ServingHIM August 2021 update on COVID-19/Coronavirus

August 18, 2021

Dear ServingHIM family,

We are honored to have as our Medical Director for ServingHIM, the expertise of Dr. Cam Nelson, a leading authority in the field of Preventative Medicine. The following is his insight of the COVID-19 pandemic:

As we enter the 18th month of the COVID-19 pandemic, I would like to provide a bit of perspective and give a few updates. As I have said previously God was not caught off guard by this milestone event in our lives and the life of ServingHIM. Quite the contrary, God has known from eternity-past that He would use these days of human history to bring glory and honor to himself. Each of us are called to approach every day with “prayer and supplication” as we seek to be a light to a lost world.

The path through this pandemic has been long and ever-changing. A myriad of questions, information, and misinformation continue to deluge us and can be confusing and frustrating.

This pandemic is no different than many other pandemics in human history dating back to at least 165 AD. This is the first pandemic of this magnitude since the Spanish flu pandemic from 1918 – 1920 (50 million deaths worldwide). The current Coronavirus pandemic has been associated with the deaths of 4.4 million people thus far. This pandemic will eventually end, as have all previous pandemics.

The question at hand is: How should each of us proceed to properly steward our bodies, so we can most effectively be utilized for the Kingdom in the months and years ahead? Having devoted the past 20 years of my career to the field of Preventive Medicine, I would like to offer a few thoughts.

The advancement of medical science over the centuries has been slow and arduous (by design). There have been tremendous medical advances in the past 100 years, and we have all lived more productive lives because of these advances. God has gifted especially talented researchers to advance these new breakthroughs. In most cases, the research moves in a slow fashion, eventually yielding a new pharma-therapeutic or treatment modality. In the case of a worldwide pandemic such as this, a more rapid path is necessary to stem the tide of death.

The currently available vaccines are the end result of 10 years of research that was applied in a timely fashion. In the early days of 2021, there were only a few patients worldwide that had received these vaccines. However, there have now been 4.7 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered worldwide. The results have been an astounding success! While the vaccines do not prevent every case of COVID-19 infection, they are 99.5% effective at preventing severe disease and death. Availing ourselves of this medical advancement is just good stewardship for you, our community, and our world.

As of this week, our hospital ICUs are at 95.6% of capacity (strained by COVID-19 illness). This makes it more difficult to care for more typical ICU patients, such as those with heart attacks, cancer, trauma, or other acute illness. The current COVID hospitalizations and deaths are largely preventable by vaccination. Ignoring this truth is poor stewardship.
As this Coronavirus has continued to circulate in our communities, it has steadily mutated (as all viruses tend to do). The current Delta variant is 4 times more contagious than the Alpha variant circulating this time last year. This simply means that there is increasing potential for more virus to circulate and wreak havoc.

We can all alter the course of the pandemic in our community, country, and world by encouraging vaccination for those yet unvaccinated, and taking a few precautions that have been shown to slow things down. In some cases, this includes the appropriate use of face coverings in crowded situations until the viral activity in the community drops once again.

ServingHIM continues to stand alongside our ministry partners in Romania, Guatemala, and Moldova as they too have struggled with this pandemic. We look forward to once again returning to the mission field in 2022, as vaccination rates continue to rise and international travel becomes safer.

Praying God’s richest blessings on you and your family.

Healthy Regards,

Cam Nelson, MD

Medical Director ServingHIM

President and CEO Cooper Clinic