Stanford doctor warns to rethink vacation travel as COVID rises

PALO ALTO, California – Two weeks before Thanksgiving, the doctor in charge of the Stanford Critical Care Task Force for Covid-19 is advocating for rethinking vacations and limiting travel. Dr Angela Rogers warns the Bay Area could see another increase in cases.

Rogers is forecasting a third wave after the peaks in April and August. She said the peak could come after the holidays if people ignore the warnings. She is especially nervous given the sudden increase in cases over the past week.

“Right now there is a danger in our path even though you have done everything. Now is the time to be extra careful, ”said Dr Rogers.

Rogers is a pulmonary and intensive care physician, on the front line treating Stanford’s sickest Covid-19 patients in the ICU.

“The ICU medics and the emergency room medics who have really focused on the past seven months to look at what’s going on even in the Bay Area right now,” Rogers said. “Were scared.”

Rogers said after weeks of trending the Bay Area in the right direction the opposite has happened. In the past seven days, in Santa Clara County, cases have increased by 50%. There have been similar increases in San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

“It’s like we’re going backwards instead of slowly reopening and getting better and better,” Rogers said.

She said it would likely get worse with pandemic fatigue and vacation travel, especially among college students.

“There is a great influx of mixed people coming very soon, by the time we need to be more indoors, our kids are in school,” Dr Rogers said.

Despite advice from health officials to limit non-essential travel, airlines expect people to fly.

American Airlines increases its flights by 15%. United Airlines predicts Thanksgiving week will be the busiest since March.

“We’ll be taking a tour of the living room and dining room,” Campbell’s Beth Kanter said.

Kanter plans to stay home and not visit family on the East Coast.

“Being on the plane, they have good air filtration, but you have to get to the airport, be at the airport,” Kanter said.

“You better bend over to get over that,” Campbell’s Bill Iammatteo said. “I don’t know exactly why there is this huge surge.”

Dr Rogers said Stanford Hospital is preparing to potentially accommodate dozens of intensive care patients in the coming weeks.

His biggest worry is what’s going on in the Midwest right now, hospitals reaching capacity could arrive here.

“How important it is to fly right now compared to a vaccine that is widely available by April, it’s amazing,” Rogers said. “Can we wait a little longer.”