A: We always have to find a balance. On the one hand, there is still the need to take Covid very seriously. This wave of Covid may be ebbing, but that doesn’t mean the pandemic is going to end. So we must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to preserving the things that have helped us protect, especially the mandates you referred to, which New York City has led the nation in: the mandate of the public sector, as well as the mandate of the private sector.
On the other hand, we have to recognize that things have really changed. Our transmission level is lower than it has been in many months, and it is below the threshold previously considered by the CDC to be the line between substantial and moderate transmission. So those are real profits. And as we put it all together, we have to recognize that people are embracing a new phase of the pandemic. And it’s our responsibility to make sure we continue to protect people, even as we recognize that people will do things differently because the overall risk is lower.
Q: It sounds like Mayor Eric Adams is very open to a September Covid-19 vaccination requirement for public school students, and some elected officials have called for it† Do you think the mayor should take this into account?
A: Yes, it certainly deserves serious consideration. It needs to be done methodically and thoughtfully in a way that recognizes that so many parents and families still need to have conversations with people they trust, be they pediatricians or not, to get to a place they feel more comfortable with. vaccinating their children. child. But the benefits of vaccination in children are unequivocal. We have vaccine requirements for so many other pediatric vaccinations.
Q:Some people with disabilities or people with weakened immune systems feel like they are falling behind. What would you say to those who feel like it’s not quite normal for them yet?
A: Well, I understand and I sympathize. This is something I also hear from many of my own patients. That it feels like the rest of the world is moving on, even though their risk remains very real. And this is something that we need to elevate as part of our discourse and have the ability to make the nuances that everyone’s level of risk is different.
From that perspective, this means that all of society should be comfortable, for example with people who will continue to wear masks even if they are optional. And from a policy or government perspective, we need to focus on people with disabilities, people with weakened immune systems, people who are at higher risk for a variety of other reasons, including marginalization, and make sure that our policies are responsive to their life experience. †
Q: What’s next for you?
A: I plan to take care of some things that are dear to me that I haven’t had as much time for in the past two years as I would have liked. So for example pick up and drop off and field trips with my little daughter, and I have a few hundred dinners that I owe and have to cook for my wife, considering how much she has supported me during this tenure. I will also continue to care for my patients at Bellevue Hospital, as well as do some writing and teaching.