We’ll never forget. Since the very first images came out of Wuhan in January 2020, digital media has ensured the entire world could watch the pandemic unfold in real time. The medical crisis has been particularly horrifying, with haunting photographs of overwhelmed hospitals and freezer trucks as temporary morgues. We’ve seen photographs and footage we could never have imagined.
Dystopian images, mass burials, Hazmat suits and face shields. Exhausted front line medical workers, pushing themselves beyond normal limits to care for Covid patients.
Photos like these will become synonymous with 2020 – 2021. The emotion, the exhaustion, the fear, the resignation, the determination to fight on. The human spirit at the very heart of Covid-19.
Sci-fi scenes tell a confronting story of working on the frontlines. It looks more like a movie set than real life.
Yesterday, Britain had the highest daily death toll since the pandemic began; more that 1,600 people. In the midst of this devastating second wave, the BBC has produced a harrowing, poignant short film behind the scenes in some of UK’s busiest hospitals. You can watch it here https://www.bbc.com/news/av/health-55724994
It’s extraordinary that despite the PPE and other distancing interventions, humanity isn’t lost. Connection is still there. And that a plastic shield divider, an improvisation to keep both staff and patients safe, cannot dim the radiance of a smile.
This is the Covid we’ll remember.