Pandemic Faces

The covid-19 pandemic continues to devastate the world, taking the elderly and ill disproportionately, invading extended care facilities, overwhelming hospitals and health care workers, shutting down economies and businesses worldwide. As gloomy news continues and many have died, the impulse to draw has been strong. We see faces of people on television and the Internet every day who work on the forefront in hospitals and clinics and essential services like transportation and law enforcement--working on behalf of society--who have died of the illness. Their stories are often so compelling that the urge to draw them in homage and mourning is strong.

These digitalia are an homage to all of those whose work is essential, lifesaving, and the underpinning of civilization.

This is Frank Gabrin, thought to be the first ER physician to die here in the U.S. He lived in New York City where he worked in one of the emergency departments that are still overwhelmed with suffering. Before he died he was forced to work with actively infective patients without sufficient protective equipment but continued despite his own personal danger. He died within two weeks, a true hero.

The digital drawing to the right is of one of the truly brave Italian physicians, his exhaustion and anguish etched on his features. Although available data is still not clear, Italy has definitely suffered at least 150,000 known cases and about 20,000 deaths. The toll on nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals is probably 50 or more by now.

This is Dr. Li Wenliang, the first hero of the pandemic. He is the Chinese ophthalmologist who first reported what he believed to be a new viral illness, and later died of it. Although he reported the problem to colleagues in late December 2019, he was officially silenced by the Chinese government, who said that he was spreading untrue information. He died in February. Had his warning been heeded, many would have lived.

Nurses, who spend hours at the bedside of the sick, find themselves exposed to the coronavirus for longer and longer periods. Many nurses, like the ER doctor above, either have had inadequate protective equipment or have had to wear the same gowns and masks for an entire shift or even for several days. Lisa Ewald, RN, the nurse sketched digitally here died after being symptomatic and unable to be tested. However, her symptoms and exposure make it certain that she died of the virus.

Victims of the pandemic are everywhere, many in the service sectors of this country. The fellow pictured to the right is Jason Hargrove, a bus driver in Detroit, Michigan. Mr. Hargrove became famous because of a post he made on the Internet deriding a woman on his bus who coughed a number of times without covering her face. He pointed out correctly and profanely how an unthinking person could endanger everyone, particularly people like himself who were working on their behalf and to continue feeding their families. Within two weeks of his posting he died of the virus.

Not all victims of the virus have died. In one recent episode, the skipper of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, an American aircraft carrier based in the Pacific, was cashiered by the Acting Secretary of the Navy for sending more and more urgent requests for assistance for his 4000 person crew after the virus infected a number of sailors. Captain Brett Crozier, acting in faith with his crew, contracted the virus himself. At this writing remains alive and in isolation, but his clinical status has not been reported.

A global disaster is almost impossible to actually understand because the sheer enormity and scope is beyond the experience of anyone alive. Drawing these faces has been a way to humanize the shambles of our world. No doubt there are many many more to draw.