Working During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Since the United States confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus in January of this year, life has changed dramatically for everyone around the country. Not only are people limited to staying inside their homes, but all non-essential businesses have been shut down until further notice.
It seems as though everything involving this virus happened so fast, and now it has been slightly over three months since the United States confirmed its first case. Below is a chart showing a brief timeline of the earlier stages of coronavirus, starting in January and ending in March.
The government forcing everyone to stay home is a way to protect individuals from both catching the virus and spreading it to others that may be more susceptive to respiratory illnesses. However, due to the nature of the medical industry, they do not have the opportunity to social-distance themselves and are thrust onto the front lines to fight Covid-19.
One of the many medical workers that has stepped up during these unprecedented times is Clinical Pharmacist, Ray Ryman. He has worked biweekly in the pharmacy and on the trauma team at Genesis Hospital in Zanesville, Ohio, for 13 years.
Primarily, his job is to, “verify prescription orders for all wings of the hospital during the night shift.” Ryman is also consulted by doctors for developing antibiotic regimens for patients. These tasks often have him in close-contact with patients, and now that the coronavirus numbers are rising as more tests have become available, he is working closely with people suffering from the virus.
When asked why Covid-19 is so dangerous, he said, “It is unusual that this virus is very active in shedding, which means that it can be transmitted to other people when the person is actually asymptomatic.”
Ryman said there are two other forms of coronavirus that have been around for years, but Covid-19 is a strain that has never been caught by humans before. Thus, explaining the lack of immunity by the community.
As of now, Genesis Hospital has had two individuals that tested positive for Covid-19 according to the pharmacist. Ryman says one of the four, a 48-year-old male, is currently in serious condition. The hospital also had, “a young boy, relatively asymptomatic, who was discharged at home.” He said there are two other Covid-19 patients in Muskingum County, which is where the hospital is located, but they are being treated at different hospitals.
On top of the two confirmed cases, he said there are also 15 other patients that are being held in a secluded wing of the hospital that are suspected of having the virus, but they have yet to receive their test results.
All of the medical professionals that are working around these patients are following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines. The first CDC guideline is that each employee does not start their shift until they take their temperature. He said, “and if our temperatures are over 100, we go home and contact our sister organization that will have use come in for an examination.” All hospital employees also wear the shield masks promoted by the CDC.
Ryman said other precautions taken by him and his coworkers are, “mainly hand-washing and sanitizing all the phones on a regular basis.” He also shared his personal precautions he takes once his shift is over to ensure he does not get or transmit the virus to anyone else:
Looking more toward the future, Ryman believes that we may still have a while to go before coronavirus is figured out. He said, “There is still a lot of guessing out here because the populations that have actually been tested is fairly small.” However, he he reinforced what the CDC and other medical organizations said by stating that by the end of April the country will be peaking.
He anticipates that after we hit the peak the numbers will start going down and the general public will get back to “normal” around mid-June. He also warns that there could be a second spike later on in the fall. However, he then added, “I don’t think it will require quite the same quarantine methods that we have had to use here.”
The health professionals have been saying that time is what is needed to improve the position we are currently in, and Ryman also believes that to be the case.
Time is important, he said, but there is one more important thing people all over the country can do to help flatten the curve and stop the spread of coronavirus. When asked what that one important thing was, he said, “The social distancing, take that seriously. I think we can all get through this.”
Ryman then echoed the words of medical professionals all over the world when he said, “Stay home, to help those who can’t.”
