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It’s COVID Season
- By Sarah Buttrey
- visuals
- 6 Comments
About the Artwork
“Anyone who has been in Central Texas during cedar pollen season knows the symptoms. No one wants to believe it could be Omicron.”
Sarah Buttrey is a family doctor at a community clinic in Austin, TX. She aspires to do more writing, but is enjoying learning to draw and is very grateful to Pulse for providing an outlet for both. She would like to thank her daughter for editorial wisdom.
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6 thoughts on “It’s COVID Season”
COVID, SHMOVID!
I just left an exam room talking with a man with many social and psychological issues. At the end of the visit, he said oh one more thing Doc, I’ve got a little cough. I told the medical assistant “go ahead and test him, but he doesn’t have Covid. “
He had COVID!
Enjoyed your cartoon style!
This is a very clever and funny way of depicting what is happening in primary care offices all over the country (mabye even the world). Dr. Buttrey, kudos to you for your ability to convey in a single drawing all that dialogue! The one that made me laugh the most was the response to the patient with osteoporosis.
Of all the COVID commentary I’ve seen for the last 2 years, yours was the one which hit home for me as both realistic and professional at the same time; thanks for sharing it with Pulse.
This is great! This cartoon captures the irony of us being in the middle of a pandemic, yet all our patients misunderstand their COVID symptoms. You’d think that with this being the worst pandemic in a century and with COVID being on the news 24 hours a day, our patients would at least suspect something. But you’re so right, denial is such a powerful defense mechanism. I also love the way you present this snapshot of how it’s all COVID, all day, no matter what the presenting complaint. At our clinic we had to pivot in the second week of March, 2020, and COVID has hijacked our regular operations ever since.
on target Sarah!
in fact, its “covid season” and “ground hog day” too! every day is………..
thanks Sarah
I’m not sure what the cartoonist is saying. Is she saying that Covid/omicron has many symptoms, so even if you have a reaction similar to that of a pollen allergy, it really is Covid? Or is she saying that providers are misdiagnosing too many common ailments as Covid, just because the symptoms are similar?
Good questions! Since I’m just learning to carton, these are super helpful.
All those folks had allergy or “cold” symptoms, and all of them had positive COVID tests in clinic. All of them also had other things they were officially there for that got mostly side-lined, unfortunately, with the complicating COVID diagnosis.
I think I’m saying that it’s been dizzying, all the COVID, all the teaching about COVID, all the trying to still take care of everything else…
Something like that.