A Gerald woman who is a nurse in an intensive care unit (ICU) shares her experience treating novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients and information she feels is good, but misunderstood.

The woman, who agreed to speak on the record if only identified by her initials TB, said the general public needs to be better informed about the information they are given and how to use it. She starts by explaining the reason for the stay at home orders and the definition of “flatten the curve.”

“It’s not to keep people from getting sick,”TB said. “It’s to keep them from not getting sick all at once and overloading the healthcare system.”

She used influenza as an example.

“The flu is spread out, but COVID-19 is new, everyone is susceptible, no one is immune and therefore everyone gets it,” TB said. “The question now, is the stay at home order working as it should?”

TB said it wasn’t until the end of last week that people began to take the situation seriously and at first she couldn’t tell a difference in city traffic on Interstate 270.

“Eventually I-270 at 5 p.m. was more like traffic at 2 p.m.,” she said. “People have grasped it now, but I think maybe they grasped it too late.”

While the stay at home order is in effect and has shut down many recreational areas, TB said it is absolutely ok to get outside and take a walk.

“It’s not just the weather and the temperature that slows the flu,” she said. “It’s that there is no contact — it’s the same thing. Stay home and you won’t get sick as quick. Wash your hands, keep social distancing.”

While TB said her own ICU wasn’t full as of last week, overloading the healthcare system means staff and personal protection equipment (PPE) gets used up all at once and it takes time to replenish.

“The media hypes up the numbers, but we are testing more,” she said, adding that the United States is also more honest. “If you are immunocompromised and die because you contracted COVID-19, the United States says the death is due to COVID-19 — other countries say it is because of the immuno deficiency.”

COVID-19 is considered a droplet but can become airborne with nebulized (breathing) treatments, which means it is in the air for a longer amount of time.

“A droplet is a certain size and falls, on an average, six feet away from the host with a cough or sneeze,” TB said. “Hence the six foot social distancing rule.”

Some of the medications given to COVID-19 patients in an ICU could cause the droplets to become aerosolized and stay in the room longer. ICU nurses have to combat the virus with thicker precautions.

“I wear a surgical mask on top of my N95 mask to conserve the N95 masks from becoming compromised,” she said. “We do not have a shortage of N95 masks or PPE, but we are trying to keep from having a shortage by conserving the equipment we have.”

TB said if at any time she feels her N95 mask has become compromised, she can get another.

“But if there was absolutely no shortage, ideally we would throw away the mask each time we left a patient’s room,” she explained.

In addition to the N95 mask and surgical mask, she also wears goggles if the patient is coughing a lot, as well as a face shield, gown, shoe covers and two pairs of gloves.

“I wear two pairs of gloves because the first set has to come off before removing any PPE,” TB said. “That way I can take off the first pair of gloves that I used while helping the patient and use the second pair to remove the PPE from my face.”

She adds the precaution of changing into scrubs when she arrives at the hospital, and keeping her shoes covered at all times so she doesn’t bring any virus home.

“I’ve been involved with sick patients now and it is heartbreaking to see how quickly they deteriorate and how slowly they come back,” she said. “We think they are stable and a few hours later they have deteriorated more than before. The traditional treatments we would normally use don’t always work.”

She also acknowledges that it is allergy season in Missouri.

“If someone is asymptomatic with COVID-19, but they don’t know it and also has allergies, they could be infecting and exposing others with no way to know it,” TB said. “I have asthma. I’ve had a cough and shortness of breath since September.”

She said she uses an inhaler for both of her consistent symptoms, which would not work on a COVID-19 patient.

“When the inhaler stops working, it will be time to talk to my physician,” she said.

TB said she understands that some people choose to protect themselves by wearing PPE to the grocery stores or when they have to leave their homes, but reminds them to dispose of the gear correctly and not put others at risk.

“People who wear gloves to the grocery store, dispose of them in the trash can afterwards instead of leaving them in the cart,” she advised. “Dispose of it before you get into your car and use hand sanitizer afterwards. Gloves are no good if you are touching everything and taking precautions when you take them off.”

As for the COVID-19 numbers that are released by health departments and other sources each day, she said don’t get caught up in those.

“Remember someone who has tested positive with COVID-19 must test negative at least two times after the symptoms have stopped. It’s a timely thing to follow up with and many aren’t going to come back to get the second negative test.”