Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-2020
Disciplines
Anthropology | Medical Humanities | Medicine and Health Sciences | Virus Diseases
Abstract
COVID-19 has overwhelmed health-care providers. The virus is novel in its prevalence, severity and the risk of asymptomatic infection. In order to reduce the risk of infection and stop the spread of COVID-19, clinicians in hospitals across the United States are taking measures to limit exposure to infected patients by reducing the frequency of visits to patients’ rooms, touching patients less, and adopting new protocols around the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). While these newly adopted practices are helping to reduce transmission risk of COVID-19, they are producing a habitus of infection; an acute shift among clinicians that is deeply embodied and likely to have a permanent impact on the health and wellbeing of both providers and already isolated patients.
Copyright Statement
© 2020 by Berghahn Books and the Association for Anthropology in Action.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). For uses beyond those covered in the license contact Berghahn Books.
Recommended Citation
Block, E. (2020) “Exposed Intimacies: Healthcare Providers on the Frontlines of the COVID-19 Pandemic” Anthropology in Action, 27(2), 63-67. https://doi.org/10.3167/aia.2020.270209