Doctors and nurses are on the front lines of protests despite the coronavirus: 'Racism has been killing our patients since the hospital was built'
- Protests against police brutality over the last few days may lead to a surge in coronavirus cases, some healthcare workers and city leaders worry.
- But many of the same doctors and nurses who've fought the viral epidemic are joining the protests, saying it aligns with their work.
- They stay as safe as possible by wearing masks, carrying hand-sanitizer, and decontaminating their clothes post-protest.
Dr. Ernest Brown has worn two hats the past few days.
Brown is a family medicine physician in Washington, DC, available to protestors who need help with anything from dehydration to tear gas injury, and a protester who's angry about police brutality against black Americans, just like the people he's treating.
"I am more than a physician, I am a human being and member of my community, and I need to be able to speak out about things I think are wrong about our society," Brown, founder of house-call service Doctors to You, told Insider.
Any other time, it wouldn't be unusual, of course, to have healthcare workers among protestors, just like there are restaurant workers and lawyers and artists and parents among them.
But at this moment, during a several-months-long battle against the novel coronavirus, which has killed 110,000 people in the US, their presence is more unusual.
After all, they've been risking their lives to save others sick with COVID-19, the disease the novel coronavirus causes, and understand how events like protests may land a whole new crop of cases in their care, some of whom they may not be able to help.
But many healthcare workers say joining one fight over the other is a false choice, and that, given their career choice to protect human lives, the effects of racial disparities in their work and on the streets, and the urgent public health threat of white supremacy, it's imperative they fight both.
Some healthcare workers say they're protesting because it aligns with their profession
Dr. Arjun Arya works in emergency medicine at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he has treated COVID-19 patients.
But in the past weeks, he's also participated in local anti-racism demonstrations in the city, both to provide medical aid where needed and to voice his support for the movement sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died as a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest.
For Arya, who wrote about the public-health impact of racism in an opinion column for Business Insider, the decision to protest wasn't even a decision: It is consistent with his oath to care for people's health.
Opposition to police brutality, he said, is about protecting human lives, the same principle that leads many to a career in medicine.
While some colleagues are avoiding protests to reduce the spread of the coronavirus disease, and other healthcare professionals fear repercussions because they work for the same institutes that are being critiqued by protesters, Arya said he protests because police brutality is just as life threatening as the virus.
"They're fighting for the same thing. People fighting injustice are fighting because lives are at stake," he said. "If you're so vocal about COVID but not anti-racism, there's a divide that you need to reflect on."
People of color are disproportionately killed by both COVID-19 and police brutality
Healthcare workers are also joining the protests because they're combating the same disparities they see in their work. Both the novel coronavirus and police brutality have disproportionately affected people of color. And more broadly, healthcare inequalities have always been visible to medical staff even before the pandemic, when it comes to every day care such as treating infections, chronic illness, and everything else.
"We discharge people back to the street who we know have no chance at taking their antibiotics on a regular schedule and we will see back sicker in a week," according to an emergency room nurse who asked to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions at work. "We see them dragged in by police after they have been brutalized and we have to put their broken bodies back together."
"We're already at the point where racial disparities are a huge issue," Arya added. "We're beginning to see overlap of COVID and pandemic and general racism that permeates everything we see anyway. There's always been layers, and now especially patients of lower socioeconomic status, they're facing the pandemic along with the baseline difficulty of rampant racism, experiencing the brunt of all this at once."
Healthcare workers at hospitals across New York City also took this stance, organizing protests across six institutions Thursday. Others around the country are marching under the "White Coats for Black Lives" banner.
This pandemic is temporary, but racism "will continue killing patients long after COVID is gone"
Racism is a public health issue that goes much deeper than the current viral pandemic, and efforts to fix disparities in healthcare, housing, and safety are urgently needed now, the nurse told Insider.
"COVID is a temporary and critical health crisis. Racism, through violence and disease, has been killing our patients since the hospital was built and will continue killing them long after COVID is gone," she said.
Over 1,200 public health professionals have echoed this sentiment in a letter supporting the protestors. "White supremacy is a lethal public health issue that predates and contributes to COVID-19," the letter said.
Part of the problem, Arya added, is that the solution to injustice is sustained, committed work over time, something that can feel daunting and unappealing to people.
"Fighting COVID is hot and sexy now. Racism isn't sexy but has undercut American success for a majority of our country's history," he said.
He added that he hopes people will continue to engage beyond the initial shockwaves of outrage.
"There's a pattern where we see people get energized and call for change, then that dies down. But it's slow, consistent, deliberate work that can turn the tides," he said. "It's about calling for a little bit of change every single day when nothing has happened."
They reduce their coronavirus risk by wearing masks and carrying hand sanitizer
While protesting is a risk for COVID-19, with the proper precautions, outdoor civil actions may be safer than many other everyday activities when it comes to spreading the virus.
"Protesting, outdoors, is in some cases lower risk than some of the other situations people may find themselves in on a daily basis," said the emergency room nurse, including going to work as essential employees or as businesses reopen.
Still, it's possible to catch or spread the virus during a protest, especially if you're standing — and yelling — for hours shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers.
That's why when Brown goes to a protest, he wears his scrubs over workout clothes, and a mask. He carries hand-sanitizer, keeps as much of a distance from others as possible, and sheds the scrubs when he returns, leaving them in a bag outside his door before laundering.
Experts also recommend quarantining yourself from vulnerable family members or housemates when you get home, if possible.
"It's about making sure you're prepared and cautious," Brown said.
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