You know that someone has struck a nerve when his Facebook post about coronavirus has well over 632,000 shares. That’s the case with a post that Abdu Sharkawy, an infectious diseases specialist, wrote about coronavirus. His is the modern version of Franklin Roosevelt’s famous warning to Americans on the occasion of his First Inaugural Address, that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Sharkaway works for the University Health Network, which is affiliated with the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. It is also the largest health research organization in North America. An infectious disease specialist at this organization must be presumed to have a better knowledge about coronavirus than talking heads on the news or the writers at the New York Times and Washington Post.

Whatever you’ve been thinking about coronavirus, this post will give you some rare clarity on the issue:

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.

#washurhands #geturflushot #respect #patiencenotpanic

Also, remember that, while panic can be a useful short-term incentive (although it often leads to bad decisions), it’s not a sustainable long-term emotion. Marie Vassiltchikov’s Berlin Diaries, 1940-1945 tells about her time working in Nazi Germany and helping groups within Germany that were fighting Hitler. One of the points she makes as she writes in real-time about the paranoia of the Third Reich and the terror from Allied bombings is that people adjust. What induces panic in the beginning eventually becomes tolerable, no matter how awful it is.

If Sharkawy is correct about coronavirus and the mainstream media is wrong, it won't be the end of the world and we’ll learn to live with it.