March 11 2020, was the day COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. In less than ten days, our homes would become the epicenter of our lives for most Americans, adapting to work, school, entertainment and tele-visits from the home. A new reality was thrust upon all of us, from every circumstance and walk-of-life. Each of us learned to shift schedules, routines, livelihoods, plans and dreams. It has required great amounts of energy and flexibility to meet the challenges of 2020. Perhaps at the one year point, we can shift a few moments of our focus outward to how others have experienced this past year.
> A Public Transit Worker talks about frustration over vaccination priorities. Although listed as "essential frontline workers" many employees are still waiting to be eligible for the vaccine in states that have an age-focused distribution. (Dave Bruffy - MounainLine, WV)
>A Respiratory Therapist copes with exhaustion. Like many other health care providers on the frontlines of the pandemic, their shifts are long and challenging. Caring for COVID patients can be emotionally draining. Staff walk many miles daily, moving between different areas of hospitals, caring for COVID patients in addition to their regular patient volume. (Keri Ohren - Carris Health)
>Medical Students confront the worst crisis in generations while their medical education is disrupted. Medical Students were pulled from the classrooms, hospitals, and clinics to reduce the risk of spreading the virus, conserve scarce resources and protect students and others, forcing adaptations as they cope with studying within a changing medical system. (Claire Collins, University of Michigan Medical School) >A New Mother gives birth to a vigorous, healthy baby girl with COVID-19 antibodies three weeks after receiving her first dose of the Moderna vaccine at 36 weeks or pregnancy. (Dr. Paul Gilbert - Florida Atlantic University)
>"Conversations I’ve had with servers, cooks, and other restaurant workers overwhelmingly boil down to anger and fear: they feel trapped between a paycheck (and, for some of them, the customer-is-always-right performance that a tip-based income demands) and their personal safety—a November Stanford University study identified full-service restaurants as “superspreader” sites, and a recent University of California analysis found line cooks to be the workers at highest risk for death from covid-19. " (Helen Rosner - The New Yorker)
"One never knows whether to applaud the human insistence on continuing with some form of normal life, or look aghast at the human insistence on continuing with some form of normal life. That's the mystery of the pandemic." Adam Gopnick.
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