As Miss Defy and I celebrated New Years in Chiang Mai, Thailand amidst the 1,000s of lanterns floating in the sky, little did we know that a virus was spreading in Wuhan, China.
The virus, now known as COVID-19, is thought to have originated in Wuhan’s wet markets where animals from around the world (including many endangered species) are caged in close quarters (1). Researchers currently believe that COVID-19 originated in bats and then was transmitted to humans through people eating an endangered armadillo-like creature called a pangolin (2). As the virus spread to dozens, then hundreds and then killed the first person in China on January 11, we had no idea that this silent killer would completely change not only our trip but the entire world.
The virus first arrived on our radar in early January as the Asian region became more aware of the spread. Things started to escalate from our perspective in mid-January. The virus began to advance in China and more people were wearing masks in public around us in Thailand. We had just finished sailing and were looking for our next adventure. We decided on a country-wide South African road trip with wildlife, hiking and biking. To be honest we considered the virus, but it wasn’t high on our list of considerations. We felt it was appropriate to leave the region, but at the time the virus seemed to be mostly an issue in China.
Before leaving Asia, we had a two-day layover in Singapore. Originally, we thought we would see more of the city, eat some chili crab and visit more food stalls. That all changed when we landed.
Chinese New Year involves an estimated 3 billion trips and is the largest annual human migration in the world (3). Travel bans had not yet been implemented in China, and people leave the cities and either go back to rural homes or go on vacation abroad. Singapore is one of the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists (#6 most visited after Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand at #1), so when we arrived, the city was bursting at the seams. Hotels that usually went for $35 a night quadrupled in price to $140 or more. We read that people were shoulder to shoulder everywhere you went- on trains from the airport, walking on the streets and any attractions.
In order to forgo the exorbitant hotel prices and over-crowded areas with a new mystery virus going around, we opted to stay in a secluded section of the airport for the 2-day layover. We found an isolated spot, away from the crowds and hunkered down. We repeatedly washed our hands, avoided touching our faces and Miss Defy joined the 95% of people in the airport wearing a mask. Living in an airport for two days straight is a bizarre story for another time.
Upon arriving in South Africa at the end of January, the only screening measures present were taking our temperatures as we disembarked. And then for 30 days we traveled the country and the virus largely left our immediate concerns. We learned to surf, saw unbelievable wildlife in Kruger National Park and visited remote places that gave us a richer and more extensive picture of South Africa (an additional story for another time). We followed the virus’s spread online as the rest of the world began contracting it- Japan, then France and Iran. We were beginning to move past the “this is all blown out of proportion” mindset.
Next, we needed to get back to the United States to see my sister and my soon-to-be-born nephew. It was cheaper to fly to Europe, stay a couple days and then fly to the US than it was to fly direct to the US from South Africa. Based on similar price and availability our choices were Portugal, Spain and Italy. Guess where we chose? The one place about to blow up with COVID-19….
We booked our tickets to Italy 4 days before leaving. 2 days before departure Northern Italy became ground zero. We discussed at length if we should cancel our layover. After gathering as much research as was available, we determined we should still go- the cases at the time were all concentrated in Northern Italy with only 2 isolated cases in Rome.
When we arrived in Italy it felt like a ghost town. Miss Defy pointed out how the last time she went to see the Sistine Chapel the line snaked back and forth eight times and then extended around the corner and down the block. They ordinarily sold fast passes for people to skip parts of the lines like at Disney World. When we arrived at the Sistine Chapel, we walked right past the abandoned line-marker pylons and straight into the building. Then we walked through the Vatican maze straight to the chapel. Had we not stopped for pictures on the way we wouldn’t have stopped at all.
The same story was true at the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and ancient cities. We had not yet heard of 6 feet of separation, but there were so few people on the streets (only Italians at that, no tourists) that we probably had this separation without difficulty. By our second day in Rome, the government was beginning to try and take steps to curb the virus’s spread. For instance, they normally have a free day on the first Sunday of the month at the attractions, but they cancelled the free day for March. Not closing the attractions but hoping less people would come if they made people pay again (and still making money).
We saw everything and more in just two days in Rome. We spent the final two days watching Gladiator (Miss Defy was already annoyed with me saying “Are you not entertained??” repeatedly when we went to the Colosseum), eating local foods from the grocery store and laying low at our guest stay.
