Inside STAT: Health worker infections underscore the chaos of coronavirus response

A WORKER IN PROTECTIVE GEAR HANDLES MEDICAL WASTE FROM CORONAVIRUS PATIENTS AT A MEDICAL CENTER IN DAEGU, SOUTH KOREA. (LEE MOO-RYUL/NEWSIS VIA AP)

Health care workers are on the front lines of the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak in China, and thousands of them have already been infected. Beyond the risk of infection, these workers are also dealing with the daily toil of treating patients with a disease that is still largely a mystery — long hours, changing protocols, and the possibility of medical equipment shortages. This combination can make it difficult for workers to not only protect patients under their care, but also themselves. “You are expected to be there and stay there and take care of those people, but know that you are at risk and know that you have a family to go home to,” Salah Qutaishat, an infection prevention epidemiologist who was a health worker during the 2003 monkeypox and SARS outbreaks, tells STAT's Megan Thielking. Read more here.