to be a soldier

March 12th 2020:
My Mum’s work teaching English as a foreign language in a language school in Bournemouth has had most of its prospective students cancel their trips-many from Italy and China. She has been asked to take unpaid leave. I don’t like how this viral threat around the world is reaching the corners of people’s livelihood. This is really ramping up. There is now word at work that as cases rise we may be asked to leave our cushy dermatology dept and work on the general wards. It’s been 15 years, and a cancer diagnosis since I was last anywhere near a ward. So that’s a worry! But in this profession we can't be selective or cowardly at a time like this.  I soon realise I’m not the only one to be feeling nervous in my dept. One bonus is that as our dept is in a separate building to the main hospital so for now we remain open, but the main hospital outpatients is closing .. I’ve never heard of this in my entire career. I hope that cancer patient referrals, whatever the speciality, can still be seen, and that other people with real acute disease, cardiac, stroke, clot events, can still reach hospital and be treated.  Surely one virus can't replace the needs of these patients.