Students' Role in Coronavirus Response: Be Part of the Solution
In a webinar hosted by SDSU, a medical expert said public health professionals are among the heroes of our time.
Dr. Nicholas Yphantides, chief medical officer for San Diego County, was the featured presenter in a March 26 webinar for the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), part of a virtual version of its annual meeting and undergrad summit. The webinar was moderated by Hala Madanat, director of San Diego State University’s School of Public Health and a member of the association’s board of directors.
The webinar was titled “COVID-19 and College Students: What You Absolutely Need to Know,” and emphasized the seriousness of the situation and reminders of personal responsibility.
Yphantides compared social distancing and other COVID-19 mitigation strategies to the preparation for a Category-5 hurricane, and said “we are still in the eye of the storm….We are boarding up for our people.” Those accustomed to thinking of themselves as “invincible young college kids” or at low risk for contracting the virus still have a responsibility to follow the rules—maintain that six-foot distance—and help stem the spread of the disease, said Yphantides.
He added later, “Be part of the solution, not the problem.”
Sporting a San Diego Padres necktie during the webinar in honor of the now-postponed Opening Day game he once expected to attend, Yphantides also urged the students to consider the work being done by public health officials—what he likened to “the Super Bowl of public health”—to test and treat those who have contracted the virus, many working at risk to their own health.
“You’re still deciding what to do with your career?” he asked. “Join the true celebrity workforce, the health care workforce. The physicians, the nurses, the public health professionals, the researchers, the paramedics, the fire chiefs.
“You need to realize that in this situation it is not just about you,” he told viewers. “Much of what we talk about here relates to the decisions that you make and the impact they can have on other people.”
Yphantides compared going out into public without an essential need to sticking one’s head out of a trench while bullets are flying.
“Yes, you should absolutely be staying in your home as much as physically feasible.”
The webinar is available for replay at the ASPPH YouTube site.
