Took me a long time to read this. I had to work up the courage. I didn't work medical. I was a cashier at a local grocery store/gas station. This entire situation was hell on earth. Arguably worse than hell, at least in hell you know you're there because you deserve it. People went straight into shit. Just the most vile, self-absorbed, abusive shit. Retail is bad to start with but this was a whole new level I had never seen before. I won't go into detail here, but I am inspired to write about my own experiences now. I completely lost my faith in humanity during all of this. I've only recently gotten a tiny electron-sized spark of hope back.
I will forever be grateful, however, that I didn't have to watch people die. I knew it was happening. I also knew that I would absolutely have lost my mind if I had to deal with that myself, in the darkest and most severe definition of the term.
This topic needs to be covered and it's incredibly important. We need to make sure people don't try to forget or minimize how much damage there IS. Not WAS, IS. So many people are dead, and so many are broken and still living. So many people are changed forever, either through the consequences of being infected or the consequences of having to work in proximity to such visceral and unexpected danger. Workers were put straight into the grinder with very little consideration for the risk nor any thought put into proper care during or after. My boss did try his best with what little he had, but even so it was still far too little.
Thank you for finishing this. I remember seeing the first few pages on Twitter years ago, but then I left and I was so sad I might not see it done. (Then when I found it again it was after I Woke Up to how broken this entire situation made me and I couldn't even finish it until now lololol so it goes <3)