...from a reader who works in the healthcare sector, about an hour or so from London:
As per other commenters, life is very sombre indeed. Patience is thin. Nerves are frayed. Cynicism is gone. The time for worry is well upon us. We have many patients but fewer staff. Everything is being cancelled. Many of our temporary clinical staff are simply not coming in because they 'heard' there is coronavirus in the hospital. Or the bar for self isolation is (understandably) so low that we are losing many hands. And there are no extra hands office side to help with all this.
I work office side, not on wards. We have been asked if anyone has previous medical training of any kind. They want to know if anyone will go on a refresher course and go to the wards. It is an enormous logisitcal challenge. As well, of course, as the obvious fight for clinical staff and patients of all kinds. When schools close Friday I am not sure what will happen for coworkers who are parents.
Some offices are to be changed into wards.
There is not enough equipment for everyone to work from home so we still come into the office. Business as usual has stopped for many of us. We are interviewed for any other skills and tasked with coming up with anything we can do related to our job to help deal with corona.
Away from work: In shops, fights break out. So only small numbers of people are allowed in at a time. *All* items are rationed in many shops now. Opening hours are restricted. Even so, people queue early morning before opening time. Many aisles are completely cleared out. Many sections have shut as everyone is to stack shelves. People have already lost jobs and been told by private landlords to leave. So far there have been no promises from government for renters - only homeowners and business.
Yet still I hear people talking of lies, cover-ups, conspiracies, and being smug or proud about going to the pub.
Many people suspect a lockdown within a week. I do, too. For those whose family are spread out round the country, rely on public transport and have single, older parents, it is not a pleasant prospect.
Anyway. Thank you for posting good sources of information on corona.
