Sentinel photo by JEFF FISHBEIN
Dr. George Garrow, Chief Medical Officer of the Primary Health Network (PHN) facility in Yeagertown declared 2020 as ‘Annus Hioribillus,’ but promotes the major importance of mask-wearing and other steps to slow the spread of COVID-19.

LEWISTOWN — George Garrow has fashioned a good term to describe 2020.

“I have thought of the year 2020 as Annus Hioribillus. It’s been a horrible year,” he says.

Dr. Garrow, Chief Medical Officer of Primary Health Network, was hosted by the Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce Friday for a lunchtime Zoom call in which he discussed the novel coronavirus, its ongoing impact and what the community needs to know about it as we head into the traditional flu season.

His message couldn’t be more timely. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Mifflin County’s total has grown by 449 cases in the past 17 days. There are 23 persons hospitalized for COVID-19 at the present time from the county, six of whom are in intensive care. One patient is on a ventilator.

Speaking from both a business and general community perspective, Garrow noted that “(Businesses) have really had to change what they do.”

An economic crisis turned to social justice unrest and political turmoil as the year went on.

“Seeing the impact on isolation and the impact isolation has had on many in our community has led to despair,” he said.

And while he sees a fix on the horizon, it’s not an instant ending to the pandemic.

“Even when the vaccines are approved, this is not going to end. We need to prepare for the beginning of the end chapter,” Garrow said. “We’re running a marathon right now folks.”

His mission — individually and professionally — is to try and change that. He encourages people to seek resilience, find joy in what we get to do, in the beauty of nature.

“Be supportive and kind as we go forward,” he said.

“I think it’s our civic responsibility to keep our businesses open, our schools open,” Garrow said. “Wearing a mask does work. History will look back on this.”

He, like others in the business community, had little answer for those who refuse to wear a mask, much less a nascent campaign on social media to boycott mask-requiring businesses.

“From a public health standpoint, with an infectious disease, a communicable disease, there are simple things that we can do to slow the transmission. And that’s what we need to do now.”

And those things are washing hands, wearing a mask, maintaining distance and avoiding crowds, and taking care of yourself.

Garrow also addressed testing, the sometimes difficult process of being tested, and the types of tests that are performed. One of these, and antibody test, is somewhat controversial, he said. It measures what happened after exposure.

“I don’t really know what value an antibody test has on a clinical basis. It doesn’t change how I’m going to manage a patient,” Garrow said, although it could have a positive impact if it leads to donation for convalescent plasma and possible aid for others.

The antigen test has a rapid result, but high false reading rate (positive or negative). Its best application is in particular groups that need to be tested often, he said — pro sports leagues, for example.

There are two viral detection tests. The best test, “the gold standard” is the swab that goes deep in the nasal cavity.

“The accuracy or validity of the test is only as good as the way it’s done,” Garrow said.

All positive tests are reported to the state health department, which then performs contact tracing. Other organizations including PHN are working with the overwhelmed agency.

Ultimately, Garrow said, you can be tested by request at PHN in Lewistown.

“We want to expand our knowledge of who’s positive,” not just symptomatic people, he said.

Perhaps the most difficult question Garrow had to answer involved his holiday plans and his recommendation for others.

“We are embracing Thanksgiving and Christmas as different than any other Thanksgiving and Christmas we’ve ever had,” he said. “We’re going to have Thanksgiving dinner via Zoom. I encourage everybody to talk to their families and see what their priorities are.”

Garrow’s personal challenge is to maintain service to family and loved ones, and his community, while also meeting his organizational goal: To keep going, provide care for others.

He encourages kindness as a means of accomplishing that.

“Kindness is really wearing a mask — and avoiding large crowds, and socially distancing,” he said.

PHN is a community (federally qualified) health center, of which there are nearly 10,000 in the U.S. The mission of community health centers is to provide high quality health care regardless of ability to pay — about a quarter of patients are uninsured. PHN, founded in 1984, is the largest of its kind in Pennsylvania with 48 sites.

The local clinic is located at 106 Derry Heights Blvd. in Yeagertown. To reach Lewistown Community Health Center, call (717) 447-0340. For Lewistown Dental Center, the number is (717) 248-9900.