'I'm not letting my guard down' -- Physician's clean-up rituals bring peace of mind

Dr. Kara Dupuy-McCauley doesn’t consider herself to be in the heat of the COVID-19 frontline battle.

“I’m not in the emergency department, and I’m not the nurse taking care of the COVID patient and being by their side all day long,” the Mayo Clinic pulmonologist said.

But while she isn’t caring directly for patients known to have the virus, the physician and young mother is realistic about her greater-than-average chances of contracting the disease.

“I feel that coming in contact with a variety of different people every day, coming from different environments and maybe not social distancing, could potentially be an exposure,” she said, acknowledging that everyone in the community faces similar unknowns outside their homes.

With that in mind, she started taking precautions as the threat of the pandemic hit local headlines.

The goal has been to make sure the virus doesn’t breach her home, where her self-employed husband, Steve McCauley, has been watching their children, 3-year-old Everett and 12-year-old Evie, when she’s at the clinic or hospital.

Dupuy-McCauley’s routine starts the night before work when she puts clothes for the end of the next work day in a bathroom near the garage entrance of her home, which is located off the laundry room.

The next morning, she wears personal scrubs to work, where face masks and routine hand washing are commonplace.

The end of the day brings a final hand washing after cleaning and securing most of her work-related personal items.

Leaving the clinic, she avoids touching door handles and other surfaces as much as possible.

At her car, she uses Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer to fight off any potential lingering trace of the virus before the drive home.

At home, she takes off her shoes in the garage, where they stay until the next work shift; she follows up with a shower and changes into the clean clothes she prepared the night before.

“Then, I’m ready to be introduced into family life,” she said.

Her husband and children know not to greet her until the routine is complete and the scrubs disappear into the washing machine.

Dupuy-McCauley is quick to point out that much of her routine isn’t based on scientific evidence or specific Mayo Clinic protocols. It’s largely designed for her own peace of mind amid uncertainty.

As more businesses prepare to open and more people return to work, Kari Etrheim, spokeswoman for Olmsted County Public Health, said such peace-of-mind practices can keep home safe for family members who spend their days at home.

Approximately 80 percent of Olmsted County’s 351 confirmed COVID-19 cases involved someone who shares a home with another infected person.

Dupuy-McCauley said she feels comfortable as she starts seeing more patients face-to-face, knowing Mayo Clinic is doing what it can to fight the spread of the virus.

“I feel relatively safe,” she said. “I’m not letting my guard down, but I feel the policies they have in place are reasonable.”

At the same time, she acknowledges that testing isn’t 100 percent accurate, so patients or co-workers could be carrying COVID-19 without knowing it.

The same is true for people in businesses that have remained open or are considering opening, she added.

Etrheim said that’s why it’s important to make sure precautions taken at work to prevent the spread of illness are considered when returning home. For instance, social distancing practiced in the workplace needs to continue during off-duty hours, when interacting with people outside your household.

“It’s important to remember that all these things need to take place and at home to the best of our abilities,” she said.

Dupuy-McCauley said she continues to tweak her post-work routine. She said she’ll eventually start changing clothes when leaving work, using a washable pillowcase to reduce contamination while bringing the home to wash.

“That is another thing I’m going to be doing,” she said, adding she will likely be rotating into direct contact with known COVID patients later this year.

Dupuy-McCauley said she knows everyone isn’t as fortunate as she is to have a shower and laundry facilities immediately inside her home, but she said people should consider whatever steps they can take.

Etrheim said much of that will be based on individual risk tolerances, but any steps can help someone feel more secure.

“We all want to have some sense of control, and these are crazy times because we don’t have the information we want,” she said.

Hand washing remains a key tool in battling the spread of COVID-19, but health experts say the 20-second ritual takes on added importance right before leaving work and as soon as you get home.

A variety of lists include other suggestions. Some of them are:

• Take shoes off before heading into the house and leave them in the garage or on the porch. Mayo Clinic even suggests keeping a different pair of shoes at work.
• If possible, change clothes before heading home. If not, change as soon as you get home.
• Take a shower as soon as possible when you get home.
• Leave non-essential items at home. Health experts suggest only carrying what is needed to the workplace to decrease the risk of transmitting the virus when returning home.
• Disinfect phones and anything else taken to work.
• Follow the rules established to reduce spread at work. Kari Etrheim, spokeswoman for Olmsted County Public Health, said the new measures will reduce potential for bringing the virus home.
• Avoid sharing utensils and toothbrushes to decrease chance of spreading germs within the household.