Choate Medical Director Dr. Miriam Cohen has been hard at work these past few months ensuring the safety of our community as the School reopened in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Finding an acceptable balance between a sustainable student life and adequate safety measures hasn’t been easy, but through extensive research and much consultation, Dr. Cohen created what the School calls its Safe & Sounder plan. Brian Harder ’23 recently spoke with Dr. Cohen about her role in our coronavirus-adapted community.
Graphic by Athena Liu/The Choate News
What was your role in the development of the Safe & Sounder plan, and how did you work with the School on this?
The ways that we monitor our risks and our testing were all plans that I researched and presented to the reopening task force that oversees the reopening and safety of being here at Choate. Supervising the overall plan was done by the Health Center, which came up with the modules for Safe & Sounder; the Communications team came up with the designs and posters. It’s a team effort, but I did a lot of the medical basics and worked with the team to create the final package.
How has your role as Medical Director changed over the past year?
It’s changed a lot since this pandemic started. It has become much more of a supervisory, public health role as opposed to [one of] seeing students and [administering] medical care. I still do some of that, but our nurses here are doing more of it than usual, since I’m busy doing the public health initiatives.
How have the services the Health Center offers changed due to Covid-19?
We still have counseling, fortunately, but more of those sessions are being done remotely. Also, the Health Center itself has been divided into two sections. One is for people who do not have an illness, so things like injuries or general medical care, and the other is for people who are not feeling well.
How has the adjustment of managing health and well-being been?
This year is more stressful for all of us, particularly students. I know everyone was happy to be back, but it is hard to have the limitations. As far as the Health Center is concerned, I think we have adjusted tremendously smoothly.
How have you tried to balance safety with student activities and enjoyment?
That’s a really tough one, but we have looked at what are the risks we are experiencing right now. For example, when everybody first arrived on campus, there were more risks involved as people had flown from all over the United States. Once we had some negative testing, we were able to make changes and allow for more freedom and interactions. We tried to increase the opportunities for students to interact outdoors, which is obviously safer than interacting inside. The balance is trying to decrease as much as we can with protocols like masking and distancing that really prevent the spread [of Covid-19].
How are the rising Connecticut cases a concern for the Choate community?
It’s a concern because many of us travel from outside of Choate — like day students, faculty, and staff. Every time we have community members coming in and out and interacting with a Choate community member, there’s a risk for transmission. For that reason, the rising numbers in Connecticut are concerning. We are monitoring this over a 14- day period, and if the daily case rate rises too high and stays up there, we would need to put new restrictions in place.
How optimistic are you for an in-person return to campus in January?
I am optimistic, but it’s not going to be the first week in January as is currently on the travel calendar. We need to give a little time between the holidays and the return. But, we have to monitor. I am optimistic, but if illness and flu [numbers] are very high and we discover that [the combination of] the flu and Covid are very dangerous, we may not be able to come back to campus. But, from what I’m seeing now on campus and how careful everyone is being, that’s giving me optimism that we’ll be able to come back in January.
What will change if the School moves into the “yellow” risk zone?
There are a couple things. One is that students will be able to go onto that greater Choate campus, so you’d be able to walk into town and get food there, for example. Within the family units for dorms and for day students, if [students] felt comfortable, they could take their mask off. Also, you could go into someone else’s dorm room in your family unit.
Did you foresee the pandemic getting this bad?
I did not. I think by the end of March, it was obvious that the pandemic was not what I thought it would be and that [Covid-19] would be with us for a long time. When [Covid-19] wasn’t really in the U.S. as much, I didn’t see us here at the time.
What advice do you have on staying safe and protecting others?
Do the things that keep you healthy and safe, the masking and distancing, whether here or at home, and being mindful of who you are in contact with. For some people, it’s a very mild illness and for others, it’s not. We don’t want anybody to get sick either here or at home.
