Have you ever wondered what it's like to be on the front lines of a pandemic? In this article, we delve into the heart of the COVID-19 crisis, exploring the challenges faced by healthcare workers and epidemiologists. We asked Valerie Waters, an emergency room nurse practitioner, and Arti Virkud, a doctoral student in epidemiology, to share their experiences and insights. Here's what they had to say.
In 2019, a prevailing notion both in the UK and internationally was that the nation was not only ready but among the best prepared in the world to tackle a pandemic. This confidence was, however, dangerously misplaced. The reality was that the UK was ill-equipped to handle the civil emergency of a pandemic, let alone the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 crisis that soon engulfed the nation.