Angie

When COVID came in 2020, I had been an infection control nurse for 7 years in a mid-sized city in Indiana. While many people were furloughed at home, healthcare workers like myself were busier than ever. My job involved writing policies and communicating the ever-changing CDC updates, teaching healthcare workers the proper protective gear, coordinating lab tests with the public health lab, setting up mass vaccination clinics, testing sick employees, etc. New info and challenges arrived daily. I was too busy to be anxious.

I wanted to enroll in the vaccine trials before the vaccines were released to the general public, but I lived too far away from the large cities where clinical trials were available. I figured that I was a good candidate, since I lived alone, had no young children or family obligations as an empty nester. I trust our scientists. I was the 2nd person vaccinated in the county where I worked, the day before we went live with mass public vaccination clinics. I have had 7 COVID vaccines and I did finally catch a mild case of COVID when I went out of state for a vacation and let my guard down. Seems ironic that with all of the exposure to COVID from testing ill persons I never once got sick because I was very careful to follow the safety protocols.

The human face of COVID is the most important aspect:

• The endless hours of care given by the bedside nurses and doctors, who were fearful of taking the virus home to their own families.

• The loss of a beloved hospital greeter who refused to leave his post helping arriving patients, in spite of his own health struggles.

• The colleague whose young niece was a nurse in China without proper masks to use in the early days of COVID. He was able to send some donated masks to her. Supply chain was stretched thin and donations and sharing of protective gear helped.

• The endless grind of contact tracing of exposed persons for public health nurses, school and occupational health nurses.

• The heartbroken staff watching a favorite colleague struggle in the ICU. The elation of hearing his voice sounding strong after many months spent in hospital settings.

• The goodbye at the bedside of a loved one with the immediate family in full protective gear.

• The loss of elderly relatives in the nursing homes, where much of the COVID damage was seen.

• The triumph of the Respiratory Therapists who advocated for the father of a large family to be transferred to a larger facility where new treatments were available. There was a big celebration when he was later discharged from a Rehab stay.

So many memories…..Yes, COVID has a human face.