I’m not entirely sure where I’m going with this. But I’m noticing a serious lack of primary care inclusion in Ontario Covid discussion. Public health is a great specialty, so is infectious disease, so are epidemiologists and statistical modellers and internists and so on 1/

But primary care can be really valuable in a pandemic too. We talk to patients and families daily. We hear their thoughts and fears. We know how they are moving through their days and who is sick and why. All that data is in our EMRs, our heads and our hearts. 2/

In smaller places we see patients in their homes, in long term care, in emergency rooms, on labour & delivery, in the chemo suite. We are also intimately bound up in how these systems work and don’t work, and we are (usually) listened to by our own local admin. 3/

We are also deeply embedded in our communities & making decisions about visiting grandparents, sending our kids to school, playing hockey etc. We have tons of leadership and communications skills — that’s what we do every day in our offices, our hospitals and our communities. 4/

Don’t forget about primary care when you’re writing open letters, piecing together plans for Covid testing and flu vaccinations, working on your models & communicating to the public and to other clinicians. We’re all in this together — please don’t leave us out./