Greater LA
‘Just because something opens up — doesn’t make it safe,’ says doctor on reopening of economy
“If you’re going to decide to go to a restaurant, make sure they are adhering to social distancing, I would say at least 10 feet, and make sure that it isn’t very crowded. … Just because something opens up — doesn’t make it safe,” says Samuel Fink, an internal medicine doctor in Tarzana.
By Steve Chiotakis • • 8m ListenLos Angeles County recently reopened outdoor dining and nail and hair salons with capacity limitations. And some doctors waging the fight against coronavirus from March 2020 continue to sound the alarm about the risk of infection and transmission.
Doctor Samuel Fink, an internal medicine doctor in Tarzana, was one of the first doctors in the county to treat COVID patients in early March. He speaks with KCRW about why it’s important to still stay home even as the county reopens.
In LA, COVID numbers are trending downward compared to where they were a month ago, but Dr. Fink thinks that many activities like dining outdoors or shopping at the store are still unsafe.
He says, “In my opinion, that decision [to reopen] was really probably based more on politics and business rather than on true health care needs. So we understand that businesses want to reopen, they probably have to reopen to stay afloat. But from an individual perspective … we gotta be careful.”
“If you’re going to decide to go to a restaurant, make sure they are adhering to social distancing, I would say at least 10 feet, and make sure that it isn’t very crowded. … Just because something opens up — doesn’t make it safe.”
