Robert Cordova knows that the coronavirus is far from being controlled in Washington state. Cordova, his brother, sister, grandmother and mother have tested positive for the virus.
© Courtesy of Cardova Family
Bertha Cordova and her son Robert.
Cordova’s mother, Bertha Cordova, 54, is an essential worker at a fruit packing plant in rural Yakima County, and believes she brought the virus home.
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“She would just go to work, come back, wash her clothes, wash her mask and shower just to be clean,” said Robert, 17. “We take it seriously from day one.”
While the rest of the family experienced mild symptoms, Bertha was hospitalized with Covid-19 for almost a month. She spent several days in a coma.
The Cordova family represents five of the more than 50,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in Washington, a threshold the state exceeded on Thursday when witnessing a resurgence of the virus.
Agriculture and anxiety
Washington reported the first known case of coronavirus in the United States in January. Governor Jay Inslee issued a state order to stay home on March 26, a week after California. Like other states, Washington saw progress and began reopening in late May.
The hours meant little in the state’s lucrative farming centers. In Yakima County, home to much of the nation’s apple and cherry crops, the crowded factory labor barely decreased.
“There are a lot of people working closely together in a nearby facility, you know, indoors for many hours, so their exposure time definitely increases,” said Brandy Wiltermuth, a nurse practitioner who spent two months providing care. from a mobile medical unit outside a Yakima food processing plant.
She says the plant workers stagger their shifts and are given masks and gloves. Wiltermuth added: “It is quite difficult to maintain a positive attitude and come to work and not be afraid.”
Wiltermuth says there is a noticeable difference in mask use between the liberal suburbs of Seattle, near where he lives, and the more conservative county of Yakima.
Although the Yakima County Health District reported 95% compliance with the mask mandates on Thursday, Wiltermuth says that does not reflect what he has seen.
“There is even an exact opposite challenge to those recommendations,” he said. “In the hotel where I stay there is a sign that says ‘we know that wearing a mask is a violation of your rights’. From a health point of view, [it’s] very frustrating, but also from a rather terrifying personal point of view. “
‘I-I reopening’
This week, Governor Inslee reinstated several restrictions, including limiting meetings to no more than five people in some counties, banning indoor bar businesses, and banning all outdoor entertainment across the state.
“The biggest problem we have here right now is apathy and a lack of morale,” said Grant Harrington, whose company, Snohomish Running, promotes marathons and 5km races. “Many of us are so tired of this moving target that we become disinterested.”
Harrington has canceled all of his business events this year, which he says have cost him up to $ 400,000. The “yoyo reopening” plans, he adds, are similar to those of the weeping wolf.
“The governor may be doing what he really feels is right,” said Harrington. “But you can only go through this many times before people just raise their hands and say ‘what’s the use?’ You know?”
‘Lose momentum’
On Thursday, Governor Inslee announced additional security measures.
The state mask mandate will now extend beyond restaurants and shops to include common areas such as elevators and hallways. Bars, restaurants, indoor entertainment venues and gyms face new capacity restrictions. Wedding and funeral receptions are prohibited until further notice.
“We are losing the momentum we had during the first months of the response … we must go deeper to gain control,” State Health Secretary John Wiesman said Thursday during a press conference.
After emerging from her coma, Bertha Cordova is back home. But she still has a long way to go. She uses a heart monitor and is having trouble breathing. You don’t know when, or if, you will return to work because of your heart problems.
She has always been a strong, hard-working woman, she says, and she never imagined that the virus would hit her so hard.
“She wants people to take this virus seriously,” said her son Robert, “and put on a mask, not just for themselves and their family, but for someone else.”
© Courtesy of Brandy Wiltermuth
Brandy Wiltermuth, a Yakima County Nurse Practitioner.
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