CELINA, Texas — The outbreak and its effects are ever-evolving. But at the Phillips home in Celina, it has upended their normal lives for six straight weeks.
Dr. Jason Phillips has been living in a camper right next to the home. Phillips is an ER doctor who works on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak.
"I'm totally stressed out. I can't sleep and I am having horrible anxiety," said his wife Emily.
Emily Phillips has been instrumental in organizing the facebook group RVs 4 MDs. This allows doctors the opportunity to come home to a donated camper without endangering their own families, especially after treating Covid-19 patients.
"Every person that we isolate, we're helping many hundreds of lives," said Emily.
In its initial stages, the group helped 200 medical workers with campers. Six weeks later, they have connected roughly 1,500 medical staff with alternative housing.
A month and a half into this new arrangement and nobody in the family has been sick. But they have been stressed.
Emily says some days she feels like a single mother with three kids and a job.
She admits she gets frustrated when she hears about people eager to get nails or hair done. She wants to remind people of the medical workers, like her husband, who are working the front-lines and treating patients everyday.
She admits she has mixed emotions about Texas opening up.
"I worry about the economy, but I am also selfishly terrified for my kids and myself and my husband," she said.
Emily worries about the future waves of the virus.
Jason encourages everybody to "not live in fear."
Late Friday, when Jason arrived home after a long shift he took a quick visual sweep of the children before returning to the camper.
The family is not sure how long this camper arrangement will last. They are prepared for this to last weeks, even months.
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