Montreal schools open on May 19, and my kids will be there

Dr. Ginevra MillsThe Premier of Quebec has announced that elementary schools, as well as some businesses, will be re-opening to the public within the next few weeks. The decision of the province is being met with mixed reviews by everyone, including physicians. There are many people who support the decision, believing that the gradual re-opening of society is a long awaited and much needed strategy. However, there are just as many people, if not more, who are skeptical of the timing and who believe it is too soon to re-open. I know that for my family, returning to school and slowly coming out of strict quarantine is the best option.Since the announcement, social media feeds have become filled with everyone’s opinions. Many have been posting skeptical and cynical comments about how re-opening society too soon will undo all our hard work up until now, or that will cause a sudden exponential spread that will land us back into the confines of our houses in another two weeks time. While we are all entitled to our opinions and beliefs, what frustrates me the most about all the doubtful and unsupportive comments is the demonstrated lack of forward-thinking and positive planning for our entry into the next phase of COVID-affected life.From the outset of the social distancing, the initial goal was to flatten the curve. As we have all remained cloistered within our houses, we have indeed succeeded in achieving this goal. The curve has been flattened. Unfortunately, the virus will never be eliminated from society, and given the tenacity of any type of highly virulent infectious disease particle, COVID-19 will continue to infect our population for as long as people remain susceptible . . . in other words, for the foreseeable future. It is nothing short of futile to believe that any other outcome would present itself. As more and more strict social distancing regulations were put in place over the past six weeks, with no end point in sight and no long-term plan in place, I was beginning to lose hope that life would ever turn back down a path towards normalcy. Therefore, as someone who was excited to finally realize the beginning of such a plan, the overwhelmingly negative outlook from my peer group and colleagues has quickly become one of the more upsetting matters that I’ve faced during this crisis.Instead of criticizing the government’s plan to begin reopening society, offering unnecessary comments on how destructive such plans might be, or promoting virtuosity by expressing how we won’t be participating in such hazardous behaviours, as physicians, can we focus on how we can best advise our patients, friends, colleagues, and families on safely reintroducing themselves into society? Over the past six weeks, healthcare workers, including physicians, have become society’s heroes. We are considered a vital resource in the war against this pandemic, and the public is putting their trust in us to help get us through to the other side of this. Physicians have an important role in battling this virus, and it’s not only in the emergency rooms and hospital wards: It is also in the eyes and in the minds of the people who love us and trust us the most. Society is looking to us for guidance and we need to dispel fear and promote good practices (like we do in all other areas of medicine). Fear mongering worked to make social distancing a success, but now it is time to use fact and reason to dispel fear and promote cautious confidence.For weeks we've been talking about the relative success of "mask-wearing" societies in preventing spread of COVID-19. With greater emphasis on the importance of personal protective equipment availability in hospitals, and a large social media campaign to encourage people to acquire face coverings or home-made masks, perhaps promoting mask-wearing in public is a great place to start. We cannot enter an essential business or grocery store today without being asked to wash our hands, or at the very least use hand sanitizer–and the general public is listening as many producers cannot keep up with the demand for these products. Add in the way we have all been diligently keeping a reasonable distance from other people when we can. These are the strategies that have contributed significantly to flattening the curve, and it is imperative that we continue to promote all these efforts. Now that these relatively simple tactics have become a part of our daily lives, we must carry them forward as we relax the regulations on schools, businesses, and other non-essential healthcare centres.I recognize that many physicians and other healthcare professionals have been working overcapacity, in defence mode, and are getting burnt out. It’s not unexpected, therefore, that we might feel jaded and overburdened by what it will mean when COVID-19 cases begin to rise as restrictions ease up. Like everyone else, it is easy for us to sit back and be critical of the decisions our government authorities are making, especially since we don't have all the information that was made to make these decisions available to scrutinize. It is possible that opening schools and small businesses is too much, too fast. But maybe it isn’t too much—maybe it’s the right place to start. Unfortunately, we won't know until after we try, and in the meantime we should be asking ourselves, "What can we do to ensure this reopening is as successful as it can be?"It would be foolish to expect a steady number of cases as people reintegrate into society; therefore, it is reasonable to temper our expectations. Cases will go up, but if they go up in any way less than exponentially, the reopening should be considered a success. Our hospitals, physicians, administrators, medical supply chains, and healthcare consumers have spent the last six weeks prioritizing resources and utilization. Strategies and policies have been put in place across every major industry in our country, and that is no small feat! In Quebec, we still have two weeks to plan for re-opening, and that is a long time to prepare. Let's look forward with positivity, planning, and optimism instead of with fear and "what ifs."School administrators and teachers will be at work for two weeks putting plans and strategies in place to ensure back-to-school is as safe as it can be for kids—based on the few newsletters I’ve already received, I would be surprised if post-COVID-school looks anything like it did before. Similarily, as businesses open, we should be encouraging the public to keep up the strategies that have already been put in place to keep us safe and to prevent overburdening the healthcare system again. Up until now, Costco, Walmart, grocery stores, and other essential businesses have had capacity regulations, hand cleaning rules, social distance rules, and extra cleaning protocols, which have been followed by customers and have been effective. Applauding these types of successes and encouraging other areas of society to follow suit might be the best use of our mental energy moving forward, because opening up society doesn't mean forgetting everything we've been doing well up until now. We have to think forward and we have to be optimistic, because the only other option is more of what we’re doing now, and this is not sustainable.Many people in my social media circles have said they are not planning to ease up their personal efforts at social distancing, including letting their kids go back to school. Personally, I am planning on sending my kids to school with masks, their own personal pocket-sized hand sanitizer, and a daily reminder to keep their distance. Thankfully, my kids are not in danger from domestic violence, food scarcity, or from other security threats (as cited by the government as reasons to re-open schools first), but they are struggling with the lack of structure, guidance, and social interaction that they get at school. Two adults working from home while also attempting to occupy children is not working well for our household. I firmly believe that the long-term mental health consequences of significantly prolonged social distancing on my kids and on our family as a whole poses a significantly larger risk than that posed by contracting COVID-19.Dr. Ginevra Mills is a reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellow in Montreal.Opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of CanadianHealthcareNetwork.ca or its parent company.

Montreal schools open on May 19, and my kids will be there

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