Health care workers are coming unglued. Every day, they struggle to protect their patients, their communities, and themselves from the coronavirus, many working 24-hour shifts in overcrowded hospitals, sometimes without the appropriate personal protective equipment. “We all feel really burned out. We just want our patients to be well and for this pandemic to be over,” says Val, a medical-surgical and critical care nurse working in a New York City unit caring only for Covid-19 patients. “After almost every shift now when I go home, I break down into tears from all the stress I felt during the day all hitting me at once.” Their work environment is dangerous and exhausting, and some medical professionals don’t even get to go home.
While many Americans self-quarantine and socially isolate to avoid even a chance encounter with someone or something carrying Covid-19, health care professionals willingly expose themselves to the pandemic every day. They don’t begrudge the threat to their own well-being, but many are concerned about transferring that risk—and, potentially, the novel coronavirus itself—to those around them: their coworkers and patients, yes, but also the families and friends waiting for them at home. With limited official guidance, health care workers have been making tough calls about how and how often it’s safe to move between hospitals and clinics and homes full of people who might otherwise never be exposed to the disease. “I feel very gu