joseph Health System: “At the start of the day this morning, we were 11 COVID beds short.”</p><p>They are explaining their reality, what they see on a daily basis when they go to work.</p><p>They see stressed nurses working 12-hour shifts, equipment that is dwindling and beds that are filling up too quickly. They also see other medical care, including elective surgeries, getting pushed off for months because COVID-19 demands so much.</p><p>Elective surgeries, by the way, include procedures such as heart valve replacements.</p><p>The doctors are also relaying numbers.</p><p>Here’s one: At Saint Joseph Health System, one in five people who tested positive since early October has required at least one night in the hospital.</p><p>Here’s another: Elkhart General started the year planning for 14 ICU beds. One day last week, the hospital had 30 ICU patients.</p><p>It’s not just about deaths. It’s the fact that our hospitals are strained to an alarming degree, and with COVID-19 patients in their 40s and 50s, not just the elderly.</p><p>In the last week, many local schools have shifted to virtual classes and some government offices, including St. Joseph County and City of South Bend offices, have closed in an attempt to slow an alarming surge in cases.</p><p>The message has remained the same. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Avoid large groups. Keep your distance.</p><p>Many people are indeed wearing masks in public. Many people have been safe for months. But all it takes is one blow-out party, a few restaurants flouting safety protocols or a group not wearing masks for the virus to spread.</p><p>Have too many of us grown weary of hearing the message? Yes. Are we frustrated with having to fumble with masks and avoiding groups? Sure. Do we really want to stay apart from family members even longer? Of course not.</p><p>But these are the best tools medical experts across the country and world are recommending.</p><p>There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, with two vaccines soon to be available, but it will be months before mass distribution will occur.</p><p>In the meantime, sure, we can keep fighting over orders and flu comparisons and herd immunity and the political motives of everyone involved.</p><p>But can we pause to listen to the doctors and nurses in our community? They’re living it every day. And their message is a frightening one.</p>