Cincinnati Masks Up
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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, more and more Cincinnatians are donning masks in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. CityBeat spoke to residents who are wearing them about what is weighing heaviest on their minds during this strange, historic time
The novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 continues to sweep across the country and, as of May 5, Hamilton County had seen more than 789 confirmed cases resulting in 46 deaths. Nationally, there have been more than 1.1 million confirmed cases and 68,000 deaths due to COVID-19 in that same time period.
Health experts and public officials have urged precautionary measures, including wearing masks, to slow the spread of the virus. Many Cincinnatians have done so, and it’s a strong recommendation from Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health to wear one in public as the state moves to reopen a handful of businesses. Some citizens have made their own unique, colorful masks. Others have donned the classic, utilitarian white and blue masks you usually see medical professionals wear. CityBeat talked to people across a wide array of ages, locations, races and professions who have opted to wear masks about what is foremost on their minds during the historic pandemic. Here are excerpts from those interviews.
Brittany Pitts, Kroger employee, with Darlene Lamb and Brea Lamb
Brittany Pitts: “I work for Kroger, in customer service. I’m essential.” (Laughs) “I do check cashing and bill payment, so I’m in close contact with people all day. It’s scary, because I deal with a lot of people, and people are still coming to the grocery store. Of course people need food, but I see people coming in every day. It’s become the local hangout. It’s pretty scary. I wish people would stay home and only come out for what they need.”
Darlene Lamb: “I’ve been wearing it ever since it started. It’s kinda irritating, but we have to wear them. I’m kind of scared to go out much, because they say stay in as much as you can.”
Brea Lamb: “I’ve been wearing the mask for a couple weeks. But I work from home so I don’t have to wear them too often...Even if they do reopen starting May 1, how are they going to go about that? How do we know it’s safe to be out?”
Lauren Wade, University of Cincinnati Health Emergency Room Nurse
“The problem for most of us here is, because of where we work, we’re very worried about bringing this home to our families. I have a mother-in-law currently going through cancer treatments, so she’s at higher risk. My mom, even though she is also a nurse, she’s older. So that’s a concern. It’s a concern for all of us. Of course, we take so many precautions. Nurses are very well protected. We have plenty of PPE. The hospital has taken plenty of steps to make sure that we have what we need and that we don’t get exposed. But it’s still a fear, of course. No matter how many steps you take, we’re all human,” says Wade. “It’s a shame that sometimes people think that essential workers are only nurses and doctors. There are so many other people still going to work every day and possibly getting exposed to this virus. I hope people will realize that it’s not just people who work in hospitals. They’re not the only important ones. Places that aren’t health-care related, I just can’t even imagine. It must be scary for them. They may not be trained on wearing PPE. They may not have the actual resources that a health-care facility does. I would probably feel safer here than working at a grocery store or doing food delivery. This is what we plan for.”
Molly Sullivan and Peyton Dabney Copes, musicians
Molly Sullivan: “I thought at first that I would be more productive making music. But I have so much of an emotional relationship with music that I couldn’t go there for a while, so I was trying baking...The one thing that is probably the most unsettling about all of this to me is that we’re cooped up in these little bubbles with limited exposure to other people. I think that can be really dangerous. The thoughts we manufacture, based on our prescribed social media feed or whatever, that’s not the total reality. I think it’s probably pretty wise to try to diversify who you’re talking to, to try to get an understanding of the collective experience.”
Peyton Dabney Copes: “I’m indefinitely unemployed, because I work in music and touring. Certain bands are saying October it’s going to start happening again, but obviously it’s not their call and who knows what is actually going to happen? After the first few weeks I stopped trying to watch the news morning, noon and night. Maybe checking every other day or so instead. There’s only so much you can do...I’m one of the many in the boat that is trying to apply for unemployment. It’s really unclear what’s going on in that department. I’m trying to not check it every day or stress out about it. It’s out of my hands and I’m one of millions in line and I’m fortunate enough to where if it didn’t happen, I would survive.”
Tiffany Neri, Brighton Center rapid rehousing specialist (center)
“It’s tough. We’re seeing a lot more need as far as people needing shelter. A lot more need as far as people needing resources to pay their bills. A lot more need for people to get connected to unemployment, or figuring out how to get their stimulus checks. The first few weeks we were out here, we were seeing 70 to 100 households a day. That’s 300 percent more a day than we were serving out of our building before this. And we’re not getting as much food from the stores that usually donate, because of course people are panic buying more. But we have enough food,” Neri says.
“The biggest thing for me is not getting sick. I can’t get sick. I have too many people around me. Not just the people I’m serving, but the staff around me. I don’t want to get any of them sick. My husband has conditions that can make the illness a lot worse for him. So he’s staying in a separate place. So I’m living by myself. It’s really hard. But here at work, these are the people I depend on. And they depend on me. We’re trying to keep everyone safe and healthy. We check in with everyone a lot, make sure we’re trusting each other, trying to see what each other needs. I’m really, really fortunate in that way.”
