UK1 min(s) read
Published 17:13 24 Nov 2020 GMT
A nurse has taken to Twitter to show the startling reality of how working on the front line of the ongoing pandemic is affecting healthcare professionals.
Kathryn is an American nurse and she wanted people to see the toll that the virus is taking on those who have been fighting it for months.
Taking to Twitter, she posted two images of herself that she captioned: "How it started… how it's going."
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Kathryn's post did not go unnoticed on the social media website, and at the time of writing, it has received over 864K likes and almost 80K comments.
In an interview with the Metro about her viral post, the 27-year-old said: "On Saturday night I was in the middle of a shift, had just come out of a patient's room, and had just taken all my PPE off.
"I had the image in my head of the graduation, and I wanted to show the difference a couple of months can make, and the reality of being a nurse in the pandemic. [sic]"
Kathryn is currently working a cycle of three 12-and-a-half hour shifts, which are followed by three days off.
She explained that while most of the marks left by her PPE disappear within a few hours, "The one on my nose disappears just in time for the start of my next shift.
"I've resigned myself to the fact that things are going to be at their worst yet in a few weeks, but I just want it to happen now, so we can get it over with.’
Kathryn continued: "We've kind of been in disaster mode, the entire time I've been a nurse. I've no idea what it's like to be a nurse under normal circumstances. We are dealing with so much misinformation, and so many conspiracy theories that directly affect what we do every day."
Kathryn opened up further about nursing during the pandemic on Twitter, writing:
"It is devastating to watch people die when those deaths were avoidable and it's even more devastating when you watch them die the same way, time after time after time. It's devastating that basic common sense and decency has been politicized."
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She continued: "Covid is a brutal disease and I wouldn't wish the worst of it on my worst enemy. Please understand that you aren't just protecting yourself, you are protecting the people around you."
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However, despite the challenges she has faced as a new nurse during the pandemic, Kathryn told the Metro that she is happy that she's "doing something… it's enraging to see people treat this like a joke, but when I'm at work I can help."
