“I am scared and you should be, too,” Dr. Brandon Bikowski wrote in a guest opinion article published Sunday by the Tucson Sentinel.
His article went on to describe the fear he had for his patients, the lack of knowledge he and other medical professionals have about the virus while trying to treat the infected and the decisions government leaders made that he said he believed enabled the virus to spread freely.
“There is no possible way to prepare for how to treat a COVID patient,” Bikowski wrote. “There is no rhyme, reason, or pattern. There is no possible way to predict what will happen with your patient.”
Arizona is one of several states that has recently reported record increases in new case numbers. On Thursday, July 2, state health officials said 87,425 cases and 1,757 deaths were reported statewide since the pandemic began.
In response to the spiking case counts, Republican Governor Doug Ducey announced earlier this week he was reversing some of the state’s reopening efforts, joining governors in Texas, California and Florida who have taken similar steps in recent days in their attempts to bring the virus spread under control. Bars, water parks and nightclubs were instructed to close for 30 days in Arizona after reopening last month, Ducey said Monday.
In his article, Bikowski criticized the governor for not taking additional proactive measures to prevent the virus from spreading. The doctor said allowing residents to resume daily activities in May without requiring them to wear facial coverings “has been catastrophic.” In addition to coronavirus-designated areas within hospitals filling quickly, Bikowski said his hospital’s supply of remdesivir, the only drug that received emergency use approval by the Food and Drug Administration to treat COVID-19, was gone.
“A patient I admitted two days ago is the last one that will receive it from our current stockpile,” he wrote.
Newsweek reached out to the Arizona Department of Health Services for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
With new cases continuing to raise the statewide tally by 3,000 or more every day—the ADHS reported an additional 3,333 cases on Thursday, July 1—Bikowski concluded his article with a plea for residents to take the threat of the virus seriously and use caution whenever it was necessary for them to leave their homes. Though he warned practicing social distancing and frequently washing hands would not guarantee avoidance of a COVID-19 diagnosis, “it’s the best shot you’ve got.”
“Politics have played a huge role in getting us into this mess, and it’s time to cut them out.” he wrote. “COVID doesn’t discriminate, and it definitely doesn’t care who you’re going to vote for.”
