The Problem With Heroizing Health Care Workers

One recent evening, I was in my apartment getting ready for my night shift in the Cardiac Care Unit at a major hospital in New York City. It was 7 p.m., two hours before my first shift, and I was recounting how many patients were admitted in the unit with acute hypoxic respiratory failure due to Covid-19. As thoughts about the coronavirus tumbled in my mind, someone outside began hollering and banging pots. The cacophony surged, the voices multiplying and echoing through the air.

I looked out of the window and over the hill that my apartment rested on, gazing at a part of the Bronx that sprawled before me. The bellowing seemed to be coming from the apartments below. “The world has gone mad,” I thought. It wasn’t surprising that, given the current state of affairs, people had decided to start screaming en masse. Read Full Article »