PBCBA BAR BULLETINS JUNE 2020 BULLETIN | Página 28

HIGHLIGHT CORNER On “Buckin LONNIE K. MARTENS Well, that’s what the Palm Beach Post said I did in their front-page article on April 18, 2020. I am not sure about the use of that verbiage, but it appears there is some interest in my story since I was one of the earlier victims of COVID19, particularly amongst our Palm Beach County Bar Association membership. I consider myself fortunate because my symptoms were moderate and did not require hospitalization, although the Florida Department of Health website reports today that of the 3415 Palm Beach County residents who tested positive, only 533 were hospitalized. Of the 3415 residents who tested positive, 215 died. Home. (2020, May 5). Retrieved from https:// floridahealthcovid19.gov/ While statistics mean nothing to those grieving families and my sympathy goes out to them, the vast majority of cases do not result in death. My case is, therefore, fairly typical. It has been approximately six weeks since the start of my symptoms and I am fully recovered. To answer the question everyone asks first – no, I really have no idea where I contracted the virus. I was not aware of being around anyone who was actually sick, not even close to a sneeze or a cough in the supermarket. I had been in contact with a few people who had travelled on airplanes a couple weeks before I got sick, but it is pure speculation to think they were the carriers because they were asymptomatic afterwards. My husband has asthma, so I was much more worried about his compromised health than mine. I did take on most of the grocery shopping, cleaning supply and home goods stocking duty which means I was out in public more, before masks and gloves were available, let alone mandatory. On Monday March 23rd I had a scratchy throat, and by Tuesday evening it was a fever. The fever brought the flu symptoms and they didn’t let up. It is a fact that on March 24th, tests were not readily available. There was only one public site we knew of that was administering tests and by the time we called, all test slots were taken until mid-April. By the magic of the internet, and specifically Facebook, I received information that Baptist Health South Florida was offering was too sick to wait with my primary care with Baptist Health was not sick enough and endure the dread caused by very sic However, I knew that way and suspected CO an online visit. My t and stayed at over 10 fairly evident by look flushed. The doctor online scheduled me at MedExpress, an ur test site in Boynton B My husband and I w outside the facility fully hazmat suit pro me to come inside extremely sterile. T room extensively and of sterilization betw screened very thoro doctor who referred m the facility when I arr I was let into the build I disclosed the possi conditions, because I and cold symptoms pulmonologist had se were still pending. Th prescribed a daily in emergency inhaler. (59) than those presum at 65+. However, statis median age of cases i is 54 and nearly equal and females. Home. (2 from https://floridahea Between the potentia problem, my flu sym (100 degrees in the offi willing to administer performed an onsite t & B, presumably not the COVID19 tests. On that I did not have the I had been vaccinated I was given the nasal and told to assume t the virus. The doctor p PBCBA BAR BULL