HODGES CLINIC, LLC

Dr. Durwood M. Hodges Jr., M.D. Dr. Andrew D. Hodges, M.D.

307 Parks Ave
Scottsboro, AL 35768
Phone (256)574-1566
Fax (256)259-0023

30 April 2020
re: State of Alabama quarantine

Dr. Harris,

Greetings from northeast Alabama! I have seen your name pop up a lot recently for obvious
reasons. No doubt, you are under a lot of stress. From one internist to another, I want to
commend you for a job-well-done under these unprecedented circumstances. I want to
personally let you know I have been praying for you and the rest of our state leadership
throughout this pandemic. God bless you for stepping up to the plate for the state in terms of
administering and authorizing public policy in the context of our medical sector.

I am nobody, really, in terms of a recognizable name in Montgomery. I am a small-town internist

in Jackson County. There’s no reason, for that matter, you should really care about my letter. By
the grace of God, this will even make it into your hands instead of some lower-ranking official
whose job is to be the mail sifter. That being said, I would like to exhort you in this troubled
time to stand firm in your training as an internist in terms of the state quarantine laws you have
authorized.

No doubt we’re dealing with this widespread disease. It is dangerous, possibly more so than
seasonal influenza. Possibly. I would like to encourage you, internist-to-internist, to please take
into account the “whole patient”. As a primary care physician, my job is to take care of the
whole patient. It is not afforded to me to “hit the easy button” and focus on one organ system. I
take care of the entirety of the patient: cardiovascular, pulmonary, endocrine, psychiatric, etc. I
would encourage you to do the same when it comes to our great state’s livelihood.

There is no easy way out of this, but I do not feel the current data lends itself to supporting such
draconian measures (e.g., ten-person limit on gatherings, quarantining the healthy, etc.). The
initial steps, and I may be mistaken, were taken out of fear, muddied statistics, and political
pressure. At the time of this virus being discovered, I understand the initial fear and panicked
response. However, now that the data has come out, I believe it is time to get back to life. The
people of Jackson County, my home, desperately need to get back to work. More so than this,
we need to get back to church. Assembling to corporately worship God together is a cornerstone
of our existence; people being gainfully employed is a cornerstone of our economy.

Looking at the data, I do not understand why there needs to be any further waiting. It has
become apparent to me our COVID19 testing is in danger of misclassification bias in light of the
liberal reporting practices increasingly coming to public attention. The R0 value for our state
(even more so, many of our counties) is not that of New York, New Jersey, New Orleans, etc.
Meanwhile, the collateral damage stands to be massive.

My elderly population has seen a meteoric rise in rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal
ideation. The rates of drug abuse and overdose in my county have seen a similar increase. Many
of my fellow Jacksonians have lost jobs, lost insurance coverage, and cannot afford their
medications. The rest of them are too scared to report to my clinic, the urgent care, or the
emergency department for textbook myocardial, stroke, and septic symptoms. Due to these
quarantine measures and the press’ lopsided coverage, they are frightened beyond control to
leave their home.

I have reviewed Alabama Code 22-2-2 which basically makes you the sole authority in
quarantine matters. I realize you also consult with the MASA board on these matters, of which I
am proud to hear. For that reason, I would at least like to be one community physician on the
“frontlines” encouraging you to revisit the idea of picking up the pace of getting our society back
to some semblance of normalcy. Much like swimming at a pool with an overhanging sign
reading “swim at your own risk: no lifeguard on duty”, much of society is based on personal
responsibility. It is clear hospitals will not be overrun (though, they may shut down due to
bankruptcy); it is clear this is not what it was originally thought to be. So, again I ask for you to
please place the power of responsibility back in the people’s hands. Let our churches, factories,
clinics, stores, restaurants, event venues, etc. take personal responsibility for the health of their
patrons. They’re smart enough to run themselves; they’re smart enough to adhere to sanitation
guidelines. Let county and city leaders make the decisions for their communities based on what
the local statistics are.

I am thrilled to hear you are a fellow brother in The Faith. I, too, am a brother in Christ. It is
from that standpoint I am reasoning. A virus that is equal to the virulence (possibly a bit more
depending on where you live) of a strong seasonal influenza should not be a reason to delegate
“love of neighbor”. All I’ve heard is “love your neighbor, let’s all stay home”. What about our
neighbors who have one foot in the breadline due to their job shutting down? What about our
young neighbors who are on the verge of starvation due to their parents being out of work? Our
neighbors who can’t afford their medications? Our neighbors contemplating suicide due to
massive loneliness? Are we not to love them, too? Does “love of neighbor” only apply to
potential/existing coronavirus patients? As a brother in Christ, don’t neglect the most important
part of our existence as physicians: to know Christ and to make Him known. At this point, I see
no overwhelming evidence we are making Christ known by turning all available assets and
attention to a small subset of the population and hanging everyone else out to dry.

I think if we step back and take a biblical worldview, we realize death is a part of life. There has
always been an acceptable amount of risk we take just living life; part of that is based in the fact
we serve a sovereign God who does not tell us to live in fear and who is always in control. We
are to use our wisdom and faith to live life and keep going. We tell the elderly and
immunocompromised to limit exposure to the outside world, and we tell the healthy to get back
to work and play. We encourage strict personal and corporate sanitation, we engage in a massive
infectious contact investigation for all positive cases, and we let everyone else get back to their
livelihoods.

That all being said (and if you haven’t thrown this letter away yet!), I want to encourage you in
your tough task ahead. I am praying for you fervently. My church (Riverside Community
Church) is praying for you. I want to thank you as well for the tremendous job you’ve done to-
date in leading our great state.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above number.

Sincerely,

Andrew D. Hodges, MD