COVID-19 leaves those at high risk isolated
Loneliness proves as big a worry as virus to some
Al Cathey has a compromised immune system, but contracting COVID-19 isn’t his biggest worry.
For him, the hardest part of the pandemic has been the isolation.
“My biggest thing is I’ve missed my friends,” Cathey, 56, said. “I’m an outgoing guy. I like to be around people and talk to people. So that’s been really hard not to see people.”
The resident of Carroll, in Fairfield
County, has multiple sclerosis, a central nervous system disease that disrupts the flow of information between the body and the brain, and eventually can lead to permanent damage or deterioration of the nerves. He was first diagnosed in 2001.
So he and his wife, Ellen, have hunkered down since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Ohio and the U.S. in March.
“My biggest concern is people not taking it seriously and doing what you’re supposed to do,” he said.
People with compromised immune systems are at a higher risk of having a severe illness from COVID-19.
“Compromised immune systems means you get COVID-19 very easily and you could end up in the hospital very easily,” said Chuck Gehring, president and CEO of Lifecare Alliance, which provides essential services to thousands of seniors and people with medical challenges or disabilities in central Ohio.
“You’ve got a compromised immune system and that’s a problem to fight off COVID-19,” Gehring said. “You’re just not as strong.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises people with underlying medical conditions such as MS to continue with their medication, have at least a 30-day supply of prescription and nonprescription medicines, and don’t delay getting care.
People with compromised immune systems are at risk of having COVID-19 longer and having a stronger reaction to the virus, said Dr. Zeinab El Boghdadly, an infectious disease specialist at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
“Anyone with an underlying medical condition like cystic fibrosis, or they have a lifelong disease or they are immunosuppressed, they are not the perfect host to fight the infection,” she said.
The Catheys are limiting who comes in their house. Al recently resumed inhome physical therapy after discontinuing it for seven months because he was afraid to have someone in their house. The couple usually hosts family gatherings, but Ellen recently texted her extended family and explained that they are unable to host holiday family gatherings this year.
“That’s sad when you think about it,” said Ellen, 54.
Carolyn Ottke-moore was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when she was 4 years old. The genetic disorder produces thick mucus that blocks airways, causing breathing and digestive problems, and leads to lung damage. It affects about 35,000 Americans.
Now, Ottke-moore, a 47-year-old mother of four in Cincinnati, is scared for her health while also dealing with isolation.
“With COVID-19, this is probably the most frightened I’ve been for the reality of my health and my family’s health as well as the most isolating and lonely experience of my life and having CF,” Ottke-moore said.
She stayed at home from March until June and ordered groceries online. Her three boys started going to school two days a week at the end of October, but they take a shower immediately when they come home.
Ottke-moore has had to get used to saying no when people invite her places, but that doesn’t mean it has gotten easier. Her neighbor used to invite them to activities, but she was always forced to decline out of fear of potential exposure, so the invitations eventually stopped.
“That hurt,” she said. “It hurts not being included.”
Suzanne Tierney takes 26 pills a day to manage her lupus and doesn’t go anywhere. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that causes your body’s immune system to attack your own tissues and organs.
“I haven’t been to a grocery store, a drugstore, a gas station, a restaurant,” said Tierney, the CEO of Lupus Foundation of America, Greater Ohio Chapter.
Many lupus patients in Ohio have started getting their medicine shipped since the pandemic started, she said
“Living with lupus can be a very lonely, miserable, misunderstood disease,”
Tierney said. “Now, on top of COVID-19, it’s just a double whammy.”
Lindsay Dunlap’s 9-year-old son and husband both have Type 1 diabetes, meaning that their bodies can’t make insulin. More than 34 million Americans have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease and Prevention.
“I have a choice if I want to overreact or underreact,” said Dunlap, 37, of Baltimore in Fairfield County. “I would rather overreact and be wrong than underreact and be wrong.”
Dunlap said their family was isolated during the first few months of the pandemic and they went about six months before seeing any extended family.
“We take our precautions,” she said. “We wear our masks, we don’t spend a lot of time going out shopping. We haven’t done dinners out.”
It is hard for people with compromised immune systems to watch as their lives remain on pause while restaurants allow indoor dining again, Ohio State football resumes play and school districts go back to in-person learning.
“As things started to open, I got more angry because I was watching other people be able to do more things,” Moore said. “I’ve gotten more angry because I can’t engage in them. It feels really unfair. I have spent a lot of time … really having to let go of some of the anger or some of the frustrations that comes along with watching other people make decisions that we personally wouldn’t make.”
Ellen Cathey said while she is relieved to see some things returning to normal, she and her husband do feel excluded because of his MS.
“You do feel left out, especially when you have folks that maybe are COVID-19 fatigued and have stopped taking it so seriously,” she said. mhenry@dispatch.com @megankhenry