When we finally left for the United States on March 3rd, it was clear the rest of the world was now well-aware of COVID-19. People were dying at an assisted living home in Washington. The NBA, March Madness and the NHL were all to be cancelled in the next weeks. Stay at home orders were being issued. People were working from home or not at all. Hospitals were bracing for the virus to arrive. “Flattening the curve” and social distancing were beginning to take effect.
We scheduled two weeks for quarantine before going to see my sister and her newborn. Miss Defy and I still had no symptoms but understood we might have the disease without symptoms. We debated about visiting Miss Defy’s mom because we didn’t want to put people at risk. She was insistent and said being a teacher, she’d get whatever it was and more from her students anyway. She said she couldn’t bear not seeing her son-in-law.
After another week of quarantining with Miss Defy’s dad and step-mom with no symptoms but lots of spades games, we flew to Arizona.
In Phoenix we stayed in our own Airbnb to avoid contact with others. We never held the baby and kept our distance from everyone. The last thing we’d want is for our nephew to get sick.
We hit an impasse after Arizona. Originally, we were going to fly to virus-free Central or South America and spend a full month practicing our Spanish. The new reality of COVID-19 changed that. In an odd turn of events, Guatemala was not accepting US citizens. Mexico was pushing for stronger border control. Then New York started to get more cases. Soon we were hearing of overwhelmed hospitals, bodies piling up in refrigerated trucks and temporary hospitals opening.
Miss Defy and I considered our options. 1. We could go back to our previous jobs. We both work in healthcare and after reaching out to a number of co-workers and bosses, it appeared they were doing fine, and that the coronavirus hadn’t overwhelmed the Colorado system. 2. We could lay low with accordance to social distancing and self-isolation. 3. We could find temporary/contract jobs in the places hit hardest by the virus. Then, hopefully, we could work for a month or so and try to salvage the remaining 2 months of the year off. Guatemala might be out, but paddling the upper Mississippi could still happen. We decided on the 3rd option and are leaving room for option 1 if Colorado hospitals become overrun.
Since our rental properties were occupied, my brother and sister-in-law let us shelter-in-place with them as we researched how to get involved. Miss Defy dove into her contact book and scoured the internet. She has a strong stick-to-it-tiveness and gets things done when she sets her mind to it. She also does not do very well with sitting inside with nothing to do for days on end. After a week of searching she found a contractor who was creating 3 new hospitals devoted to triage and treatment of COVID-19 patients in New York.
And just like that we’re heading to New York together on a 30-day contract in the makeshift hospitals. The recruiter said we’d be working 12 ½ hour shifts, 7 days a week. They said this workload could possibly drop if they’re able to hire more people. The company will be shuttling us to and from the hotel to avoid additional exposure.
What a whirlwind. When we first started the year off and imagined the places we would be, I don’t think either of us envisioned a re-purposed sports stadium hospital built for a contagious virus. Fortunately, neither of us have been holding onto our year-off plans too rigidly, so we’re able to adapt as we go. I think we’re both a little excited at the adventure of going to the front lines and are looking forward to putting our training to use.
As a last note to our friends and family- we understand the risks of going. We’ve deliberated and made sure we aren’t talking each other into it. This is the type of thing that led us to be involved in medicine in the first place, and we’re inspired by the people who are already there helping. Hopefully it will be enough that we’re not in the at-risk categories and will be following all the protective guidelines. Either way, we don’t want to sit on the sidelines.
In the weeks to come we’ll try to post another article describing what it’s like on the ground in New York.
- Walsh, Nick Paton and Vasco Cotovio. “Bats are not to blame for coronavirus. Humans are.” CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/19/health/coronavirus-human-actions-intl/index.html. March 20. 2020.
- Chengxin Zhang, Wei Zheng, Xiaoqiang Huang, Eric W. Bell, Xiaogen Zhou, Yang Zhang. “Protein Structure and Sequence Reanalysis of 2019-nCoV Genome Refutes Snakes as Its Intermediate Host and the Unique Similarity between Its Spike Protein Insertions and HIV-1.” Journal of Proteome Research, 2020; DOI: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.0c00129.
- Pasley, James. “People in China are making 3 billion trips to celebrate the Lunar New Year, and it’s not going to help the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.” Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-lunar-new-year-photos-largest-annual-human-migration-2020-1.
- Taylor, Derrick Bryson. “A Timeline of the Coronavirus Pandemic.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-timeline.html.
