‘Have a quiet one’ this Christmas’
DR ADELINA MCLEOD URGED PEOPLE TO AVOID GATHERING IN LARGE GROUPS
A North Tyneside doctor has urged people to “have a quiet one” this Christmas.
Adelina McLeod, a geriatrician based at North Tyneside General Hospital, released a short video urging people to keep following advice of regular hand washing, mask wearing and social distancing.
This comes as coronavirus infection rates are falling across the region and the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine was approved by the MHRA, Britain’s medicine regulator.
But Dr McLeod said she doesn’t want anyone to “fall at the last hurdle”.
She said: “Coming up to Christmas I understand why people might want to gather.
“North East people are really kind, generous and family orientated and Christmas is an expression of all of that.
“For me, the vaccine is starting to role out and it feels like the end of coronavirus is round the corner.
“I just don’t want any more people to fall at the last hurdle for the sake of one day when we’re so close to a solution.”
Dr McLeod also spoke out about the impact of coronavirus on her patients, who are above the age of 65.
She continued: “In terms of mortality when they get Covid-19 it is signif
icantly higher compared to younger people.
“It takes elderly people a really long time to recover from Covid-19.
“If some one had pneumonia you would expect them to be out of hospital in seven days.
“People who have Covid-19 are in hospital for weeks. You could have a patient with Covid having a craic on and a laugh with you suddenly on oxygen and then they’re a blue, then you are making decisions about sending them to ITU, are they going to survive?
“I have never seen a disease make people so ill so quickly.
“I look after patients with dementia and hospital for those patients is really hard.
“You could put them on oxygen and they don’t know what it is so they take it off.”
Dr McLeod is urging people in the North East to stick with the “hands, face, space” guidance on coronavirus in the lead up to Christmas.
She also urged people to avoid gathering in large groups to help limit transmission of the virus.
Dr McLeod added: “Be really meticulous about hand hygiene. If you go Christmas shopping and there are massive crowds on Northumberland Street avoid it.
“Limit how many people you engage with over Christmas and avoid large gatherings.
“In short, just have a quiet one this Christmas.”