Breathe
By Marilú Acosta
WHO declares March 11, 2020 the start of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, but the story does not begin there. On December 12, 2019, Wuhan (China) made public that it had 27 hospitalized for atypical viral pneumonia. In February 2021, the WHO mission to Wuhan reported that, according to their analysis, there must have been more than 1,000 infected with COVID-19 in Wuhan at the beginning of December 2019, because they found at least 13 distinct genetic sequences of the virus. That is why they built two 1,000-bed hospitals in Wuhan in March 2020. And Chinese doctors, despite government restrictions on sharing information, leaked having had a case of COVID-19 in a Wuhan hospital on November 17, 2019.
Since late September and early October 2019, Wuhan requested support from WHO for the analysis of the atypical cases detected in its health system. WHO simply did not pay attention to them. From symptom searches on the internet and the occupation of health center parking lots in Wuhan, a study by Harvard argues that, at least in August 2019, there were already non-severe cases of COVID-19, so the SARS-CoV-2 virus traveled unrestricted around the world. In November 2002, in Guangdong, China, an outbreak of a new disease called SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), caused by a new member of the coronavirus family, emerged. When COVID-19 emerged, the 2002 virus was renamed SARS-CoV-1 to differentiate it from SARS-CoV-2.
At least since 2002, the coronavirus was mutating to create a new strain that would be efficient to become a pandemic. During the 58th WHO World Health Assembly (2005), the International Health Regulations were amended to prepare the world for the next "great pandemic", taking the example of the Spanish flu of 1918.
From 2006 to 2009, I worked in pandemic influenza preparedness, response and recovery: at the Directorate General of Health Promotion (2006-2007), at the Public Health Agency of Canada (2008) and at the Presidency of the Republic during the H1N1 outbreak (2009). I was an external advisor to United Nations agencies and international and national institutions for almost 10 years. Maybe since I was born, but at least, since my medical studies, life prepared me and gave me the necessary tools for 22 years (1998-2020) to build in 2020 the only virtual hospital in the world for COVID patients at home.
ABC Medical Center handed me a call center in April 2020, which I put on steroids and a major digital transformation to turn it into the remote care that changed the course of the pandemic in Mexico (and perhaps beyond the borders). If they had asked me, I would have gladly trained them, but they preferred to half-heartedly copy my model rather than request training. The Mexico City government, IMSS, ISSSTE, state governments, private hospitals, health companies, for-profit and non-profit associations, software companies, physicians and citizens following up with friends and acquaintances adopted, without recognizing it, the model I implemented.
Would I do it again? My head says no. I crossed boundaries that I thought were insurmountable. In May 2020 the workload was such that I went more than a week without eating, sleeping or bathing. As the world woke up anxiously in the wee hours of the morning, I witnessed angels of death asking if they wanted to stay or go. Whoever approached me, I accompanied in fear, guilt, shame, anger, pain and despair, as they felt fragile, helpless and disoriented. I helped them make decisive decisions for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. They breached (and breached) my security (unauthorized access to data, applications, networks or computing devices). I worked almost two years 24/7 and they never recognized my work at ABC Medical Center, they fired me because "I had endangered the institution" and destroyed the project. I was left without a job and I constantly juggle pesos for my loved ones to eat.
Would I do it again? My heart says yes. I crossed limits that I thought were insurmountable. I was close to the love, dedication, affection and gentleness with which people were cared for. I witnessed the efforts of the health personnel and the passion with which they dedicated themselves and learned to build and care for the virtual hospital. I saw how a network of light and love was woven among those who were ready to do so. I escorted those who decided to leave this world. There was neither loneliness nor abandonment, the heart expanded to those of us who held hands to go through the pandemic. We created a new medicine (and medical education) that was loving, respectful, ethical, supportive, intelligent, evidence-based, international and fun.
To thank all the people who helped me, I need to write a book. I have realized that I deeply love existence, the universe, the earth and human beings. It is this love that made me care for them.
Would you change anything? Yes. My head says: I would not allow abuse from anyone. My heart says: I would cry more.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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