The Quiet Before the COVID Storm

The hospital images most people remember from COVID show patients overcrowding hallways, chaotic ICUs, and exhausted staff.  For me, being admitted to a pediatric hospital at the very start of the shutdowns was a brief calm before the storm.  Bracing for the worst, non-emergency procedures were put on hold and hospital rooms emptied out.  Downtown streets were deserted, shops closed, and hospital corridors were eerily quiet.  Of course all that changed quickly and tragically, but I won't ever forget what it was like to inhabit this quiet, foreboding space, when any contact with another human was a calculated risk that could mean life or death.