Healthcare Workers During COVID-19
What is really is COVID?
COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, is a horrible disease caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2. Most people who have contracted COVID have mild symptoms, but some people can get severely ill. Even though most people with this disease get better within weeks of this illness, some people experience post-COVID conditions. Post-COVID conditions are a wide variety of new, returning, or ongoing health problems people can experience more than four weeks after being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. Older people and those who have chronic health conditions are more likely to get severely ill from COVID.
Who are the essential workers during COVID 19?
The essential workers working with people during this pandemic include health care personnel and employees in other essential places. Different places of the world consider different groups of people to be essential workers. More than half of the 87 million essential workers in the U.S are aged 40+. Care providers might be considered essential workers in vacation plans. Hospice, home healthcare, and group home providers are considered essential workers.
Dr. Li Wenling died due to a Covid-19 infection
The doctor who first reported the COVID outbreak
Dr. Li Wenling, 34, tried to send a message to other medics about the outbreak at the end of December 2019. Three days later, police paid him a visit and told him to stop. He returned to work and contracted the virus from a patient. Soon after catching the virus he died of the infection.
COVID 19 taking a heavy toll on healthcare workers
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged and, in many cases, exceeded the capacity of hospitals and Intensive Care Units (ICUS) worldwide. Sadly, health care workers have also faced many additional sources of stress and anxiety; long shifts combined with unprecedented population restrictions- including personal isolation- have affected individuals’ ability to cope. The burden of training and supervising these volunteers fell on already stressed doctors. Hospital-based health professionals worked long hours wearing cumbersome and uncomfortable personal protective equipment, after initial shortages of PPE had been addressed. Health-care workers had to adopt new technologies to fulfill patient care and educational responsibilities, including the provision of telemedicine.
An image of a nursing home employee
How many health care workers have died from COVID?
More than 3,600 U.S health care workers perished in the first year of the pandemic. The federal government has not comprehensively tracked this data. Lower-paid workers who handled everyday patient care, including nurses, support staff, and nursing home employees, were far more likely to die in the pandemic than physicians were. The yearlong series of investigative reports found that many of those deaths could have been reported. Studies show that healthcare workers were more than three times as likely to contract COVID-19 as the general public.
Healthcare workers; mental health during the pandemic
The mental health needs of our providers must be addressed with the same priority as their physical being. Keeping our HCWS updated on the latest info diminishes the fear of uncertainty and negative feelings associated with the virus. As this disease progresses it is important to continue to evaluate the well being of our healthcare staff and implement measures to care for their mental being. This global crisis has fostered fear among healthcare workers.
What is it like to be a healthcare worker in a pandemic?
It is expected that people who are healthcare workers understand the risks and follow guidelines to stay as safe as possible. They have a higher risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Early in the outbreak in China, thousands of healthcare workers were infected. Outside of work, people who have healthcare jobs have the same pandemic related stressors as everyone else.
SOURCES:
https://www.health.Harvard.edu
IMAGES:
A doctor was arrested for warning China about the coronavirus. Then he died of it [Los Angeles Times]