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COVID-19 Can Cause ARDS, And AFDS (“ACUTE FINANCIAL DISTRESS SYNDROME”) Wri t t en by Ste p h a ni e Wo t t ri c h, M S 3
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he virus SARS-CoV-2 makes daily global headlines and has precipitated a de facto worldwide quarantine. When it began insidiously popping up in the United States, first in Seattle, then Los Angeles and Chicago, I thought, “Ok, this thing is here. We’ll get it under control.” As cases began to exponentially increase, I thought, “Quarantine, ok. It makes sense that to control the spread of this thing, we stay away from each other for a while.” I never anticipated that, within a month, we would find ourselves in an altered reality in which seemingly benign things like hugging our grandparents or going to a concert would be considered a massive health risk. In these last few weeks, I’ve seen terms like 2 6 | M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 0
“social distancing” and “telemedicine” go viral (pun intended), and hashtags like #FlattenTheCurve, #RaiseTheLine, and #LowerTheBaseline sprinkled all over the internet. Given that I am a second-year medical student, regardless of whether there was a pandemic or not, I would have found myself this season in “study quarantine,” given that my first board exam was scheduled for April 27. Even so, I never could have foreseen that things would become this extreme. Like everyone else, I saw my daily frequents close one by one – first my school, then church, part-time job, and gym. My board exam was pushed to the end of June due to test center closures, then cancelled altogether af-
ter being rescheduled five times. Upcoming elective periods no longer may involve direct patient contact. Every student panel and meeting has moved to Zoom, and even my brother’s wedding ceremony scheduled for the end of May was cancelled. Instead, it was live streamed from the courthouse with just the officiant and photographer present! All the changes, cancellations, precipitated layoffs, and daily updates on the virus left me thinking in circles about the state of my own health and the healthcare system in the United States. I suffered from severe asthma in childhood and had several bouts of pneumonia over the years, so shortness of breath and hospital emergency rooms are very familiar. I was young at
