The Bennifer Era of the Pandemic
The Bennifer Era of the Pandemic
I don't want to go back to the past, so can we all please try to be better???
Unfortunately, COVID-19 will never be a Samantha, no matter how much we wish she would just disappear from our lives.
The pandemic is not only trudging on, it’s kicking off into its fourth wave with the rising tides of the Delta variant and the plateauing of vaccinations. Because I’m nearly as bad at science as I am at math, I wanted to discuss this new era of the pandemic with someone who could speak on it so much better than I can.
This week, I talked with Collin Dorner who graduated from nursing school at The University of Alabama at Birmingham earlier this year with a Bachelors of Nursing and Science. He worked on the front lines of this virus battle and is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses.
Collin graciously answered all of my questions about what his experience with COVID-19 has been like, how the virus affects different groups disproportionately, and why the Delta variant peaked in college. (This is obviously a joke, by the way. The Delta variant is actually really serious.) (Also, it peaked in high and was already washed up by the time it got to college.)
CDC Salespitch
Once upon a time, I used to look out my massive bedroom window and would see the Centers For Disease Control looking right back at me. I loved my neighbor and, as a lifelong hypochondriac, felt safe in its presence.
I was so close to the CDC, in fact, that Amazon once accidentally delivered my outfit for Atlanta Pride to the campus instead of to me. What the national public health agency of the United States ended up doing with that pair of silver hotpants and rainbow tank top is just one of this country’s great unsolved mysteries.
All of this to say, I wanted to open today’s conversation on a lighter note with Collin’s response to the question:
Emily: For people like me who don't understand science but trust it— how does the vaccine work to protect individuals, and how is it more likely to keep patients out of hospitals?
Collin: I always like to recommend people to do their own research! You don't have to understand the science fully because not many people understand how mRNA affects the production of antibodies and that's okay.
Do your own research, go to CDC.gov and you can find so much wonderful information on how the vaccines work and how they work to protect you and the people you love.
Covid in the Time of Corona
Over the past year, I’ve caught myself wondering how we all just lived lives before COVID-19 because, as we’ve established, I am a drama queen. While the pandemic has only been around for a year and a half, it’s become so all-encompassing that it’s now hard to even imagine a world without it.
And that’s from just a regular citizen.
As someone who worked directly with COVID-19 patients in a hospital during the third wave over the course of the holidays, I wanted to know how Collin’s experience affected him the way the pandemic at large has affected all of us.
I asked:
Emily: What is the most important lesson you learned working hands-on with patients during the pandemic?
Collin: As a nursing student during the pandemic, our clinical experiences were cut short, limiting our in-hospital interactions and learning activities. This was very hard for us because the nursing field is an extremely skill-based practice.
During the winter and holiday months, we saw a spike in cases like we had never seen before. The University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital administration wanted to give us nursing students an opportunity to help. Helping-Hands was created and during our winter break, we volunteered to help the hospital during this massive surge in capacity and numbers of patients.
Whether it was on the COVID-19 floors or not, fifty of my nursing peers were helping to take some weight off the shoulders of the staff and nurses. I had been working as a contact tracer for the state of Alabama since June of 2020 so COVID-19 was nothing new to me and I knew I wanted to volunteer on the COVID floor.
I went home to Ohio where I am from to visit my family quickly for the holidays before starting at the hospital. While I was home, we got word from the nursing home where my great grandmother had been placed informing us that she had in fact contracted the virus. At this point, I knew of friends who had gotten the virus from being wreckless and partying who ended up being fine, but I knew this virus would be anything but kind to my 102-year-old great grandmother. She passed the morning of December 27th, just 4 days after contracting the virus.
I left for Alabama, the morning of December 29th after watching the funeral live on YouTube. On the eleven-hour car ride back to Birmingham was when it hit me. I did not have time to really process my feelings towards the situation because the next morning I was scheduled to work my first day on the COVID-19 unit. As nursing students, we worked under the license of one of our most gracious faculty who agreed to volunteer as well. We were mini nurses thrown onto the front lines.
The things I saw in the COVID-19 unit still haunt me to this day.
I was on one of the step-down units, not even the ICU, and the number of patients that bounced from the ICU to the step-down then back to the ICU was scary. This virus had no favorites, and that was painfully obvious once our group of nursing students went from six down to three. Half of us had contracted the virus and could not return to work.
