January 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 37

In his interview for Parks & Recreation,
Dr. Sanjay Gupta says the COVID-19
pandemic has reminded us how important
and healthy it is to be outside.
And what can we do as
local government, local
government agencies
and representatives of
local government to
build resilience in our
communities, to prevent
or to prepare for the next
pandemic?
Dr. Gupta: When I was writing
the book, I thought a lot about
the fact that many countries think
of this [pandemic] almost from a
Department of Defense [DoD]
mode. Right now,
[the United
States] probably [has] a dozen
aircraft carriers that are circumnavigating
the globe.... We have
more aircraft carriers than any
other country in the world; we're
five percent of the world's population.
We don't [often] think...
that those aircraft carriers are out
there. We think about us as being
a relatively safe country to live
[in], and there are all these things
that are happening in the background
to make that the case.
The aircraft carrier is one example,
but all these things are happening.
We do have to think about
what is arguably the greatest threat
to the nation - which comes in the
form of a tiny virus - the same
way. We have to apply almost a
DoD mentality to these things. So,
the planning is the biggest thing at
all levels: individual level, societal
level, government level.
I do think the other big thing...
[is]...how we evaluate risk. Most
people are not very good at evaluating
risk. You're willing to drive
down the road in a multiple-ton
vehicle at 75 miles an hour, but
you're unwilling to do " X. " It
would make no sense if you were
to look at this just in terms of the
human being's risk for whatever
the situation may be.
In the world, there may have been
around 6 million confirmed deaths
due to COVID and about a million
of them happened in the United
States. And we are a country that
spends $4 trillion [a year] on healthcare,
and we got hit hardest in terms
of overall deaths per capita. Now,
there's a lot of reasons for that, but
I think one of them that probably
doesn't get enough attention is just
our overall health.
As citizens going into this pandemic,
we knew the people who
were diabetic, people who were
obese, people who had chronic
diseases were at greater risk of this
disease. And I think there's a real
wakeup call to improve our underlying
health to make us more resilient
to...future variants or brandnew
viruses altogether.
May: In your keynote
address at the NRPA
Annual Conference in
Phoenix, you said that
" 70 to 80 percent of
chronic diseases are
preventable, " while sharing
your observations of the
Amazon region's Tsimane
people as a prime example.
Can you explain how their
way of life and relationship
to nature are a model for
maintaining good physical
and mental health?
Dr. Gupta: It's kind of stunning
to think that 70 to 80 percent of
chronic diseases
in
the United
States are preventable. I mean, just
to sit back and think we spent $4
trillion on healthcare, [and yet] life
expectancy is going backwards.
And I would even say that most of
that 70 to 80 percent is related to
how we nourish ourselves, our diets.
So, I give the Tsimane example,
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January 2023 - Parks & Recreation

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