We Can’t Fight COVID-19 on a Country-by-Country Basis
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/we-cant-fight-covid-19-on-a-country-by-country-basis/
Recently, one of my patients borrowed money from a loan shark just to get a private taxi to the hospital. When we had a problem locating her test results, she broke down, justifiably furious. She probably wouldn’t be able to find the money to come in again. Another patient, an elderly woman, was so scared off by COVID-19 that she had avoided the hospital for days. She died within hours of finally arriving—of a treatable urinary tract infection that had entered her blood.
As a doctor in a small rural hospital here in South Africa, I’ve seen the myriad of ways COVID-19 has upended life and medical care, leading to tragic outcomes, even if indirectly.