Are We Learning to Live and Work in the Hot Zone 

– The New Normal?

A little history.... 

After a career of doing environmental assessments and hazardous waste remediation, I have developed a special appreciation for environmental contamination of all kinds.  I can see this new novel coronavirus (Co-v-id-19) in that context. This is an opinion based on my experiences and very open for discussion regarding our current times, (March 2020).  

Are we now all going to live in the exclusion zone?  Are we now walking into our own Chernobyl, but we just can’t see it.

 My thinking is sharpened by assessing and/or cleaning up many contaminated sites across the US and in Canada over the past 40 years or so.  I’ve had lots of experience with various organic chemicals, crude oil, refined hydrocarbon fuels and solvents, toxic metals, carcinogens.... or as I fondly call them methyl ethyl bad shit.  And projects done for a spectrum of public and private clients including States, Cities, Counties, Schools, Commerce, Telecommunications, Transportation and Manufacturing, Military and even some individuals!  Projects for the feds, and even some contracted as a USEPA Response Manager.

About Personal Protective Equipment....

Did you even know what PPE meant last year?  PPE is a layer between you and the bad $hit.  PPE is your last line of defense on the front lines and if it breaks down, or is used improperly, you are exposed.  

It’s suits, gloves, masks, respirators, face shields, boots, etc.  And there are various levels of PPE that are used based on known or potential risks that are present in a specific situation.  There are levels A through D, with Level A being the highest level of protection.  Many workers died in Chernobyl even wearing such kinds of protection?  They died from an invisible killer.

While the hazard(s) and the hazardous situation(s) varies, there are also many site-specific conditions.   Basics like is on the surface, underground or in the river.  More complex, like which hazardous metals, and what chemical & states are present?  Are they Herbicides/Pesticides, Explosives, Asbestos, Radioactive and even Mixed bags including up to everything.  also, they will have different characteristics like liquids and solids, floaters and sinkers, coughs & countertops.  Our first job was to determine what was there.... the concentration and extent.

The project site usually uses three basic areas.  1) The exclusion zone; 2) The decontamination area/contamination reduction zone and;  3) The clean area/support zone.  (Think: HOT/Medium/cool or RED/Orange/blue).  And the transition zone is not only for people it is for equipment, small to large.  It is in the clean area where we all usually live now, where you have clean clothes and the basic comforts of the american life with relatively few worries.

Minimizing the risks....

As you enter the transition area or decontamination zone, you prepare to enter the exclusion area work zone where the hazard is known and/or expected to be.  You take off your clean area clothes and don your PPE.  If it is level C or B, it might typically include a tyvek suit, inner booties, sample gloves, hood, all carefully taped to reduce risk of contact, then your outer protection which might typically include rubber boots, outer splash suit (rain gear), face shield or goggles, and that hard hat!

Another key part of this step is respiratory protection.  In my mind the cloth face mask is the lowest level of protection.  I don’t ever remember wearing one except at home for a dust or paint mask.  Level C protection usually included a respirator with cartridges for the expected contaminant(s).  Level B protection usually included self contained breathing air/scuba tanks.  Level A kicked it up a notch with a fully enclosed suit, like a space suit.

You are working to protect yourself and basically others from direct exposure or cross contamination.  Think absorption or adsorption, think ingestion, think respiration, ....skin, eyes, nose, mouth......lungs!   ( And, there are other threats out there that may not apply like injection, explosion or radiation, for which you use more or different PPE )

Now a key part of this hazmat work is OSHA hazardous materials training.  Workers required a HAZWOPER training course which is a 40 hour course usually with a hands on approach to learning and testing to get a certificate.  It is part of the federal law for investigating or remediating contaminated sites like hazardous waste sites and chemical spills.  Workers also requires annual refresher courses, a minimum of 8 hours training to maintain your awareness and the law includes annual medical exams/blood testing to get an updated certificate.

Going into the areas of danger....

Now get to work....wade into that exclusion area for whatever your job is.  Inspecting a spill site, putting out sorbents, taking samples, digging test pits, air monitoring, running heavy equipment, drilling soil borings , installing monitor wells, taking asbestos samples in a building, running a vac truck, installing a treatment system, driving a dump truck, packing lab chemicals into a drum, etc. etc.      ...oh, you gotta pee, guess what?

So, now you are done, maybe just need a break, and you head back through the decon area and take off the PPE, methodically and carefully segregating it for disposal.   Maybe take a shower and head for the clean clothes.  There are a myriad of situations and each one actually has a bunch of site-specific written plans and procedures based on both the knowns & unknowns.  (Health and Safety Plan).  Nobody wants to be exposed or take something home to their family through cross contamination.  I have thrown out my work boots after some projects.

Let’s get back to work now, next task.  Drink some water/hydrate and start the process all over again.  Be careful, think about others, use the buddy system, know hand signals, where is the first aid station, the emergency exit.  It’s serious business.  I once was cut by razor wire while in the exclusion area on a superfund project in New York.  Seeing the cut in my glove and blood running out is a little chilling.  I survived!

