Latin America
Related: About this forum'They stormed the ICU and beat the doctor': health workers under attack
From Brazil to Myanmar, five doctors and nurses treating coronavirus patients share their experiences
Spat at, abused, attacked: healthcare staff face rising violence during Covid
A health worker in PPE reacts as she and her colleagues team walk through an alley to test for coronavirus in a slum area in Mumbai, India.
Interviews by Sarah Johnson Shah Meer Baloch Analy Nuño and Mohammad Sartaj Alam
Mon 7 Jun 2021 01.00 EDT
. . .
Monica Calazans, nurse, São Paulo, Brazil
They said I was part of a cult
I was the first person in Brazil to get the vaccine. As soon as I had it, the attacks on social media began. People created several fake accounts using my profile on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
They started swearing at me, making up fake news about me, insulting my personal integrity. I had taken part in trials but received the placebo, not the vaccine. People said I was a con artist for accepting the Covid vaccine.
The racist insults were the worst. They said if they kept vaccinating monkeys, there wouldnt be any vaccines left for human beings. They said I was part of a cult. There were so many curses. It was all on social media because they didnt have the courage to say it to me looking at me in the eyes. I thank God this is not part of my daily life. Ive never had any trouble in the hospital where I work.
Ive been caring for Covid patients since the pandemic began. I have been working in hospitals for more than 30 years; this is the first time Ive been in such a situation in terms of the number of deaths, the number of cases, and it getting worse all the time. Its a new and sad experience. We are with patients in a very serious situation. There have been almost 500,000 deaths in Brazil. These people who attacked me dont know anything.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/jun/07/they-stormed-the-icu-and-beat-the-doctor-health-workers-under-attack
Maraya1969
(22,441 posts)Maybe it is fear or the sudden lack of control of your life; I don't know. Maybe the ones who go into the "It's a hoax" bit don't want to believe that it can actually be true.
I have watched so many videos of people acting like complete asses in the US during this last 1.5 years. Most of them probably would not be like that except for the extraordinary situation. I'm reminded of that older lady sitting on the floor in Costco refusing to wear a mask and refusing to leave.
People just got crazy
HUAJIAO
(2,362 posts)Last edited Mon Jun 7, 2021, 07:47 AM - Edit history (1)
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,847 posts)... in hospitals within India, mourning the loss of their loved ones as it happened.
Such policies obviously increase the risk of wider transmission, but the heart-breaking wails of mourning also made me suspect that hospital staff could suffer from violence during those emotional events.
Here's a prime example, a little after the 5-minute mark of the video, which thankfully didn't result in violence towards the hospital employees despite how the son had previously complained that the understaffed hospital wasn't helping his mother enough: