Back to Search
“My family got COVID-19”
Breaking the stigma associated with the Coronavirus
Samantha Fox is not ashamed to say she had COVID-19.
“I am comfortable saying we did have COVID-19, and we did everything right, and it still happened.”
But the Southwestern Public Health manager didn’t always feel that way. Fox admits that when she, her husband and toddler all tested positive for the virus early in the pandemic, she hid it from her coworkers.
“I didn’t tell anyone at work for a while because it felt like there was something wrong with me or I would be judged that we were out partying or gallivanting around… and, of course, we weren’t.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has provoked social stigma and discriminatory behaviours against people of different backgrounds, as well as the assumption that anyone with the virus wasn’t following public health guidelines.
“We were doing our best, being as careful as we could and following all the rules, but sometimes things just happen, it’s the nature of this illness.”
In the course of her work, Fox says many others she talked to who had COVID-19 or were a close contact felt awful that they had inadvertently caught or spread the virus.
“But I didn’t do anything wrong,” they would say. “And they didn’t. “It’s sometimes just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Fox says her husband unknowingly brought the virus home after some cases were discovered at his workplace and infected the rest of the family, including their 18-month-old son.
Luckily, their son had no symptoms. Fox and her husband experienced fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, sore throat and muscle weakness.
“It was scary at first to get the diagnosis,” says Fox, adding her husband was followed up by the COVID unit at University Hospital since he is immunosuppressed.
They all made a full recovery and Fox and her husband have had their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Fox now manages the St. Thomas mass immunization clinic – something she is happy to be a part of after feeling helpless at home for months early in the pandemic.
She was on the tail end of a maternity leave, driving around her neighbourhood crying to Taylor Swift songs and desperately needing to get out of the house. That’s when she knew she needed to go back to work.
“I have my masters in Public Health; I am a nurse during the biggest public health crisis. With my skills, I felt I could help,” says Fox, who also practiced nursing in Guatemala and Ethiopia.
Early in the pandemic, Fox was deployed to SWPH’s COVID-19 Response Centre and content table where she gathered research and evidence to answer high-level questions and explain decision-making. She then moved on to case management.
“It’s a hard job. I learned a lot about how COVID is affecting people. Sometimes it is devastating for people so you are trying to help them the best you can knowing there’s not a lot you can do.”
But then there were times she could help.
Fox fondly recalls an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s whose husband had COVID-19. The woman’s own health was also declining from being isolated.
“I called her every day to see how they were doing, linked them up with the Alzheimer Society and we talked about stress management. I really felt like I helped her – even if it was just giving her someone to talk to each day.”
The mental health issues stemming from the isolation required to control the virus has been on Fox’s mind a lot. She knows that following the COVID-19 crisis, public health will have recovery efforts to pursue, including the mental health implications of the pandemic response. That recovery begins at home.
Fox has found the best respite from the stress of the work in the immunization clinics is coming home to her son, seeing him laugh and playing with him.
“Having that break to just be with him really is the best thing for my mental health.”
And what is Fox looking forward to most when this is over:
“Hugging people.”
Subscribe