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Primary Care and COVID-19: It’s Complicated

A better working relationship is needed.

One of the results of the coronavirus pandemic is that many gaps in our public health and broader medical communities of interest have been revealed.

I’ve found in my experience that it is a lack of connectivity and personal relationships that hinders taking a broader view. Everyone is in their own silos and venturing outside of those is not valued — until the gap is exposed, and even then there is a capacity gap that hinders solutions.

See this report as an example: Primary Care and COVID-19: It’s Complicated—Leveraging Primary Care, Public Health, and Social Assets.

“The PCC’s annual research report for 2021. It shows that residents of communities with the most robust primary care, the strongest public health infrastructure, and the fewest social vulnerabilities were substantially less likely to die from COVID-19 and somewhat less likely to get infected with the virus, as compared to communities on the other end of the spectrum. The findings suggest that primary care and
public-health leaders need to join forces to strengthen community resistance in advance of the next pandemic and to better address health inequities.”
Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.