//The problem with comparing health care workers to soldiers on Memorial Day

The problem with comparing health care workers to soldiers on Memorial Day

Two medical workers in New York City on May 13. | Ben Gabbe/Getty Images

Drawing a line between front-line workers and the military misses the point.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 90,000 health care workers have been infected with the virus, and many have died. To name a few, these have included: a beloved doctor who came out of retirement, a patient transporter in Illinois, a pharmacist in upstate New York, and a nursing home worker. And those are just the deaths from physical illness and don’t take into account mental health consequences.

If you follow the news, you’ll read and hear over and over again that we are at “war” with the virus and that physicians like us, along with other essential workers, are soldiers in battle.

The term “front-line workers,” which has been used to describe