I set down my belongings at my desk and go to change my clothes. I wear scrubs every day now, and I have a pair of dedicated work shoes that stay at the hospital. I also have a collection of beautiful cloth face masks sewn by one of our employees—I wear a clean one every day.
At the end of my shift, all of my work clothes go into the laundry. When I get home, everything I took to work stays in the garage. I pass quickly through the house and take a shower before I greet my family. I am especially mindful to keep my distance from my elderly mother, who lives with us, and to handle neither her dishes nor her medications. My wife does that now, since she has been working from home and hasn't mingled with people outside the house for the last month. This is the new routine of our lives, one familiar to countless others since the arrival of COVID-19.
I have worked at the same practice for 16 years. We are an unusual hospital; an independent general practice with 30 veterinarians and more than 150 other staff, open 24 hours a day seven days a week. Because we are located in Silicon Valley, an affluent area in Santa Clara County, Calif., we able to offer services not always found in first-opinion practices, such as orthopedic surgery, in-house ultrasound, cancer therapy, and advanced emergency and intensive care. Our location, however, also means we are in the center of California's novel coronavirus outbreak. COVID-19 has changed not only my morning routine, but nearly every aspect of the work and lives of our practice, staff, and clients.
