For all the talk by physicians about gun violence, the only doctor in the entire United States who is actually doing something tangible to reduce this public health threat is Mike Hirsh, a pediatric surgeon at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. He has been running a region-wide gun buyback which is now in its 18^th year. The city of Worcester is now into its third year without having suffered a death from penetrating trauma, and while the buyback is certainly not the only reason for the city’s lack of gun violence, what Mike has really achieved is a remarkable degree of coordination and respect between physicians on the one hand, and uniformed services on the other.

If there is one thing about the public health and medical response to gun violence which I find wrong to the point of absurdity, it’s the refusal of both groups to talk about the fact that more than 80% of all gun injuries happen to be crimes. What I hear the gun-control medical groups and public health folks saying again and again are variations on the theme of ‘we need to do more research.’ What I never hear them saying is ‘we need to work with the cops to deal with the illegal use of guns.’

The story in Worcester is very different. The story in Worcester is that every year there is an active collaboration between doctors and cops to spread the word about gun risk which now occurs not just in the city of Worcester, but in more than 20 surrounding towns. It didn’t happen overnight. It wasn’t just a one-shot deal.  It took a year-after-year commitment on the part of white coats and blue coats to bring this about.

This year Mike Hirsh was named Medical Director for Worcester and has found himself in the middle of a new threat to community health which still doesn’t seem to be understood as a threat by Schmuck-o in the White House. But at least in Worcester and surrounding towns, a coordinated effort is being done to make sure that everyone who has to play a frontline role in responding to the COVID-19 virus knows what they have to do. Whether it’s responding to emergency calls, or organizing and coordinating facilities, or getting the word out via social media and other communication venues, the bottom line is that the Worcester hospitals have not experienced the kind of patient ‘crush’ that is happening elsewhere and creates serious roadblocks for dealing with this disease. In other words, the degree of citizen compliance seems to be having a positive effect.

Yesterday, the State Board of Health updated their numbers on viral infections and mortality and reported 8 new deaths in Suffolk County (Boston) and 2 new deaths in Worcester County. The population of both counties is roughly 800,000 and of course these number could change. But Boston doesn’t have anyone coordinating the activities of all medical and uniformed first responders, even though the city has 1,200 employees working for its Health Commission, Worcester has 28.

The more I think about how to implement and manage a social distancing strategy to deal with COVID-19, the more I think it’s what we should be doing about gun violence as well. After all, social distancing simply means that we take it upon ourselves to behave in a certain way based on an informed awareness of what needs to be done. Isn’t that what everyone should be doing in response to gun violence – behaving in a certain way with guns based on an informed awareness that guns represent a risk to health?

If the latest estimates are correct, the COVID-19 virus will begin to disappear after we suffer some 60,000 deaths. We suffer more than 100,000 deaths and serious injuries from guns, year after year after year. Maybe what Mike Hirsh is doing in Worcester for COVID-19 could become a national template for dealing with guns.