The home front: Virus stalks nurses after they leave work

Healthcare professionals including Dr. Michael Katz, left, turn a COVID-19 patient over onto his back at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 10, 2020. The pandemic rages on and cases climb throughout California, once again one of the nation's hot spots. The nurses forge ahead. They care for their patients during 12-hour shifts, taking temperatures and holding hands through gloves and wondering when, if, it will all end. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nurse Shamaine Santos disinfects her respirator using bleach wipes after tending to a COVID-19 patient at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. The pandemic rages on and cases climb throughout California, once again one of the nation's hot spots. The nurses forge ahead. They care for their patients during 12-hour shifts, taking temperatures and holding hands through gloves and wondering when, if, it will all end. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nurse Cindy Kelbert, left, checks on a critically ill COVID-19 patient through a glass door as she is surrounded by other nurses at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Two hospital staff enter an elevator with the body of a COVID-19 victim on a gurney at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nurse Susan Morales waves to David Feinour, a 71-year-old COVID-19 patient, at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 10, 2020. "We still have emotions," said Morales who has been a nurse for 42 years. "The day you don't is the day you should get out of nursing. That's what I would tell my students." (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nurse Sarvnaz Michel, 28, works on a computer while assisting a COVID-19 patient in a room with poster boards filled with family photos and get-well messages at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 10, 2020. The 28-year-old's career has forced her to blur and blend her two lives. She agonizes over her every move in the hospital — "Did I put my gear on the right way, did I take it off the right way, did I touch something wrong accidentally?" — and locks her shoes in the car after her shifts. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Sarvnaz Michel, a 28-year-old nurse who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, kisses her 6-month-old son, Arshan, while video chatting with her grandmother Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Garden Grove, Calif. Michel's career has forced her to blur and blend her two lives. She agonizes over her every move in the hospital — "Did I put my gear on the right way, did I take it off the right way, did I touch something wrong accidentally?" — and locks her shoes in the car after her shifts. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Sarvnaz Michel, a nurse who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, puts shoes on her son, Arshan, next to a sign Michel's husband made to cheer her up Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Garden Grove, Calif. Michel had just given birth to her youngest son, Arshan, prematurely and was supposed to return to work as a nurse on Valentine's Day. She took six weeks of unpaid maternity leave to buy time. She started a new job at St. Jude's in March, returning to a field very different from the one she had left before his birth. "I cry almost every night," she said. "If it was only about me, it wou…

Sarvnaz Michel, a 28-year-old nurse who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, video chats with her grandmother, Acar Sharifi, in her home July 14, 2020, in Garden Grove, Calif. Michel's career has forced her to blur and blend her two lives. She juggles decisions like breastfeeding during a pandemic and whether she should move out of her home to keep her son and husband safe. "The thought of infecting either of them or my family," she said. Her voice breaks and her husband, Cody, rubs her back. "It's crazy." (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

With an indentation visible on his face, nurse Spencer Cushing, 29, leans on a desk briefly after assisting a COVID-19 patient at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. For the month of April, the Cushing family lived apart. Cushing spent his days and some of his nights at St. Jude's, as a nurse caring for "step-down" patients recovering from the most serious COVID-19 symptoms.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Spencer Cushing, 29, tends to David Feinour, a 71-year-old COVID-19 patient, at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. For the month of April, the Cushing family lived apart. Cushing spent his days and some of his nights at St. Jude's, as a nurse caring for "step-down" patients recovering from the most serious COVID-19 symptoms. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

