--- title: Medical Workers' Photos Show Toll of Treating COVID-19 Patients description: Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers are sharing photos of themselves after long days caring for patients infected by coronavirus canonical: https://time.com/5807918/health-care-workers-selfies-coronavirus-covid-19/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-03-22T16:52:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:52:15.234Z article:section: Health og:title: Healthcare Workers Share Selfies of Exhausted Faces After Hard Days Treating COVID-19 Patients og:description: "I feel broken - and we are only at the start." og:url: https://time.com/5807918/health-care-workers-selfies-coronavirus-covid-19/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Healthcare Workers Share Selfies of Exhausted Faces After Hard Days Treating COVID-19 Patients twitter:description: "I feel broken - and we are only at the start." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Health Care Workers Around the World Are Sharing Bruised, Exhausted Selfies After Hard Days Treating COVID-19 Patients > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Residents in Different Cities Applaud In Gratitude For Medical Workers Combating the Coronavirus [Watch (HLS stream): Residents in Different Cities Applaud In Gratitude For Medical Workers Combating the Coronavirus](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WO3i1m7i.m3u8) (1:21)  _Published 2020-03-18. Residents in Different Cities Applaud In Gratitude For Medical Workers Combating the Coronavirus_  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Mar 22, 2020 4:52 PM UTC  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Mar 22, 2020 4:52 PM UTC Nurses, doctors and other health care workers around the world are sharing photos of their bruised faces after spending hours at hospitals [wearing protective masks](https://time.com/5799964/coronavirus-face-mask-asia-us/) and goggles treating patients with COVID-19. As the pandemic has rapidly intensified the daily lives of workers in [healthcare facilities around the world](https://time.com/5804335/coronavirus-hospitals-shortages/), doctors and nurses have urged other people to [stay at home](https://time.com/5806859/coronavirus-stay-home/) to limit the [spread of the coronavirus](https://time.com/5789631/coronavirus-covid-19-global-cases/). At the same time, the health care workers themselves have been pushed to the frontline of an outbreak that has already claimed [nearly 14,000 lives](https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6), putting themselves in harm’s way both physically and mentally. On social media, health care workers have been sharing anecdotes about their experience, as well as photos of their tired faces, marked by the protective gear they wear in hopes of not getting infected. In the United Kingdom, anesthetic registrar Natalie Silvey posted an image of her reddened face after a hard day’s work on Twitter Saturday. “This is the face of someone who just spent nine hours in personal protective equipment moving critically ill COVID-19 patients around London. I feel broken – and we are only at the start. I am begging people, please please do social distancing and self isolation,” Silvey wrote. > [](https://twitter.com/silv24/status/1241447017945223169) Critical nurse Emma Sterba responded to Silvey with her own selfie, writing, “I feel your pain.” > [](https://twitter.com/84sterbz/status/1241481230669012994) In Italy, images of healthcare workers Nicola Sgarbi, Martina Benedetti, and Alessia Bonari went viral as the three shared photos of their exhausted faces. In the United States, a nurse used her selfie to make a political statement. > [](https://twitter.com/genithecrankyn1/status/1240438695326560256) Others have joined in on sharing and as cases are expected to rise throughout much of the world, many call for their fellow citizens to practice social distancing and self-isolation. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5807918/health-care-workers-selfies-coronavirus-covid-19/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5807918/health-care-workers-selfies-coronavirus-covid-19/"},"headline":"Health Care Workers Around the World Are Sharing Bruised, Exhausted Selfies After Hard Days Treating COVID-19 Patients","datePublished":"2020-03-22T16:52:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:52:15.234Z","description":"Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers are sharing photos of themselves after long days caring for patients infected by coronavirus","url":"https://time.com/5807918/health-care-workers-selfies-coronavirus-covid-19/","keywords":["COVID-19","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5807918/health-care-workers-selfies-coronavirus-covid-19/","name":"Health Care Workers Around the World Are Sharing Bruised, Exhausted Selfies After Hard Days Treating COVID-19 Patients"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Residents in Different Cities Applaud In Gratitude For Medical Workers Combating the Coronavirus","description":"Residents in Different Cities Applaud In Gratitude For Medical Workers Combating the Coronavirus","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WO3i1m7i/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-03-18T18:33:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WO3i1m7i.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5807918/health-care-workers-selfies-coronavirus-covid-19/","duration":"PT1M21S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5807918/health-care-workers-selfies-coronavirus-covid-19/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```