RESOLUTE ACTION IS NEEDED NOW
My email as a concerned parent to my local school board, Lewisville ISD of Texas
It is absolutely inconceivable to me as a physician who has taken care of LISD families for 20 years and now spent the last 18 months in COVID hot zones with the Indian Health Service that the simple use of a face mask at all LISD campuses by students and staff is not being put into place.
The precautionary principle guides decision making in the practice of medicine that one should take reasonable and low risk measures to avoid threats that are serious and plausible.
Let me emphasize that.
"Threats that are serious and plausible."
I referenced this quite explicitly in my comments to the board Monday night.
But let's look at the data. The first attached image is from the August 9 update to UT Southwestern's COVID forecasting model which has been an invaluable tool for public health decision making in the DFW Metroplex since the start of this pandemic. This first slide is for Dallas County but this trend is near identical for the four most populous counties of the DFW Metroplex- Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, and Denton.
This hospitalization trend has been a consistent feature of the forecast modeling not just with UT Southwestern but also UT Austin's COVID-19 Modeling Consortium. Because hospitalizations are a lagging indicator, what are seeing now in hospitalizations (a 101% increase just in the last 2 weeks) across the Metroplex is a reflection of the pandemic environment 3-4 weeks ago.
This means what we do NOW will shape hospitalizations 3-4 weeks from now as we approach Labor Day weekend.
The second slide I have included is also from UT Southwestern's data.
This shows the hospital admissions in each of the four core counties of the DFW Metroplex by age bracket. Hospitalizations are increasing rapidly. Note the uptick in pediatric admissions but most concerningly, note that the fastest growth in DFW area hospitalizations is in the 18-49 age range.
Not only are the students of LISD at risk, but also the teachers and staff of LISD.
As I clearly stated in my public comments to the board Monday night, Delta is a new ball game. It is a clear and present danger to those who chose to be unvaccinated and to those who are to young to be vaccinated.
The third image is my own graphic from August 7 showing just how significantly we are forecast to outstrip available hospital and critical resources in the State of Texas.
You can read my data analysis in detail here:
We simply do not have the capacity to deal with what is coming barring swift action part of which LISD has a moral obligation to be a part of by at the very least, mandating mask use by students and staff on our campuses.
Hiding behind Governor Abbott's mask ban which has already been struck down in several jurisdictions in Texas is maddeningly inconceivable to me as a medical professional, particularly when a number of school districts have demonstrated the moral fortitude necessary to protect their students and staff from what is to come.
This is not fear.
This is not politics.
This is reality. This is our emergency rooms, medical clinics and hospitals barreling towards what I can only describe as the biggest mass casualty event in our state's history since the Galveston Hurricane of 1900.
Do what is right. Follow the recommendations of numerous medical societies and their physician members have been recommending.
A 25 cent face mask is all that stands between loss and tragedy and potentially saving a student or teacher's life.
Joseph P. Santiago, MD
Father of two LISD graduates.
Father of one FMHS student.
Father of one McKamy student too young to get vaccinated.