James Cushing, 3, pops out of a door to greet his father, Spencer, a 29-year-old nurse who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, in Orange, Calif., Monday, July 13, 2020. For the month of April, the Cushing family lived apart. Cushing spent his days and some of his nights at St. Jude's, as a nurse caring for "step-down" patients recovering from the most serious COVID-19 symptoms. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Spencer Cushing, a 29-year-old nurse who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, helps his 3-year-old son, James, color animation characters in Orange, Calif., Monday, July 13, 2020, after working a 12-hour shift at the hospital. For the month of April, the Cushing family lived apart. Cushing spent his days and some of his nights at St. Jude's, as a nurse caring for "step-down" patients recovering from the most serious COVID-19 symptoms. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Spencer Cushing, a 29-year-old nurse who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, sits on a sofa in his home in Orange, Calif., Monday, July 13, 2020, after working a 12-hour shift. For the month of April, the Cushing family lived apart. Cushing spent his days and some of his nights at St. Jude's, as a nurse caring for "step-down" patients recovering from the most serious COVID-19 symptoms. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Romelia Navarro, 64, weeps while hugging her husband, Antonio, in his final moments in a COVID-19 unit at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 31, 2020. Antonio was nurse Michel Younkin's first COVID-19 patient to pass on her watch. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Romelia Navarro, 64, holds the hand of her dying husband, Antonio, as nurse Michele Younkin injects the patient with a solution in his final moments at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 31, 2020. Antonio was Younkin's first COVID-19 patient to pass on her watch. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Romelia Navarro, 64, sobs while sitting at the bedside of her dying husband, Antonio, as his heart rate drops to zero in a COVID-19 unit at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 31, 2020. Antonio was nurse Michel Younkin's first COVID-19 patient to pass on her watch. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A phone is placed next to Antonio Navarro, a 65-year-old COVID-19 patient, for his son, Jose, to say goodbye to him in his final moments as Navarro's wife, Romelia, left, weeps at his bedside at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 31, 2020. Navarro was nurse Michel Younkin's first COVID-19 patient to pass on her watch. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nurse Michele Younkin, 28, takes off her personal protective equipment after assisting Antonio Navarro's family members visiting to say goodbye to the patient in his final moments in a COVID-19 unit at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 31, 2020. Navarro was nurse Michel Younkin's first COVID-19 patient to pass on her watch. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nurse Michele Younkin, left, feeds her 7-month-old son, Jackson, as husband, Cody, gives him a kiss in a park on her day off in Garden Grove, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. On the fifth day after her patient died of the coronavirus, Younkin's voice breaks as she sits cross-legged on a blanket during a sunny day in the park with her husband and giggling infant son. She had watched a man die — her first COVID-19 patient to pass on her watch. She had taken off her PPE, murmured to herself, "this never gets easier," and sobbed as she washed her hands. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Michele Younkin, a 28-year-old nurse who works in a COVID-19 unit at St. Jude Medical Center, kisses her 7-month-old son, Jackson, in a park on her day off in Garden Grove, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. On the fifth day after her patient died of the coronavirus, Younkin's voice breaks as she sits cross-legged on a blanket during a sunny day in the park with her husband and giggling infant son. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nurse Shamaine Santos holds an iPad for family members of a sedated COVID-19 patient during a video chat at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. The pandemic rages on and cases climb throughout California, once again one of the nation's hot spots. The nurses forge ahead. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nurse Jackie Vargas, far right, watches as Dr. Michael Katz, second from left, performs a procedure on a critically ill COVID-19 patient with Juan Herrera, left, and Kevin Neal at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nurse Jackie Vargas puts on her N95 mask using a plastic food container while getting ready to assist a COVID-19 patient at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. Vargas wears her glasses instead of contacts so she doesn't have to touch her eyes. She swaps her sneakers out for glittery black clogs so she doesn't have to handle shoelaces. She seals her N95 mask in a Tupperware-like container between patients so it's stored away from germs in the air. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Wrapped in a resealable plastic bag, a smartphone belonging to nurse Jackie Vargas, who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, displays her family portrait in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nurse Jackie Vargas, left, is reflected in a glass door as she walks to her mother, Rose Matute, to pick up lunch for her children playing in their grandmother's pool in Lakewood, Calif., Saturday, July 11, 2020. The 39-year-old nurse, who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, doesn't hug her mother-in-law, who is taking care of her children. Through a glass door, she visits her own mom. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nurse Jackie Vargas, right, stands with her children, Ava, left, and Kai, while chatting with her mother, Rose Matute, with a screen door between them at her mother's home in Lakewood, Calif., Saturday, July 11, 2020. The 39-year-old nurse, who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, doesn't hug her mother-in-law, who is taking care of her children. Through a glass door, she visits her own mom. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Rose Matute, a mother of ICU nurse Jackie Vargas, and Vargas's 6-year-old son, Kai, give each other an air hug at Matute's home in Lakewood, Calif., Saturday, July 11, 2020. The 39-year-old nurse, who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, doesn't hug her mother-in-law, who is taking care of her children. Through a glass door, she visits her own mom. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nurse Jackie Vargas looks at a COVID-19 patient in critical condition while working on a computer at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)