Recently I remembered a night shift in our ICU where three bad traumas came in at the same time. None were expected to survive. None had family who could get there in time.

Along with two of my coworkers, we each took a room. We had help to gently bathe them, carefully wipe away blood & debris, slip on clean gowns & tuck them in warm blankets. Then we each pulled up a chair & sat with our patient, gave meds to keep them as comfortable as possible & held their hands as they calmly passed away.

We’re seeing an increase in admissions with “incidental COVID” - meaning presenting without the “typical” COVID symptoms of respiratory distress, fever, etc.

They’re coming in with strokes, blood clots, suicide attempts, heart attacks & testing positive on screening swabs. I say this because these people are out in communities, not testing for COVID because they don’t have “typical” symptoms. They are unmasked, feeling fine, still highly contagious.

This is your reminder: protect yourself & others by masking.

If you stopped masking, start again.

🧵 I had a mild case of COVID. I’m back to work & looking from the outside very much back to baseline. I’m the “99%” that so many like to reference. But like many who also had mild COVID, much of my existence is different, shifted, not quite right & just “off.” I get bouts of fatigue that knock me out, sometimes after minor physical exertion & also sometimes out of nowhere. I was a big time runner before COVID - I’m still not able to really get back to it. My endurance with just walking or taking stairs is significantly affected.

After nearly two years of extreme precautions, no play dates, no swim lessons, wearing the most protective mask indoors for months…my unvaccinated 4 year old tested positive for COVID yesterday after a preschool exposure.

Shortly afterward, my COVID test came back positive. We did everything right, followed all of the guidelines and then some. My kids have sacrificed so much only to still get sick because other people couldn’t sacrifice for them.

I am sad, angry, worried & just profoundly disappointed in humanity.

It didn’t have to be this way.