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COVID-19 Pandemic Perspectives India (Tushya Mehta) The perspective that this page is exploring is the perspective of the largest democracy of the world- India. It is also the second-most populous country in the world and so understanding how the nation is dealing with this crisis is crucial. The country is another giant like China where things could go very wrong and according to WHO may direct the future of this pandemic. I am exploring what the citizens are feeling and how they are responding to the pandemic. I have studied the Prime Minister’s speech on the nationwide lockdown to understand the action being taken., I used media/journalistic sources from TIME and NewYorker to see how the governments decisions are impacting the people. Using previous Public health studies I tried to understand why the decisions being taker are necessary and how prepared India actually is?

OP-ED: I’m an ER doctor ready and able to save your life. Want to keep me safe from coronavirus? Stay home

This page is referenced by:

ER Doctors (Christine Evans) 25 plain 2020-04-27T17:56:00-07:00
Fact-Checked Source:
Op-Ed: I'm an ER doctor ready and able to save your life. Want to keep me safe from coronavirus? Stay home
On March 25, 2020, ER doctor, Gregory Jasani emphasized the risks imposed on ER doctors during the coronavirus pandemic and made an appeal to the public to stay inside their homes.

https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/opinion/contributors/2020/03/25/op-ed-im-er-doctor-ready-and-able-save-your-life-want-keep-me-safe-coronavirus-stay-home/5077724002/
Looking Deeper: Five Facts Checked

This op-ed has many claims in regard to the coronavirus. In order to better understand them and the article itself, I have looked into five of the claims.
On March 14, the American College of Emergency Physicians announced that two emergency room doctors were in critical condition with COVID-19. One of the physicians, based in Washington state, is only in his 40s. The other doctor, in his 70s, was in charge of emergency preparedness for his hospital in New Jersey.
I looked into this claim because I wanted to see the American College of Emergency Physicians website and I was interested to see if they had any updates on these doctors. This fact is true according to the American College of Emergency Physicians website.
On Thursday, it was reported that two emergency medicine doctors at a hospital in Oak Park, Ill., had tested positive for the coronavirus and were quarantined at home.
This claim interested me because I had heard of this incident through a friend as well. I wanted to know if this was true and if Dr. Jasani and I had both heard the same story. After spending some time looking into it, I found that this claim is valid and The Chicago Sun Times shows this.

...I also read about bars in Boston crowded with patrons and police in New Orleans having to clear people out of Bourbon Street.
I thought that this was important to check this claim out because I think it strengthens his argument that the general public should stay home if they can. It turns out that the New York Post confirms that Bourbon Street in New Orleans was crowded with people and CBS Boston confirms that many Boston bars were crowded as well.

Even if we only suffer mild symptoms, we will be forced to isolate ourselves so that we do not pass the virus to our patients.
This was a major concern that occurred to many doctors working with coronavirus patients, which is why I was interested in investigating it. According to Vox, this claim is true.

No, you cannot go out even if you are feeling perfectly healthy; you can transmit the disease before you begin to show signs of infection.
This claim is very important in stopping the spread of the virus and protecting others. For this reason, I looked into it and found that it was supported by The Mayo Clinic website. According to this site, not only can you spread the virus before you have symptoms, you can also spread the virus without having any symptoms ever occur.

Analytic Essay
On the Front Lines: ER Doctor Perspectives on COVID-19
While many people feel like their lives are on pause while in quarantine, ER doctors’ lives have not slowed in the least. They continue to work, risking exposure to the coronavirus in the process. By investigating the perspective of ER doctors during the coronavirus pandemic using differing sources, I will better understand their role as frontline workers and their intentions of promoting health safety during the coronavirus pandemic.
Many describe ER doctors as heroes. For example, on her instagram post, Dr. Poonam Desai described herself as being “on the frontlines,” (Desai, 2020) implying that her work puts her in close contact with the virus. For this reason, many people view her and other ER doctors as brave authority figures. The viewpoint of ER doctors from the sources I’ve examined is one that emphasizes precaution. For example, in an interview, ER resident, Dr. Luke Erdahl, emphasized the importance of wearing masks. He said, “I think the masks can be very effective… just to prevent touching your mouth or small droplets flying into your mouth that you wouldn’t notice” (Erdahl, 2020). This issue matters because it directly affects their job and their health.
For many ER doctors, this encouragement for precaution is motivated by fear, not just for their patients’ lives, but also for their own. In Dr. Gregory Jasani’s op-ed, he stated, “Now I’m asking you to stay home for your health care workers, too… Every time we interact with an infected patient, our own risk of contracting the virus increases” (Jasani, 2020). It’s very clear that ER doctors take great risk by performing their jobs and in doing so, they stand to lose their own health. In fact, Dr. Desai contracted the virus after working in an ER in New York City (Desai, 2020).
ER doctors value both their own health and the health of their patients. In Dr. Jasani’s op-ed, he stated, “...we all know that our job comes with inherent risks. We accept those risks, and we carry on providing necessary, life-saving care in the face of this public health emergency” (Jasani, 2020). Jasani understood that his own life and the lives of others are at risk and called his audience, the general public, to action by appealing to their fear for ER doctors’ health. In general, ER doctors aim to deliver care to their patients and given the interruptive nature of their work, they do so by utilizing strategies such as task-switching, multi-tasking, acknowledgement, and deferral/deflection (Walter, 2017). With today’s current issue, Jasani and many other ER doctors’ goal is to urge his audience to stay home and practice health precautions.
In the sources that I examined, ER doctors rely on facts that are scientifically rooted. For example, when asked about the usefulness of a face mask, Dr. Erdahl explained that the effectiveness of the mask depends on the porous quality of the material (Erdahl, 2020). After studying in the sciences for so many years, this sort of fact reliance makes sense. However, ER doctors don’t have all of the answers. More studies need to be conducted to better understand and improve the strategies of ER doctors (Walter, 2017). Also, Jasani mentioned that more accurate data of ER doctors who have been infected with the virus is needed (Jasani, 2020). This is the kind of information that ER doctors rely on from others.
ER doctors trust their administrators and the CDC. For example, in one of her posts, Dr. Desai gave a list of advice from the CDC (Desai, 2020). Dr. Erdahl also mentioned all of the safety procedures that have been initiated since the outbreak (Erdahl, 2020). Changes were able to happen because ER doctors trust the views of their authorities. As we learned from readings such as Feminist Standpoint Theory and Science Communication, everyone’s perspective is unique and by embracing this, we can better understand scientific collaboration and communication. By embracing their perspectives, Dr. Erdahl was able to be in collaboration with his authorities and coworkers, which allowed them all to work together.
It’s very important to include the perspective of ER doctors because they are experts in their field who have first-hand experience with coronavirus patients. Their efforts to promote health safety and help the sick will eventually allow our lives to resume. For these reasons, I feel that their perspective is one that should be valued and shared with others.