Jerry Davis, janitorial worker, Streetvibes contributing writer and vendor
“I can’t sell Streetvibes right now, and I had to leave work for a bit. I was having breathing issues there, and I had to stay in the hospital for a day. They told me I wasn’t in any shape to go to work. I went to a clinic and they told me I have COPD. Work told me they can’t let me come back with everything going on,” Davis says. “Now I have to sit around the house and watch movies, maybe drink a beer. There’s nothing else to do. If I went to work and something happened to me, it’d be on them. I’m not getting paid in the meantime.”
“People are waiting on their stimulus checks. I haven’t gotten mine yet, but I’m hoping it comes soon.”
Kate Zaidan, operator of Dean’s Mediterranean Imports in Findlay Market
“A lot of people who come to Findlay Market seem to be wearing masks. I hear other people say, ‘Oh, I was at other places, and maybe 10 percent of the people have them on.’ I feel like Findlay Market shoppers are a fairly conscientious bunch, and you kind of see that reflected here. I feel like we see maybe 70 to 80 percent of our customers wearing masks. That’s been cool. It’s a good reminder,” Zaidan says. “We walk a fine line between essential and non-essential — you know, we’re a small business, there are other grocery stores available. But we’ve stayed pretty busy. The number of people who use us as a regular grocery store has been striking. People treat this as part of their regular food routine. I feel very happy to be able to be open and keep doing that.”
Jennifer Hester, Christ Hospital palliative care advanced practice nurse
“Palliative care is specialized medical care for patients with a serious illness. We focus on relieving pain — physical, emotional, spiritual — associated with serious illness,” Hester says. “We typically deal with serious illnesses like cancer and heart failure. Now we’re dealing with an infectious disease, so families are often infected together. There’s an emotional component (with COVID-19) where it feels unnatural and different than the other diseases.”
“If you’ve not seen someone really sick with COVID, it’s easy to think, ‘Oh, we’re fine, this is all overblown.’ It feels that way because (Ohio) did it right. My worry is that people get a little sense of security and think we can go back to normal. I don’t think there’s a normal for a while. There’s a new normal. It is very real, and that can be lost on people who aren’t working in a situation where you’re seeing it... We agree that this is how we’re living now. We’re all in this together. I know there is a lot of division, but I’ve also seen a lot of people trying to keep each other safe.”
Alicia Boards, mother and Ph.D. student, with daughters Addison (6) and Olivia (15)
“They haven’t been out since this happened,” Boards says of her daughters. “Olivia has asthma. I’m not risking it. I’ve read that a lot of the young people who are dying are due to asthma. I have two very different kids. (Olivia) is very content being at home. But Addy is my social butterfly, so I get more worried about what it’s going to do long term. It’s very different for her and I’m seeing signs of anxiety I haven’t seen before.
Plus, I think it’s very important for them both to be around their peers. It’s hard to be mom, friend, and mediator between the two all at the same time.”
“I still feel privileged because I am in school full time. I get my school stipend. So we’re still here, our bills are still paid. I’m thankful...We multi-task all the time and often put our families last. Now we get to put our families first.”
Jamie Beiser, Rhinegiest employee
“Early on, I was filled with a kind of depression and anxiety, which I’d never really had before. But once I started getting into a new normal flow of how things were happening, it started being a little less intense.” Beiser says a steady stream of orders from grocery stores, individual pick-up and delivery orders and establishments that haven’t shuttered have driven enough business to the brewery to keep him working, albeit 32 hours a week instead of 40. “That’s 16 hours a check that I’m missing. But we can deal with that. We can figure that out.”
As much as the money, he says, it’s about continuing to feel like a part of something bigger. “It’s weird because I don’t consider myself essential,” he says. “There are so many folks who are out there literally saving lives. But it’s cool that I still get to come in and work and be able to represent my city and do things that are helping people in some capacity at least. I’m definitely glad that I can be here.”
Reginald Harris, director of Community Life for The Community Builders
“I work for the Community Builders. We’re a nonprofit real estate development company. We have 320 units of rental housing in Avondale and also did the Avondale Town Center,” says Harris. “I never want to pathologize neighborhoods and identify them just through their deficits, but I also want to acknowledge the reality that Avondale, for a number of reasons, deals with a number of deficits. So when I watch folks in that community navigate a pandemic, there are different factors at play. People have to make really tough choices. I think about the role that luck and income play. You can’t extract this moment in time from larger sociopolitical issues. The ability of someone to endure this pandemic is directly related to their relationship to health care, to education, to employment, to stable housing. When those are unstable, it’s virtually impossible to weather a time that tests the limit of those very things. This magnifies all those issues.”
