Panel: Trust in vaccines, focus on mental health needed as we move forward with Covid

COVID-19 isn’t going away, but our fears can if we learn to trust that the vaccines are hard at work on our behalf. That was the main message from Dr. Monica Ghandi, one of the world’s leading experts on the disease, who spoke to an audience gathered for a community conversation Monday evening at the Palm Springs Cultural Center.

Dr. Ghandi was among eight panelists gathered for a community conversation — titled “Covid: What’s Next?” — organized by The Post and the Cultural Center. The event was the first of what organizers hope will be many similar gatherings. It included members of the hospitality and tourism industry, medical professionals, a teacher, and journalists.

“I think we’ve undersold how well the vaccines work,” Dr. Ghandi said in response to an audience question about why wearing masks is no longer required. “The vaccine works extremely well. It brought the death rate down in the 50 and older population to one in a million.”

As the world moves forward and the pandemic turns endemic, she said fears of returning to pre-pandemic activities are unjustified. For now, she said, removing our masks may be the best way to push past that fear and show others it’s acceptable to trust the science.

Still, she added, it’s easy to see why we’re afraid. “It’s invisible to see the vaccines working,” Dr. Ghandi said, “but masks are visible.”

There’s very little virus in circulation in the highly-vaccinated Palm Springs area, said Dr. Les Zendle, who serves on the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation Board of Directors. That fact was backed up by Jimmy Boegle, the publisher of The Coachella Valley Independent, who has regularly reported on levels of the disease in the city’s wastewater.

The latest report, issued Monday and reported by The Independent, shows an average of 65,688 copies of the virus per liter of wastewater. That’s about one percent of the levels we saw in early to mid-January. 

Still, many on the panel advised a cautiously optimistic approach is best.

“Four months ago, we had not even heard of the Omicron variant. Then we went to record numbers of Covid — although deaths weren’t as bad,” Boegle said. “Now we’re having the lowest number of cases we’ve had since the pandemic began. So what’s happening two months from now? We don’t know. That’s how quickly things are moving.”

As we move forward with our lives and learn to live with Covid, panel members stressed mental health must become a priority. That’s especially critical for children, said Nichi Avina, a Cielo Vista Charter School teacher and 2022 California Teacher of the Year, and Dr. Jill Gover, a clinical psychologist and director of behavioral health at DAP Health.

“We’re going through an unprecedented mental health crisis in this country,” Dr. Gover said. “That’s especially true for youth. Developmentally it wasn’t appropriate for them to be isolated when they needed their peers. It’s not healthy for anyone, but it impacted youth in serious ways.

“More than 160,000 young people lost caregivers. That’s real trauma, and it causes them to act out in their behavior. They have so much unprocessed and unresolved grief.”

Aside from the availability of mental health services, boosters will also be an essential part of our future, Dr. Ghandi said, adding that she doesn’t foresee us going through anything with Covid that we’ve experienced the past two years again. That’s especially true as more people around the planet receive vaccinations.

“Will we have a variant that sets us backward?” she asked. “We may, but we can avoid going into lockdowns. About 50% of the planet has seen Omicron. If you’ve gotten the vaccine, now you have immunity if another variant comes up. Then our next booster will get us immune to the next variant.

“Eventually, we’ll get the vaccine for the whole virus. We’ll never go back to that phase of the pandemic, but we have to be vigilant.”

Reporter Kendall Balchan and editor Mark Talkington contributed to this report.

? Briefly

EARTHQUAKE: A minor earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.1 was reported near Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs shortly after noon Monday, but no damage was reported. The U.S. Geological Survey reported the temblor hit around 12:16 p.m. at a depth of 10 kilometers or about six miles. It was centered 5.8 miles west-northwest of Garnet, eight miles west southwest of Desert Hot Springs, nine miles northwest of Palm Springs, and 13.6 miles east of Banning. On social media, residents of Palm Springs reported that they felt the quake and heard associated loud bangs.

SPONSOR FOR THE CHASE: DAP Health announced Monday that Amazon would be the presenting sponsor of this year’s Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards — known as ‘The Chase’ — planned for April 9 at The Palm Springs Convention Center. “This is our home,” said David Ambroz, Amazon’s head of community engagement in the Inland Empire and a former homeowner in Palm Springs. “We recently toured the DAP Health campus and saw firsthand how the organization was applying the lessons learned from the AIDS crisis to fill the gaps of today’s health care needs. We were impressed by their innovative solutions to provide comprehensive care to residents of the valley.” Proceeds from The Chase go to fund the ongoing mission of DAP Health, which currently serves more than 10,000 patients with medical and mental healthcare, STI testing and treatment, dentistry, pharmacy, and lab services. According to published reports, Amazon is paying $100,000 for the rights to be the presenting sponsor. It employs 40,000 people in the Inland Empire, including the Coachella Valley. 

? Today’s events

• The Desert Water Agency Board of Directors meets today at 8 a.m. and is inviting the public to discuss redistricting.
   
• Jazz on the 2nd Floor runs from 5 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at the Palm Springs Cultural Center.
   
• The city’s Sustainability Commission meets this evening at 5:30 p.m.
   
• A second homeless services center community meeting is planned for this evening at the James O. Jesse Desert Highland Unity Center. It starts at 6 p.m.
   
• Toastmasters starts at 6 p.m. Send an email to [email protected] for more information and the Zoom link.
   
• The Mizell Center offers figure drawing tonight from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.

For more events in Palm Springs, check out our complete community calendar. Want your event listed? Just click here to add you event.

? What to watch for

• The Mizell Center’s Third Wednesday Speaker Series continues on Wednesday with Bill Goldstein, Larry Kramer’s authorized biographer, discussing Mr. Kramer’s life and work.
   
• A Walk of Stars dedication for David C. Lee is planned for Friday at 3 p.m. On Saturday, Lee will join some of the cast of Frasier for an event designed to raise funds to help save the Plaza Theatre. That begins at 1 p.m.
   
• The ONE-PS Annual Neighborhood Picnic is slated for Saturday, March 19 at Ruth Hardy Park.
   
• Palm Springs The Musical: Born to Sparkle premieres at Desert Rose Playhouse on March 24. It runs Thursdays through Sundays until April 10.
   
• A benefit for REAF-Palm Springs and the city’s AIDS Memorial Sculpture is planned for March 26 from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. at a private home in the city.
   
• Desert Ensemble Theatre begins a two-weekend run of All This Intimacy on March 25.
   
• Palm Canyon Theatre is staging Cyrano de Bergerac from March 31 until April 3.