The fight against COVID-19 - Cooper urges citizens to take responsibility for their own health and the safety of others

As his tenure with the Stoddard County Ambulance District comes to a close, manager David Cooper offers some heartfelt advice to the residents of Stoddard County concerning the rising COVID-19 numbers.

“It’s time for Stoddard Countians to step up and take responsibility for their health and safety,” Cooper states passionately. “We’ve heard the CDC guidelines over and over, and if they are implemented and used consistently—wearing a mask, washing your hands, and social distancing—will work to reduce infections.”

David Cooper, manager of the Stoddard County Ambulance District, shares concerns about the steady increase in COVID-19 cases. DEXTER STATESMAN/Nancy Nelson Vines

Cooper says a main contributor in spreading the highly contagious virus is that people seem to have become complacent about following the CDC recommendations. He says that even those who may follow good practices at school and work, many times don’t carry those actions into their private lives.

“We see it all over Facebook,” Cooper goes on to say. “There are photos of groups of friends and family in various social situations. Rarely are they masked or social distancing, and as a result, our numbers continue to rise. You can’t follow the guidelines for eight hours of the day, then do whatever you please afterward, and expect to remain safe.”

Cooper says an alarming fact that many people do not realize is that our Southeast Missouri hospitals are quickly approaching capacity levels due to the rising numbers of serious and critical COVID patients.

“We have already had instances where we have had to transport patients to St. Louis or Jonesboro, AR,” Cooper discloses, “because there were no hospital beds available in our area. If the numbers continue to rise, that is going to happen more and more often.”

Cooper says St. Louis hospitals, too, are closely monitoring their numbers and are approaching what they consider to be dangerously low numbers of available beds.

“Not only do the hospitals in St. Louis service residents of the city and nearby areas,” explains Cooper, “but they are also receiving hospitals. That means they take in patients out of their service area, like those from Southeast Missouri.”

Cooper says the danger with COVID is that there are no standard symptoms. As more and more people become infected, it has become obvious that COVID is a virus of many presentations.

“When COVID first made its appearance,” Cooper points out, “the symptom descriptions were pretty simple—high fever and shortness of breath; however, as time goes on, we are finding there are no textbook symptoms. Until recently, we didn’t realize that loss of taste and smell were COVID characteristics.”

“I cannot say this strongly enough,” Cooper asserts. “COVID is not the flu. Flu symptoms are pretty standard, and we don’t find much variance. COVID is sneaky, as we have seen right here in our county. Some people have died from it, some have nearly died. Some people say they’ve never been so sick for a week or more, while others have nothing more than a headache and a low-grade temperature for a couple of days.”

Cooper goes on to say that with the variance in COVID symptoms, and the fact that a person can be contagious for up to three days before any symptoms appear, wearing a mask in public is a necessary practice.

“Wearing a mask is the right thing to do,” reiterates Cooper. “Not only are you protecting yourself, but you’re protecting those you love, and those around you.”

Cooper says his fear for the community comes from his fear for the medical professionals who man the ambulances within his district.

“When COVID first reached us in March,” Cooper explains, “we had one ambulance and one team that was assigned to COVID transport. Now, every member and every ambulance are used because there are so many cases.”

“Three weeks ago 28.14 percent of our total county transfers were COVID cases. Two weeks ago that number rose to 31 percent, and last week it was 35.29 percent. In fact, one day last week, 48 percent of our calls were COVID-related.”

“I am so fearful for my responders,” an emotional Cooper confides. “It keeps me up at night. They go into homes where the sick person may have had symptoms for several days. They may assist someone who is positive but doesn’t know it. They are confined in such close quarters—sometimes for extended periods of time—and many times face-to-face contact must be maintained to monitor the person being transported.”

Cooper says if the responders know they are answering a COVID call, they suit up accordingly; otherwise, their only protection is a mask.

Cooper is hopeful that the residents of Stoddard County will realize the seriousness of the situation they are facing, and understand that masking is something a person does not only for himself, but for those around him.

“I am optimistic that the people of Stoddard County will meet this challenge,” Cooper observes, “and hopefully they will come to view masking as a necessary safety precaution, rather than an unnecessary nuisance.”