'It Hit Like a Bomb.' A Georgia Coroner on How the Coronavirus Is Ravaging His Community

Michael Fowler, 62, is a coroner in Dougherty County, Ga.

I’m a coroner in Dougherty County, Ga., the county that currently has the most coronavirus-related deaths in the state. We’re located about two and a half hours south of Atlanta, and my office used to average one death a day. But now, I’ve had to bring in another part-time person just to keep on top of our cases. The pandemic has turned the city upside down. More than 50 people have died. A majority of the dead are female, and a majority of the dead are African-American.

The virus started spreading at a couple of funerals. Those individuals who attended the funerals went back into their neighborhoods, homes, and churches, and more people were infected. It hit like a bomb. Within a week, three people died in one day. All three had the same symptoms, so we had them tested and all came back positive. Ever since then, every day there’s someone dying with this virus. Recently, five people died in one day. I’m getting called different times of the night to go out and work a case, to try to figure out what happened prior to that person dying. Did the person have a fever? Were they coughing? Were they aching? Were they having difficulty breathing? So many phone calls are coming in now that it’s overwhelming. I’m getting very little sleep now.

 

I’ve worked 23 major disasters, from the World Trade Center to the tsunami in Thailand to Hurricane Maria. A tornado, you can brace for it and get to shelter. A flood, you can get on higher ground. But a disaster like this—it’s different. It’s hidden. You don’t know if you’re stepping on the virus or touching a door handle that someone touched after coughing into their hand. You just don’t know, and that’s what makes it so bad.

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Now, you pray. You got to pray. And we use universal caution when we go out on a scene. Now you’ve got to go in full gear, gloves, masks, head covering. I’m like a space man walking in there. But you’d rather be safe than sorry when you could bring some kind of virus back to your family. —As told to Lissandra Villa

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