Head doctor: “We are all in the same boat”

These times are still unprecedented.

Recent national data shows that the coronavirus pandemic claimed the lives of 1 in 500 Americans, overtaking the Spanish flu of 1918 to become the deadliest pandemic in American history.

Yet this leaves communities divided and in many cases some cannot agree to disagree.

From masking to vaccine, misinformation plagues social media and often brings out the worst in people.

The Surgeon General of the United States presented a report on the scourge of medical disinformation, calling it a “public health crisis”.

Sanford Health chief medical officer Jeremy Cauwels, MD, said reliable sources are important.

“When I want to get information on COVID, I ask a vaccine expert at a large medical center or those who study infectious diseases in my hospital,” Dr. Cauwels said in a recent Q&A live on Facebook. “I won’t ask my auto mechanic about my knee pain or my bone doctor on my car.”

The pandemic is straining relationships

The American Families Survey, the first major survey of family dynamics since the start of the pandemic, found that 37% of married men and women said the pandemic had increased stress in their marriage, citing economic hardship.

The Washington Post also reported that pandemic stress impacts relationships with friends and families.

“It’s important to understand that everyone has an opinion and that there are a lot of them out there,” Dr Cauwels said.

During a recent Live Q&A on Facebook With Sanford Health News on September 22, Dr Cauwels addressed the animosity on some social media platforms.

While viewing COVID-19 content on various social media channels, he sees some thought-provoking posts and comments.

“I’ve seen comments recently saying, ‘If you don’t get the vaccine, I hope it happens to you’, or ‘I hope you get really sick’ or something.

‘We are all in the same boat’

He wants everyone to know that is not the point.

“We shouldn’t be talking like that about our fellow human beings on Facebook or anywhere else,” Dr Cauwels said. “I think (the vaccine) is an important path to take, medically. But just because someone doesn’t agree with me doesn’t mean these people deserve a worse fate than I deserve because of the choice I made.

As the pandemic continues, it encourages kindness, respect and grace.

“I am an advocate for the vaccine because I feel it is an important way out of this pandemic. But obviously I think it’s also important to be decent humans and to make sure everyone understands that we’re all in the same boat.

How to navigate difficult conversations

First of all, Dr Cauwels said there is nothing about this virus that should destroy a family or a friendship.

The second part, he says, is identifying your trusted sources of information and making sure you’re ready to go to them before anything else.

“I ask the people I think are the most qualified to answer the question,” he added. “Like asking a stockbroker about a stock or an auto mechanic about my car, I’ll ask a doctor for a vaccine.”

Trusting the source of the information and feeling comfortable sharing it, while attributing the legitimate source, avoids getting into a fight with someone you love.

“Approach with kindness,” he said.

“Others will speak with the same passion and the same amount of fire, if you will, as I do about the vaccines I’m standing on. Those who disagree believe everything they say the same way I believe what I say.

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Coronavirus, Questions and answers from experts, Vaccinations, Well-being

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