LANSING, Mich. — Doctors agree there's no harm in Governor Gretchen Whitmer extending the stay at home order, but they say it's going to take a long time and a lot of discipline before we get back to the way things were.
"Our strong efforts to stay home and stay safe to flatten that curve has worked," said R. Dale Jackson, Director of Emergency Medicine at Sparrow Hospital.
Jackson said without the stay at home order, things would have been much worse in Michigan.
"If we hadn't put those initial protections in place, we would have had such a widespread and have so many people infected at once that there would have been a huge spike and our health systems would have been overwhelmed," Jackson said.
He says there will be a bit of a culture shock once the order is lifted entirely.
"We're transitioning to our new normal in a world that has coronavirus in it," Jackson said. "A lot of us wouldn't have thought twice about going out with a cold...now we're much more aware of the importance of 'oh, I have minor symptoms...I don't want to spread this to others, so I'm going to stay home and stay safe.'"
Jackson warns us that a new mindset is good because we're not out of the dark; medical experts say numbers could go back up later this year.
"Just like the flu, it never completely goes away, and we do expect both to come back in the fall," Jackson said.
But he says that the pandemic has allowed doctors to take extra steps to be ready for a second outbreak, including safety measures for themselves and their patients.
"We're going to be much better prepared to take it on."
Want to see more local news ? Visit the FOX47News Website.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
Download our free app for Apple and Android
and
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox.
Select from these options: Breaking News, Severe Weather, School Closings, Daily Headlines and Daily Forecasts.
