Across Virginia, the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to skyrocket. While this increase affects everyone, it touches those directly on the front lines.

I spoke with two front-line workers about how this virus is affecting them and what messages they have for others.

I first spoke with Traci Williams, a Registered Nurse at the University of Virginia Hospital.

One of the first things Traci spoke about is the level of daily anxiety experienced by herself and her peers Traci shared that many coworkers have contracted or were exposed to the virus. The hospital furloughed several nurses due to exposure. 

Initially, the hospital tested patients only if they were exhibiting symptoms. Though patients would wear their mask to enter the hospital, many would remove the masks once they were secure in their rooms. Not realizing that they were carrying the virus because they didn’t have symptoms, this also caused some medical staff to become infected with the virus. As a result, the hospital has tightened protocol testing everyone entering. In addition, they have revised the visitor policy and each patient can only have one visitor per day per stay and if the selected visitor leaves for example to go get lunch, they can’t come back that day. This has also created a stressful environment for the medical staff. “How do I tell someone that you can’t come visit your family,” Traci stated.  She shared that there have been many days of many tears.

Traci stressed the importance of utilizing resources available and following the recommended guidelines of wearing a mask and using proper social distancing.

“Reports from other units, and the patients I work with that are recovering from COVID-19 show that the current majority demographic coming in our hospital for this virus is the Hispanic population. I want to make sure they are getting the resources necessary so we can see fewer numbers, including making sure there aren’t any language barriers,” Traci shared.

Traci also warned that most people spreading this virus according to hospital reports she receives are people that are not showing symptoms. “According to one of our Employee Health reports, initially many of the nurses that were testing positive for COVID-19 were getting it from nurse to nurse contact, rather than patient to nurse. They would eat together in the break room and not realize that they have exposed the other. We all have people and places that we feel more comfortable and our guard may come down, but we can’t know who that person has been around, and who they have exposed, so it’s almost safe to assume that everyone has it, just so you remember not to lower your guard and put yourself at risk,” Traci stated. The hospital has since adjusted, making sure everyone can social distance.

Traci shared even with all the anxiety, she still loves her job, this is what she dreamed of doing, and she loves servicing the community. Her message to the community is this, “The virus is real. Wear your mask, wash your hands, social distance!”

As we move closer to Prince William county, let’s meet a local school bus driver, Cynthia Jones, who has faced numerous challenges from the pandemic during her first year of work.

Cynthia shared how the rapid progression of the virus created confusion for her and her peers, “As we know, things happened rapidly, which caused the school systems to act promptly but not have definite plans. This meant that they couldn’t really give clear direction to support staff,” explained  Cynthia. As the months progressed, Cynthia was unsure on how this would affect her employment. Rather than do nothing and allow her anxiety to get the best of her, she helped bring income into the home, and being that community service is high on the list of her value system, she put her sewing skills to work and started making masks. Her business now includes additional accessories.

Fortunately, the county she works for has done an excellent job with keeping support staff employed. Some things she has done, along with other support staff, includes going to schools and helping organize and hand out schoolwork to parents that pickup work for their children. They have also been able to deliver food to the families of students.

As the school year progressed, they’ve slowly begun bringing students back, based on special needs, and other factors which means she has had to interact with some students.

The county has ensured that each bus is regularly cleaned and set up to allow for social distancing, but while each bus is prepped to follow Covid-19 guidelines, proper use of masks among students is rather unpredictable.

While the county is doing their best given the uncertainty of the virus, working to ensure that student’s needs get met and to recognize their parent’s concerns, it is tough to offer complete solutions that satisfy everyone.

“One thing that I would love to see is more control around the consequences of a student refusing to wear a mask. Can we put policies in place that require drivers to fill out necessary paperwork and suspend the child from being able to ride the bus if they refuse to wear the mask? Of course, that’s not a simple decision, but I feel it’s one worth looking into to help keep the safety of other students and drivers,” Cynthia lamented.

Cynthia went on to share that, in her opinion, the ramifications of an outbreak among support staff can completely exhaust the system. For example, a bus that normally takes about 40 students will now take about 20 students due to social distancing. If a driver gets exposed to an individual who has tested positive for Covid-19, the expectation is that they will be off their route for at least about two weeks in order to quarantine, and if they themselves get the virus, it could prolong the quarantine process. So now you have the healthy employees having to pick up extra routes, creating more fatigue. Because of this, Cynthia feels adopting a version of a No Mask/No Ride policy could help keep the risk down.

Even with each student getting on the bus with a mask, Cynthia shared her concern that the natural behavior of children will mean they are likely to take their masks off while on the bus or at school. Her message to the community is this, “Parents please enforce and support the school by making sure your children understand the importance of wearing masks and following the social distancing procedures put in place by the school system.”

We would like to thank Traci and Cynthia for their work in the community as front-line workers. We wish for the continued safety for them, along with others that show bravery, and tirelessly to keep the community running during this dreadful time.