WINONA – The effects of the coronavirus pandemic on society in the United States over the last two months have drastically changed the way people live around the globe. Dr. Keith Rushing, a physician at Winona Family Practice, said those changes may be prolonged if people do not practice the recommended guidelines in preventing the spread of the disease.
Rushing said he has noticed people becoming more careless in social distancing and going without face masks while in public places. He said if this carelessness continues, he feels the number of local cases of COVID-19 will “skyrocket” in the next couple of weeks.
“I’ve seen it in the last couple of weeks,” Rushing said. “People are getting a little lax. People are not wearing masks and are not social distancing.”
Rushing said some municipalities have mandated the use of masks in public places. Although the City of Winona nor any other municipality in Carroll and Montgomery counties have not made such an order, Rushing feels the use of face masks is a great deterrent in limiting the spread of the virus, especially to those who are most vulnerable to the illness.
“The mask is not for them; it is for other people,” Rushing said. “We are all in this together.”
Rushing said when he visited a Winona retailer last weekend, he was alarmed that he and two other customers were the only ones inside the store not wearing a mask.
“People aren’t being careful,” Rushing said. “It is no fun wearing a mask, but it is no fun being sick or dying.”
According to Rushing, the last epidemic to make the same kind of impact as coronavirus in the United States was polio, which paralyzed families worldwide for decades until a vaccine was found in 1955. According to Discover magazine, survivors of polio, which was highly contagious, “could end up with some form of paralysis, forcing them to use crutches, wheelchairs or to be put into an iron lung, a large tank respirator that would pull air in and out of the lungs, allowing them to breathe.” Children were at the highest risk of contracting the virus, and it was most infectious during the summer months.
In 1952 alone, 57,879 cases of polio were reported and 3,145 deaths, and 29,269 people were left with mild to disabling paralysis.
Scientists around the world are working diligently to find a vaccine for coronavirus, but Rushing said that may be difficult because the virus’s similarity to the common cold. However, he said a vaccine like that for influenza would help curb the pandemic and build “herd immunity.”
CBS news reported this week that human trials have begun at Oxford University in Great Britain, with scientists there hoping for a vaccine available by fall. According to the report, scientists are using research from previous work on a “close relative of the coronavirus.”
Until a vaccine for coronavirus is discovered and available for public use, Rushing said wearing a mask in public places, as well as in office or other work settings, is an easy precaution everyone can institute.
“Wearing a mask is a new routine,” Rushing said. “It is not just about protecting yourself but protecting your neighbor.”
With current restrictions ordered by state and federal officials, life has changed for nearly everyone. Wedding plans have been altered or postponed. Schools are closed for the remainder of the academic year. Some businesses have been ordered to close or alter how they serve customers.
Rushing had his own experience with the new normal when he became a grandfather on April 2, 2020. Ellie Rose Owen, daughter of Meredith and Tyler Owen, was born at Women’s Hospital in Jackson. With the current restrictions on visitors at Mississippi hospitals, Rushing and his wife, Wendy, met their granddaughter for the first time, peering through the window of the hospital room.
“That was the weirdest experience because we couldn’t go into the hospital,” Rushing said. “We were standing there in the jasmine, in the mulch, looking for snakes.”
Unusual childbirth experiences are common in the Rushing family, he said.
“The last delivery we had was my son’s [Reed Rushing], and I almost had to do it myself,” he laughed. “[Wendy’s] doctor got tied up with a C-section and was late.”
Rushing said regardless of how life has changed during this pandemic, one thing in this community has not – kindness to others.
“You know what is also really neat about all this? The nice things people have done for each other,” he said.
Rushing said he has heard of people caring for elderly neighbors and family members, clearing storm debris from people’s lawns, mowing lawns, preparing food.
“I have heard so many stories about how nice people have been to each other,” Rushing said.
