Shasta, going into her third season as a Cardinals cheerleader, first moved in with a friend, who is also a nurse. That friend – who had only had the mildest of symptoms and tested only when she had trouble smelling and tasting – was soon after diagnosed with COVID-19.
Shasta had to stay home from work. She moved to a hotel for a week to quarantine while she waited for her own COVID test results. Those results came back negative, and she moved in with her brother and was able to return to work. (Her friend is doing well.)
“It’s been a little crazy,” Shasta said.
Darby, who has twice gone to Haiti to help provide free medical care in desperate areas, has a boyfriend who is a firefighter. She said he too has the proper equipment now, but with him as a first responder, they have had conversations about their heightened exposure to the virus.
The fall, with the potential of football and cheerleading, can seem so far away. In these circumstances, it can feel meaningless.
“There are a lot more important things than cheerleading and the NFL,” Shasta said. “But this whole (sports) industry gives people hope. If we do what we need to do to get everyone healthy, I keep thinking this will be something people can look forward to. People won’t take (that life) for granted.”
As for nursing, no matter how dangerous the profession has become, neither has regrets.
“I really have never been so proud to be a nurse,” Shasta said. “That doesn’t mean it’s not scary, to think of what the future holds.”
Darby, in a family full of healthcare workers, long thought about being a caregiver at the bedside, doing hands-on patient care. Given the world around her, the idea of being in a different line of work, “you wonder those things.”
“But I am the type of the person where I want to be responding to this,” Darby said. “I want, with my whole heart and soul, to help people.”
