What COVID Means to Me

by Jose Saucedo

To be honest, when the idea that we could potentially get time off of clerkship was floating around, I was kind of excited. Like a snowday, I thought we might have a short reprieve from rotations, get to catch up on projects for a couple of days max and get back to work. Not only was I wrong about the time frame, I was also wrong about my excitement which lasted for a whole 24 hours before I realized the implications of quarantine.

This has been the most frustrating time of my life for one reason. I want to help and I can’t. I want to be in the hospital but I know I can’t. I understand I'm not needed and that my ability to help, clinically, is limited by my level of schooling, but I feel so useless staying at home while people like my physician father are risking their lives each and every day to help the sick… to help those that cannot help themselves.

To be honest, when the idea that we could potentially get time off of clerkship was floating around, I was kind of excited. Like a snow day, I thought we might have a short reprieve from rotations, get to catch up on projects for a couple of days max and get back to work. Not only was I wrong about the time frame, I was also wrong about my excitement which lasted for a whole 24 hours before I realized the implications of quarantine.