Take Covid precautions seriously: Widowed frontliner nurse in UAE

Dubai - She notes that people who take the disease lightly should really think twice.

When Indian expat Jinu Johnson was first told that she would be looking after Covid patients at the isolation unit of her hospital, she was unfazed.

Although the 36-year-old was mentally prepared to catch the virus herself — a near inevitability if you’re spending over 12 hours in high-risk zones — what the mum-of-two never expected was for her husband to fall victim to the disease that has now claimed over 1.5 million lives across the world.

It was back in June that Johnson George — who’d been working from home since the start of the lockdown — first started displaying symptoms. “He had throat pain, mild fever, cough and weakness. He was given antibiotics, but the fever refused to subside,” recalls Jinu. When the frontline nurse noticed his cough was beginning to resemble that of the patients she was looking after, she took him to the hospital.

Johnson was admitted on June 3, where he tested positive for Covid. That’s when Jinu too underwent a swab test and discovered she was Covid-positive too. “I was asymptomatic the entire time,” she says.

Although his condition started out poor, Johnson began showing signs of improvement over the course of the next three days. “I was able to call and talk to him over video,” says Jinu, who had to go into quarantine as well. But things spiralled very quickly after that.

Unfortunately, Johnson had a pre-existing condition of diabetes that wasn’t in control and it complicated matters further. He died on June 18 at the age of 37.

“Life never turns out the way we imagine it will,” says the young mum. “My husband was extremely careful since the lockdown began. He would greet me at the door after my hospital shifts with a spray in hand and mop the floor after me till I got into the shower.

“I don’t blame anyone. It was just God’s will for him to go now, at the same age that his own dad died. But what has happened cannot be reversed, and I think that guilt will always be with me.”

Jinu’s parents are currently in town on a visit visa till January. She is grateful for their help, and for all who have extended their support so far — but is uncertain of what the future holds and how the family will manage on her income alone.

She has since returned to work, continuing to work day and night shifts alike, as she cares for her patients. “It’s important that we don’t stop being human. When I was treating Covid patients, it would’ve been easy to just stand in the doorway and give them instructions. But if you really care about them, you will get close enough to open their meals and spoon-feed them when they’re scared and refusing to eat and reassure them… As nurses, that’s what we did.”

She notes that people who take the disease lightly should really think twice. “There is no failsafe way to keep you from catching Covid, only safety measures to reduce the risk. Take it seriously, that’s all I can say,” appeals the frontliner.

— karen@khaleejtimes.com