Carly Turns Cajun: May 2020

54 Days ago things got real. It was clear around that time that the coronavirus was not contained within the United States.
Two weeks later states began issuing "stay at home" orders, including West Virginia. The virus was already deemed to be causing a global pandemic.
Things escalated quickly, and I'm not going to recount all the events, but I just wanted to reflect on some of the happenings during this time period.

The last global pandemic of this magnitude was in 1917-1918, also known as the 'Spanish Flu'. That means that just about no one that survived that pandemic and remembered it would be alive today. Every citizen of the globe is living in unprecedented times. And boy does the media like to throw that phrase around. "These are unprecendented times folks!" You hear it everyday, about every thing.

Let me put some things in perspective.
Everything started when Covid-19 was identified as a highly contagious virus in an area of China called the "Wuhan region" in December 2019. People in the US (me included) read about the rapid transmission rate and unexpected death rate that ensued from this new virus. But, we all thought that this was something affecting the people of China. Perhaps this virus would be handled similarly to SARS (a virus that caused a multi-nation epidemic in 2003), and cases would be contained. No one in the United States was currently affected, and most of us assumed that it would stay this way. The United States is the great nation of innovation, with the best healthcare system in the world, and a government that has its citizens' best interests in mind. Right? We can't get the corona.

Yet on January 21, 2020 the first case of the coronavirus was confirmed in the United States in Washington. Oh man. In the matter of a few weeks the virus had spread to every single state, except West Virginia (lucky me!), which held out for a few days before we finally identified our first case. State governors started issuing "stay at home" orders which are essentially a type of temporary marshall law that strongly encourages/necessitates all citizens to stay at home unless he or she is getting essential goods and/or visiting a family member. We are talking full on lockdown folks. In the land of the free, home of the brave, no one is leaving the house unless you absolutely have to. So of course, here comes the panic.

People started buying up ALL THE GOODS because heck, they are gonna stay inside for the next few weeks to months, so they better get the supplies to sustain themselves. The things that started disappearing from the shelves included-

Hand sanitizer
Toilet paper
Paper towels
Lysol wipes and all cleaning products
Yeast
Flour
Meat
Milk
Alcohol
Butter
Potatoes
Bananas
etc

And when I saw 'disappeared from the shelves,' I'm talking about weeks of empty shelves. It took mom and dad a whole month to get their hands on toliet paper and it came from Amazon mind you, not the local stores. While the paper products and cleaning supplies posed a problem, overall I truly do not think we experienced any sort of true food shortages. They do still have limits on certain items like flour, eggs, milk, etc. Thankfully the viral transmission of covid-19 was not linked to food, so people could get take out, fast food, etc.

Other things that happened:

Schools are shut down, so all kids are now 'homseschooled'. This includes me. All my lectures are now held via Zoom which is a platform for group videochats.
TV production comes to a halt. Talk show hosts and entertainment stars recorded from home (in whatever they want to wear)
No one has gotten a haircut, massage, pedicure, dog grooming, etc. in the past month. People resort to watching youtube videos to help them learn how to trim their bangs and touch up their roots
People freak out about the food supply (even though grocery stores are generally well stocked, except for a few things here and there) and start planting seeds, baking their own bread, freezing all the foods they can get their hands on
Essential workers are the only people that can continue to work in public (healthcare workers, grocery store/food service employees/food manufacturing, and a bunch of other stuff thats not essential but somehow got included in 'essential category'. For example, dentists were not deemed to be essential workers, but car salesman were....interesting.)
Everyone else mostly adapts to work from home. Otherwise they were furloughed/let go, and had to file for unemployement

Sidenote- I'm not even going to begin to talk about the economic impact of this thing, but tons of people (millions) became unemployed because the economy came to a screeching halt. I mean who wants to buy a car, book a trip, or invest in the stock market when you don't know what next week is going to look like. You're gonna have look elsewhere for a more in depth discussion on that one, cuz its complicated.

Gyms close down and at-home workout videos reach an all time high. I start using "Les Mills On-demand" to complete kickboxing workouts at home. I ride my bike a bunch, and pedal real fast if anyone comes my way.

The CDC issued a statement indicating that every citizen should- wash your hands frequently and especially after you travel anywhere, sanitize anything that others have touched (I'm talking groceries, mail packages, anything that is going into your home), avoid touching your face/mouth/eyes while in public, and wear a face mask in public

Sidenote- at first the mask thing led to a huge shortage of masks that affected healthcare workers. People were buying up all the masks and cleaning supplies they could get their hands on. Eventually people began sewing their own masks out of cloth. The healthcare shortage lasted a few weeks, and eventually enough people donated those official healthcare masks (N95s) they had hoarded back to hospital, so that all worked out in the end
One more sidenote- the mask and overall personal protective equipment shortage had doctors and nurses wearing the SAME MASK ALL DAY. Let's just say that healthcare workers were definitely getting infected during this time.

Travel comes to a halt. Planes, buses, trains, etc. try to continue running, but people are not going anywhere. International travel brought covid to the US, and I see no better way to spread the virus than to bring a group of people from all over the world together on a small vessel. I've gotten multiple emails from Delta, American Airlines, etc. telling me how they are cleaning their planes and all these other measures to prevent the spread, but I doubt I'll be traveling via plane in the next year. At this point in time the biggest role for air travel becomes the transportation of medical equipment and medical personnel.

Sidenote- a lot of companies have adapted and collaborated to see how they can contribute to the pandemic in a positive light. For example, clothing facilities may start producing cloth masks, packaging plants are used to make face shields, and food plants are making hand sanitizer.

The people hit the hardest- nursing homes, healthcare workers (residents, nurses and doctors treating patients with Covid-19 are exposed to the virus over and over, day in and day out), and those with immunocompromising conditions such as diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, etc.

