COVID-19 Experience

Working in a medical facility there have been a number of issues concerning Covid-19 that have been brought to light. The lack of sanitation skills and preventative measures that employers and employees should have been taking were almost nonexistent. There have been protocols for different types of outbreaks or contaminations, however, no one truly knew how to deal with this new virus. From wearing masks to staying six feet apart it seemed that cases were still on the rise and hospitals were flooded with patients that had severe acute respiratory syndrome. According to an article from the National Library of Medicine in 2021, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic might approach the magnitude of 1894-plague (12 million deaths) and possibly even the 1918-A(H1N1) influenza (50 million deaths) pandemics [Lessons]. As of 2 March 2022, the total number of cases reported on the World Health Organization (WHO) Coronavirus (Covid-19) Dashboard reaches a height of approximately 437.3 million cases including roughly 5.96 million deaths [WHO]. As a healthcare professional, I have witnessed patients who had mild to severe symptoms and patients who were asymptomatic. I don't understand the reasoning behind why some are affected worse than others but assisting the ill is of great importance and luckily there have been some developments in therapeutic and diagnostic approaches since the pandemic started. With Covid-19 being a serious public health threat worldwide the focus on new therapy and treatments have grown significantly from different areas like antiviral drugs, vaccines, and anti-SARS-Cov-2 antibody treatments to convalescent plasma therapy and even nanoparticle-based therapies all of which are undergoing extensive research and clinical trials as covered in a brief article from the National Library of Medicine [Recent].

My personal experience outside of a clinical setting is very limited, since I myself have never tested positive for Covid-19, even though some of my family members have. When my family got sick, from 75-year-old grandparents to my 5-year-old nephew, none of them had severe symptoms, they simply compared it to having a bad cold for a couple of days. After a few days of rest most were back to normal, with slight symptoms like a mild cough or a change in their taste and smell. Very few of family members are vaccinated, mainly due to work mandates, and those who were are the ones that presented with more prolonged symptoms, though just by a day or so.

Works Cited

Kai-Wang To, Kelvin, et al. "Lessons learned 1 year after SARS-CoV-2 emergence leading to COVID-19 pandemic". National Library of Medicine, Dec. 2021. Lessons learned 1 year after SARS-CoV-2 emergence leading to COVID-19 pandemic - PubMed (nih.gov). Accessed 3 Mar. 2022

Majumder, Joydeb and Minko, Tamara. "Recent Developments on Therapeutic and Diagnostic Approaches for COVID-19". National Library of Medicine, Jan. 2021. Recent Developments on Therapeutic and Diagnostic Approaches for COVID-19 - PubMed (nih.gov). Accessed 3 Mar. 2022

WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. World Health Organization. WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard | WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard With Vaccination Data. Accessed 3 Mar. 2022