Amidst a year of chaos and despair with Covid-19, it seems that life is finally returning to a new normal. Vaccinations, social distancing, and mask-wearing seem to be benefiting the country and world around us. 

Yet many are lowering their guard–some faster than others. Experts warn that the novel coronavirus will make another appearance if precautions are disregarded, especially with current and other new variants. 

Viruses are always changing, so new strains of the virus, called variants, are likely to form. Currently, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recognizes that several variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are circulating around the world, including the UK mutant strain, the B.1.351 variant from South Africa, and more recently the P.1 strain from Brazil.

The Harbinger sat down with Dr. Alan Loren, the Chief Medical Officer for Northwest Community Healthcare (NCH), to understand where we are as a state and country and what next steps we should be following. 

Dr. Loren describes Illinois as “conservative” in consideration of the threat that Covid-19 poses and with its subsequent guidelines. Dr. Loren also recognizes the pressure to open up the state and country for economic reasons, education, and mental well-being. Therefore, beginning the transition to normalcy is appropriate–but must remain slow at this time.

Northwest Community Healthcare has experienced the pressure to reopen firsthand but with their priority being the health of their patients and the community, NCH will continue to slowly introduce new parameters in order to avoid an overwhelmed healthcare system as experienced at the beginning of the pandemic, or with a resurgence.

Breaking news hit last month of the state of New Jersey facing another massive wave of Coronavirus cases, many of which resulted in the hospitalization of younger residents. With this new spread, concerns surrounding Covid-19 and the possibility of additional variants have increased. Michigan officials are now also in dire need of assistance as new Covid cases consume the state. 

“Viruses mutate. That’s nothing new,” Dr. Loren said.  “[But] viruses may mutate only when they continue to be spread.” 

This is what we’re seeing in Michigan and New Jersey. Therefore, it is critical to prevent the rise of variants that have the potential to be more contagious, lethal, or even resistant to the vaccine. 

“We have had great improvements so far,” Dr. Loren explained. “Last year, Northwest Community was dealing with 120 Covid-positive patients a day. Now, we are down to less than seven daily.”

Nonetheless, “it is not the time to stop safety measures either,” Dr. Loren warned. To halt the spread of the virus, we must curtail further transmission by continuing to abide by appropriate social distancing and safety guidelines, along with receiving your vaccination when it is time.

“Resistance to the vaccine is not a concern with the variants,” Dr. Loren added. But, we must keep an eye on the situation and act appropriately if we want to maintain the progress we have made up until this point, Dr. Loren urged. 

Dr. Loren also emphasized the vaccine’s role in this monumental progress: with 90% efficacy, compared to 50% efficacy of the 2019 flu vaccine, the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine is revolutionary and well-developed. Receiving the vaccination offers a crucial layer of protection to the recipient and those around him/her. NCH has been working to help educate the community on the vaccine in addition to distributing it.

The first case of Covid-19 was identified in December 2019. There have now been over 127 million documented cases of Covid-19 around the world with 30 million of those cases in the US alone. 

 “We see the light at the end of the tunnel,”  Dr. Loren described. “How quickly we are able to get there, though, is up to us.”

Dr. Alan Loren holds a “Here Comes The Sun” sign when a COVID-19 patient is released.  Northwest Community plays the cheerful song over the loudspeaker throughout the hospital to reinforce the hope and joy they value in these tough times.

Courtesy of Northwest Community Healthcare and Amy Jo Steinbruecker, Media Relations Manager.