Other things to consider- most hospitals are instituting a no visitor policy, meaning that if you are admitted with Covid-19, you will suffer and possibly die alone. Pregnant women are only allowed to choose one person to attend deliveries. All elective procedures are cancelled, ambulatory clinics are closed. The only people seeing a doctor in person are those with true emergencies. And even the ER is seeing a drastic decrease in admissions because people are scared to go to the hospital. To try and offset this, most major medical centers have designated one hospital as the 'covid' hospital and another as the 'sick' hospital. That way the covid patients are hypothetically more contained. In some areas such as New York and in other countries, hotels and apartment complexes became make-shift treatment facilities for those who needed to be quarantined from their families as they battled Covid. Of course these people had a mild-moderate course of the virus and did not require serious medical equipment such as ventilators.

What this means for me- Daily life is different. I'm not complaining either. The pandemic has affected everyone differently, and I'm lucky to say that I am fortunate enough that I have been able to (mostly) enjoy this slow down in life. I remind myself that it is only temporary. I was instructed to leave clinic on March 17th, 2020. St. Patricks Day. No cases had hit WV at that point, but the threat of Covid was present in my mind. I remember testing people for the flu and crossing our fingers the test came back positive, because if the patient had the flu it was unlikely that they also had Covid. Those patients wore a mask and so would I. We encouraged everyone to get the flu shot, but patients still refused. My favorite was when one patient said, "I got the flu shot one year, but I didn't really like it." So he didn't want to get it again. I bet he will get the flu shot next year. I hope every one will.

My thoughts about quarantine passed in phases. At first I was happy to stay at home. Michael came up to live with me, and we had never spent that much time together, so it was almost like a vacation for us. We had been long distance for 3 years, our entire relationship. We had always lived anywhere from 1 hour to 5 hours apart. We cooked, watched TV, walked outside, and drank wine. We made a sourdough starter from scratch, leading to tons of bread and baking recipes to use up the discard. English muffins, naan bread, tortillas, big pretzels, pizza, and pancakes just to name a few. We watched a TON of TV. I painted a picture of Maia. I deep cleaned my room. Sewed some patches on my backpacking bag. Baked banana bread at least four times. We cuddled and talked about our life after Covid. Watched the star wars movies with my roommate. I stole the covers and Michael got his beard hair in my sink, but really those were our biggest complaints about living together :D

We only leave the house to go for a walk/ride, get groceries (about once every 2 weeks to minimize exposure), and to see family occasionally (we've traveled to NC twice in the past few months). At first going to the grocery store was nerve racking and probably gave me the closest thing I've ever experienced resembling a panic attack. During those first few trips I felt overwhelmed by all the people, stocking up on enough food to last us, and buying what we needed before certain items ran out. I wanted to get out of the building as fast as humanly possible.

We still wipe down every piece of food/packaging that enters our home, but I'm now a pro at shopping during quarantine. Tips- if someone gets too close= run away. if someone touches all the items on the shelf, well you are gonna have to get that cereal next time bubs. use self checkout for less anxiety.

At certain stores there is a person counting the amount of people and employees entering and exiting the building, because it is regulated (ie: only 1/3 of the fire code permitted capacity). Also aisles are supposed to be one way so that you don't have to pass people. Even the lines outside the door where you wait to enter have people standing 6 feet apart. Stores altered their hours so that they have extra time to restock and sanitize. Most close by 7pm.

It is going to take a while to go back to any sort of normal when I wear a face mask just to get groceries...but I digress.

I continued on with my family medicine clerkship, and after just 3 weeks in the clinic, and 5 weeks at home I took the end-of-rotation shelf exam. I passed and even honored my exam. I had so much time to study that this really did not come as a surprise. I feel like I still learned some from shadowing my preceptors because even in those short 3 weeks I got to see how they approached note-writing and differential diagnoses. Missing out on family medicine wasn't heart wrenching. The rotation has the reputation of being a 'chill' rotation where you generally work from 8-5 with no real emergencies or really sick patients. The doctors are nice and have more of a laid back schedule because everything is outpatient. So missing out on this really just meant more time to relax and study.

Fast forward to now- I'm on my pediatric rotation and I've seen about three patients total within these first two weeks. Of course the patients were Tele-medicine visits. And all of them were older than 13. I'm missing out on those crying babies, cranky toddlers, and sassy teenagers. The weirdest part of all this is that I feel guilty for how lazy I've become. When I found out that I did not have to complete my 'hospital inpatient weeks' because we would be staying at home during that time, I was pretty excited. No 24 hour shift for me! Yep, I'm gonna have a rude awakening when I actually have to show up on time, dressed and ready to go. I have such mixed feelings about the situation, and at the same time, a total lack of control. I try not to get upset over the circumstances, because first of all, my life is not really all that bad right now (compared to the unemployed Americans who have hungry family members at home) and I am getting a huge vacation instead of finishing out my third year of medical school with a rotation known for longer hours and early mornings.

I guess I'll close this reflection with some photos, gifs and a few links to some videos that have brought me joy during this time. As I said before, I feel incredibly fortunate that I am able to spend more time with my family because the past two and a half years of medical school were a whirl-wind of hardwork and little sleep. I am getting so much sleep lately, and I even get to cuddle with Arri on occasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxtGJsnLgSc (if this link doesn't work, just try googling "Italian Mayors tell residents to stay home with coronavirus")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xzGc1yC7JA&feature=youtu.be (if this link doesn't work, just try googling "Names in Kindergarten Class of 2026")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTYxDMYKyiI (if this link doesn't work, just try googling "How Rednecks prepare for the coronavirus"