Living with Covid-19: One officer’s private battle
/Living with Covid-19: One officer’s private battle
By: Robert Foreman
(The officer’s identity, rank and department have been kept anonymous for this article to protect the privacy of both he and his family.)
First responders, such as law enforcement officers, have been on the front-lines of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic since the beginning. Law enforcement officers have to continue to maintain the peace while also placing themselves at an even greater risk of contracting the virus. Despite the public focus on ‘essential workers’, many people have failed to remember that law enforcement officers are the definition of ‘essential’. If they fall to Covid-19 then who will maintain law and order? The following article details one officer’s harrowing battle with Covid-19 after he was diagnosed in early March.
Covid-19 symptoms & testing
“I went to sleep with a headache about 10:00 pm. It was a regular migraine between the eyes, and then about 4 or 5 in the morning it progressed. I got some chills and was sweating on and off. I thought it was just regular hot and cold chills. I was still laying down, and then I woke up and I wasn’t feeling good. So, I took my temperature. It was a 100.8 at that time. I went back to sleep and woke up again about 10 or 10:30 am with a temperature of 102,” said the officer. “I couldn’t get out of bed with my headache, and I was just sweating. I couldn’t have gone to work if I tried. I just took Tylenol. I went to sleep that night, but I wasn’t in that much pain. But I definitely took Tylenol to keep my fever down, and then my doctor prescribed that I take the Coronavirus test the next morning.”
The officer added that he, along with his other first responders, required authorization from a doctor before being allowed to take the Covid-19 test. He noted that there were separate lines for officers and firefighters who were waiting to be tested.
“For the test, they put a really skinny swap deep in your nose. It’s really uncomfortable. It’s less than three seconds, but they go in deep. It makes your eye watery. I coughed actually. After that, I went back home and didn’t take Tylenol all day because I had no fever at all. My body felt okay. I couldn’t have gone to work because you feel like you’re run down. At 10 that night I got a fever again, so I took Tylenol again. And that was the last time that I remember taking anything for my Coronavirus,” said the officer. “Since that day I haven’t had a fever. I was feeling good the next day. I just rested all day. I was tired and just had some slight chest pain. It was the same thing the following day. But after that it seemed like a second round hit me. When I would go to bed my chest felt really tight. As for my breathing, I don’t know if it was anxiety or shortness of breath, but I definitely had a lot of anxiety. I was huffing and puffing a lot when I was going to sleep.”
The feeling of death
The officer noted that it was on the fifth night of his battle with Covid-19 that he truly felt that he was going to die.
“As soon as I laid down, around 10:30 or 11, it felt like my chest was getting tighter and tighter for about a half hour. It got to the point where I had to stand up and keep taking a lot of breaths just to get some air in. It was really tight for about 25 minutes, and then it just went away. After that, I was able to lay down and I just went to sleep,” said the officer.
The pain of isolation
Like others who have been diagnosed with Covid-19, the officer has had to be quarantined from his loved ones.
“I’m isolated from my family in a room by myself. Psychologically, it’s absolutely hit me. It’s tough when you can’t hug your kid. You’re locked away and you’re eating and looking out the window, looking at a mirror. You’re isolated. And I only see my wife, with a mask on, from six feet away,” said the officer.
Ready to work again
As would be expected, the officer is eager to get back to work. He will be getting tested again and, if all goes well, he hopes to return to work within a couple of weeks. Yet, while he is eager to get back to work he also believes that the pandemic hit so fast that his department was unprepared.
“They gave us gloves and N95 masks. They disinfected all of our vehicles every day with the machines. So, I could probably say they’re trying. But a lot of departments think the same way; that it’ll never hit close to home. So, I assume it’s a lot of last-minute scrambling,” said the officer.
Advice for fellow officers
“My doctor tells me that the only way you can get it is by touching something that’s already contaminated and then touching your eyes or mouth. So, wash your hands as much as possible. Disinfect your hands as much as possible. That’s the number one cause of people getting it is through germs. When you touch something that has it, and then you touch your eyes, mouth or nose, that’s how you get it. It’s not airborne,” said the officer.
Conclusion
Our thoughts and prayers remain with the officer, as well as with everyone who has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. We hope that everyone continues to use both caution and common sense as we struggle to return to a sense of normalcy. And for our brothers and sisters in blue, we hope you continue to remain safe both on and off the job. You are definitely essential workers!