Unknown and unseen hazards...

Usually the hazard we worked with was visible.  Much of what I saw was relatively stable.  An old chemical landfill on the bank of Lake Michigan collapsing into the lake next to the city drinking water intake, a site of leaking buried waste drums in Florida, leaking underground tanks at a hundred locations, spills at active chemical plants, etc. etc.  But there were also a few emergency responses like a derailed tank car leaking into the Mississippi River, an agricultural chemical warehouse fire in North Dakota, a storage tank spill of Xylene in Illinois....you could actually see a lot of the hazard right in front of you.

You could usually see or smell the hazard and had monitoring equipment too.  A virus?  To me it is oddly like cancer, who knows how I got it?  What molecule started the spread in my body?  Was it manmade or natural?  The spread of the novel coronavirus, Covid19, starts with as little as one virus spread from one person to another, either directly or indirectly.  Yes, the invisible enemy we are at war with now, and worldwide.  Who knows what the best PPE is?

Real world thoughts in 2020....

In the past few weeks, we have self isolated.  But we could still get the virus from many ways and if we become contaminated we can only speculate how.  The mail dropped off by the USPS lady?  The windshield replacement guy who handed me his phone to authorize the bill.  Or ? The packages delivered?  Suspect packages from the item packed, the packaging material, the box, the transfer system and the delivery driver.  That virus could tag along anywhere in the process.  The gas pump?  Shopping?  Some of the many surfaces I (we) touched along the way.  Somebody spit on the ground, and it’s airborne seconds later when a car drives by.  Or the distraught girl we found when we were out biking?  Her car was stuck in the sand.  She had come over from Miami! (One nearby hotspot in Florida) looking for property.  She handed me her dirty covered phone to help her find a grúa (tow truck).

It will be very difficult to really know, and we have been careful.  While we have seen our son once, he was careful to change his clothes after work and wash his hands.  We wash hands regularly and particularly after any close contact....mailbox, packages, propane delivery, particularly when going off the property.  I biked straight home after the phone contact, washing hands and deconning the bike handles with a wipe. We will now up our efforts with the increasing risk.  (Changing the plan based on new knowledge, increasing threats).  When our son Matthew comes, bring clean clothes to leave here, take a hot tub before entering the house, a change in procedures.  You see, he is high risk, serving the publics needs daily, so we all can keep driving our cars!

I’m not usually paranoid, actually maybe a risk taker.  but I sense something is different.  And I am at high risk, ticking off 6 or 7 of the increased risk boxes.

Are we headed for a new normal?....

Are we going to live in an exclusion zone now?  I hear it now being discussed by apparently knowledgeable people, even experts.  Let’s get back to business.  You can just wear PPE .... maybe wear gloves and a mask while you go back to work or when getting your groceries.  Lets get back to normal.  It’s the economy stupid!

How big is that new exclusion zone?  A city like Tampa or a state?  A subdivision or the whole country?  Shelter at home or a worldwide Pandemic?  A quick bit of ground truth is needed.  If we are going to transition or get shocked into exclusion zone living, where is all the PPE going to come from?  The hospital systems are already lining up like dominoes, being overwhelmed and running out of supplies.  Wearing a mask for an entire shift or trying to clean it?  There is no extra PPE to be found right now.  Is that why we are ramping up production?

We may not be able to accurately define the contamination (the virus) and, as a result, not know exactly know what PPE to wear or the best procedures to implement, and that brings about the new normal – we are now living in the Exclusion Zone!

The US and the World, a pandemic....

And further perspectives are gained from traveling to Spain for 50 years, where we have friends and family, both on their first lockdown.  The US passed Spain in the number of infections and then passed China to lead the World in the reported infections before this past weekend!  We all know the real numbers of infected and dead are higher than any current report shows.  We also know they will keep going up!  We know the numbers are flawed.  It’s what we have to work with.  We deal with it.

What a friggin’ ride.  Fascinating!  Frightening.  And we don’t even know where us Americans we are on the first steep climb in the roller coaster.  It will take a week of flat data just to know when we are on the top of the first loop of this ride I just woke up on! (Flattening of the curve).  Yes, I really do hope it breaks down and someone can come and get us all off.  But, unfortunately, this developing nightmare is no dream.

Follow CDC advice.

Seriously!

jim quince

PS - remember mostly the healthy transmit this nasty virus and the virus persists on surfaces a long time.

And as I look out the window, the pool service pulls up to the elderly neighbors house across the street ... Is it still business as usual?

We’ll get there, but it’s going to take some time and patience.

This was sent to me thinking it was a bit extreme, but it helps get some of the above points across about how our daily routines are changing in the short term with this coronavirus .... https://youtu.be/sjDuwc9KBps and the need for safe procedures & protection.