Health Care Workers Grapple with Keeping Their Families Safe

During the COVID-19 crisis, health care workers and their families are grappling with how to live safely with or whether to separate themselves from loved ones, to keep everyone safe. While some clinicians have sent their children to live with relatives for now, others are taking extra precautions at home. A physician in radiology at a Philadelphia hospital returns home each night, removes his clothes in his home’s entryway and places them in a bag, according to a story in The Philadelphia Inquirer. His 6-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter know their dad must take a shower first before they give him hugs and kisses. Their mother, a digital marketing strategist, anticipates that her husband will be exposed to the coronavirus at some point. The couple regularly disinfects surfaces and also has set up a quarantine room in their home, so the father can isolate himself should he get sick. The parents have talked frankly with their children about their dad’s responsibilities during this time.