GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Conversation over how variants of COVID-19 developed continues – but local doctors say it’s a fairly simple lesson.
A press briefing on Wednesday featured three doctors from healthcare systems around the area who are hoping to address confusion and controversy surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and Delta variant of the virus.
Dr. James Heise from Door County Medical Center says their goal is straightforward.
“The virus lives to propagate itself, and it’s looking for ways to be able to continue its lineage. So it’s up to us to try and stop that,” Heise said.
Dr. Sarah Lulloff, an infectious disease specialist from HSHS with over 24 years of experience in the medical field, echoed his rhetoric.
“If this virus doesn’t have a chance to replicate it doesn’t have a chance to mutate,” Lulloff explained. “So the more people that we have protected, the more people that adhere to our basic safety measures, the less chance this virus has of getting passed on between people and replicating, and the fewer new variants will develop.”
That protection? The vaccine. The basic safety measures? You guessed it, masking.
“People that have not been vaccinated are making up the overwhelming proportion of people getting infected with the delta variant, and getting sick and requiring hospitalization,” Lulloff said.
“Choosing not to vaccinate is not a risk free choice. This is one of those things where, if you don’t vaccinate, it’s starting to look to the point where you’re going to be one of two camps – you’re going to be vaccinated or you’re going to get sick,” Heise added. “Just being real, as someone who is vaccinated, it’s kind of irritating – the idea that I need to go back and wear a mask again. But for me, and for those of us working in health care, we can’t afford to get sick. So we need to do what we can to avoid that.”
Heise says he, along with many others in the healthcare field, continue to avoid places where large groups may gather as a precaution as well. He adds that approximately 97% of the people hospitalized with the virus are not vaccinated, while just 0.5% of vaccinated people required treatment at a hospital.
“There may continue to be further variant viruses that develop with time and we’re not sure how those will play out,” Lulloff said.
As for the masking debate, Heise says there really shouldn’t be one.
“I don’t think this press briefing would be complete if we didn’t address what I call the ‘armchair quarterbacks’, who have ‘done their research,’ and have decided that masking is bad for us and doesn’t work. Well, there’s overwhelming data that shows that, in fact, it does,” Heise argued. “I have been practicing medicine for 20 years. I don’t recall ever having a surgeon pass out in the operating room as a result of wearing a mask. So from a purely pragmatic perspective, we know that it acts as a shield and it protects against disease.”
Another local doctor also shared why COVID-19 is unlikely to ever actually go away.
