[TASS] Face of the pandemic

By VALERY SHARIFULIN, Chief photographer Russian News Agency TASS

The wave of the pandemic reached Russia in March, when many still believed that we would be spared. Someone hoped for a strong immune system, smallpox vaccinations, preventive measures, and perhaps everyone's inherent belief was that such horrors are happening somewhere far away, on the other side of the screen, but not in our country. But then, one by one, organizations began to transfer employees to remote work, schools and universities closed their doors for students, and restaurants, cinemas and shops for visitors. And then we closed ourselves at home. Outside - in a mask, to work - with a digital pass, "and how is your self-isolation? " - the most popular topic of any conversation. Perhaps only a lazy person did not compare what is happening now to movies about the Apocalypse. Numbers were increasing: several thousands of new cases every day, dozens of deaths. News about overcrowded hospitals, bed capacity, queues of ambulances at emergency departments. It became clear: yes, this is happening to us and anyone can find himself in this queue, in an overcrowded hospital room, in absolute confusion. And at that moment you just had to accept it, bypassing the stages of denial and bargaining, and work. About emotions and adaptation As a TASS photojournalist, I have often worked in unusual conditions: in the war zone in Syria, during the unrest in Venezuela, among the poverty and filth in refugee camps in the middle East. It was easy to see that emotions were as contagious as the notorious coronavirus. In some way, everything is simple: there is a task, there is an idea that you need to convey to the audience, and your thoughts should be occupied only with one thing - what you are shooting, from what angle, what modes, what lighting. The head should remain cool. When the task was set to shoot in hospitals, there was no fear of infection, but the difficulties of the practical plan immediately became apparent. In addition "to packing" yourself in a protective suit, similar manipulations had to be done with the camera, which was wrapped in cellophane for safety purposes. The inconveniences did not end there, as protective goggles were traitorously fogged up, the suit stiffened movements and for 4-8 hours of shooting there was temptation more than once to pull off the respirator. And the question automatically arose: what about the doctors who practice whole shifts in such outfit? At first, "outsiders" were not allowed in the so-called red zones of hospitals where infected people were located. Through the fence of the multi-specialty hospital in Kommunarka, it was possible to shoot only ambulance crews arriving one after another, stretchers, and doctors - all from afar, without details. When members of the press were allowed to enter such previously closed areas, the images were instantly spread across the web - the disease as it is, without exaggeration and without understatements, from a variety of angles. Tubes, beds, diapers, hospital food, lying patients. As well as doctors’ names on white protective suits, because you can't see their faces. Faces of people who will have deep, hard-to-heal marks from tight-fitting respirators and glasses by the end of the shift. About families and destinies Sometimes you can tell a lot from a person's face. In the photos of the doctors of seven hospitals where the shooting took place since the end of March, you can see the cost of their work. But something remains behind the scenes. Many health workers were infected, and some of them did not survive the disease: in the network appeared different figures, in particular, it was about 500 dead. Some did not see their relatives for weeks, staying in hotels and hostels so as not to put their families at risk. The appeal to think about the health of loved ones was everywhere these days. But still, it is not as scary to get infected yourself as bringing the virus home, especially when you have a child and elderly parents. Therefore, after returning home, all sorts of preventive measures were taken (door handles and even the floor was wiped with antiseptics just in case), and the photo equipment was temporarily banished from the main living space of the apartment: after the working day, my wife put all these "tools" in a bag and left them in the hallway. However, not everyone has a loving family waiting at home. I have one very memorable story. One of the young patients showed me his drawing of how he would be taken home by ambulance after discharge and his mother would happily meet him at the door. Later, in a conversation with the attending physician, it turned out that the boy was from an orphanage, and that the deprived mother probably did not even know what had happened to her son. And this is also a kind of illustration of what happened: although the pandemic has affected the normal course of life, the familiar way of work and left its marks on people's lives, it has not canceled many of the tasks that we still have to solve. MOSCOW, APRIL 24, 2020: A medical staff member and a young patient in the center for infectious diseases. Valery Sharifulin/TASS MOSCOW, RUSSIA - APRIL 24, 2020: A medical staff member in protective gear and a young patient during a CT scan in the center for infectious diseases. Valery Sharifulin/TASS MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MAY 22, 2020: A medical staff member in protective gear in the intensive care unit of the COVID-19 ward during the pandemic of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID -19). Valery Sharifulin/TASS MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MAY 27, 2020: A medical worker wipes her face after leaving the 'red zone' at the inpatient ward of the RZD Medicine central clinical hospital in Moscow's Volokolamskoye Highway repurposed to treat COVID-19 patients. Valery Sharifulin/TASS