“
Stay safe.” It’s a phrase that’s
becoming all too familiar in the days
of COVID-19. My husband says it to
me as he hugs me before I leave for work. I
read it in texts from friends and family who
I haven’t seen in weeks. The grocery store
clerk utters it through a plexiglass barrier
in the checkout line. These two words are
a ubiquitous mantra the whole world is
crying out in desperation.
I want to tell you all today that I am
not safe. I am not safe because Michigan
Medicine will not let me protect myself.
I am an ICU (intensive care unit) nurse at
Michigan Medicine. I am one of thousands
of front-line health care providers at the
hospital who are faced with the impossible
task of handling the coronavirus pandemic.
Similar to any other health care system in
the United States, our hospital was wholly
unprepared to face this unprecedented
crisis.
Personal protection gear for hospital
workers is limited worldwide and many
health care systems have had to adapt to
preserve their limited supply of masks.
Unfortunately, “The Michigan Difference”
here is that our hospital administration
is not only rationing protective gear but
also prohibiting bedside staff from using
their own personal equipment to protect
themselves from the virus.
So much is still not understood about
COVID-19. One of the greatest areas of
debate is whether the disease is transmitted
through the air or through respiratory
droplets. For health care providers caring
for patients, appropriate
droplet precautions include
a
simple
surgical
face
mask, along with a gown,
gloves and eye shield.
Diseases
with
airborne
transmission
can
easily
penetrate
these
masks.
Because of this, when a
disease is airborne, a more
sophisticated
respiratory
mask is recommended such
as an N95 or N100.
The world has only known about
COVID-19 for a few months. Researchers
are working around the clock to study its
transmission. Some studies are suggesting
the virus is airborne, but there is still not a
definitive consensus.
The
World
Health
Organization
and Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention both postulate that COVID-
19 transmission is primarily airborne and
close transmission via respiratory particles
is “uncertain.” However, the CDC has yet to
update its recommendations and maintain
that droplet precautions provide healthcare
workers with adequate protection. Is
this reluctance a product of insufficient
evidence?
Of course, a shortage of personal
protective gear is not a problem unique to
Michigan Medicine. Up until recently, the
hospital was recommending and supplying
COVID-19 providers with N95 masks. That
rug was pulled out from under us on March
19 when the administration announced
that we will now be using simple face masks
and N95 masks will only be used in special
circumstances.
This policy change feels alarming and
irresponsible. The hospital administration
has shown a profound lack of transparency
on showing staff what data they are using
to support this change. The change has
left many of us panicked. Are we really
expected to just believe that a mask will
protect us when there is still no consensus
on transmission?
On March 30, it was announced that,
in anticipation of an influx of patients, a
new staffing model would be introduced
to address patients exceeding our current
nursing capacity. We will all be forced
to work 12-hour shifts, with very few
exceptions. We will work with non-ICU
trained nurses to care for up to 12 patients
at a time, including several patients who are
critically ill. This means as bedside staff,
our exposure to this virus will increase
exponentially, while our only protection is
a face mask that will “probably” protect us.
Maybe it’s too much to ask for a hospital
to provide N95 masks to all its frontline staff
during a global crisis. The shortage of gear
is obviously not just a Michigan problem.
But what if I purchase my own personal
N95 mask or reusable respirator mask
online to use at work? Many are expensive
and difficult to find, but perhaps the price
is worth it when you are fearful for the
health of yourself and your family. Henry
Ford Health System has not only allowed
staff to use their own personal gear but also
has allowed staff to make their own masks
amid the shortage.
On March 30, the Joint Commission
released a statement supporting the use of
health care providers utilizing their own
personal protective equipment, saying “the
degree to which privately-owned masks
and respirators will increase the protection
of health care workers is uncertain.
However, the balance of evidence suggests
that it is positive.”
Despite this recommendation, on April 1,
Michigan sent a hospital-wide email saying
they will continue to prohibit the use of
personal protection brought from home.
The
CDC
has
also
published recommendations
for
ways
to
protect
providers
when
masks
are limited or unavailable.
They have even gone as far
as to say that we can use
bandanas and scarves as
a last resort. Yet if I have
an N95 mask at home for
personal use, Michigan
says that it is not OK to
use at work. It is frustrating how our
administrators can pick and choose which
recommendations they will abide by.
As health care providers, we take an
oath to do no harm. We did not take an
oath to stand by and allow ourselves to be
harmed in the process.
There is a fine line between essential
employees and sacrificial staff. This week
it was announced that a Henry Ford
Hospital nurse died after testing positive
for COVID-19. Hospital administrators
are making choices around infection
control, but we are the ones paying the
ultimate price.
Michigan Medicine is a respected
leader in health care and should be setting
an example for the rest of Southeast
Michigan as we fight through this
pandemic. By not allowing us to wear our
own gear, the hospital is being negligent
and disrespectful to every single person
who is putting their life on the line to help
these sick patients. We have a right to do
anything we can to protect our lives and
the lives of those we love without fear of
retribution from our superiors.
Michigan Medicine, I am disappointed
in you. You already are overwhelmed,
understaffed and unprepared. You will
lose some of the most brilliant medical
professionals in the world to this disease
if you don’t allow us to become better
protected. Instead of telling me to stay
safe, why don’t you give me a fighting
chance?
