Fighting CoronA
with Dr. Sarah T.
Sarah T. is a medical doctor whose responsibilities have changed
recently. She sat down (remotely) with Holly T. to talk about it.
basis to monitor the status of the disease and indications for
possible complications.
Sarah: Since April 2020, I have been assisting my medical
colleagues at the Hamburg Ministry of Public Health
(Gesundheitsamt).
Holly: Could you tell us about your work during the pandemic?
Sarah: Yes, speaking solely for myself as a private person.
Holly: To what extent does your work now focus on COVID-19
cases?
Holly: Have you been working longer hours than usual?
Sarah: At the beginning of the pandemic in Hamburg, when
the number of cases was still quite high, I did work longer and
also had work assignments on the weekends. In a pandemic,
it is very important that time sequences are noted in order to
record reliable case numbers (reported by the Robert Koch
Institute on a daily basis) and also for informing patients who
have tested positive as soon as possible to prevent further
infection.
Sarah: My job involves contacting people who have a positive
pharyngeal scrape-method test for SARS-CoV-2, discussing
their symptoms and medically important behavioral
rules with them, asking who else might be affected in their
household, letting them know what they might expect in
the further course of the disease, and identifying potential
contact persons.
Holly: Does the fact that this is a new disease make your job
more difficult?
Sarah: Yes, definitely. Because there is still no detailed
knowledge about, and relatively little experience with
SARS-CoV-2 and the medical conditions it causes
in different patient groups, assessing the overall
situation is difficult. It is also more challenging to offer
adequate consultation concerning the progression of
the disease and long-term prospects (e.g., immunity).
Holly: How does the fact that COVID-19 cases can so quickly
become life-threatening affect your work?
Sarah: Because I have no direct contact with patients, it only
affects my work insofar as that I have to collect very detailed
information with regard to possible complications in the
progression of the disease. Also, high-risk patients need to be
registered in a tracking program to receive calls on a regular
Holly: How have you and your family coped?
Sarah: The first couple of days were a little tough getting
everybody equipped with the necessary hard-and-software
and adapting to a whole new way of life and learning. A
structured daily routine also helped us very much (breakfast
together, online schooling, individual workout programs
that each child created individually, lunch, afternoon school
program, musical-instrument practice, free time, preparing
the family evening meal together). For us as a family it was a
very positive experience—it made us grow even more close,
and the general feelings of solidarity with our fellow human
beings had a positive impact on our behavior within the
family.
Holly: Is your life beginning yet to normalize as COVID-19
infection rates slow?
Sarah: Our daily life is beginning to change—the kids are
going to school 1–2 days per week and are also now meeting
their friends to a very limited extent, thanks to the current
regulations. But the virus is still here, and life is still very far
from returning to normal.
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