How the infamous COVID-19 has been affecting doctors

Areesha Riaz

Since the beginning of 2020, the Corona virus has shocked the world with its deadly risks. The US saw a peak in cases in March when people were trying their best to prepare for the calamity by storing food and other supplies. Store workers and other professionals from different fields put their lives at risk every day to accommodate the needs of the consumers and take care of their families. During that time, doctors and nurses without a doubt, had the most challenging job physically and emotionally. I interviewed my cousin, Dr. Zain Javaid, a current resident on-call at the LIJ hospital who had first-hand experiences with COVID-19 patients and still sees them regularly in large numbers. According to Dr Javaid, the hospital staff at LIJ have to get tested for the virus every 2 weeks whereas, emergency doctors get tested every week. Dr Javaid works in the emergency room 14 hours a day or even more and expressed his trauma from seeing hundreds of deaths on a daily basis. One can not imagine the emotions and sorrow front-line workers have to hold in so they can help the people who can be helped. Furthermore, doctors/nurses have to stand for hours despite sleep for 5 hours at most. This requires tremendous energy and a will to save lives which is at times, under-appreciated. Furthermore, doctors do not have enough time to spend with their family especially because of the volume of cases amidst the pandemic. Ascribed to this, some doctors’ relationship with their families have severed. Despite these sacrifices, they continue to serve the community with the knowledge they took years of schooling to obtain.