Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Lessons Learned from the Front Lines of the Pandemic

May 4, 2022 | Webinar

What are the best ways for families and business leaders to navigate the current phase of the pandemic? And what might the rest of 2022 bring? Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams made a house call to our Wednesdays with Woodward^® program and shared his expertise and lessons learned from the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. We explored how our “new normal” could look, got updates on vaccines and boosters, and discussed Dr. Adams’ latest work on expanding health equity.

What did we learn? Here are the top takeaways from Lessons Learned from the Front Lines of the Pandemic with former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams:

Click each key point to jump directly within the webinar to watch and hear more.

What does the U.S. Surgeon General do? Citing his predecessors’ efforts to bring critical public health concerns like smoking, mental health and sex education to the fore, Dr. Adams said the surgeon general’s primary role is to “bring up issues of importance to the American public, so that the public is aware [of the issues], but also so that the public can take actions to protect themselves.”

Overcoming public mistrust has been a challenge. Though official warnings about Ebola, Zika and H1N1 made headlines across the United States, none of those diseases ended up significantly impacting Americans. “Like the boy crying wolf … you have to ring the alarm, but when it doesn’t turn out to be as bad, the people say ‘ah see, we shouldn’t trust you,’” Dr. Adams lamented. “That’s something in the back of your head: At what point do I really ring the bells and say there’s a wolf coming?”

We are in a transition phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. “There is considerable debate about whether we are in a post-pandemic phase,” said Dr. Adams. He believes “we are seeing cases decrease on a global basis, but new variants pop up. We have to decide what we’re going to do moving forward.”

What is THE most important thing you can do to protect yourself against COVID-19? According to Dr. Adams, the answer is simple: get vaccinated and boosted.

There is a COVID-19 treatment … if you can get it. Paxlovid^® (a registered trademark of Pfizer Inc.) is a powerful antiviral medication that, taken within days of testing positive, lowers the risk of severe disease and long COVID. “Some people have access to Paxlovid very easily, many do not,” Dr. Adams noted. “We need a better distribution plan. There’s a lot out there. It is sitting on shelves in some communities, but there are other people who literally cannot get it.”

Long COVID is “absolutely a real thing, and it’s a scary thing,” Dr. Adams warned. Its affects include decreased brain size, decreased cognition and increased cardiovascular events, even in mild or asymptomatic cases. His advice? “Lower your chance of getting COVID in the first place” – wear a mask in public places, get vaccinated and boosted, and seek treatment immediately after testing positive.

Masks are effective! Self-protection is one reason Dr. Adams still advises people to mask up in any crowded public space, including planes and airports. Protecting others, particularly vulnerable populations, is another. “I still wear a mask to the grocery store as a sign of compassion and respect for that mother who’s at the grocery store with her 2-year-old who can’t be vaccinated,” he said.

The United States needs a testing strategy. “We’re both testing too little, and too haphazardly,” Dr. Adams remarked. He urged individuals with symptoms to test so, if they are positive, they can get treatment to reduce the severity of infection, as well as isolate to protect others. He also encouraged organizers of big events to utilize rapid testing to help minimize exposures.

Only 35% of kids aged 5-12 have gotten the vaccine. While kids may be low risk for acute COVID, they are still at risk for long COVID, so getting these numbers up is key. “It’s a challenge,” Dr. Adams noted. “We’ve got to press for full approval so that people understand this went through the full process and not just an abbreviated process.” And yes, Dr. Adams practices what he preaches: “All three of my kids are vaccinated.”

Two lessons learned as Surgeon General? All health is local – “we need more localized responses and the power of public-private partnerships. Operation WARP Speed brought a vaccine faster than anyone believed possible because we leveraged everyone to get through the crisis.”

Obesity and mental health remain the nation’s leading health issues. Obesity not only increases the risk of diabetes, infant mortality and cancer, but also complications from COVID-19. And the pandemic has only heightened an already worsening mental health crisis. “If we were able to address these in a meaningful way, you would see everything else out there get better,” Dr. Adams emphasized.

Presented by the Travelers Institute, the American Property Casualty Insurance Association and the MetroHartford Alliance.