References

Desai, P. [@doctoranddancer]. (n.d.). Posts [Instagram profile]. Retrieved April 6, 2020, from https://www.instagram.com/doctoranddancer/

This is a social media source authored by an ER doctor in her own words, on her own posts. The main argument varies from post to post. Mostly, it consists of telling the public to practice social distancing. Also, it emphasizes that ER doctors are on the front lines. Dr. Desai uses photos to show masks and gloves to emphasize the necessity for safety precautions. It is directly from the ER doctor’s point of view and it is a more relaxed setting in which she feels more comfortable to share. It also follows her journey from working with coronavirus patients to becoming a coronavirus patient.

Erdahl. L (2020, March). Phone Interview.

Luke Erdahl is an ER doctor who has agreed to discuss his experiences with the coronavirus and precautions taking place in the ER thus far. It was useful to listen to someone who has first hand experience with the ER and Covid-19 patients. He explains the developing procedures that ER doctors have to follow as policy changes as the coronavirus becomes more of a threat. He also discusses the importance of protective gear and washing your hands.

Jasani, G. (2020, March 23). Op-Ed: I'm an ER doctor. Want to keep me safe from coronavirus? Stay home. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-03-23/coronovirus-healthcare-workers-risk Op-Ed: I’m an ER doctor ready and able to save your life. Want to keep me safe from coronavirus? Stay home

This source is an op-ed from Dr. Gregory Jasani, MD. Dr. Jasani is an ER doctor who shares his experiences and expertise. The main purpose of this piece is to call the public to be responsible during this pandemic. He tells his audience to only go out when necessary. He claimed that not practicing social distancing can lead to more people in the hospital which can infect more healthcare workers, which leads to fewer healthcare workers saving lives. It shows the understandable frustrations of the ER doctors.

Walter, S. R., Raban, M. Z., Dunsmuir, W. T., Douglas, H. E., & Westbrook, J. I. (2017). Emergency doctors strategies to manage competing workload demands in an interruptive environment: An observational workflow time study. Applied Ergonomics, 58, 454–460. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2016.07.020

A team of researchers worked on this study together. All work for universities in Australia. They use methods of appealing to logic and observation of the methods of ER doctors. This article aims to understand the communication between ER doctors and their strategies for multi-tasking and switching between patients. This is done to understand the relationship between these factors and the mistakes made in the ER. A major key idea is that emergency rooms are not as hectic as they seem to be. ER doctors are adaptable to their situations and utilize skills such as communication. This source provides additional insight because it allows us to better understand the role of an ER doctor. A major hardship for ER doctors is multitasking and switching between tasks. Being able to understand the everyday struggles of ER doctors will allow us to understand the even greater stress and pressure that the ER doctors go through with the recent epidemic.

Two Emergency Physicians in Critical Condition. (2020, March 14). Retrieved April 25, 2020, from https://www.acep.org/corona/covid-19/covid-19-articles/a-statement-from-acep-president-william-jaquis-md-facep/

2 doctors at Rush Oak Park Hospital test positive for coronavirus. (2020, March 19). Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved April 25, 2020, from https://chicago.suntimes.com/coronavirus/2020/3/19/21186535/doctors-rush-oak-park-hospital-test-coronavirus-covid-19

Miller, J. R. (2020, March 16). New Orleans cops clear out Bourbon Street amid gathering ban. New York Post. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2020/03/16/new-orleans-cops-clear-out-bourbon-street-amid-gathering-ban/

Chan, T. (2020, March 14). South Boston Bars Crowded Saturday Despite Calls For Social Distancing. CBS Boston. Retrieved from https://boston.cbslocal.com/2020/03/14/coronavirus-south-boston-bars-crowded-social-distancing/

Scott, D., Irfan, U., & Kirby, J. (2020, March 26). The next coronavirus crisis will be a shortage of doctors and nurses. Retrieved April 25, 2020, from https://www.vox.com/2020/3/26/21192191/coronavirus-us-new-york-hospitals-doctors-nurses

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). (2020, April 24). Retrieved April 25, 2020, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/symptoms-causes/syc-20479963

Halpern, M. (2019). Feminist standpoint theory and science communication. Journal of Science Communication, 18(04). doi: https://doi.org/10.22323/2.18040302