December 15, 2020
In a “normal” year, the holiday season is viewed by many as a joyful time to celebrate with family and friends, attend or host parties and spend hours at the mall shopping for the perfect gifts. For others, however, this time of year may be a stressful trigger that can elevate mental health problems, increase feelings of loneliness and isolation, or intensify grief for lost loved ones. And in this unprecedented year, there is the added burden of being in the middle of a pandemic that affects all of us in one way or another. Holidays aside, stress, anxiety and depression have skyrocketed as people try to navigate their way with so much uncertainty.
December 10, 2020
In March, emergency physician Dr. Chris Zalesky wrote an article for RELEVANT about his perspective on COVID-19 and the pandemic that at the time felt new and strange. Today, it feels well, still very strange, in addition to being pretty bleak and depressing. We caught up with Zalesky in December to ask about how his last few months have been, his perspective on the tensions between how some churches have responded to pandemic guidelines and faith and how he feels about that vaccine. this conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
As a doctor, what has 2020 been like for you?