It's hard to tell what is happening in reality, and not an artifact of my individual view of the situation. However I think that I entered contact tracing work as numbers in Oregon have started to escalate in a noticeable way and that it isn't just me seeing more of it. We shall see what the longer term curve looks like, which will impact how busy I am in my role.
I will share one thing that hit me harder than I expected. On Sunday one of my tracers talked to a contact who reported symptoms. Acting as team lead, I escalated this to the local health department. These words sound so factual and frankly unexciting, but reporting my first presumptive positive case did not feel routine. I have mostly been experiencing this pandemic in terms of populations, incidence curves, and sweeping policies - but here was a sick individual that was, for a few minutes, my responsibility. I rushed to call and email the people I needed to reach and then I sat with it for a few minutes. I broke down briefly.
Sounds melodramatic. Feels melodramatic. But in that moment it got to me. I wasn't even the direct point of contact, just middle management at best.
Not my work, but resonated: https://www.opb.org/news/article/washington-state-clark-county-covid-19-coronavirus-outbreak-readiness-reopening/
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