Dr.Abdu Sharkawy
Infectious Diseases Specialist at University Health Network
Studied at University of Alberta
Infectious Diseases Specialist at University Health Network
Studied at University of Alberta
“I’m a doctor and an Infectious Diseases Specialist. I’ve been at this for more than 20 years seeing sick patients on a daily basis. I have worked in inner city hospitals and in the poorest slums of Africa. HIV-AIDS, Hepatitis,TB, SARS, Measles, Shingles, Whooping cough, Diphtheria…there is little I haven’t been exposed to in my profession. And with notable exception of SARS, very little has left me feeling vulnerable, overwhelmed or downright scared.
I am not scared of Covid-19. I am concerned about the implications of a novel infectious agent that has spread the world over and continues to find new footholds in different soil. I am rightly concerned for the welfare of those who are elderly, in frail health or disenfranchised who stand to suffer mostly, and disproportionately, at the hands of this new scourge. But I am not scared of Covid-19.
What I am scared about is the loss of reason and wave of fear that has induced the masses of society into a spellbinding spiral of panic, stockpiling obscene quantities of anything that could fill a bomb shelter adequately in a post-apocalyptic world. I am scared of the N95 masks that are stolen from hospitals and urgent care clinics where they are actually needed for front line healthcare providers and instead are being donned in airports, malls, and coffee lounges, perpetuating even more fear and suspicion of others. I am scared that our hospitals will be overwhelmed with anyone who thinks they ” probably don’t have it but may as well get checked out no matter what because you just never know…” and those with heart failure, emphysema, pneumonia and strokes will pay the price for overfilled ER waiting rooms with only so many doctors and nurses to assess.
I am scared that travel restrictions will become so far reaching that weddings will be canceled, graduations missed and family reunions will not materialize. And well, even that big party called the Olympic Games…that could be kyboshed too. Can you even
imagine?
I’m scared those same epidemic fears will limit trade, harm partnerships in multiple sectors, business and otherwise and ultimately culminate in a global recession.
But mostly, I’m scared about what message we are telling our kids when faced with a threat. Instead of reason, rationality, openmindedness and altruism, we are telling them to panic, be fearful, suspicious, reactionary and self-interested.
Covid-19 is nowhere near over. It will be coming to a city, a hospital, a friend, even a family member near you at some point. Expect it. Stop waiting to be surprised further. The fact is the virus itself will not likely do much harm when it arrives. But our own behaviors and “fight for yourself above all else” attitude could prove disastrous.
I implore you all. Temper fear with reason, panic with patience and uncertainty with education. We have an opportunity to learn a great deal about health hygiene and limiting the spread of innumerable transmissible diseases in our society. Let’s meet this challenge together in the best spirit of compassion for others, patience, and above all, an unfailing effort to seek truth, facts and knowledge as opposed to conjecture, speculation and catastrophizing.
Facts not fear. Clean hands. Open hearts.
Our children will thank us for it.”
You are a disgrace. Anyone in the medical profession should have a more rational approach to this pandemic, outwardly, publicly, even if it is not your personal belief. Shame on you, you should be stripped of your medical license…if you even have one in the United States.
You are a disgrace. Anyone in the medical profession should have a more rational approach to this pandemic, outwardly, publicly, even if it is not your personal belief. Shame on you, you should be stripped of your medical license…if you even have one in the United States.
I don’t think people are panicked. I think they are preparing for the worst case scenario as they should be I am in good health and not worried about myself but others that I might pass this virus on to unknowingly should I contract the virus. My daughters upcoming wedding probably will be cancelled. Horribly disappointing but taking a chance of our loved ones getting sick would be heartbreaking and irresponsible. Maybe as an expert in your field a few thousand or tens of thousands of deaths is not a big deal p; in my world it is the biggest deal.
You don’t state if you have yet treated a Covad-19 patient. My friend’s healthy, fit, 45-year-old husband nearly had lung failure due to Coronavirus. He will be recuperating in isolation for a month. Who has the time and money and health to deal with such a long and expensive illness? No one has immunity, and most of us will get it, thanks to this inept President who dismissed the Pandemic Response Team and played games while reports were coming in from China about this scary illness. Yes, I agree that the hoarding is obnoxious – but this is a scary time and it is ok to say so. My friend’s husbands pain could not be relieved and it was a bureaucratic nightmare to even get treatment. Please practice social distancing!
….”The fact is the virus itself will not likely do much harm when it arrives. ” hmmm
Maybe you need to revise this blog Dr.Abdu Sharkawy. Hoarding no, but panic and justified caution and social distancing yes. You minimized the threat that was before us.
Its posts like this by doctors that did not alert people to practice social distance back on March the 8th in Canada. As far as I am concerned this kind of article is irresponsible because so very little was known about the virus at the time of writing. While agree that stealing masks from the hospital is wrong and irresponsible. I dont agree with the relaxed tone of this article because now we are dealing with a very urgent problem because of articles just like this one that people trusted because it was written by a “specialist”.
My question is, would the author write the same article today that he wrote just over 3 weeks ago? Or would he do more to promote social distancing and trying to “flatten the curve” rather than not being afraid of the virus?
Articles like this one make it difficult to get some people to “believe in” Covid-19 as being a threat. I wish the authors would update them now that they have more information and more understanding of just how damaging it is to society to do nothing besides not panic.
I know this is a few months old now but I don’t imagine that you would have expected this pandemic to have bee so horribly mismanaged at every level of government. Here at the end of the month of June we are seeing more cases and inore places than ever before, and it’s still being mismanaged , dare I say UNMANAGED
I.pray noire will die but that just a fools wish Literally thousands more WILL die.
Have you seen the studies from Wuhan that started the entire pandemic? Not one of the adhered you’re Koch’s postulates or Rivers criteria. So that means the virus was never Isolated or identified properly. Secondly, three of the studies stated that it was inconclusive whether what they did identify was the cause of the illness, and the fourth made the fraudulent conclusion that was not born out by the actual study.
https://youtu.be/fvcEIarencM
Great prognosis, doc . . .
“What I am scared about is” people, especially doctors, whose hubris motivates them to speak with authority when they know very little about a subject.