April 3, 2020
Jenny goes to work every day in a hospital where the Coronavirus is beginning its assault on her colleagues. I’m sure your situation is the same.
I rummaged through our closets at the beginning of this pandemic and found an old box of n95 masks I’d bought years ago when I was cleaning out our basement. There were thirteen masks left in the box. Jenny uses one per day and we spray it with alcohol and let it sit on a table for two weeks until she uses it again. Not great, but way better than what her colleagues have, which is the less helpful surgical masks provided by the hospital. Her hospital does have a limited supply of n95 masks, but they are reserved for use with patients known to have Covid-19, and they have to be reused multiple times.
Our daughter lives in New York City (Brooklyn). It feels like being a character in a dystopian novel to watch the rising casualty count in New York City and say goodbye to Jenny in the morning as she leaves to work among an increasing population of Coronavirus-infected patients and hospital staff.
I did many medical trips to impoverished countries when I was still practicing medicine. On every trip, I saw the same scene of rooms in which hospital staff were washing disposable items, like surgical gloves, and hanging them on clotheslines to dry so they could be reused. There were actually feral cats living in those rooms in El Salvador. I remember thinking those lines draped with dripping disposable gear were tragic, and I naively, or maybe arrogantly, believed we Americans would never experience such conditions. But now we are.
I have some thoughts about why this is happening, but to state them would only be saying what is obvious.
Our last visit highlighted our philosophical differences. Nevertheless, I continue to think of you as one of the smartest people I know, even if I’m not always sure I understand you.
I hope you and your family are well and holding up in this unusual time.
Be safe.
Monte