DUBLIN, Ga. — Since COVID-19 first became a word in our vocabulary, we've all appreciated front line workers, and besides doctors and nurses, that includes the cleaning crews, the folks that sanitize behind every patient and walk into rooms and offices where the virus has left a trail behind.
Here’s the story of one man with a different perspective on fighting coronavirus.
Robert Lowell works at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center. He's with the cleaning crew, and these days, that means sanitizing places where folks have tested positive for coronavirus.
"When COVID first started, it wasn't that bad," Robert said. "But all of a sudden, these last two weeks, it's exploded some."
Chief of Communications Scott Whittington says they have almost 2,000 employees.
"We just confirmed 34 cases," he said.
Whittington says those cases came from employees at the VA, not patients living at the hospital, but that's where Robert comes in.
"I spray the walls the ceilings, everything they touch -- the desks, telephones, laptops," he rattled off.
He's literally putting himself right inside hot zones, but his teenage years set him up for this kind of service.
"I'm a Vietnam vet, United States Navy," he said proudly.
Every veteran has a mission to carry out, and Robert feels fighting coronavirus is no different.
"It could be like a foreign company with a soldier coming to kill you, basically, so I feel the same type of thing -- I’m trying to kill it before it kills us," he said.
"I can see that sprayer being attributed to being a rifle, so I can see the correlation between being in a warzone and the way he's treating the virus," Whittington said.
Robert is part of a team, just as important as any front line worker coming together to accomplish one goal.
"Without all of us together creating our Army to combat this virus, I think we'd be really, really hurt," he projected.
There are 60 people on the Environmental Management Services team, and Whittington says many of them are veterans.
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