By: Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D.

Coronavirus is highly contagious and is new to the human immune system.  Therefore, our bodies don’t yet have a defense against it.

No one is an expert, and the science and knowledge evolving around this virus continues to change, making it easy to disseminate false rumors and fear.

It will affect our daily lives, and we will have to make adjustments setting up barriers to quell the spread.

My sources of information are the World Health Organization (WHO), Center for Disease Control (CDC), and the Los Angeles County Public Health Department.  Federally, there is a Coronavirus Task Force providing trustworthy information on the website https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.  You can obtain up-to-date information from these groups to help guide you and your family through these challenging times.

In 1987, the City of Santa Clarita was created because citizens felt government in downtown Los Angeles was too far away to address issues of our community.  During the 1994 Northridge earthquake, leadership through then Mayor George Pedersen and the City Council directed our community to survive this natural disaster.

We now work hand-in-hand with Los Angeles County, Sacramento, and Washington, D.C., yet there are unique issues the Santa Clarita Valley face requiring leadership to step forward.  Discussion must be made and data collected related to the hospital, medical clinics, our one nursing home, the homeless shelter, senior center, older adult housing (including assisted living and Board & Cares), schools, and many businesses that will be affected.

How do we assure dissemination of truthful information, and compliance with County, State, and Federal recommendations by residents, healthcare facilities, schools, and businesses?

Who will oversee that ill patients are appropriately triaged and isolated at our hospital and nursing home?

Will the senior center and homeless shelter screen participants?

How do we minimize exposure to our medical professionals, and not overwhelm healthcare facilities?

The list goes on.

Through leadership, rumors can be quelled, the public reassured, and candid conversations heard with the hope of answering questions from the concerned public. Clarity and transparency providing accurate information for all Santa Clarita residents to hear, read, and learn will sustain calm and vigilance.

We need to have a worthy plan to protect and inform Santa Clarita citizens and businesses.

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