The constant sound of high-flow oxygen machines blasting in the rooms isn't what stays in my mind still to this day— it's the patient's struggling respirations. It pained me so much to see and hear them struggling for air it was almost as if you wanted to take a deep breath for them.
When you ask me what was the most important lesson I learned during my time on the front lines I'd say: perseverance. This word embodies not only the tired hearts of all the health care workers but also the mindset of these patients as well to get better.
While this newsletter is usually the funniest on the Internet (hold the applause), there are some times when I recognize the need to tone it down and let the weight of a situation just exist. In talking to Collin, I realized that regardless of the hope for normalcy that the COVID-19 vaccines offered so many of us, this pandemic is far from over.
As someone who has largely returned to normal following my second dose of Dolly Parton’s Vaccine, I recognize now I’ve been spared from seeing the worst this disease has to offer. The core drive for this newsletter was for me to learn and grow and contemplate hard things and then forcing you all to come on that journey with me, and what I’ve learned today is that I need to take a second look at some of my actions.
Get vaccinated and encourage your loved ones to do the same. Follow mask mandates if they come back in your area, and don’t be a dick about it like the Missouri Attorney General.
Rush Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Variant
By now, the Delta variant is on everyone’s lips... literally.
The Delta variant is spreading more rapidly amongst unvaccinated than vaccinated Americans, with Reuters reporting that in the U.S., “the Delta variant represents about 83% of new infections. So far, unvaccinated people represent nearly 97% of severe cases.” According to microbiologists and epidemiologists, this variant is the "‘fittest and fastest variant yet’" as it is more transmissible than the original virus was.
Curious as to how that was even possible, I asked Collin:
Emily: How is the Delta variant different and why is it worse?
Collin: To answer that question simply, a virus can learn to adapt and mutate. That is why is it so important that herd immunity is reached (aka when a specific percentage of the population is vaccinated in order to stop the spread and protect those who aren't vaccinated yet).
The Delta variant is more contagious and has adapted in that way to infect more people. Coming from Alabama where the vaccination rate is one of the lowest in the country, we are seeing the biggest surge in cases we've seen since last winter.
There are currently eight COVID-19 variants out there in the world (and a potential ninth) which the CDC classifies into three groups of increasing threat levels: Variant of Interest, Variant of Concern, and Variant of High Consequence. For context: the Delta variant is listed as a Variant of Concern.
As someone whose sorority letters are all current variants (and who won a contest for learning the Greek alphabet the fastest, thank you), I wanted to know:
Emily: Is it a mistake to use Greek letters to label the variants? Won't people that peaked in college being to feel a particular attachment to their letter variant?
Collin: As a former member of Theta Chi Fraternity, I don't think I would be too pressed to see a Theta variant but then again, I didn't peak in college.
But in all honesty, I do believe this naming mechanism makes it easier for physicians and immunologists to distinguish between the different virus types and their structures.
So we’ll let everyone rush their favorite variant, I suppose.
With this high number of new mutations coupled with the increasingly scary threat of the Delta variant, it’s easy to start thinking that this pandemic may never truly end. Or maybe that’s just me with my fatalistic ruminative thought patterns.
In any case, I asked Collin:
Emily: Is there any way out of this nightmare or is it just going to keep on going forever?
Collin: I have hope that one day it will be over. But the reality of the situation is that we must work together to help those who cannot help themselves and that is a larger problem in itself.
One Nation, Different Vibes
While it’s no secret that America is not super into equality, COVID-19 doesn’t seem to discriminate. Although the virus has impacted minority communities at a higher rate, that is largely because of existing inequities and inequalities in our society.
Like a true E4P stan, Collin used history to explain his answer to the question:
Emily: How has the virus affected minority communities differently?
Collin: Two things come to my mind when minorities and healthcare are brought up: 1. Access to Care and 2. Culturally Competent Care.
I’m a member of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, although I should add the disclaimer that while I am not Latino or Hispanic, I joined because I see the struggle this client population endures while trying to get the care they need in addition to a language barrier they face every day and I want to learn how to help this population in the best way possible.
