Since our first reported case on March 26th we have continued to see confirmed cases rise as expected. The latest official word is that we are at 61 confirmed cases. The Abilene Health Department is working hard and doing a great job keeping our community up to date on our current COVID-19 status which can be found here:
https://abilenetx.gov/363/Health
So where does that put us on this curve that we all keep hearing about? Are we flattening it in Abilene?
The short answer is, neither we nor anyone else can really answer that question for sure. How much more social distancing can you handle? Are you finding yourself jealous of your friends who don’t have kids, wondering how much Netflix they’re getting to watch while you are learning how to be a teacher, lunch lady/gentleman, and janitor? Or are you one of the ones like us, that continues to head to work every day and wonders when we will be back to “business as usual?”
The latest models have Texas peeking around the end of the month, and we here in Abilene will likely be a week or two behind that given the timing of our first confirmed case. Our community has done a great job. No doubt, we can be found somewhere on the LIGHT GREEN curve to the right as opposed to the darker green one. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Conversations about returning to “normal” have started to occur both around our nation and in our community. We feel at this time, however, the most important thing to realize is that we should not get ahead of ourselves. To do so too soon, could put us back on the darker green curve above. Hopefully, our nation and state decides on a more gradual approach to returning to “normal” so that we don’t see unnecessary spikes in cases. It is important to realize that the area under the two curves is the same, meaning that we will see the same total number of cases regardless of when we peak. The goal is and has always been to avoid overrunning Hendrick and Abilene Regional’s capacities to manage our sickest patients. Projections for total deaths in Texas are estimated to be around 2,350 by the first of August (source: COVID-19 Projections). Currently we sit at 300.
Bottom line, we are doing a good job in this community to mitigate spread that is too fast, but we still have a ways to go. We continue to learn more and more about SARS-CoV-2 but so much still remains unclear. So buckle in and as we’ve said before, we’re all in this together.
That being said, here are a few more things that we’ve found helpful during this time. We hope that you can find some use from them as well.
- Some grounding advice from one of our local faith leaders, John Whitten who pastors The Gathering at Pioneer Drive
- For those of you who also work in healthcare, here is a good resource for helping you talk to you kids about COVID-19 (the second page really could be for children of parents in any field of work)
- Tired of all the negatives in the news? Us too! Check out these awesome videos that I now subscribe to. They have ignited a new respect for John Krasinski (You may know his as Jim from The Office or Jack Ryan). He’s only three episodes in so it will be easy to catch up!
- A quick read for your little ones (2-3 years old) to reiterate why we are keeping them from “school.”
- Here’s a really good site with a lot of story books for kids that are read by famous folks….better than watching Scooby Doo all day
- And just an opportunity to be proud of some awesome members of our community who are making national news as they choose to spend their time of isolation and social distancing giving to our community
Pediatric Associates
