The Impact of COVID19 from Our Neighborhoods to Beyond
[Music]
it was a cold winter night and i
remember coming across an article
that was describing an unusual cluster
of a new viral infection out of china
seemed like something that wasn’t
getting enough traction initially but in
a mere few days there were 41 cases
being reported
a handful of people with severe illness
and in fact
human to human transmission suddenly
my disease detective antennas perked up
i knew immediately that this was
something serious
as the hours in the days passed there
were scattered reports surfacing out of
the
far east about this mysterious illness
very quickly we learned that this
dreaded fear of ours was in fact a
reality
the virus was being transmitted from
people who had no symptoms at all
from a containment and public health
perspective this was the worst case
scenario
i had this sinking feeling in the pit of
my stomach that what we were seeing now
was just the tip of the iceberg i
remember
ringing the alarm at my facility and
speaking to so many of my colleagues in
healthcare
ironically they didn’t share the same
concerns or fears that i had
even when the cases were surging and
wuhan went into lockdown
the fact that this was happening
thousands of miles
oceans and continents away made it an
unlikely reality
even as the virus was consuming europe
the fact that this was not happening in
our backyards
people still felt invincible i remember
preparing my health system for what was
on the horizon
and slowly we started hearing about the
cases on our nation
we found ourselves watching on through
the windows
as the tsunami tidal wave of covid was
about to arrive
i found myself burning the candle at
both ends over the next several months
from the pandemic preparation i had
started in january
and implemented over the next six weeks
we finally started seeing our cases
and then our surge patients started
trickling in slowly at first
not even knowing that they had the virus
they were incidentally found to have it
and then came the real symptomatic ones
despite reading for long hours through
the night studying what was happening
globally
what arrived at our doorstep was quite
different from what all the experts were
saying
from all the knowledge that i had gained
internationally
to what i was seeing personally was
quite jarring
all along the story had been that it was
going to be that elderly person
with underlying medical conditions whose
immune system was suppressed
who was going to be so sick that they
would in fact require hospitalization
meanwhile my first patient i will never
forget
was a 20 year old healthy male
with no medical history who was so
sick and gasping for air that he
described it as a feeling of drowning
and he had that look in his eyes that
look that i will never forget
that look of fear that look that so many
of my patients would have
not knowing if they would be the lucky
ones to survive this
as the pandemic soared on in new york
was the hardest hit
mother nature and the tsunami of covid
was relentless
day in and day out i would get up every
morning thinking
maybe this was just a bad dream maybe
today
life before covet would resurface
however
no such luck i found myself working
seven days a week 12 to 14 hours a day
reading all through the night trying to
keep up with all the pre-prints
a record 50 000 publications or more
writing and revising policy as the
national
and global guidelines were changing we
were learning about this virus on a
practical hourly basis
my leadership and humanitarian instincts
kicked in
as a physician but moreover as a human
being
i needed to do more to save more how
else could i do my part
i was lucky enough to have a supportive
husband and children who were my anchors
in all of this
but i was certainly feeling the strain i
was juggling to keep up with it all
between policy planning taking care of
patients
running clinical trials research
disseminating information to the public
social media i found myself running on
empty
i had so many ideas so many things that
i wanted to publish
but the lack of support from the
workforce really inhibited me
i was juggling not only my work and my
family but i was juggling child
care and elder care as we went into
lockdown
my parents like so many senior citizens
became isolated
and withdrawn my children were juggling
to adjust to their new normal
so many women across all industries were
feeling the strain
women who have their usual jobs which
are very demanding were now adding on
even more responsibilities whether that
be being present for their children’s
needs
whether it may be child care school
elder care being available for other
family members
so many women in industries were feeling
the strain
sheltering in place meant that all the
resources that women once had available
to them
were no longer available moms across the
countries were now
adding on more roles and
responsibilities on top of
already being multi-tasking household
members
the strong strain on women sent ripples
across the female workforce
very quickly we headed into a she
session
women were declining in their careers
and industries in a faster pace than
ever before
and when a global pandemic hit who was
left to pick up all the pieces
women in science and in medicine first
hand
we saw a record number of publications
arising in a short time span of this
pandemic
surprisingly we also saw how few women
were authoring these works
even though women were working very much
on the front lines in every aspect
during this pandemic
women were suffering serious declines in
their
advancement of their careers due to this
shifting narrative
women were unable to take advantage of
timely opportunities
it’s been reported that despite over 660
000 jobs being added to the workforce
just between august and september over
865 000 women
have left the workforce all together as
