post crisis

 

We were like a burnt child dreads the fire since then, we took rapid test for every patient entering our ED. The reason was simple, the local county government had kept sending patient relevant with the event for PCR test on daily basis; which indicated that the local community was not safe. Thence we started to treat patient outside the ED. For patient who needed to enter the hospital building for examination, they would need to clear rapid test for covid. The practice was adopted for almost 2 weeks when boss came to ask us about the situation. An inquiry was made to the local health authority and we were told that all related persons were cleared and the screening would be stopped in a few more days.

Despite of their promises; residents were still brought to our screening station by police. We felt uncomfortable with it but yet were unable to raise any question to the local authority. Our ‘clear to enter’ policy had gone for another one weeks before most of us loosen our grip.

There were no more active cases since then. Most of the cases diagnosed were residing in the north; some of them had traces down south but did not lead to any local infection.

The Hypoman visited us 2 months later and noted with hypoglycemia again. The Taximan suffered from shortness of breath and numbess over limbs from time to time and I had seen him lately in ED. The Mangoman’s wife had unfortunately passed away during her stay in the ward.

The Delta crisis had drawn an end after 1+ months of struggle. 2 months later the country daily Covid cases had hit zero again. Happiness did not last very long; another Delta cluster was noted in a kindergarten days after the zero emerged.

The rest of the story...

 

The event had led to an intensive contact tracing and isolation. After one week of effort, the local county health authority had found that the Hypoman had been a passenger of the Taximan. The Hypoman had chartered the service of Taximan three times before the Taximan was diagnosed. Meanwhile, the Hypoman’s wife was also confirmed as a Covid victim. The Hypoman’s house was just beside the Peru grandma’s house and his wife was relative to the Peru grandma. All of them was confirmed as Delta variant carrier;the link was apparent at that moment. The Peru grandma was the source, the Hypoman and his wife; although denied of any direct contact with the Peru grandma; had contracted the disease.

A few more positive cases were noted from the quarantine group; the Hypoman’s wife who was working at a 7-11 as shop manager, a few farmer who had a chat with the Hypoman and….

The Hypoman’s PCR came back positive after 8 days from the day I saw the Hypoman. I was lucky enough to escape from the quarantine list as they only backdate 7 days for possible contact.

It was almost 2 weeks from the first case when the final rock hit us.

While driving to my ward shift, I had gotten a call from my colleague telling me that there was a positive case from OPD who had passed by the ED. The ED will be shutting down for few hours for sanitization. The case was an elderly male (Mangoman) who was scheduled for a knee replacement surgery. He had undergone a PCR test as pre surgery evaluation and it had come back positive. He had walked pass by the ED before the swab test.

He was isolated and a wild goose chase of origin had begun. Few days later, his was proved as a Delta variant victim. His wife was also confirmed having similar infection.

After few days of contact tracing, the local authority had announced that the Mangoman had contracted the disease from the Hypoman’s wife.

It was noted that the Hypoman’s wife had presented to our OPD while the Hypoman was receiving treatment in our ED. Both the Mangoman and the Hypoman’s wife were in the same OPD waiting area on that specific day. According to their investigation, this was the only overlap trace and it was the only explanation that would explained the infection route. Our hospital was designated as the infection source and thence we would need to shut down for precaution.

Based on the above speculation the local authority had however decided to shut us down even though the southern command center of Covid prevention had against their decision.

The ED and OPD was closed down under and those patients admitted in the ward was barred from discharge. The hospital was still functioning without its OPD and ED thence no admission was noted. All the hospital staffs were put under self monitoring status and some of the closed contacts from the OPD were quarantined.

We were in a mist as the local authority did not state clearly the duration of shut down. According to internal source, the local authority had decided that we could only re-open when all of our staffs were fully vaccinated with the last vaccine taken at least 14 days ago. That was deemed impossible as we had only 1/3 of staff meeting the above requirement and it would be impossible for us to comply as the vaccine shortage was still haunting the country.

It was an agony while waiting for the re-opening announcement. Most of us had commitment and the management is not going to pay us as we were not working at that time. We were the designated primary PCI center and neurosurgical referral center of the southern tip of the island. Without our present, those relevant cases would have to refer further up north for management.

According to the national health insurance bureau, lost of income of a medical facility due to shutdown in the event of Covid will be compensated. The bureau would pay the similar amount of claim to the facility according to the figure submitted last year during the same month.

That period was definitely an anxiety period for me, everyone was waiting for the reopening order but yet everyday it ended in disappointment.

We did not believe with the contact tracing report. If the Hypoman’s wife had infected the Mangoman, why the other in the OPD area was not infected?

A massive screening was done during that period. Few thousand of people had undergone PCR test and none of them was found positive from this massive screening. All the persons who presented to the OPD at that day were summoned and screened and yet none of the result was positive. There were a few rumors later spreading around the community stating that the Mangoman had actually in contact with the Hypoman elsewhere. Those rumors were unable to be confirmed. The hospital had given up appealing early in the struggle as fighting the local health authority would lead us nowhere in the future. The local authority had contracted the part of the massive screening to us and we had received a great grant of material including two negative pressure chambers for further isolation.

The order for restarting service was finally signed 15 days later after our shut down. We were able to start our operation and everything went smooth.

The management had offered us to fill up our shift deficit by doing ward calls. Not a bad offer as it cut our wages loss to the least. The nursing staffs were offered a compensation scheme by deducting some of their outstanding working hours. Only a handful of peoples were left with a salary cut.

I had a long rest without a sense of insecurity; the mental stress noted was beyond imagine as I had to worry about the wages and also the afraid of contracting the disease even though I was fully vaccinated.

The Delta crisis drawn a red line since then and no cases of was noted.

The county government had been propagandizing their prompt action of management the Delta crisis during the period; however for me, it was a violent move of acting against advice of professional medical expert. They had stepped over our sweat and dignity by stigmatizing us as source of infection. The order of ceasing operation was the final blow and yet all the credit had gone to those bureaucrats.