With today being World Health Day, there is no better time to applaud the incredible job that our health care workers and other medical first responders are doing in the face of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.

Although many have dismissed the accolades with “we’re just doing our job,” we couldn’t be more grateful.

In these very scary and dangerous times, where every one of us could be a possible carrier of the virus, it is so important to get authoritative and accurate information.

Understanding that this is a novel (new) contagion, medical professionals are learning on the job in addition to taking some pages from previous pandemic playbooks.

Hundred of Pennsylvanians have expressed their gratitude to state Health Secretary and Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine, who, with Gov. Tom Wolf, holds daily news briefings to not only keep us up to date on the toll this coronavirus is having on our residents but to drive home the importance that every Pennsylvanian must take COVID-19 seriously.

She punctuates each briefing with the same sound advice: “Stay calm, stay home, stay safe. We will get through this if we do it together.”

These briefings and Levine’s Twitter feed are indispensable nuggets of advice and information, and she provides them in a calming, professional manner.

In a recent interview, Levine said she learned how important staying calm in the face of adversity is during her clinical years at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey. “In emergency clinical situations, it’s important to stay calm, and so that’s what I do now,” she said.

Nothing like this has ever happened to us before, so leaders must figure out how to navigate these unchartered waters. A wrong word can create panic. Incorrect or uncorroborated information could be deadly.

In the midst of this chaos, however, Levine’s confidence and candor reassure us that our leaders’ efforts and game plan are in good hands.

After each briefing, Levine and Wolf take questions from the news media. Even those which are not answered during the briefing are followed up on later in the day. Levine never gets flustered by questions, and she never loses her temper nor criticizes the nature of a question.

Levine’s approach is straightforward. There is no guess work. If she does not know an answer, she says so and promises to get one. She’s truthful and realistic without resorting to gloom-and-doom or cheerleading-type pronouncements. She acknowledges the seriousness of what we are and will continue to experience for the next few months but holds out hope that if we follow the guidelines strictly we will get through this faster than if we don’t.

One of the most gratifying observations I have made during these daily briefings is that she is not on some kind of an ego trip. Even now that she has a high profile, she prefers to be all business and advocates for teamwork and collaboration. She rarely gives interviews, and she is not one to talk about herself all that much, although she does acknowledge that she routinely puts in 11-hour days, seven days a week, during these critical times. Then, when she goes home, she tackles what seems to be an endless stream of emails and texts.

Wolf appointed Levine as physician general in 2015 and nominated her as health secretary in 2017. She was confirmed by the state Senate in 2018. Levine is also a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey.

Her appointment made headlines five years ago since she was the first transgender person to be named physician general. I find it maddening and so disrespectful that during the daily briefings, some ignorant Facebook users are posting disparaging comments about her appearance.

As Levine so aptly observed, “It doesn’t make any difference what my gender identity is; all that matters is my professional work.” And her dedication and competence put her in a league of her own.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com