In March, Wendi Monthy, an OB-GYN doctor at Legacy Community Health and mother to senior Meridian Monthy, would have been “terrified” at the notion of reopening schools and businesses. After working with over 100 patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, she is “fine with the reopening of schools and businesses”—if community members follow safety precautions.

Nine months after the start of the pandemic, SJS parents in healthcare have a much better understanding of the nuance surrounding coronavirus and how to treat it effectively. 

According to Angela Shippy, mother to sophomore Arianna Doss and Chief Medical and Chief Quality Officer at Memorial Hermann, policies towards COVID-19 at Memorial Hermann evolved rapidly as knowledge about the virus grew.

“Our outlook changed from the beginning of the day to the end of the day because there was constant new information coming out in the beginning,” Shippy said. “What we wore changed, things that we would do in terms of options for treatment changed over time.”

Shippy says that Remdesivir, an antiviral medication, works better on patients who are on low amounts of oxygen and who have not been mechanically ventilated and intubated yet. Doctors are also using steroids to treat the virus.

As of Dec. 14, multiple companies have a vaccine for COVID-19. The vaccines that are currently in stage three trials or have passed these trials are yielding an efficacy rate of over 90%. With the exception of the one-dose Janssen vaccine, all the vaccines require two doses. 

“When we’re looking at immunizing patients, it’s usually small children and babies where the parents are there and they come back and get everything they need,” Monthy said. “We are going to have to rely on them and other systems we have in place for them to get their second dose.” 

According to Monthy, the Pfizer vaccine was approved to be administered to ages 16 and up by the FDA and CDC and has seen a 95% efficacy rate in clinical trials. By the end of the year, 20 million Americans could have the vaccine.

In early December, Margaret Keenan, a 91-year-old British woman, received the first Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in the world. With the vaccine coming to the United States, the execution of the distribution, Shippy says, will be vital. 

Even though the vaccine has been approved and is beginning to be administered in Harris County, Shippy asks for community members to maintain vigilance about public health guidelines. 

“The vaccine is absolutely essential to help us get back to ‘normal,’ but we still need masking and social distancing while we are getting the entire country and world immunized,” Shippy said. 

Shippy reminds everyone that following guidelines is important because it relieves stress from healthcare workers who face many other complications besides the coronavirus. 

“For every moment that we’re treating COVID, it takes away time and resources from other health issues that are happening,” Shippy said. “People are still having heart attacks and strokes, and learning they have cancer. They need our help with those other medical conditions, too.”