Pandemic Up Close: Time Spent In A Covid Facility Provides Sobering Lessons

She was a young woman, presumably in her twenties. When she walked into the ‘Reception’ area wearing a mask like everyone else, she barely drew notice. But soon it was painfully obvious that she was among those who needed immediate help. She could not keep her head up. With slow steps, she made her way to the adjoining ‘Triage’ section, sat down, and rested her face against a table while a person with her told the doctor about her condition. Sometime later, she was in a chair outside in the corridor waiting to be wheeled into an ICU, staring blankly with eyes wide open from the strain of her labored breathing.

- Sunil Nair

For many of us who are more fortunate to be insulated from its effects, the pandemic ebbs and crests in numbers. The faces behind the toll and the struggles undertaken to save lives rarely enter our consciousness unless one hears of a tragic casualty or a miraculous recovery in our own social circles. In my case, the severity of it hit home last week when I visited a 1,050 bed Covid care facility—one of the largest in the region—to admit a relative.