Thread by @nytimes

As Covid-19 cases and deaths shatter daily records, foreshadowing one of the deadliest years in American history, the very people whose life mission is caring for others are on the verge of collective collapse. nyti.ms/2V3JPog

A doctor in Texas is haunted by what befell his family over the summer: He had inadvertently shuttled the coronavirus home, and sickened them all. He has recurring nightmares that one of his children has died from Covid. nyti.ms/2V3JPog

Many health workers have guiltily recoiled from the “hero” label emblazoned in commercials or ad campaigns, burdened by the death march of the people they could not save and the indiscriminate path of the coronavirus. nyti.ms/2V3JPog

The word “hero” also evokes bravery and superhuman strength but leaves little room for empathy, said one psychiatrist. When portrayed as stalwart saviors, health workers may feel pressured to avoid showing vulnerability. nyti.ms/2V3JPog

Surveys from around the globe have recorded rising rates of depression and burnout among a group already known for high rates of suicide. Some medical workers fear that if they seek support for their trauma that it would jeopardize future employment. nyti.ms/2V3JPog

In interviews, more than two dozen frontline medical workers described unrelenting stress, spurred in part by the cavalier attitudes of many Americans who seem to have lost patience with the pandemic. nyti.ms/2V3JPog

“We’re sacrificing so much as health care providers,” said Dr. Cleavon Gilman. “You would think that the country would have learned its lesson” after the spring, he added. “But I feel like the 20,000 people that died in New York died for nothing.” nyti.ms/2V3JPog