4 — Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Alanna Berger
Zack Blumberg
Brittany Bowman
Emily Considine
Jess D’Agostino
Jenny Gurung
Cheryn Hong
Krystal Hur
Ethan Kessler
Zoe Phillips
Mary Rolfes
Michael Russo
Timothy Spurlin
Miles Stephenson
Joel Weiner
Erin White
ERIN WHITE
Managing Editor
Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
ELIZABETH LAWRENCE
Editor in Chief
EMILY CONSIDINE AND
MILES STEPHENSON
Editorial Page Editors
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of The Daily’s Editorial Board.
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
ANONYMOUS | OP-ED
Unprotected and disrespected - The Michigan Difference
I
n
periods
of
societal
uncertainty,
individuals
must turn to rationalism
and self-control rather than
relying on external factors.
It has been about 15 days since
the reality of COVID-19 settled
into the streets of Ann Arbor.
Classes were canceled, Greek life
was extinguished and students
began packing their bags — our
education was bookended not by
a reflection of accomplishments
but by an elusive and highly
contagious
virus.
The
strangeness of social distancing
creates
tension
between
boredom and intensity. In the
blink of an eye, the traditional
formats,
expectations
and
responsibilities of our education
have shifted. The proverbial rug
of syllabi and deadlines has been
yanked from beneath us, which
feels even more jarring because
of the United States national
government’s delayed reaction
(besides the immediate response
in regards to personal stocks) to
the virus.
Student life as we know it is
on hold, with no clear timeline
as to when we will shift back to
normal. Sadly, what we know as
normal will never be reclaimed
after the pandemic has slowed.
It is clear the world is under
a stage of significant transition,
where every critical decision
will have an immense impact
for years to come. My family
and I decided that it would be
best for me to come home to
our cottage in West Michigan,
and while my lake view and the
wildlife surrounding the area
is calming, I feel the intrinsic
motor of motivation grinding to
a halt. Personally, as classes have
become Pass/No Record Covid
and my additional responsibilities
shift online, it is difficult to not
be swept up in the discourse
pertaining to COVID-19. We
have all the time in the world
with no definitive end in sight,
but our lives have been dictated
by deadlines and sociality for
our entire collegiate careers,
so the pressure of progress and
achievement still hovers in our
personal quarantines. This being
said, all societal expectations and
sociological surges are becoming
less important in our personal
lives compared to the massive
shifts in health care, policy and
politics.
Right now, life seems to
be
controlled
primarily
by
external factors. We rely on the
politicians we have elected, the
health care systems currently in
place and late-stage capitalism
to handle this pandemic. With
each
additional
restriction,
the underlying fear and unrest
increases.
The protagonist of the new normal
ELIZABETH COOK | COLUMN
M
y kitchen island has
served as a place
where time gets lost in
long hours of insightful conversation.
Now, when time seems to stand still
and daily discussions don’t steer
far from the all-consuming, mind-
numbing coronavirus pandemic,
I often reminisce to one of my last
conversations
with
my
college
friends.
We’d landed on my favorite
discussion
of
all
time:
the
simulation
argument.
The
argument juggles the capacity of
technological advancement with
the probability that we are living
in a matrix. While it’s intriguing
to momentarily entertain such
questions,
philosophers
have
studied these kinds of thought
experiments for centuries. The
real-world implications of working
through these purely imaginative
exercises have been heavily debated
in philosophy and science, but one
thing many thinkers can agree on
is their importance. By limiting an
existing realm to either be a matrix
or to be a technologically lagging
society, thought experiments, like
the simulation argument, yield clear
intuition that can be translated into
real-world dilemmas. While life is
messier than a carefully crafted
hypothetical, popular culture offers
a medium in which we can further
consider philosophical questions
through movies, TV shows and
books.
The
actual
challenge,
however, is actively engaging in the
intelligent participation this kind
of content calls for — and allowing
any existential epiphanies to shape
our perception and way of life.
Existentialism
has
existed
as a prevalent theme in books
and movies, taking the form of
dystopian
futures,
dangerous
diseases and exaggerations of
reality, but these conversations
often circle back to the same
conclusion: “That’s just a big ‘what
if,’ though.” Well, what if we didn’t
take these interpretations lightly?
Instead, in times like these, we
should indulge in the uncertainty
of existence.
Among all the chaos it has
already caused, a global pandemic
serves as yet another reminder of
the frailty of human nature, and
as Albert Camus, author of the
commonly revisited novel “The
Plague,” suggests, the absurdity
of life. Written post-World War II
when existentialism began gaining
popularity, Camus’s classic novel
eerily mimics the current crisis
and, subsequently, the potential
lessons to be learned from it, as
many have already connected.
While Camus’ philosophies seemed
purely educational when plowing
through the 320-page book for an
elective class, its relevance and truth
feel unsettling in our current
context. It’s as if hypotheticals
in popular culture have some
truth behind them — as if we just
may be living in our own twisted
episode of “Black Mirror.”
From 1999’s “The Matrix” to
contemporary Netflix originals
like “The Society,” TV shows
and movies have encouraged
us to question reality and
contemplate our own purpose,
though it’s not as if we’ve
ever really needed this push.
Feelings of existential dread, or
intense feelings of indifference
triggered by external stimuli,
are common among college
students, especially when the
sleepless nights of studying
never seem to be enough and
successes are questioned at the
first stumble.
Embrace the existential crisis
EASHETA SHAH | COLUMN
Elizabeth Cook can be reached at
elizcook@umich.edu.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Easheta Shah can be reached at
shaheash@umich.edu.
Editor’s Note: The author of this
op-ed has been kept anonymous due
to their fear of retaliation.
The change has
left many of us
panicked.