April 2020

“I think, very important, the young people and people of good health, and groups of people, just are not strongly affected.”

Donald J. Trump, March 2020

The line was delivered with the characteristic pomp and swagger of a man completely confident that whatsoever he says is the Truth – regardless of how many people say it’s complete bollocks. In a way, it acted like a witch’s curse, and the universe seemed to do everything in its power to prove him completely wrong. Not that he’d care anyway, the orange buffoon.

DO NOT CROSS RED LINE UNLESS IN FULL PPE (PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT)

We’re out of tie-back surgical caps, so I’m wearing a hairnet that makes me look like the dinner ladies from school. The straps of my respirator go over the top and I squeeze hard around my nose to create as tight a seal as possible. I’ll have another nosebleed later, and my slowly worsening pressure sore will hurt like hell – but it’s a lot better than the alternative.

Part. 1

“Hey is that the ICU outreach on-call? It’s Jenny, one of the respiratory ward doctors,” you begin.

“We need a bed.” Even Jonny can’t muster an upbeat tone eleven hours into a night shift. He’s the ICU doctor on outreach tonight, the link between the wards and our ivory tower.

“We’re full.”

“You know what I mean, you’ve got about 30 minutes.”

“They all keep dying.”

I look up at Nico, surprised. The grizzled Bulgarian has been an ICU nurse for longer than i’ve been a doctor and I didn’t expect to hear the emotion in his voice. His hands move steadily with practiced motions over the rapidly cooling body of Mr. S – but his eyes are unfocused and far away.