Covidvirus Chronicles--Michigan Prison Edition

 Surviving a pandemic in prison is a tricky business. While Michigan's Governor urges people to stay at home in order to social distance, the nature of prison makes it impossible for prisoners to avoid exposure from others. Once the virus enters prison, it is inevitable that nearly everyone in that prison will be infected, no matter how careful we are to wear masks, wash hands, and avoid others. The small bathrooms alone, which serve 120 prisoners, are super-spreader events. 

We are now in our third week of the virus sweeping through the MTU prison. Hundreds of prisoners have tested positive for the virus. I am among the latest batch of positives. The following tells the tale of a day in the life of prison pandemics. 

November 2nd the prison shut down for virus testing. Testing goes quickly, but we remained locked down most of the day. I had what I thought was a sinus infection for two days, but that morning I had a low-grade fever. That night, I was up most of the night with severe chills, body aches, and a fever. I was convinced at that point that I was infected, so I stayed in my cell as much as I could. The next day things returned to quarantine "normal" with people milling about the unit. On November 4th everyone was locked down again as testing results had come back. Before we were told if we were positive or not, I told an officer I had been feeling ill. As a result, my bunkie and I were locked in our cell for the remainder of the morning (with a couple of bathroom breaks). We were told to pack all of our belongings since we would likely move. Those of us who tested positive were called to the dayroom in groups where we were informed we were positive. We were given a handout with symptoms (might have been helpful to have that before!), and we were promised supplements (vitamins) as a treatment. Two days later, less than a quarter of us have received those vitamins. 

Around 11 AM a captain came to the unit yelling at the 100+ prisoners who had tested positive to pack all of our belongings in ten minutes and bring them to the small yard. The captain said we were moving to temporary beds set up in the school. Several of us loaded our belongings on a trailer and had a short "hayride" to the school, where we were told we were not on their list and to take our property back to the unit. After waiting outside with our property for several hours, we were finally told to return to our cells without our property. Apparently, nobody in administration had a plan (even seven months into a global pandemic), so chaos and confusion resulted instead. Finally, more than eight hours after the captain first yelled at people to pack up in ten minutes (or else), we were told we were not moving after all. Now, those who had tested negative had to move, and more yelling and chaos ensued. The rest of us retrieved our property and were told we could unpack. My bunkie and I didn't trust those instructions, so we waited until morning to unpack. Since it took all day for the administration to formulate a plan, the same captain who yelled at people all day was back in our housing unit at 12:30 at night yelling at people to get their property outside (or else). Those who tested positive in another unit were moved to the school, the negatives from our unit were moved to that unit, and the next morning the positives in the school were moved (again) to our unit. It was a very chaotic two days. 

Today, my fever is gone, but I still have symptoms of a bad cold, body aches, and a headache. I feel like I'm on the upswing though. On another positive note, we've been receiving our meals in our cells each day, and the food service people have been the most consistent in the prison. The food hasn't been half-bad either (mostly). We even had scrambled eggs one morning, which I haven't had in several years. Too bad I couldn't taste them.