For Us, COVID‐19 Is Personal

Abstract

W e are colleagues and friends working together in busy emergency departments (EDs) in Washington, DC. As black physicians working in urban America, we do not find the recent deluge of news reports chronicling the disproportionate effect that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is having on the disenfranchised and minority populations in our country shocking. We have long been witness to and are in a constant state of alarm over the legal, medical, educational, social, and economic inequities faced by the most vulnerable residents of this country. 1 As this epidemic is showing all of us, the disease may vary, the particular population might be different, the name of the city or town can change, but the outcome is almost uniformly predictable. COVID-19 has highlighted racial and ethnic inequities. 2,3 We can all see them in the daily, undeniable numbers that flash at us from our phones and television screens. We are grateful to the press for illustrating the statistics with poignant, often personal stories that highlight the acuity and indecency of these inequalities. 2 Like all emergency physicians, we not only worry about the patients we treat on a daily basis with COVID-19, but we also worry about our families at home. Yet further, for us this pandemic takes on a deeper meaning. Our hometowns are the cities that are facing some of the largest tolls in COVID-19 cases among people of color. When a black, Latinx, or Native American "person under investigation" for COVID-19 comes into the ED, we not only see our patient, but we also see our mother, father, aunt, and uncle. We realize that we are among the lucky ones. We have regular jobs in the medical sectors with some stability during this pandemic. We also have a place to call home, a regular means of transportation and the ability to practice effective social distancing.Many of our black and brown patients are too sick to be discharged, showing signs of severe illness upon

Assessment of physicians’ resilience level during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Stress contributes to unhealthy behaviors 30 , 31 , in particular for those who are less resilient, and the long-term consequences of these behavioral changes will need to be reassessed. On the other hand, parenthood was significantly associated with higher levels of resilience 5 , pointing to the crucial contribution of a healthy work-family balance to the healthcare providers’ psychological well-being during this pandemic 32 . Indeed, being a parent could lead to overall well-being, a more positive emotional experience and meaning from one moment to the next 33 .…”

Reflect and Reset: Black Academic Voices Call the Graduate Medical Education Community to Action

“…However, unlike their White counterparts, at the start of the pandemic, Black individuals in medicine had personal risks that transcended the general concerns of inadequate personal protective equipment and exposure to infection. 9 For example, many live in communities that have been labeled hotspots for the virus. 9 Black physicians face the risk of contracting COVID-19 within their neighborhoods and daily clinical practice and witness the added perils that bias contributes to patient outcomes at their own institutions.…”

“… 9 For example, many live in communities that have been labeled hotspots for the virus. 9 Black physicians face the risk of contracting COVID-19 within their neighborhoods and daily clinical practice and witness the added perils that bias contributes to patient outcomes at their own institutions. That is, Black patients are approximately 2.5 times more likely to be hospitalized and 1.7 times as likely to die from a COVID-19 infection than White patients.…”

Physician suicide demographics and the COVID-19 pandemic

“…36 It is unclear how the moral injury related to such factors affects suicide rates among Black people in the general population and Black physicians compared to all-cause mortality (which would include complications from COVID-19 infections). 33,37 A U.S. study may have begun to answer this intricate puzzle, since it showed changing suicide trends during the pandemic: opposite effects observed between Black and White residents of Maryland. 38 Among Black residents, suicide mortality appeared to double during the period of progressive closings and reopenings after the first COVID-19 case in Maryland, while suicide mortality appeared to have nearly halved among White residents during the same period.…”