MidState - Covid Update
Well it has been quite the wild ride MidState. At then end of August, Brian’s critical care team transported an extraordinarily sick Covid positive patient to an ICU. This is a transport Brian’s team is expected to do. The dangers of the job are numerous, and they include transporting the sickest of the sick and the most hurt to the right hospitals and the right doctors, as fast at the winds will take them. For this particular request the doctor called it a “Hail Mary” and the only real change the individual had. Brian and his team wore all appropriate levels of personal protective equipment and gear. Thankfully, the transport was successful with improvement noted upon arrival to the ICU.
Seven days later Brian began having flu like symptoms. Instead of hoping for the best Brian immediately removed himself from the general population and schedule a nasal swab exam. One day later Gabby also removed herself from the general population. Brian tested positive and Covid washed over the entire Boucher Family. SARS-Covid-19 is a very strange sickness, it included migraines, significant fatigue, fevers that reached as high as 102F, muscle aches, joint pain, difficulty breathing, night sweats. It is all bad. We are generally fit people and this sickness kicked our butts. For the sick, at risk, the old, and the weak, this thing will clearly cause hospitalization or worse.
We share all of this because for many of our members we are the only people they may know who has had Covid with symptoms. We hope to be an advocates for those who may have exposures in the future. We also want to share with you how we have taken every precaution to reenter the community. Brian has been symptom free since Saturday 9/12. He has conducted infectious tracing with the Merced County Health Department to better help the community follow the epidemiology of the virus. He has worked internally with his critical care team to return to work on 9/18. Brian’s medical team advised he could return to the community on 9/14 and the heath department said 9/17. Gabby began being symptom free on 9/17. To ease anyone’s concerns and to assure the safety of all community members we are not returning to MidState until Monday, 9/21. That means that the entire Boucher Family spent 19 days in isolation and all would have been symptom free for 4 days. Most recommendations are a max of 72 hours.
In regards to members, as an extra level of precaution many current athletes conducted their own testing, all of those tests were negative. Other members have not returned to the gym since we shared with everyone our Covid status. We advocate and sympathize with anyone who we have caused additional fear or distress. Each individual had to make decision they were comfortable with and we support everyone. A true testament to this entire experience is that MidState has not had one case associated with Brian and Gabby getting sick. We have not had any of our members family or friends get sick associated with Brian and Gabby getting sick. We should all be proud about making the decision to go outside, about cleaning, about capping class size, about washing our hands, and about being kind to one another as we all navigate this pandemic together. Despite our own story arc, Merced County’s active covid numbers are improving. We all played a part in that.
We can not speak highly enough about our current coaching staff. Keeping MidState’s doors open fell on the shoulders of many individuals who stepped up during an unclear time. Without Erin, Mark, Rick, Daniel, Mike, Scott, and Sarah MidState would had been closed this entire time. We are confident that the coaching you have received is as top notch as it has ever been. In particular Erin’s leadership and willingness to take on all gaps is a testament to her commitment, her friendship, and is exactly why we hired her for the role she is in. Thank you to you all.
We hope that this message helps all our members feel at ease about returning to MidState and continuing our journey of “Better” where we left off. See everyone Monday.
