Then I started to see a post here and there about it spreading throughout China extremely quickly with multiple deaths noted, and in the back of my mind, I began to get worried. Worried for the people in China and worried that it would inevitably find it's way here, to the U.S..
BUT
still not overly concerned. I mean, we (the U.S.A.) are invincible right?
Before I could blink, it was here... a positive Covid-19 patient in Washington... and the World Health Organization (WHO) is emailing my little, county jail an official, mandatory questionnaire that was required to be filled out with every new intake; Have you traveled internationally within the last 3 months, Has anyone you've been in contact with traveled internationally within the last 3 months, Are you having any of the following symptomology? etc. etc. etc. If the inmate were to tick off a certain amount of these boxes, we were to put them in a 'quarantine' and advise our local health department.
Whoa. Hold the phone. This can't really be happening right?
So, I started to learn everything I could about it... which was basically that nobody knew anything at all. The CDC was just reporting how they thought the virus was affecting people... How they thought it was spreading from person to person... NO scientific evidence or data available, NO treatment recommendations, NO comfort at all in their answers.
And this, this is where I got scared.
Over the next two weeks or so as posts on my social media feeds and chit-chat around the jail with other staff members about the virus became more frequent - it was evident to me that this virus was going to change the face of the world. It was already up-heaving entire communities and people were beginning to get panicky as each new confirmed case in the U.S. was broadcasted and more countries became infected.
AND THEN IT WAS HERE.
In Michigan.
A few hours drive from my tiny rural town, but here none the less and spreading fast.
All of a sudden, everyone is asking my opinion on it and by this time, I'm obsessively checking the CDC website for any scrap of new information, anything that would help keep us safe as a community... and there was still nothing.
Nothing of comfort that I could pass along to help ease the sudden anxieties of my staff and inmates.
So, as a precaution (and I so say it this way purposefully, because at that time, I was concerned but still under that small town 'It'll never reach us here' type mentality), I put specific protocols in place concerning new inmate incarcerations, spoke with our Jail Administrator about what we could do with our inmates sentenced to weekends and our writs, as well as did a sweeping inventory to ensure that we had what PPE the CDC was recommending (which btw we had precious little of).
Unfortunately though, by this time, my attempts at ordering additional PPE was too little too late (a mistake I hope to never have the opportunity to repeat again). Everything we needed still was already sold out with all of our vendors.
Today, as I am writing this, the U.S. has taken the number one spot for most infected total by the virus. Michigan is fluctuating between 4th and 5th place for the most confirmed cases, the county my jail is located in has had a couple confirmed cases - still in the single digits - and the county I live in has also had just a handful of positive cases but, I suspect that this number is going to rise exponentially over the next few weeks.
I feel that a good majority of the people living and working in this rural area are still in the mindset that they are untouchable, that this is just going to blow over... there are a ton of businesses that are still open despite the lockdown order from the governor AND the amount of people I see driving around town and moving in and out of those local businesses is just ridiculous. It makes my job as a registered nurse that much harder. (before anyone asks, my county jail sits right on the main strip of our city so I can see and hear the traffic as it goes by all day long)
As a side note here, I would like to point out that NONE of my inmates are showing any symptoms of the virus at this time.
As for me, I am still obsessively checking out the CDC website for new and emerging information, changing and adjusting our protocols as it becomes necessary and self quarantining when I'm not working - I could never forgive myself if I were to accidentally bring the virus into the jail, some of my current inmates are immuno-compromised already (aged 50+, asthma, COPD, Hypoglycemic... etc.).
I try to steer clear of all the panicky tweets, emails, youtube videos, facebook and instagram posts that get to circulating. Sometimes though, I get sucked down that rabbit hole. The rabbit hole of fear... fear for the country as a whole. I see alarming posts about rioting, killing off the sick, militias taking control of cities and counties, people blaming whole races for the reason for the virus... that kind of stuff is the scariest of all to me. It makes me anxious for the future.
But then, inevitably, I find a comment or a post mixed into that swirling rabbit hole that is a voice of reason. A voice of hope, a calming whisper in the sea of panic... and I am able to breath again, to climb up out of that rabbit hole and move on.
These are scary times but I know I am doing everything I can to help deter Covid-19 from spreading and that's all I can do right now.
Please Feel Free to Share Your Stories! Drop me a comment below!
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