Like many other Ohio residents, Dianne Green of Lorain spent time during the COVID-19 pandemic learning about this public health emergency by watching television. Related Articles Concord Township resident reflects on challenges in recovering from long COVID Five years after COVID, Northeast Ohio frontline worker embraces healing, moving forward Northeast Ohio public health officials reflect on COVID pandemic experiences 5 years later What are people asking about COVID-19 – and what do doctors wish patients knew? Five years ago, COVID gripped the world in fear. Now scientists, doctors warn Trump’s policies are weakening public health But Green went a step beyond simply listening to what was said. She jotted down notes, documenting everything from daily changes in the number of confirmed COVID cases to anecdotes about the pandemic provided by government and medical officials. As someone who regularly watched TV coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Green initially considered organizing all of her written summaries into a personal journal. But she eventually decided to share her COVID recaps with a larger audience. “I thought, it was getting bigger and bigger, so I’m just going to put it into a book,” she said. Green achieved her goal by writing an 820-page book. “It took me almost four years to get it published,” Green said. “COVID: A Look Into a Deadly Disease, a World Apart Together” went on sale in early December. Paperback and Kindle versions of the book are being sold exclusively on Amazon. Green, who is 65 years old, works as a clerical intake specialist for Lorain County Job and Family Services. “COVID: A Look Into a Deadly Disease, a World Apart Together” is the first book she’s ever written. Her book primarily consists of recaps about the latest news and statistics on COVID that she wrote for specific dates during the pandemic. “There was so much information daily, but I tried gathering and putting together some of the most important facts and interesting stories, along with daily coronavirus numbers and data,” Green wrote in the book’s introduction. “I have done much research, as I also tried to capture important facts and updates given through news reports.” Green’s first dated entry in the book is from Jan. 21, 2020. That’s when a Washington state resident became the first person in the United States with a confirmed case of the novel coronavirus. This man had returned to the U.S. on Jan. 15 after traveling to Wuhan, China, where the pandemic broke out. He was released after two weeks of treatment, Green wrote. Also in that Jan. 21 entry, she wrote that the World Health Organization was “still unsure of the necessity of declaring a public health emergency.” In the book’s introduction, Green also wrote that she first heard about the disease later known as novel coronavirus and COVID-19 on Dec. 31, 2019. She learned that people in Wuhan, China, had become violently ill from an unknown disease. That disease, which initially was described as a pneumonia-like illness that did not respond well to standard treatments, went on to be identified as novel coronavirus and spread quickly throughout China and the world. Novel coronavirus officially became known as COVID-19 in February 2020. In March of that same year, Green was temporarily laid off from Lorain County JFS, which gave her much more time to watch TV coverage and take notes on what she learned. One of Green’s favorite sources for updates were Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s 2 p.m. news conferences, during which he discussed how the Buckeye State was being impacted by the pandemic. “Every day at 2 o’clock, I’d sit here and watch what he said, what (then-director of the Ohio Health Department) Dr. (Amy) Acton said, as well as all the people the governor would call on,” Green said. “And basically a lot of the days, that’s what I put in the book.” Along with watching DeWine’s news conferences in real time, Green would review them later on YouTube. “I just played (the videos) and typed (on a computer keyboard) as Gov. DeWine and the others spoke,” Green said. By performing this ritual, she transcribed accurate and complete accounts of what was said during the news conferences. In addition to summarizing how COVID-19 was making headlines in Ohio and throughout the United States, Green shared examples of how the pandemic was affecting her personally. For example, in a Feb. 15, 2020, entry, she wrote about how COVID altered the atmosphere at her cousin’s baby shower. Green said said she and other guests at the shower greeted one another with arm-bumps, and “no hugs whatsoever.” “And that goes from what our governor said, that he would prefer if at all possible, no touching of any kind,” Green said. “This was hard to do, we are a close family, and getting together for such a happy event, the first thing you want to do is hug and catch up.” Some of Green’s dated entries review consecutive days during the crisis. But intervals between other summaries range from two to 10 days. Green’s last entry in the book for a specific date was for Aug. 27, 2020. “I got called back to start work again in September of 2020,” she said. “So I decided to end my book in August, because I knew I was going back to work September, and there would be no more time for writing.” However, the collection of COVID summaries by late August of 2020 didn’t turn out to be her final draft for the book. She decided to write an additional chapter after being diagnosed with COVID in January 2021 and struggling to recover from the disease. “I was hospitalized for nine days, with seven of those days in the intensive care unit,” she said. After Green began experiencing COVID symptoms that include severe pain and weakness, her husband drove her to the emergency room at University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center. “When I got there, I couldn’t even make it in the door by walking,” she said. “I had to have my husband get the wheelchair and wheel me in.” After doctors examined Green, they told her she needed to be hospitalized in the intensive care unit. However, UH Elyria didn’t have any beds available for her at that time. They also couldn’t find a bed for her at any hospitals within a half-hour vicinity of Elyria. Eventually, UH Elyria staff was able to locate an available bed for Green at UH Richmond Medical Center in Richmond Heights. She was transported by ambulance to the hospital in eastern Cuyahoga County, about 45 miles from Elyria. On Green’s second day in the UH Richmond ICU, she was informed that her sister had died of a massive heart attack. “And I just talked with her a half-hour prior,” Green said. No family members were visiting with Green when she found out about her sister’s death. And with Richmond Heights being far away from Lorain, none of her relatives could quickly drive to the hospital to help her deal with the emotion pain. “So one of the nurses did come in,” Green said. “And she held my hand for a while and talked with me.” After Green was released from the hospital, she wrote a new chapter of about 30 pages for her book. “It was about my experience with COVID,” she said. “I just put that I was in the hospital and described how horrible COVID was.” Although four years have passed since her severe bout, Green said she still suffers some lingering effects of the disease. For example, she said it has impacted her ability to breathe normally under certain circumstances. “If I walk a distance, especially in the cold, my chest will hurt so bad I’m doubled over trying to catch my breath, and takes me hours before it stops hurting,” she said. She experienced these kind of breathing difficulties after recently going to Sam’s Club with her husband on an extremely cold day. Green said she has a handicapped parking placard for her car, but couldn’t find any nearby spaces for this category of vehicles in the Sam’s Club parking lot. “So I said to my husband, ‘You know what? I’m going to just park a little further away.’ ” Green tried to cover her mouth to block the frigid air while walking through the parking lot, but it didn’t help. “By the time I got in the store, my chest hurt so bad. I said, ‘We may have to call an ambulance,’” she said. After that episode, it took at least four hours before Green could once again breathe without pain. In addition, Green said her sense of smell has been erratic. “Some days the brewing of coffee smells great like it should,” she said. “But sometimes, it smells like skunk spray.” Although COVID created some long-term health issues for Green, she continued to work diligently on all the steps needed to publish “COVID: A Look Into a Deadly Disease, a World Apart Together.” Excel Writing Book Writing of Chicago assisted Green with editing and publishing her book. Green described the book as “an easy read,” and hopes it will attract the interest of people who were born after the pandemic, or individuals who didn’t pay close attention to the news while the health crisis was going on. She also hopes that teachers might consider having students read “COVID: A Look Into a Deadly Disease, a World Apart, Together” as part of any classes that explore the history of the pandemic. “The book is fascinating, I think,” she said. ...read more read less