As an internal medicine resident working at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, COVID-19 has taken over our workroom conversations as the number of new cases enters exponential growth. Yet, until about a week ago, many of my colleagues still had COVID-19 pegged as just another respiratory illness to add to a long list of viral infections mild for the vast majority and deadly to the vulnerable few. To prevent its spread, wash your hands as much as possible and isolate the suspicious cases. The bottom line: keep calm and carry on. As an anthropologist who lived in Wuhan for a year and has regularly kept in touch with physicians there since the city was placed under lockdown on January 23, 2020, COVID-19 has proved to be an unprecedented crisis. Personal and professional lives were turned upside down as Chinese doctors took up living in mandatory quarantine and worked under layers of protective gear for as long as they did not suffocate.

 

 

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