Health-care workers: the reluctant heroes?

Abstract

During the COVID-19 lockdown, for a few minutes each evening, a cacophony of buzzing from vuvuzelas, clinking from spoons beating on pots and pans, whistling, and even the whine of violins and bleating of bagpipes rose from porches and balconies in some South African suburbs to honour healthcare and other essential workers. They were feted as heroes, but this may have been a fraught narrative if one considers the significant trauma some of them suffered while facing a novel virus on the frontlines in a challenging healthcare system.