Tony Scott - Along Came COVID - Love and Loss in the 2020 Pandemic

“Does he have his own place now?” she asked.

“Yes, Mom. He’s neat, tidy, and organized. Both at work and at home.”

“How big is his place? Is it big enough for two?”

“It is bigger than the place I had with Brian. And in better condition, too. There will be a little longer drive to work, but it won’t take much more time to get there, since it’s mostly interstate.”

“Tell me some more,” Marianna invited. “Does he cook? Does he iron? Is he a good doctor?”

“Jeez, Mom. How come you didn’t ask me all these questions about Brian?” Faith chuckled.

“I guess because, for us, this is a sudden development. Besides, I thought I did ask you about Brian.”

Faith’s voice was bubbly. “He cooks, he irons, and he is becoming an excellent doctor. I hope I am becoming one too.”

“Your voice is so happy, Faith,” Marianna observed. “I don’t remember you talking about Brian this way.”

“I don’t know if I ever felt this way about Brian. Josh is so different!”

“Different?” she questioned.

“Different from Brian. Brian was all business and no play. Josh is serious about medicine, but he likes to talk about food, life, Albuquerque, and friends. The conversations are more diverse and more interesting. He teases me without being mean.”

“Where is he from?”

“I’m from Oklahoma, Marianna,” Josh said. “Clinton is on I-40 about halfway from Oklahoma City to Amarillo.”

Faith said, “I don’t know that area well. I don’t even know the Texas panhandle well.”

“No, I don’t either.” Marianna said.

“Josh says that Oklahoma is in the United States. Texans don’t know that because they live in a whole other country.” Faith chuckled again, enjoying her image of Josh’s face telling the joke.

Marianna giggled along with Faith. The pleasure was infectious. “Tell me about his family.”

“Well,” Josh said, “my dad’s a dentist, my mom’s a nurse, and my sister’s a lawyer and lives in Amarillo. She was the one that gave Faith the divorce form to fill in and get signed. She even reviewed it and filed it for her.”

“Isn’t that nice?” Marianna complemented. “Did she charge you?”

“No, she said it was for free if I married Josh. Otherwise, it was a hundred dollars.”

Marianna gasped, “Does that mean you are obligated to Josh, Faith?”

“No, Mom. It’s a joke. She is full of jokes and humor, like Josh. I think she was picking on Josh because she hasn’t liked any of his girlfriends. She seems smart and nice. It’s cute how she calls him Joshua.”

Marianna giggled some more. “Have you met them?”

“No,” Faith said, “only on the phone.”

“I see.”

“Next Saturday would be a good moving day for us. Both Josh and I are off.”

“I’ll talk to your Dad. I know Natalie is off, and she is giggly wiggly to meet Josh. Did she talk to him on the phone?”

“Giggly wiggly, Mom? You used to talk about us that way when we were kids.”

“That’s how she’s acting.”

“I have talked to him, Mom.” Natalie said. “He’s fun and treats me like a sister, but not like a kid.”

“Well, she’s excited about Josh,” Marianna repeated.

“Yeah, I am.”

“Well, I’ll see you in a week or so.” Faith let the call go.

“Summarizing,” Ricky said, starting morning teaching rounds, “we have three asthmatics, one of which might have a viral illness, two of which might be spring asthma exacerbations.”

“Did anyone consider coronavirus?” Haley asked.

Ann said, “To date, we’ve had no identified cases in New Mexico. The southern border does worry me, but so does air travel in our society. I don’t think there has been widespread testing in New Mexico. Am I right, Peggy?”

“Yes, correct — I think. What is our testing availability here, now?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Ann confessed. “The CDC website says to contact your local health department, but my experience with them has been both limited and negative. I haven’t talked to them recently.”

“How about if I do that today since I have more free time than you guys? Do we want our febrile patient tested? She fits the CDC guidelines.” Peggy took a breath.

“Wait a minute,” Brian said. “Why do we think she has coronavirus?”

“I don’t know if we do,” Haley answered. “But if she does, there are serious implications for us, other patients, and her family. Since she has a febrile illness and her influenza and strep screens are negative, it remains a possibility.”

“So, what about the other two patients?” Brian asked.

Haley hesitated, then, “Neither of them is febrile. Mostly those are just asthma attacks without other symptoms.”

“How are we treating them?” Brian asked.

Faith had made rounds on them, so she felt compelled to insert the details. “They are getting steroids, bronchodilators, and azithromycin.”

“What bronchodilators?” Brian asked.

“Albuterol and theophylline.”

Brian stiffened, “We should not be using theophylline. That drug is a thing of the past. I think we should stop it.”

“So that tomorrow’s attending can restart it?” Faith asked. “Ann and Peggy, help me here.”

“I started it yesterday,” Peggy said. “It makes sense not to discontinue it.”

“It seems to work well,” Ann said. “I have used it in the office on a couple of patients who were having trouble with inhaled steroids and it seems to smooth their treatment and symptoms.”

“Whatever. Let’s move on with rounds,” Brian said.

“If she has coronavirus,” Ricky said, “we’ve exposed numerous health care workers and visitors. She’s had quite an army of visitors, including her troop of children. Once the influenza and strep screens were negative, we got lax about isolation.”

“I’ve read that children seem less affected by this new coronavirus,” Faith said, relieved that Brian had disappeared. “It seems to me that we could be spreading coronavirus quickly with children who don’t even know they are ill. I’m all for sparing children, though.”

“But not as contagious in children as influenza?” Peggy asked.

“That’s what I’ve read,” Ann said. “Everyone seems to want a vaccine for this as soon as we can develop one, and yet only half of adults are vaccinated for Influenza. How do you figure that? Do you think people will get vaccinated if we get a vaccine? What if vaccination only makes the disease milder like influenza vaccine does? Will we only have fifty percent of the population vaccinated?”

Faith asked, “Will it have to be an annual affair?”

“I don’t know,” Haley said. “Don’t forget, this is a coronavirus like every seasonal cold virus. Remember, it’s not an influenza virus.”

“OK,” Peggy said, “today, I’ll work on how to get tests, since, if nothing else, we need to know how to get one, how to collect the specimen, and where to send it. We need to stay ahead of the game where we can. If this turns into a significant epidemic, we have a lot to learn, things are going to change rapidly as we get more information, and, like all science, we will go back and forth about what is truth and what is conjecture.”

After rounds finished, Peggy migrated to the fellows’ closet to find a phone number for the Bernalillo County Health Department Epidemiologist. “Calvin Wickman,” the voice announced.

“My name is Peggy Valdez. I’m the attending for the obstetric service at UNM Medical Center. I need to know how we test a patient for COVID.”

“I have a limited number of test kits, and I have to send the specimen to the CDC in Atlanta to run the test,” Calvin said. There was a pause. “Doesn’t your UNM Medical Center Lab do that testing?”