Dan OâConnell has started each day the past five months with the same, sobering routine.
âI wake up and see the meetings I have and what kind of webinars I have to educate myself on every new aspect of COVID,â said OâConnell, șÚÁÏÍű Wesleyanâs Head Athletic Trainer.
Before March, OâConnellâs job was mostly similar to what he had done his entire career, the last six as head trainer at KWU. Help Coyote student-athletes maintain their health, treat them when they were hurt, guide them through rehabilitation, serve as a sounding board and quasi-counselor/psychologist.
He continues to perform those duties, but his role has changed in ways he never could have imagined since March, when the COVID-19 pandemic began his relentless trek across the country and continues unabated today.
For OâConnell and trainers across the nation at every level in every athletic endeavor, the virus has ushered in an entirely new ballgame.
âI never, in my wildest dreams, ever thought Iâd have to figure how to navigate athletics during a pandemic,â OâConnell said. âItâs been a completely new experience, a very challenging experience.
âWhen I was in school we took a general class where you learned your basic medical stuff â basic illnesses and sickness. But we never really touched much on pandemics and stuff like that. Itâs all been new.â
Since the pandemic began OâConnell and assistants Elizabeth Ketchum and Christian Galindo have become students again in an attempt to learn all they can about the virus.
âJohns Hopkins (University) had a free course anyone could take, so getting that stuff and going through that whole course, educating yourself â in a sense going back to school on a lot of this stuff,â OâConnell said. âTerminology and just trying to figure things out and understand how the virus works.âÂ
âWhere we were two months ago is completely different from where we are now; where we were a month ago is completely different now,â OâConnell said. âThatâs been the toughest part and the most frustrating part.Itâs the idea that whatever you have down you have to be ready to adapt, move on, adjust and do your best with whatâs coming down the pike.â
OâConnell works daily with numerous entities, including team physician Dr. Matt Pyle; Salina Regional Health Center; the șÚÁÏÍű Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), which is in constant contact with the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); KWU administrators, coaches and staff, and the șÚÁÏÍű Conference.
âItâs a big team effort,â he said. âThatâs another thing thatâs been really nice, itâs not just me taking this thing on for șÚÁÏÍű Wesleyan. Itâs the conference as a whole. We are all working together to combat this virus and make life easier for all of our student-athletes at all of our institutions so that weâre all safe and we all can compete and keep these positive cases to a bare minimum when we do get them.â
Recent months have been spent preparing for the arrival of KWU students this fall and making plans for keeping them and the campus and Salina communities safe.
The process begins in earnest this week when students from states on KDHEâs quarantine list, including Florida and Arizona, arrive and begin mandatory two-week quarantines. They will stay in hotel rooms across Salina and will be monitored on a daily basis.
âOne of the nice things about being at șÚÁÏÍű Wesleyan and Saline County is that hand-in-hand partnership,â OâConnell said. âSaline County has done a great job in terms of helping us with that type of hurdle we have go over. Finding hotels and rooms for us to be able to quarantine student-athletes, and students in general, who need to be quarantined for two weeks.â
Move-in dates are August 5 for new students and August 7 for returning students with the fall semester beginning August 10.
The quarantine is the first piece of an elaborate plan KWU officials have established to deal with COVID-19, one that effectively creates a campus bubble and includes numerous protocols.
âWeâre keeping an eye on the KDHE rules and regulations, what states are being required to quarantine, weâre loading up on PPE (personal protective equipment) to make sure we have enough â weâre doing those types of things that we can control,â OâConnell said.
Communication is essential, OâConnell said. He will address students during the orientation process about the universityâs protocols.
âWeâre putting a course together that will help students understand hygiene and what is the best practice for hygiene â how to wash your hands properly and stuff like that,â he said. âJust giving them a little understanding of COVID and how it actually works â âwhy if I get a negative test do I still have to quarantine?â Tell them that we do this because this is what evidence has shown us, this is how the virus works, this is what weâre doing to help you and the people youâre around.â
To ease fears, KWU personnel have contacted students by phone so they know what to expect when they arrive and how theyâll proceed.
Each student will be evaluated before checking in. While testing with nasal swabs wonât be done, they will undergo a screening.Â
OâConnellâs greatest concern, as with all health care professionals, is the asymptomatic carrier â someone who has the virus, isnât showing symptoms, but can pass it on.Â
âThatâs one of the trickiest parts of this whole thing,â he said. âWhile it would be great to test everyone, is it smart to test anyone? I donât know.â
Once school starts OâConnell and his staff will focus on the daily care of KWUâs large number of student-athletes. Practices begin August 15 with the first competition date set for September 5.
The process starts with an NAIA-mandated PCR test â a comprehensive examination that must be given seven days before a student-athletesâ first competition.
âAs long as they have a negative PCR test they can compete the rest of the year and donât need to have that test done again,â OâConnell said.Â
Daily screenings will be done from then on and include temperature checks and asking if they have any symptoms or have been around anyone who has COVID-19.
A key component will be the care of students who contract the virus. They will be isolated at off-campus sites and under the care of the county health department until they are well. They wonât be alone, though.
âWe are putting together a team of individuals at șÚÁÏÍű Wesleyan who will be checking with student-athletes and students in general to make sure weâre following up with them and let them know we havenât forgotten about them and weâre worried about them and want to make sure that they are doing OK,â O’Connell said.
âAs an employee of șÚÁÏÍű Wesleyan and person who cares about my students Iâll still be checking in with them every couple of days, too. Just make sure theyâre OK, how their symptoms are checking, are they getting food, are they OK with classes.
OâConnell admits he thinks about getting sick.
âI have to be worried about myself,â he said. âWhere I work and with my close proximity to a lot of students I have to be cautious of everything. Thatâs why I take extra precautions about wearing a mask, wearing the PPE, always washing my hands and using hand sanitizers. I have to take the proper procedures to make sure I protect not only myself, but everyone else I work with.â
âTo me the ultimate thing is we have to keep up with what the CDC and WHO (World Health Organization) are saying and keeping those guidelines. Wearing the mask when youâre in public, keeping the six feet of separation when you can, continue using proper hygiene â washing hands, hand sanitizers. Doing those things.
OâConnell is a strong advocate for one protocol as a way to slow the spread COVID-19: âAll know for sure if is if we wear masks we can, as the WHO said, put it close to dirt.â
