For most of us, the do’s and don’ts of the pandemic are mostly simple ones. But for the doctors and health care workers on the front lines, nothing is simple. Eric Yeh, recording from his home, has this Perspective.
Stay home. Practice social distancing. Wash your hands.
Simple instructions — yet they have been hard for so many to follow. “This is America,” I have heard one person say, “and I get to do what I want.”
Yet, my wife does not have a choice. She is a primary care physician in Santa Clara County — one of the counties in the country hardest hit by COVID-19. She doesn’t get to stay home. She doesn’t get to practice social distancing. She can only wash her hands, so much so that the back of her hands ache from the constant barrage of soap and sanitizer.
She faces ever-changing guidelines. She lacks the necessary medical supplies to protect her, and she sees patients who sometimes choose not to disclose that they are ill.