Depending on where you live, it’s been about nine months since the coronavirus pandemic first caught up to the United States. With our first shutdowns–or “lockdowns” according to some–happening in March, and going through April, and into May for some of the hardest hit areas, like New York, some have been gutting it out for that long. Others have, to some extent, gone about their regular lives, some very early on, and some gradually as they gave way to pandemic exhaustion. While some have stayed home or worked hospital shifts through holiday weekends and summer vacation, others have gone about their leisure, almost as usual.
Now we’re working on our tenth month and third wave of coronavirus endurance. Other than the ill, the dead, and their families directly, this ordeal has taken its greatest toll on two main groups: women (particularly mothers who still work or used to work but now can’t) and health care providers, who haven’t really had a day off since the U.S. leg of the pandemic began.
This USA Today article spotlights a nurse in Tennessee who just graduated from nursing school this year, whose recent “before and after” Twitter photo went viral. It also features about 300 other photos of how COVID life is going, both inside and outside of hospitals, where ICU beds and hospital staff are rapidly diminishing, while cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to ramp up. If you look at them, you’ll understand why Nurse Ivey’s face looks the way it does. Read what she has to say about it.
Looking into lessons to be learned for the future, this Forbes article, interviewing Dr. Lori Sokol, suggests some things that may change, for Nurse Ivey and for women like her.
-Maude
December 5, 2020