Miss. Susan Younger, a 55 years old home healthcare worker in Louisiana, USA still continues to work amidst the COVID-19 havoc. Her work involves taking care of elderly and disabled patients by going to their houses and helping them. 

While talking about the precautionary measures Susan takes, she makes sure to decontaminate herself and wear proper gloves before touching anything or doing anything when she returns back home. She is very cautious and takes all the necessary steps.

The US is currently leading with more than 1 lakh cases but healthcare teams have to be on the field. 

Susan says, “We are the fastest spreading in the world like once it hit Louisiana we were the fastest to spread it around. We had 1300 cases as of yesterday morning and 4 deaths.”

She further said that all the schools k-12 are shut down and colleges are all online or in the process of going online.

Ariel Younger, her daughter added, “Nonessential workers aren’t working. Essentials include anything with food, gas, health care of any type..and I think that’s it. All government buildings are shut down. We are expecting martial law soon. But right now, we have to stay 6 feet apart from everyone else. Stores have tape set on the floor in lines so you know how far you have to be from the person in front of you.”

Most of the stores are almost empty right now and people have already started panic buying and it’s difficult to get certain items including diapers, toilet paper, paper towels, wipes, baby wipes. Parks have been shut down and there is significantly less traffic on the roads. The limit to the number of people in a room is 10 or less so any social gathering dealing with more people is canceled or shut down.

Ariel said, “The only thing you can really do is walk outside as long as  you are 6 feet apart.”

When we asked Ariel if she is scared for her mother, she said, “I think my mom knows how to keep herself safe. If she gets sick, I don’t know what we can do. She is the only one that can drive and we live with my brother who is mentally ill. So if that happens, we will have to take it day by day. What else can we do!”

While talking about her thoughts on society, Ariel said, “I had to give a victim statement about some .. stuff that had happened in my past, and I was the last person who was allowed in the building before it shut down. My brother got approved for his disability check but before it can go through, they need to interview my mom, but they can’t because…no people working in government buildings.”

The USA still doesn’t have a complete lockdown yet. Though according to the Younger family, it could possibly be the next step. But it seems it has not been implemented yet to avoid panic. Ariel says that a lot of people there are paranoid about it and think that the media is blowing up how serious it is so the government can cover something up. While a few others think that society is going to break down and we are going to have to hunt for food again. 

She added, “Unfortunately these topics are not uncommon. When people are scared, they panic, and the government is trying their best to stop that from happening.”

She described the medical scenario in Louisiana and said that people are advised to go to the doctor only if they are bleeding or if there is a life-threatening scenario, they are telling us to call our doctors. In other cases, they are advised to call the doctors and not go to the hospitals.