ninety - nine - "hospital hell at grey sloan memorial" - ninety - nine

Dr. Anna Shepherd was only four months into her internship when shit hit the fan. Outbreak of covid-19, or coronavirus, rattled the nation, causing worldwide confusion, fear, misinformation, death, lockdowns, and quarantine. Having type 1 diabetes, being an immunocompromised healthcare worker exposed to the virus was something that gave her major anxiety. It was two weeks after her first surgery assist, a textbook tonsillectomy that she scrubbed in on and spoke to Meredith about immediately after through the adrenaline rush and nerves. Her resident, Dr. Prakasam, and the chief had called her and a few nurses, a radiologist, someone from the billing department, and a sanitary worker into his office to give them the shocking news.

Her resident made it simple, "Dr. Shepherd, as someone with type 1 diabetes, we know that common illnesses, such as influenza, can be life threatening for you. And there's so much that we don't know about this virus... simply we don't know how this would affect you, others like you dealing with this disease. As you know, it's spreading rapidly, and we're taking every precaution we can, but there's so much more that is still up in the air. We'd suggest that you, and everyone else in the staff who have such conditions, think about the risks you're taking by continuing to physically work here through this pandemic. Are you really willing to risk your life working here? We're not talking about layoffs here, there's options to continue work via internet, videochat from the comfort of your own home. We can't make these decisions for you, but we'd advise you to really think about yourselves and your families."

It was all such bullshit. Of course, the second Anna gets a job in the medical field, using all the knowledge that had been drilled into her head for decades, there'd be a worldwide fucking virus that could very well cost her her life if she contracted it. It all felt like one big slap in the face. Vaccinations were years away, people were dying at the masses, and the government and it's leaders didn't give a fuck about their struggling citizens. So, while Anna struggled with making her decision, she had to self quarantine herself in a hotel after being exposed to a covid-19 positive patient at Seattle Pres.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do." Anna laid on the hotel bed, holding her phone above her as she videochatted with Alex, "I mean, every single news channel is saying something different. The CDC hasn't given any updates..."

"Is it really worth it?" Alex asked, "Seriously? It may not be bad in Seattle right now, but just look at other countries. It's bad. It's getting worse. There's too many people who just don't care and don't take any of it seriously."

"There's too many people who don't believe in it until it happens to someone close to them." Anna sighed, realizing she was proving his point.

"Even if you don't do the online thing, internship is only a year. If you do plan to wait for things to settle down-"

"That's the problem, Alex. Waiting. This thing could be around for years. Years! With the way our fellow Americans are treating this... it's fucked up. I don't want to put my career on hold because of this... and that may make me stupid, or selfish, or whatever, but it's not fair."

"No, it's not."

"I finally wanted a year where I just focused on myself. Where I just grew up, worked, started to make something of myself. Doing my internship all over again, a year, two, three years from now just makes me feel like a failure."

"Anna, you're not a failure."

"Then why do I already feel like one?"

In the end, despite everyone's disapproval, Anna continued working at Seattle Pres, wearing PPE, following the hospitals protocols and guidelines, staying at the hotel, and talking with everyone over the phone. Bailey, Webber, Meredith, Maggie, and Amelia were pissed that she was putting herself at risk.

She told them, "I'm just doing what you would do." And it was true, every single one of them would keep working... in fact, they all did.