By now you may already be aware that COVID-19 thing sweeping the world—I heard it’s pretty trendy. Over the past several weeks I’ve felt as though I’m a sandpiper running ahead of incoming waves. I went to a concert Wednesday of last week; by Thursday they were cancelling concerts. Saturday and Sunday I went out with people and by Sunday night, San Diego was closing all breweries and restaurants other than takeout. There is now a full “shelter in place“order for the state of California, something that is likely be implemented in other states soon if it hasn’t been already.
Relative to the rest of the world, COVID-19 has barely touched California yet. Regardless, there exists a palpable sense of impending doom. Adult hospitals are already experiencing resource shortages, while the children’s hospital is holding its collective breath, waiting for the sword to fall.
More than once, I’ve found myself stamping my foot while ineffectively yelling, “I hate you COVID-19!” I’m hardly the most severely affected; lockdown casualties among my colleagues include:
- Cancelling international trips that had been planned upwards of nine months in advance—no refunds.
- Parents, and possibly husband, excluded from the delivery of a new baby
- Unable to leave San Diego to attend to a parent with cancer
I think all of us in healthcare are trying to provide accurate and current information to our family and friends where possible, but the information changes day to day, sometimes even hour by hour. To deal with this some of my colleagues have put together a “living document” with updated information. That, along with some of the articles and resources I’ve found myself repeatedly linking, is collected here.
Somehow along the way, Rachel and I decided we’d become essential personnel, taking jobs that will put us on the front lines of an invisible war. Driving to work, I keep getting confused by the desolation on the highways: Heading to the hospital when everyone else is home due to a global pandemic is indistinguishable from a typical holiday weekend.
One response to “Sword of Damocles”
[…] heading to work at our respective hospitals as usual. Very little has effectively changed since I last wrote about it: hospital policies and procedures continue to morph multiple times a day, I try to maintain links […]