Tremendous Concern Inside Cancer Centers; A Top Doctor Says She’s Very Worried About the Rise in COVID Cases in the Next Few Weeks

Dr. Heather Yeo, an associate professor of surgery and population health sciences, tells SurvivorNet about what the future may bring. “I am very worried about the next few weeks,” she says. “For many of us in New York, this is a horrible déjà vu where we heard warnings, and noticed cases rising, and then all of a sudden, we were inundated. Our operating rooms were converted to ICUs, and our staff were switched to different roles. I do think our hospitals in New York, are much better prepared this time, in terms of understanding the disease and PPE.”

Increase in Cases

While we don’t yet know what the “full brunt” of the Thanksgiving holiday’s effect on COVID-19 cases will be, it is likely that travel and gatherings led to an increase in the spread of the virus. Dr. Yeo points to this uptick in coronavirus cases in the U.S. as an additional cause for concern. “We are now averaging [upwards] of 200,000 cases per day, with [thousands] of COVID patients hospitalized.”

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Dr. Yeo says that the U.S. had more cases in November than almost any other country for the entire year. The uptick in cases and consequent increase in hospitalizations are troubling for hospitals. Dr. Yeo tells us that “hospital Beds and ICUs across the country are filling up.”

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The COVID-19 Vaccine Approvals

Thankfully, several vaccines have been developed and are being shipped around the globe and ready to go once approved. The Pfizer vaccine offers promise. “We hope,” says Dr. Yeo, “that the Pfizer vaccine will available by the end of the week if approved by the FDA [and] potentially Moderna vaccine will be approved soon as well. mRNA vaccines are exciting for many of us in academia because they have held promise, but because of storage requirements [they] can be hard to transport.”

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The U.S. and the UK have already bought the majority of vaccines available, Dr. Yeo tells us. But she notes this is a global problem, and it’s imperative to consider poorer countries as well. With 330 million people in the U.S., that represents only 4% of the global population.

However, despite the exciting news of a vaccine, Dr. Yeo emphasizes the need to stay vigilant with safety precautions. She says that we “still need to keep focused: Social distancing, washing hands, wearing a face mask, doing things outdoors when possible, not gathering in large crowds.”

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