Ben Has Covid and I Blame DeSantis
Our dialysis story — chapter 37
Remember when people in doctors’ waiting rooms looked like this? I don’t know about your state or country, but Florida’s asinine Governor DeSantis essentially outlawed masks in Florida when he signed two emergency rules (What was the emergency??) — 59ER23–01 and 59ER23–2 — that went into effect July 3, 2023.
Medical facilities, providers, and practitioners can only require masks in narrow circumstances:
- Patients can only be required to wear masks in common areas, like waiting rooms, IF they have symptoms or have been diagnosed with an illness transmitted through the air.
- Visitors to a medical facility can only be required to mask up IF they are going into a sterile area or visiting a patient who has been diagnosed with an infectious disease or is immune-compromised.
- And get this: if a facility requires masks under any of those circumstances, they must also have an opt-out provisions — like a get-out-of-jail-free card — that offers stupid people who refuse to wear a mask some other way of controlling infections. What might that be? Heck, if I know. An isolated room? A hazmat suit? A plastic bubble?
- Employees can’t be required to wear masks unless they are doing sterile work, working in a sterile room, or tending to immune-compromised patients at risk of catching an infection from an asymptomatic employee. And even they can opt out of wearing a mask and cannot be retaliated against for doing so.
- The opt-out policies must be part of a written policy. The Florida Agency of Health Care Administration or other regulatory boards will discipline any facility or provider that doesn’t adhere to the law.
Large facilities, such as hospitals, are able to provide opt-out options, but smaller providers, like doctors, cannot, so they never require masks, even if they should, even if masks would be best for their patients.
When Ben started at the dialysis center in June 2023, there was a big sign in the lobby stating that all patients and anyone tending to patients must wear masks. Below the sign was a box of free masks.
By July, the sign and box of masks were gone.
Most of the nurses continued to wear masks when dealing with patients but took them off when using computers or doing other tasks.
Very few of the patients continued to wear masks. I’d estimate that less than 10% mask up.
As we do in all public spaces, Ben and I continued wearing masks when we entered the building. Ben lets his slip down to eat a snack in the afternoon but generally keeps it in place throughout his treatment.
Last Wednesday evening, Ben started sneezing — a lot. By morning, he was congested. Our seasons are confused, with many spring flowers blooming and leaves budding on trees. Ben has seasonal allergies. Since sneezing is not listed as a Covid symptom (though someone with Covid may sneeze), I assumed Ben’s allergies were acting up. He agreed.
Last Friday, as we were parking in the lot of the dialysis center, I noticed a car in the drop-off area in front of the lobby door. I saw Bob (not his name) in the passenger’s seat. Bob has the same chair time as Ben and is often in the bed next to Ben’s. Bob talks a lot. About nothing. Constantly.
As we approached the building, the receptionist came to the door. She was wearing a mask and carrying one in her hand as she waved us in:
Bob has Covid. I want you to get inside before he comes to the door.
I said with alarm:
He’s going to receive treatment with everyone else?
She replied:
No, we have an isolation room for patients with Covid, but he has to come through the lobby and get weighed in the main treatment room before I take him to the isolation room.
Ben and I entered the small lobby, standing in the back, as far from the door as possible.
The receptionist told Bob he had to wear a mask, and he complained loudly, whining that he hates masks and they’re too uncomfortable. She made it clear that if he didn’t wear a mask, he couldn’t have dialysis, so he put it on, continuing to complain as he went through the lobby and into the main treatment room.
The treatment room has a security door that can only be opened from the treatment side or from the lobby side with an employee card. When a patient arrives, the receptionist notifies the nurses, or if the receptionist isn’t at her desk, the patient can push a buzzer that sounds in the treatment room.
Not until I was driving home did I remember that on Monday, Ben pushed the buzzer and he and I and Bob were waiting together near the door. (I rarely leave until Ben goes in.) Bob was, as usual, not wearing a mask and talking continually.
I assured myself that we should be okay since we were wearing masks.
Then, I remembered a female patient who has a chair time 15 minutes earlier than Ben and was in the lobby waiting for her ride when I arrived Monday afternoon. She also never wears a mask and was sneezing and coughing into her hands before picking up a magazine to read. I stayed as far away from her as I could. I later learned that she has Covid, too.
Then, I remembered looking in the small window on the treatment room door and seeing Bob in the bed beside Ben. No surprise, Bob was talking.
I got worried. Does Ben have Covid? Did he get it from Bob?
When I told Ben my concerns that afternoon, he insisted he didn’t feel bad. I told him how he feels doesn’t matter. Some people feel perfectly fine and still have Covid.
He assured me he didn’t have Covid.
By the time we got home, he was coughing.
I pulled out the six Covid tests the government sent us in 2020 and 2022. They were all expired. Then, I jumped on the computer to find a testing site nearby; none had appointment times for that day. I made an appointment for Ben at 9:45 am on Saturday.
His cough worsened during the evening, and he had a fever of 101. I gave him two Tylenol pills, and two hours later, his temperature was an acceptable 99.
In the morning, we went to the pharmacy for his Covid test.
He tested positive.
I took him home to rest and scheduled an appointment for myself two hours later.
I tested negative.
Since it was Saturday, I couldn’t reach Ben’s doctor, so I called his insurance's emergency nursing number and asked the nurse about the antiviral medicine for Covid patients. She said that those on dialysis can’t take it.
There’s a substitute medication for dialysis patients but honestly, it’s not very effective. Besides, it sounds like Ben is doing okay. If his first symptoms appeared Wednesday evening, he’s on the downhill of this. Just keep an eye on his temperature and breathing. If he spikes a fever higher than 101 or if he has difficulty breathing, take him to the emergency room. But I doubt that will happen.
I was so relieved; it was time to start thinking about myself. I can’t afford to get sick because I care for Ben and the house and because of my work deadlines in January.
I began wearing a mask in the house. I could have slept in the spare room, but if Ben had difficulty breathing during the night, I wouldn’t know. So, I’ve been sleeping in our bed and wearing a mask all night.
Ben is still congested and hoarse, and he coughs occasionally but hasn’t had a fever or breathing problems. Although he says he doesn’t feel bad, his appetite is off, he’s more tired than usual, and his blood pressure is all over the place. Still, he insists on walking Syau twice a day. He’ll go to dialysis tomorrow and receive treatment in the isolation room.
Thank heavens we both have every vaccine or Ben could be much worse than he is.
Saturday morning was spent dealing with Covid tests and talking to the nurse. I didn’t get to work until the afternoon, and I worked most of Sunday. Ironically, I wore a mask all the time while working in the same office where employees refused to wear masks during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, despite my asking them to because of Ben’s health issues and despite our county having a mask ordinance for commercial buildings and offices. Later, our asinine governor passed a law to rescind and prohibit all county mask ordinances.
As for me, I’m exhausted from dealing with my own health issues, limited diet, side effects from my reflux medication, dealing with Ben’s Covid issues, taking care of all household chores, working longer than usual hours, and not sleeping well in a mask.
And mostly, I’m damned angry that after all the precautions we take — always wearing masks in public places, always washing our hands, and using sanitizer — Ben has Covid, and he got it from the dialysis center, which should be a safe place for patients.
This is the fault of Ron DeSantis.
© Dennett 2024
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