AAP Voices

I am a general pediatrician in a two-doctor practice in Beachwood, Ohio (suburban Cleveland). The appearance of the SARS-CoV-2 virus across the planet, costing so many lives, creating such desperate illness, with such sudden threat has affected all of humanity. Here in our small practice, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to every family wondering how they can be safe, leading to a whole new world of concerns that we can help address and approaches to care that we can provide. 

We talk to people about beloved family members dying alone, about their child with a cough and could it be the dreaded COVID-19, about very strange symptoms that likely are COVID. We struggle living in a nation where this doctor is unable to arrange testing that would be mandatory in many other developed countries for a child presenting with vasculitis suggestive of COVID.

At the same time, I am honored to serve with leaders in the community to understand why this virus has hurt so many in communities of color, and to ask once again the eternal question of America: This time will we take this obvious pattern of suffering and do something so it stops?

And the story of COVID came home to our small office when one of us had a scratchy throat, one evening of fever and a bit of a cough, and was tested, as a health care worker, and found to be positive. The course brought home to each of us how dangerous this virus can be, how quickly it spreads, how every one of us can be infected and how insidious its symptoms are. 

Now, seven weeks later, this colleague has continued symptoms suggesting ongoing inflammation and even neurologic effects, with intermittent severe lethargy and headache.

Our office, our city, our communities, our world has been attacked by a dangerous virus. As doctors, we are learning a lot about this virus. As people, this virus is teaching us a lot about who we are. We can only hope that we learn and respond.

*The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the American Academy of Pediatrics.