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