Memoir Of A Pandemic

"Every American should read this insightful and gripping account to understand all our Nation accomplished in the midst of the worst pandemic in 100 years and the difference one dedicated leader at United States Public Health Service made for millions of Americans." —Former Vice President Mike Pence In January 2020, Admiral Brett P. Giroir, MD, was among the first federal leaders tapped to handle the reintegration of US citizens from Wuhan, China, in the earliest days of what became the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, he was one of the few to see what everyone believed were the only Americans exposed to the novel virus at the time. Ultimately, Giroir would be called to serve on the White House Coronavirus Task Force under President Donald Trump. Rather than an exhaustive and comprehensive history of the pandemic response, this memoir adds to the historical record through personal narrative and by contextualizing several key inflection points. Giroir reflects upon his time on the front lines of the early cruise ship outbreaks and makeshift hospitals to the Situation Room in the White House. He explains the complex backdrop of personalities, policies, and politics that influenced critical decisions as the pandemic developed. In doing so, he also shines a light on the unknown characters who played critical roles in the national COVID response, the personalities and conflicts involved, the intense debates about policies and perceptions, and the decision-making processes that led to our national plan—for better or worse. Giroir concludes that overcoming a pandemic is not as easy as merely replacing a president or “following the science.” The inescapable fact is that the human species will remain vulnerable to pandemics, even more so in the future because of factors both natural and human influenced. Our ability to respond to future pandemics will depend on the adequacy of our preparation, the capabilities and relationships of individual leaders, and the inevitable politics of the day. For now, an important retrospective of what we did, both right and wrong, is imperative.

This book is for anyone, nurse or otherwise, who is furious about how 2020 went down and—how 2021 is going. On April 25th, 2021 at 10:55 in the morning I messaged my chat group of girlfriends from where I work as a nurse on an ICU floor: “Nothing like feeling strongly suicidal at a job where you’re supposed to be keeping people alive,” and then tweeted that my “mental health wasn’t great” and deleted the Twitter app off of my phone because I didn’t want to “overshare.” That I felt like dying. That I would’ve rather died than still be at work. I am not alone. In 2020 there were roughly four million nurses in America. Only 2.7 million U.S. soldiers fought in the Vietnam War. Those who came back from Vietnam, having witnessed atrocities—and in some cases, participated in them—were changed forever. You can’t send four million people into a wartime-equivalent situation without psychological consequences. And yet that’s what America has done. Nurses spent a year battling a largely unknown assailant. Running low on gear. Fearing we might bring something deadly home. Getting coughed on by people who pretended that our fights were imaginary, that our struggles—watching people die, day after day, no matter what we did—were literally fake. Nurses are scarred. And unless people understand what we went through and commit to never let anyone lie in the future about public health, we will never become whole. Year of the Nurse: A Covid-19 Pandemic Memoir is Cassandra Alexander's poignant effort to come to grips with suicidal ideation and PTSD after being a covid nurse in an ICU in 2020. Comprised of original essays and her chronological journals, tweets, and emails as she attempted to save lives, including her own—this book will let you experience last year from the bedside. Come and understand what it was like.

A searing photo-illustrated historical memoir from the LGBTQIA+ frontlines of the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. Before COVID-19 made "pandemic" a household word in 2020, there was the AIDS pandemic of the 1980s and 1990s. Author Lynn Curlee explores the parallels and the difference as he recounts living in New York and Los Angeles when the disease silently took hold of the gay community. As the disease became a full-blown public health crisis, Curlee watched in horror at the devastating progression of HIV/AIDS, the staggering losses endured, and divisive politics and discrimination that cost many people their lives. With honesty and heart, Curlee tells the stories of the many friends and loved ones that he lost to the disease, including his own life partner. LGBTQ+ rights and access to health care continues to be threatened today. The Other Pandemic is a stark and strong reminder of how history speaks to the present, and this window to the past is a valuable tool for understanding our current cultural landscape. “HEARTBREAKING! This memoir of the AIDS plague is a powerful reminder to those of us who miraculously lived through it — and a valuable eye-opener for younger generations who can never allow this to happen again. With the COVID pandemic on everyone’s radar, there couldn’t be a more teachable moment. Author Lynn Curlee grabs this pulpit by the throat and fearlessly makes the case that we must never forget.” — Sam Irvin, filmmaker and author "Reading The Other Pandemic was a very personal journey for me. I lost my stepfather to AIDS in 1993 when he was just 44 years old. The way Lynn shares his own life experiences a gay man living during this historic time of loss and perseverance is so insightful, and incredibly important to share with those who were not there firsthand to experience it." — Carol Bennett, daughter of Tim Bennett, a major character in THE OTHER PANDEMIC "Reading The Other Pandemic: An AIDS Memoir is akin to settling in with a dear, dear friend for a long-overdue catchup. Lynn Curlee’s effortless and evocative prose is much more than a poignant account of a not-distant-past epidemic that galvanized the LGBTQ+ community. It is a deeply personal and brave story of chosen families, political deafness, and hard-fought resolve. Curlee both broke my heart and mended it." —Jeffrey Dale Lofton, author of Red Clay Suzie "The Other Pandemic is a poignant and raw examination of the AIDS crisis that highlights how much the past shapes our present. Lynn Curlee has accomplished something beautiful here—I could not put it down. I am grateful he chose to share his loved ones with the world." — Leo Rocha, Journalist and GLAAD "20 under 20" honoree