compared to just 216 000 men
one in four women has reported consider
downsizing their careers
or leaving the workforce altogether
when this data is looked at even more
closely
we can see that the inequities that are
present in the pandemic
really translate into the female
workforce
women’s progress in workforce which has
taken decades to build up
was disintegrated in a mere few weeks
even though more women are graduating
college than men
we can see that all the inequities that
have been present over the years have
just come to light
and the forefront during this pandemic
women and women of color are often
disadvantaged from the workforce
women of color do heavy lifting in
academic institutions
but they are seldomly found to be in
leadership positions
or if they are lifted up oftentimes
the power from their roles is diminished
leaving them really with these empty
titles
with all of the women out of the
workforce or struggling to stay in the
workforce
men can be strong allies for women and
help support them and promote women
across
all industries men and other women
can see a woman who’s working hard and
when it comes time they can promote them
they can publish them they can mentor
them
they can sponsor them if this pandemic
has taught us
anything at all it has certainly taught
us where our strengths are
and where our weaknesses are
during my grueling 14-hour days taking
care of patients
leading the multi-disciplinary task
force i found solace in my strong
support system
whether it was my husband or my children
who were my anchors in all of this
or the strong community who stood beside
me through it all
from delivering ppe to my hospitals or
delivering meals to my home for my
family and i
so that i didn’t have to think about
what i was going to make for dinner in
that small little bit of time that i had
in my day
it was the community that put signs on
their lawns that gave me
strength as i drove past my neighbor’s
house every morning
heading into battle their support
and encouragement gave me the strength
to power on
despite the fear despite the anxiety
despite the sorrow of the lives lost
it’s this kind of public-private
partnership that we saw on a small
and large scale during the pandemic that
can really help
women thrive if more women had access to
child
care to elder care to home
responsibilities
whether it be grocery shopping or meal
planning
more women would continue to stay in
their careers and their work that they
have worked so hard for over the years
if men and other women see the struggles
of a woman
and provide a solution even the
slightest lend of a hand
by providing peer mentorship or
sponsorship we would be seeing
more women thriving in their careers
right now
we need to invest in the infrastructure
now
to protect the future generations of
women in the workforce
the impact and the damage of this
pandemic
will take a very long time to undo
in the meantime it’s more than likely
that another pandemic will be upon us
with the ongoing globalization of travel
urbanization of land and climate change
pandemics will be occurring more and
more frequently
whether these occur from a novel virus
which jumps from animals to humans which
we’ve seen over the years
or from a strain of a highly resistant
bacteria
superbugs that we’ve been dealing with
in our country in our globe
these resistant bacteria have led to 35
000 deaths yearly and over 3 million
people being affected
in the united states alone we are
running out of treatments for these
resistant bacteria
and without a pipeline of novel drugs
being
researched and developed it’s very
likely that the next pandemic that will
be upon us
will be one from this extremely
resistant bacteria
for which we have no cure how can we
prepare ourselves better for these
we need to invest in building that
infrastructure now
we need to provide access to healthcare
for people who are
most vulnerable who are most affected we
need to provide care for chronic
conditions
for people who are not only affected by
covid19
but by infections from these resistant
bacteria
we need proper science-based messaging
about vaccinations
vaccinations save lives vaccinations
have been proven to be safe and
effective
vaccinations have led to the eradication
of so many infectious diseases
globally and nationally diseases such as
polio smallpox diphtheria to name a few
with all the emerging misinformation
spreading like wildfire
we need proper messaging about
life-saving vaccinations
so that we can prevent future pandemics
including one caused by resistant
bacteria
so as i look back at that 20 year old
patient of mine
who was sick enough to be hospitalized
but lucky enough to survive this
and i think about that 40 year old
patient of mine
who was unfortunate enough to be placed
on the ventilator
and unlucky enough to not survive this
and i think about that 70 year old
patient of mine who was
so sick and in so much agony that her
family just wanted her to be comfortable
i think about how we were all affected
by this pandemic
every person who contracted the virus
has had a battle with the virus
as healthcare workers we’ve been out on
the field fighting with everything in
our armamentarium against this virus
with each passing day and science on our
side
we learned about more data-driven
life-supporting measures and we started
saving more lives
than losing them we still ache
and mourn for all the lives that we lost
but we celebrate the ones that we save
we often live our lives in silos not
realizing that we in fact are living in
a world that’s stacked up like dominoes
we seldom realize that a person
elsewhere
or an event elsewhere can have a direct
impact on our existence
if we start thinking globally and not
locally
we will be better equipped to deal with
the struggles which may
impact us at any point of our history
thank you