Editors` Expressions: If Only

"Editors' Expressions" is a recurring feature in which the EMS World editorial staff ruminates on current news, noteworthy events and everyday happenings with relevance to healthcare and EMS delivery. Feel free to react in the comment box below or e-mail editor@emsworld.com.

Pandemic, Week 4 (I think): The majority of us (obedient Americans) are staying inside, practicing social distancing and innovative Zoom backgrounds, wondering what show we should watch next on Netflix, and generally living in fear of the big, bad coronavirus.

While we’re inside, our brothers and sisters in healthcare are out there taking care of patients and struggling with PPE. They are seeing tragic scenes on a daily basis.

But what none of us can see is the virus.

The virus that could get us really, really sick, or maybe even kill us.

The virus for which there is no vaccine.

I’ve had some daydreaming time, and I’ve been thinking a lot about the virus being invisible. Its invisibility is one of the things that makes it so scary, right? We wash, we wipe, we sanitize, we hydrogen-peroxide bomb, maybe even light it up with UV rays, but we’re never really sure if it’s all the way gone. That uncertainty is worrisome: Did I kill every last germ?

If only there was a way to know where the virus is…

I think we should ask those brilliant scientists to target some of their brainpower to a new initiative that would make the virus visible.

Let’s dye it!

In the spirit of the patriotic colors of public safety, I vote for high-vis lime green. Yes, the same lime green as our traffic vests, our chevron strips, the stripes around the bottom of the pant legs of the sanitation workers. Except I guess we’ll need to use a different color than high-vis green for those wearing high-vis green. Scientist, can you please create a back-up color? How about hot pink? Let’s assume no one would actually wear hot pink and high-vis green together.

How awesome would it be if we could see the virus?

It could change the way healthcare professionals assess and treat patients. EMS gets called to the patient with respiratory distress, sees high-vis green on the handle of the front door: BAM! Time to don full PPE.

Responding to an unconscious trauma patient from a bicycle crash? You can’t collect the rider’s medical history, but not to worry: There isn’t a drop of high-vis green on his spandex, bike jersey, helmet or the bandanna he’s wearing around his face. What a relief.

Another run to the nursing home? The staff there is diligent, sanitizing every surface, every handle and every high-traffic area. Entering room 207A, however, reveals that this room was missed. The patient has high-vis green on his hands, his sheets and his bed railings.

Helping fellow crew members with safe doffing procedures? Now it’s much easier—just let your partner know that he has a little green smudge next to his nose where he inadvertently touched his face. And maybe wipe up that green dot on the floor that we flicked from our gloves.

Even for the lay public, dying the virus could ease fears.

Going to get the mail? No green on the water bill envelope—safe to touch with bare hands!

Browsing the shelves of the grocery store? Stay away from that mac and cheese section—there’s green all over it. Same with the clamshell container of strawberries. But look, the rutabagas are pristine! I’ll just pick up a few of these, even if I’m not sure how to cook them.

Maybe I’ve had a little too much time to think, but I know one thing: People fear what they can’t see. Everyone can see high-vis green. Perhaps dying the virus would help the fear die a little along with it.

Hilary Gates, MAEd, NRP, is the senior editorial and program director for EMS World.