I got Covid-19 during an infusion of meds for an autoimmune disease.
I, an immuno-compromised chronically ill patient with several high-risk co-morbidities, caught Covid-19 while getting treatment for another disease.
A disease for which the treatment is to literally suppress my immune system.
I got a disease which many healthy, young people are dying from. During a treatment which literally intentionally suppresses my immune system.
And the worst part is, it was likely the nurse working there who gave it to me.
I’ve seen the Covid-19 employee policy at this hospital. I’ve seen it because my husband works at this hospital.
Their policy states that if you are an employee and you have been exposed to Covid-19, you are still allowed to report to work.
Their policy states that if you are an employee and you have been exposed to Covid-19 and you have a cough or sniffles, you are still allowed to report to work.
Their policy states that if you are an employee and you have been exposed to Covid-19 and HAVE TESTED POSITIVE, you are still allowed to report to work, EVEN IF YOU HAVE A COUGH, as long as you wear a mask.
Even if you have tested positive for Covid-19, the only symptoms that preclude you from working are diarrhea or vomiting within the last few hours.
My husband and I had a big fight over this. Because he has tested positive for Covid-19. And he has a cough. And sneezing. And stomach issues. And his work is pressuring him and guilting him into coming into work.
He feels as though he would be letting down his “comrades in arms” if he were to use any more of his several weeks of saved up paid time off. So far he has used 3 days.
It’s a good trick, making your employees feel responsible for each other’s state of mind. It works. No one is saying it doesn’t.
How many people caught Covid-19 from my husband today when he went into work 3 days before his self-isolation was supposed to be over? How many sick, vulnerable people caught it from him the way I caught it from the nurse at my infusion?
How many people caught it and aren’t as lucky as I am, to have complications that can be handled at home with prednisone and a nebulizer? How many weren’t so lucky as to get the monoclonal antibody treatment I was able to get? How many were mislead into not getting their vaccines, and so ended up at that same hospital, dying of Covid-19?
I don’t blame my husband. And I don’t blame the nurse. But I don’t want to be exposed to a disease that has every chance of killing me just because I dared to get treatment for a disease that has every chance of killing me.
Disabled people are worth keeping safe.
Chronically ill people are worth keeping safe.
Immuno-compromised people are worth keeping safe.
Workers are worth keeping safe.