I volunteered during the summer months doing Drive-Thru COVID-19 testing for a predominantly Hispanic clinic. Small outreach programs like this one provide so much primary care to the local Hispanic community and so many people are dependent on them every week. As a COVID-19 contact tracer for the state of Alabama, the number of Spanish-speaking patients we reached out to was more than I could count. Thankfully, I could understand a huge majority of the patients' questions and concerns.
The Black community has been hit incredibly hard across the United States, but one thing that stands out to me the most is where I am currently living: this client population has a smaller vaccination rate than most other populations in Alabama.
To understand the hesitancy of this community people have to go back in time. For those of you who do not know, in 1972, it was revealed that there had been a secretive study to observe untreated syphilis that involved 600 Black men. In 1932, more than half of them had been injected with syphilis, with the promise of free medical care while the other participants were given a placebo shot.
None of these participants were told what they were actually participating in and what's even worse is that in 1943 when the cure for syphilis, penicillin, became widely available, these participants were not offered treatment.
If you would like to look into this problem further I suggest you look into the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Going back in time can shed a light on the problems we face today and why there is hesitancy in the Black community to receive a newly created vaccine.
It is our job as health care providers to not only provide culturally competent care but to understand the history and how it translates to affect our patients today.
As we try to move forward and eventually find our way out of the pandemic, we have to take care of the entire population. The Delta variant’s spread has taught us that while the vaccines offer us incredible protection, we are only strong in the face of this disease when we all work together. COVID-19 will continue to mutate if we do not address the healthcare inequities or vaccine concerns, and just genuinely care about our neighbors around the country.
This brings us to our biggest problem area: the anti-vaxxers.
Say “Marjorie Taylor Greene” While You Spin Around Three Times Then Look Into the Mirror and She’ll Appear
Agencies and organizations around the country will likely begin moving towards requiring employees to get vaccinated to continue working. Today, Veteran Affairs became the first federal agency to require vaccines for all health workers, following a recent call for more healthcare employers to do the same. Soon after, California and New York City each announced they will require all government officials to get vaccinated.
There is also a massive push to correct vaccine mis- and disinformation in the hopes that it will encourage more than 49.7% of the country to get their shots.
Obviously, these efforts are not helped when people call the shot a “Fauci-Ouchie” (which is also objectively not even funny) and act like the vaccine is a gateway drug to an authoritarian regime.
In order to do my own inviting-Olivia-Rodrigo-to-the-White-House public service, I asked Collin:
Emily: What is the one thing you wish you could get anti-vaxxers to understand?
Collin: Understand who they are hurting by not receiving the vaccine. It could be their grandma next.
Emily: Do you think everything would still be this bad if there wasn't so much political misinformation?
Collin: I think information obtained and shared with the general public via politicians should be science-based and evidence-based.
Emily: What is the number one worst piece of misinformation about COVID that you heard?
Collin: The hesitancy of the J&J vaccine with the blood clots. Individuals who are prescribed birth control are at an increased risk of thrombosis that is higher than the likelihood of a thrombotic event caused by the J&J vaccine.
Millions of these J&J vaccines were given out and only six persons were subject to this adverse reaction. Get Vaccinated!
While one person can’t stop a pandemic (except for maybe Stacey Abrams if she had been elected governor), we can all do our small parts to keep making things better. Aside from working in a COVID-unit like so many incredible frontline workers:
Emily: What can we do, as regular schmegular people, to help combat the pandemic in its later stages?
Collin: We are all human and everybody makes mistakes. Learn from your mistakes, educate yourself, and get vaccinated! Do all the research you need and make up your mind for yourself.
Uber is providing free rides to vaccination clinics so there is no transportation barrier! Wear a mask if you are not vaccinated or are experiencing any symptoms even if you are vaccinated! These vaccines aren't 100% so remember to brush up on those signs and symptoms every once and a while.
Thank you SO MUCH to Collin not even for answering all of these questions but for putting so much good into this world and being on the still-active frontlines of the pandemic.
On a parting note, I asked him:
Emily: What is the number one way the pandemic changed your life?
Collin: I think the pandemic really caused a lot of self-reflection for me.
On my days off or when I came home from the COVID-19 unit, I kept to myself more because I didn't want to potentially expose anyone. I lost a lot of friends along the way who wanted to continuously go out and party because we just had differences in priorities.
It was hard but at the end of the day, I knew I was helping people and trying my best.
Please join me in sending a little thank you note to Collin and other healthcare workers in your life here: