CGH doctor on COVID-19: ‘As a provider, it’s very concerning’

STERLING – CGH Medical Center Dr. Ashok Maini wonders where all the non-COVID-19 patients have gone.

“I’ve seen an increase in COVID-19 cases and a decrease in cases like chest pain, asthma, COPD and heart congestion,” Maini said. “I’ve seen that decline and I think people are scared to come. They’re scared they’ll get it here or if they leave their house. There’s a decline in visits for non-COVID-19 patients.”

Maini works in internal medicine and has been with CGH for 6 years. He does intensive care and inpatient medicine.

He’s one of the few CGH doctors working with COVID-19 patients, and there are quite a lot of them, he said.

In the past 3 or 4 weeks, CGH has seen an increase in COVID-19 patients, Maini said. He’s also seen higher numbers in nursing homes, which has boosted hospital admissions.

“As a provider, it’s very concerning,” Maini said. “We’ve noticed recent high numbers. The New York Times [reported], out of all cities, Sterling was right on top in the increased amount of COVID-19 cases. It’s been exponential."

Even with the pandemic, Maini says his job treating patients remains the same. What concerns him, though, are the people who don’t seek treatment or who wait longer to do so. Some wait until they’re sicker for fear of getting infected with COVID-19.

In the past week, Maini estimates COVID-19 has been 70% of his workload.

In the future, the loss of life caused by the virus will mean he will be seeing fewer elderly patients.

“Permanently, a lot of the chronically sick patients we see periodically in nursing homes, a lot of them are dying now from COVID-19,” Maini said. “In the long run, we might not see as many nursing home patients in the near future. That’s been hit the hardest. We’ll see less of those people.”

On the plus side, access to personal protective equipment such as masks and ventilators has improved, he said.

Maini wants the public to know that following guidelines like masking, social distancing and hand washing are imperative. Gathering without those practices at events like Thanksgiving and Christmas “isn’t a good idea,” he said.

“Avoid social gatherings," Maini said. "If we can do that, a vaccine should be here by March. We can avoid a big outbreak again. There is a promising one from two drug companies, but we don’t have one yet.”

Maini has family of his own he can’t visit. His parents live in Chicago.

“I follow my own advice,” Maini said. “I could be an asymptomatic carrier. If I do visit people, I keep more than 6 feet apart. I haven’t seen my friends. There’s a lot of seclusion. That has affected a lot of us at the hospital.”