At hospitals across the United States, caregivers limit the number of times they enter the rooms of coronavirus patients, to reduce the risk of contagion — at this Maryland hospital, they communicate through a window (WIN MCNAMEE)<\/i><\/p>\n
Washington (AFP) – After spending three weeks in isolation, Justin Jara returns to work Tuesday at his hospital in Detroit, but he doesn’t have a lot of faith in the test that showed he now has antibodies against the new coronavirus.<\/p>\n
“I still have fear, I am scared to go back to work,” the 26-year-old nurse told AFP.<\/p>\n
“A doctor told me that I’m immune and I have antibodies but still, it’s not scientifically proven yet.”<\/p>\n
Across the United States, some 9,000 health care workers have been sickened by the virus that causes COVID-19, and more than two dozen have died, according to official figures released last week.<\/p>\n
The rest, like Jara, have recovered and — as they make their way back to work — are entering a world of unknowns.<\/p>\n
So far, there is no proven treatment or vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, and scientists don’t know whether it has long-term impacts on the lungs, kidneys or other organs.<\/p>\n
Does infection confer immunity? And if so, will that immunity be seasonal, like for colds, or life-long, like for measles?<\/p>\n
Many caregivers don’t have the option of working from home. They’re needed back on the frontline, in many cases at the same place where they contracted the virus.<\/p>\n
Jara fell ill in late March, back at a time when it wasn’t deemed necessary for the nurses in his unit to wear protective gear because it was a so-called “clean unit” with no coronavirus patients.<\/p>\n
One patient, however, turned out to be infected despite a negative test result.<\/p>\n
Jara recovered at home, riding out the high fever, muscle aches and shortness of breath that characterize mild cases.<\/p>\n
But he is heading back to a hospital that has completely changed. The 35 beds in his unit are taken up exclusively by COVID-19 patients.<\/p>\n
He had to learn, online, how to use the new and omnipresent oxygen machines.<\/p>\n
A new rule states that nurses can only enter rooms a few times per day, barring an emergency, in order to limit the risk of spread.<\/p>\n
And personal protective equipment is an absolute must: masks, face shields, gowns and gloves.<\/p>\n
“I’m going to probably be really cautious to prevent reinfection for myself,” Jara said.<\/p>\n
– Protecting loved ones –<\/p>\n
More than a month after he got infected, Richard Whelan, a 63-year-old colorectal surgeon in New York, doesn’t even know whether he has antibodies against the virus.<\/p>\n
The so-called serological test isn’t widely available in America’s most populous city, the world’s worst-hit hotspot, as it is in Detroit where Jara lives.<\/p>\n
Whelan was bed-ridden for 12 days, leaving him “wiped out.”<\/p>\n
His hospital, Lenox Hill, has canceled all elective procedures, and the doctor is assisting in a 24-bed COVID unit.<\/p>\n
Like everyone else, he wears a mask and a gown.<\/p>\n
“I don’t want to contaminate my wife and my daughter,” Whelan says.<\/p>\n
He’s also uncertain about his own recovery, given that his age places him in a vulnerable category.<\/p>\n
“I’m not willing to give a blood donation of my plasma right now because I need them,” says Whelan, as New York organizes plasma collections from recovered patients as a form of experimental therapy for those who still have the disease.<\/p>\n
“I need my antibodies to protect me.”<\/p>\n
On the other side of the country, in Seattle, emergency department nurse Terry West recalls a sense of “relief” at being among the first wave of those infected and recovered.<\/p>\n
The 55-year-old went back to work on April 5.<\/p>\n
But she cannot feel completely at ease given that her husband is a lung cancer survivor, making him vulnerable to the disease.<\/p>\n
“We always gown up, we always glove up, we always wear a mask. I don’t want to tempt fate,” says West, who had only moderate symptoms.<\/p>\n
Even if the chances of reinfection are considered low, she doesn’t want to bring home virus particles on her clothes and in her hair.<\/p>\n
There is one area where she is willing to take some risk.<\/p>\n
She regular volunteers to take care of patients considered more likely to spread the disease because the “BiPAP” oxygen machines they are on release their exhaled air into the room.<\/p>\n
“If you’re unsure and you have little kids at home or you have elderly people living with you, I’m willing to step forward and go in,” she said.<\/p>\n
Disclaimer:<\/b> Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At hospitals across the United States, caregivers limit the number of times they enter the rooms of coronavirus patients, to reduce the risk of contagion — at this Maryland hospital, they communicate through a window (WIN MCNAMEE) Washington (AFP) – After spending three weeks in isolation, Justin Jara returns to work Tuesday at his hospital…<\/p>\n