Lessons Learned About COVID-19 in First 3 Weeks

What it means for Holy Week

Let’s look at three facts as it relates to COVID-19 in the east Alabama region:

1. Test kits for the COVID-19 coronavirus continue to be limited.

2. COVID-19 testing must be prioritized for those most at risk for serious illness and to maintain a healthy crisis workforce.

3. Unfortunately, not everyone with COVID-19 has symptoms.

On a normal day, Dr. Christopher Hope is a sleep medicine specialist at East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC). While the COVID-19 pandemic has closed the Sleep Disorders Center, he isn’t on vacation. In fact, Dr. Hope is at EAMC every day coordinating the efforts of the COVID-19 call center and drive-thru testing services in Opelika and Valley. He and a team of doctors, nurses, and other health professionals have worked tirelessly to identify those infected by COVID-19, and to identify patterns of transmission in our communities.

Under the direction of Dr. Ricardo Maldonado, EAMC’s infectious disease specialist, the center’s staff decides how best to use the limited number of available tests. “We start with the Alabama Department of Public Health Guidelines,” states Dr. Hope. “We have to start with those on the frontlines of fighting the pandemic – our first responders and healthcare workers. Then we test those most at risk for developing severe complications such as the elderly and those with serious medical conditions. Finally, we have to identify new outbreak clusters.”

One recently identified pattern of infection seems to be related to people who may have spread the virus among themselves at church services. “We reached out to them, and Dr. Maldonado suggested that we test some of the congregants who didn’t have the classic symptoms or any symptoms at all. The results were surprising.” Almost half of the positive cases had little-to-no symptoms. “They did what they were told by authorities,” says Dr. Hope. “There were only 10 people at a time in the building, but the infection still spread.”

Those results are supported by recently published reports that suggests that not only can the virus be spread from 1-3 days before an infected person shows symptoms of the viral infection, but that some people, especially the young and healthy, can spread the virus without knowing they are sick at all.

With the “Stay-at-Home” order signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey yesterday, Dr. Hope is hopeful that people of all ages will heed the warnings. “As Dr. Michael Roberts and Dr. Maldonado have been stressing, and as our predictive models have shown, we need every single member of our communities to reduce the continued upward trend of hospitalizations at EAMC that threatens the most vulnerable among us. Please. We can’t do this alone.”

Holy distancing during Holy Week

By Laura Eason, EAMC Chaplain

Holy Week is the most sacred of times for Christian believers all over the world. I am pleading with my brothers and sisters in Christ to find creative ways to worship at home during Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Many of our churches are using technology to bring worship to you through online streaming, Zoom, Facebook Live, virtual communion, radio, and television. And yet, we continue to hear reports that there are still a few clergy/churches in our region that are still planning on gathering this week for worship. They are putting lives at risk.

As a child, I remember being taught the church is not a building, it is a people! As the chaplain of EAMC, who has seen the devastating effects of this terrible virus firsthand, I am pleading with you to please NOT gather for worship, weddings, funerals, birthdays or anniversaries for as long as it takes to stop this virus!

We desperately need your help to flatten the curve. This year, as we collectively practice holy distancing by staying home during Holy Week, remember that our empty churches symbolize the empty tomb!