HJNO Nov/Dec 2020

DIALOGUE 14 NOV / DEC 2020 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   the country. No, I think we should do every- thing that we can to make the environment as healthy as it can be. Editor Is there an avoidable public health nightmare scenario that we are not focus- ing on? LaVeist I think that COVID-19 is illustrating that. We had an infrastructure that had been put in place to deal with emerging patho- gens like this, and that infrastructure was dismantled. Then, the pandemic occurred. The current pandemic is an example of a potential nightmare scenario. COVID-19 could have been worse. It’s pretty bad. We’re probably a day way from 200,000 deaths in the United States. Many of those deaths, I’m absolutely convinced, could have been avoided if we had enacted, or maintained and then enacted, the infrastructure that was in place just a few years ago that was not maintained. I think we’re going to have more of these types of problems occur with climate change. As the climate changes, pathogens that couldn’t previously exist in parts of the country that were colder will be able to exist now, because the temperature is going to be changing. We’re going to start getting exposure to viruses that maybe wouldn’t have been able to survive very long in the United States, because it was too cold here. Now it’ll be warmer. Now those pathogens will be able to survive. The nightmare sce- nario is that SARS-COV-2 could have been an even more virulent virus than it is. As it stands now, it’s pretty bad, but it certainly could have been even worse. Editor You have the ear right now of Loui- siana’s healthcare leaders. Is there some- thing you would like to share with them? LaVeist Yes, we live in a state that has for many years been in an annual competi- tion for who is the least healthy state in the country. We’ve been battling Texas, Mis- sissippi and Alabama, nip and tuck, every year. Last year, we came in 49th. We missed it by just a small amount, being No. 1 in bad health. We’re in the middle of this pandemic, which has laid bare many of the most press- ing problems that we have and many of the issues that put us in that competition. There’s a lot of talk about wanting to go back to normal. Well, the last thing I want is for us to go back to normal. Because nor- mal was horrible! I don’t want to go back to competing with Alabama and Mississippi and Texas for who’s the least healthy state. I think we need to imagine a new normal where we are a healthy state, where we have a healthy workforce that is able to fuel econ- omy that will uplift the economic prospects for the entire state. Editor As far as humanity as a whole and the evolution of people, how do you feel that we’re doing? LaVeist Evolution of people? These are very philosophical questions, not the typ- ical magazine interview. I mean that as a compliment. I think that in many ways, we humans are dangerous to the planet. We kind of view the planet as a [resource] that can be exhausted, but it’s not an instantly replenishable resource. I think that we need to evolve to be mindful of the fact that we have to be stew- ards of this planet, so that human life can continue. We’re on a pathway to depleting the resources of the planet. And so, I don’t think that we’re evolving in that sense—to be protective of not only human life. Like all life, humans seek to replicate and repro- duce; we’re doing that, but in some cases, we’re doing it at the expense of the planet that we live on. So, I think our failure to take seriously climate change and the way it will impact the economy, the way it will impact health, the way it will impact military readi- ness, the way it will impact every aspect of our society if we don’t get a handle on it is disappointing. If anything, we need to evolve to be mindful of the fact that we have this responsibility to future generations. Editor Are you hopeful for the future? LaVeist I am hopeful for the future, because I remain optimistic that we can change course—that we can innovate. That’s been the primary reason why the human species has been so successful—that we’re highly adaptable, highly creative and innovative. I do believe that we can innovate to address some of the issues that we’ve talked about in this conversation, and I am still hopeful that we will find a way forward and that we’ll be able to resolve some of the many, very serious and dire problems that we face. n There’s a lot of talk about wanting to go back to normal. Well, the last thing I want is for us to go back to normal. Because normal was horrible! I don't want to go back to competing with Alabama and Mississippi and Texas for who's the least healthy state.” “