Health care workers around the world are sharing selfies to put a spotlight on the harsh realities of combating the coronavirus and to show the physical toll it’s having on them.
As the pandemic continues to spread and intensify, doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals have found themselves on the front lines of this seemingly endless battle. And these sobering photos of the bruises left behind after hours of donning protective gear prove just how relentless a battle it truly is.
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“I feel broken.”
United Kingdom anesthetic registrar Natalie Silvey shared this honest snap on Twitter recently where she reminded everyone that this outbreak is still only in its infancy.
“I am begging people, please please do social distancing and self isolation,” she pleaded.
In a follow-up tweet , Silvey explained that the marks on her face, which are the result of the mask she wears, “are deeper than you think.”
“I wouldn’t be doing anything else.”
In response to Silvey’s viral tweet, critical nurse Emma Sterba shared a selfie showing her own marked-up face and wrote, “I feel your pain”, adding that, despite the physical toll the virus is having on her as a nurse, she “wouldn’t be doing anything else.”
“I do it for all the people who have become ‘side effects’ of other people’s irresponsibility.”
Italian healthcare worker Nicola Sgarbi shared a Facebook post showing her visibly exhausted face after hours of treating COVID-19 patients, and explained that no matter how tired she feels, she will never stop helping these people.
“To the question, ‘why am I going to work?’ I answer that morally,” she wrote. “I do it for all the people who have become ‘side effects’ of other people’s irresponsibility and obligatory because our healthcare system can’t help us right now.”
“My battle scars.”
“Life as a front line [worker] during this period ain’t easy, to be honest it sucks,” medical worker Benjamin Ong wrote on Facebook . “How are we suppose [sic] to feel or react? Are we not human like everyone else? Don’t we have love ones too? Don’t we wish to go on a holiday too?”
He continued, “All [I] got to say is, I am a front line staff and this is my story.”
“We can’t anymore. We don’t sleep, we don’t eat.”
Pavla Kovaříková, a doctor from the Czech Republic, wrote on Facebook that the coronavirus is unlike anything she’s ever seen before.
“This is different,” she said. “This is a sprint and marathon in one – it’s a very intense strain, but at the same time it takes a long time and the end is not yet in sight.”
“We don’t have enough of anything.”
This candid Twitter post from an Indiana nurse gets political as she insists that the American healthcare system is failing its people.
“We need @SenSanders more than ever now,” she wrote. “Help us help you.”
“Just finished a 12 hour shift.”
Reddit user Bfab917 posted this photo to the subreddit r/nursing and explained that the marks on her face are the result of 12 hours spent wearing protective gear while taking swab samples from potential virus carriers.
During that single shift, she revealed that a total of 629 people were swabbed.
“If you get to stay at home right now, enjoy it for me.”
Critical care nurse Kate Vigos shared this honest picture to her Instagram where she revealed that working in the medical field during this crisis is “beyond overwhelming.”
“Our skills and expertise are being put to the test in every way imaginable right now,” she wrote. “And it’s only just getting started.”
“Real heroes of our society!”
This photo was shared alongside several others in a Twitter post about the men and women who are putting their own health and wellbeing on the line to treat those infected with the coronavirus.
It shows an unnamed, unidentified medical professional grimly displaying the dark bruises left on her face from hours spent wearing protective gear.
“I’m afraid too.”
Italian medical worker Alessia Bonari shared this Instagram post and got candid about her responsibility to her patients right now, no matter her fears about the virus.
“I’m afraid to go to work,” she wrote in the translated caption. “I’m afraid because the mask may not adhere well to the face, or I may have accidentally touched myself with dirty gloves, or maybe the lenses do not completely cover my eyes and something may have passed.”
“I can’t afford the luxury of going back to my quarantined house, I have to go to work and do my part. You do yours, I ask you please.”
“Don’t give up. Never.”
Italian medical worker Nicola Sgarbi had some inspiring words for people in this Facebook post where he showed the painful effects of 13 hours spent wearing protective goggles.
“I am not and I don’t feel like a hero,” he wrote, “I am a normal person, who loves his job and who, now more than ever, is proud and proud to do it by giving all himself on the forefront lines together with other wonderful people.”
“This will all pass,” he continued. “It will also pass thanks to you and your hard work and sacrifices. It will pass if we are united in one immense joint effort. Don’t give up. Never.”
