Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Protestors don’t scare or intimidate this virus

Debbie Moore-Black, RN
Conditions
April 30, 2020
Share
Tweet
Share

They scream and holler and march. Open up the U.S. This is a hoax.

Coronavirus is deadly.

Invisible as the virus makes its trek across our U.S. Across the universe.

Nurses and doctors and respiratory therapists are being named heroes. Signs and banners and free meals and cookies and doughnuts and loads of adoration come our way.

But we don’t want to be named a hero. We are doing our job, our profession, our passion.

What the health care professionals want are safety and protection, experienced staff and PPEs like N95 masks, gloves and gowns, and face shields. And respect for this virus.

When you go out and march and protest without a mask, without social distancing, you are compromising fellow citizens, nurses and doctors, and respiratory therapists. You are endangering us and your family and friends.

This virus doesn’t care what you think. It searches for the next host to hook on to. Are you in your 30s or 40s or 60s? The virus doesn’t care.

Are you washing your hands with soap and water, sanitizer, keeping your distance?

Do you walk freely through essential stores without a care, without a bother?

To you, it doesn’t matter.

Because you haven’t been affected yet.

Not yet.

We say our prayers going in. The hospitals test us before we clock in. They take our temperature and ask us questions. We are allowed to stay and work if we are afebrile, lack a dry cough, no loss of smell or taste, no shortness of breath, no congestion. And then we are allowed entrance to work in that ER or that ICU or any unit in that hospital. ICUs and ERs are now deemed as hell.

There are no short breaks. It is 12 hours of relentless pain. Masks and shields and gowns and gloves and the very sickest COVID-19 enter our ICUs. Pouring blood into these patients and oxygenating with emergent intubation, and vasopressins and lungs crashing and kidneys dying despite dialysis, despite our last-ditch efforts of proning a patient, despite telling family members they can’t see their loved ones last breath on earth.

Despite hospitals allowing us one (!) N95 mask per 12-hour shift. Despite us knowing that this special mask should be used only once and then disposed of. Despite hospital units and surgeries closing down, despite nurses being furloughed or physicians being fired for speaking out against the lack of PPEs, despite administrators receiving $250,000 bonus checks in this turmoil.

ADVERTISEMENT

Frontline nurses and doctors have died from this virus, helping you to survive.

This coronavirus attacks our lungs, our hearts, our kidneys, and our brains. It attaches and attacks until the patient goes into multi-system organ failure and then death.

To date, the U.S. has 58,947 deaths from coronavirus. This number continues to grow.

So please, help yourself to protesting, to screaming and shouting. You certainly don’t scare or intimidate this virus.

Wear your masks; keep your distance.

But if you keep your guard down, you may become the next fatal number.

Debbie Moore-Black is a nurse who blogs at Do Not Resuscitate.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

My rose-colored glasses are my secret instrument for survival

April 30, 2020 Kevin 0
…
Next

Lockdown panic syndrome, and how to fix it

April 30, 2020 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: COVID, Infectious Disease

Post navigation

< Previous Post
My rose-colored glasses are my secret instrument for survival
Next Post >
Lockdown panic syndrome, and how to fix it

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Debbie Moore-Black, RN

  • What money can’t fix: the scars left by a friend

    Debbie Moore-Black, RN
  • A retired ICU nurse’s brunch conversation sparks a life-changing moment

    Debbie Moore-Black, RN
  • Wisdom for new nurses: lessons from a 30-year ICU veteran

    Debbie Moore-Black, RN

Related Posts

  • Is misinformation deadlier than the virus?

    Michele Luckenbaugh
  • Primary care is dying: Why that should scare every large employer

    Elizabeth Mitchell
  • Stuck between a virus and a cold place: A choice for homeless Americans awaits

    Miracle Diala, Christopher Llerena, Marina Lentskevich, Garth Walker, MD, MPH, and Shikha Jain, MD
  • An outdated law is limiting our coronavirus response

    Leah Hampson Yoke, PA-C
  • Approach the gun violence epidemic like we do with coronavirus

    Charles Nozicka, DO
  • Qualifying conditions for medical marijuana

    Patricia Frye

More in Conditions

  • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

    Maire Daugharty, MD
  • Addressing menstrual health inequities in adolescents

    Callia Georgoulis
  • Healing beyond the surface: Why proper chronic wound care matters

    Alvin May, MD
  • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • What a childhood stroke taught me about the future of neurosurgery and the promise of vagus nerve stimulation

    William J. Bannon IV
  • Facing terminal cancer as a doctor and mother

    Kelly Curtin-Hallinan, DO
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
    • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

      GJ van Londen, MD | Meds
    • Why starting with why can transform your medical practice

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • Why starting with why can transform your medical practice

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Why your most heroic act might be in a department meeting [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Life’s detours may be blessings in disguise

      Osmund Agbo, MD | Physician
    • Inside the heart of internal medicine: Why we stay

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • The quiet grief behind hospital walls

      Aaron Grubner, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 9 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
    • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

      GJ van Londen, MD | Meds
    • Why starting with why can transform your medical practice

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • Why starting with why can transform your medical practice

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Why your most heroic act might be in a department meeting [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Life’s detours may be blessings in disguise

      Osmund Agbo, MD | Physician
    • Inside the heart of internal medicine: Why we stay

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • The quiet grief behind hospital walls

      Aaron Grubner, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Protestors don’t scare or intimidate this virus
9 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...