The daily happenings of a hospital worker, getting the checks everyday, to make sure that they hadn’t contracted MERS-CoV while working, translated…
Lifting my head up, pulled my mask a bit below as instructed, taking in that deep inhale————the air of the summertime, was warm and humid, the ants, the insects, unsettled, then, I’d, held my breaths in, waited, for that cotton swab, to prod into, the depth, of my, nasal, passage.
To prevent the contagion from getting around in the hospital, weekly, the paramedics of the severe condition unit needed to get scanned for COVID-19. Samples, sealed in, sent to testing, waiting for the results. The outbreaks, break us from normal routines, it’d, structured, a brand new state of daily normalcy, in between destruction and construction, everything halted, only the tests used, to mark the passing of, each, and every single, day.
Surely enough, it wasn’t, comfortable, giving the samples. No matter how soft, how barely noticeable, the cotton swabs are, it’d still made us, feel, physically offended. And yet, that was, the counted moments of our days, when we’re, allowed, to pull our, masks, down, for those few short minutes, the nose and mouth, uncovered up, exposed, I’d, greedily, sucked in, the freshness of the air, or maybe, it’d been, too long since I was, able to, breathe, freely, the air smelled, somewhat, different; still with the pollens, the particles invisible to the eyes, but this very moment, the unseen, are, enlightening. This, I’m sure, that that individual who was, suited up, sitting opposite of me, can agree on.
the samples submitted for the checks…
Harmful or harmless, in the end, it’s still, only, confirmed by the samples. It’s just, the results of the checks, am I infected, or not, it’d, exposed me, to the, pains I can’t, get away from.
Putting my mask back on. Before I exit, I saw the testing cotton swabs, filling up the boxes, there are the risks of exposures, that comes with, being out in the open, but, does it lead to life, or death, tomorrow will, tell.
And so, this, is the daily goings on here at the hospitals for the medical staffmembers, because they are all, working in the dangerous conditions of the wards, with the patients with MERS-CoV contractions, that’s why, the hospital mandates all of its workers to get checked right before they get off work, to make sure that they’re, still all, healthy, and we’d needed this process, because it’s these people who are, working hard, on the frontlines of this WAR, that’s, going to, help us all keep our health intact.
Life, the Obstacle Course 