In early 2020, few Indians watching the COVID-19 pandemic unfold globally may have thought about it spreading across India. As the COVID-19 cases started rising, the Indian government declared a 3-week lockdown in March 2020 and followed it up with four more over the next six months. India had the most stringent lockdown globally for most of 2020 and this book looks closely at the lives of Indians during that year. In 2020, video calling apps enabled people to interact professionally and personally and became the biggest saviors. Shopping became an expedition and exercising an adventure as the Indian lockdown did not allow most outdoor activities. The author heard the world’s loudest insect in his community when the lockdown stopped all activity. This book documents many such wondrous natural phenomena that the author observed when nature was in free flow in absence of human interference. The author’s kaleidoscopic coverage paints a fascinating picture of his life in a pandemic year. In a year that saw postponement of the Olympics by a year, a race was on to develop a COVID-19 vaccine with more than 100 vaccine candidates in line for use in 2021. My Life in a Pandemic is a great chronicle of the 21st century’s first pandemic that dramatically reshaped human history.

◆◆◆Anyone who has experienced the first year of COVID-19 will enjoy these stories, written to leaven the anxiety and fear which came to permeate all our lives in 2020. ◆◆◆ Ann Boyle Grant RN PhD is a nurse and educator who mines the eight decades of her life from 1940-2021 for stories alternatively humorous and inspiring, realistic but invariably hopeful. Beginning with the heartwarming story of Sunday dinners in 1950's Cache Valley Utah, and progressing through the first horse, the first kiss, an unconventional marriage and years spent abroad in London and Heidelberg, Dr. Grant weaves tales of family projects gone awry, disasters averted at the last moment, the sadness of inevitable partings and loss, and the enduring love of family. ✓Journey to the top of the Jungfraujoch with a trainload of inebriated hikers taking the easy way up ✓Revel in the hysterical saga of teaching young daughters to drive ✓Follow along with painting projects gone disastrously awry ✓Descriptions of life in London and Heidelberg ✓1970's Berkeley riots ✓Current social unrest in Los Angeles and other cities This series of stories will make you laugh, cringe, cry, and rejoice in the resilience of the human spirit. Dr. Grant draws on her background as a nurse and teacher to find meaning and satisfaction in the everyday experiences of family life, told with humor, hope and insight. ★Scroll up and Buy Now, don't wait!★

Apocalyptic Polly chronicles both the intimate experience of one woman trying to protect her family during a global pandemic and the broader story of a nation upended by public health measures designed to prevent its spread during a period of growing political division, social unrest, economic crisis, and extreme weather. A child of the Cold War, the author reflects on how a "prepare, prevent, and respond" mindset led to a lifetime of anxiety and extreme caution in the face of Covid-19 - but proved no defense against heart-breaking loss. This bracingly honest memoir is a contemporary history, enriched with excerpts from personal text messages and social media posts that kept her connected to the outside world during her household's year of self-imposed isolation.

'An essential book.' -Matt Ridley In January 2020, leading epidemiologist Professor Mark Woolhouse learned of a new virus taking hold in China. He immediately foresaw a hard road ahead for the entire world, and emailed the Chief Medical Officer of Scotland warning that the UK should urgently begin preparations. A few days later he received a polite reply stating only that everything was under control. In this astonishing account, Mark Woolhouse shares his story as an insider, having served on advisory groups to both the Scottish and UK governments. He reveals the disregarded advice, frustration of dealing with politicians, and the missteps that led to the deaths of vulnerable people, damage to livelihoods and the disruption of education. He explains the follies of lockdown and sets out the alternatives. Finally, he warns that when the next pandemic comes, we must not dither and we must not panic; never again should we make a global crisis even worse. The Year the World Went Mad puts our recent, devastating, history in a completely new light.

A chronicle, a memoir, a reflection on the pandemic, and a cultural analysis of the new spatial, social, and epistemological forms that have arisen with it, this volume weaves together cultural history, aesthetics, and urban and digital studies. It looks at the particular ways in which the possibilities for touch, touching and being touched, both physically and affectively, are reconfigured by the pandemic. How are love, care, and humanity’s complex relationships with technology and nature played out in the interval between abandoned city centres and digitally mediated gatherings? How can we comprehend the reconfiguration of relationships through the human response to the pandemic as an experience that concerns us all but affects each of us in different ways? How do we think through the technological and material dependencies that the pandemic situation establishes? And how does this allow us to imagine the world beyond the pandemic—both utopian and dystopian? The essays in this book explore the new forms of intimacy and distance that are developing in the wake of COVID-19, offering a distinctive, topical analysis in the fields of urban and digital studies.