PARIS – “Be strong, mum, we really love you," is what Dr. Aurelie Gouel's kids tell the ICU physician when she sets off for long hospital shifts trying to save critically ill coronavirus patients.
Although aged just 4 and 6, Gouel's children are acutely aware of how dangerous the disease can be not only because their mother has briefed them but also because she is among the more than 1.6 million people worldwide who have fallen sick.
Tell-tale symptoms — fever, cough, intense fatigue, difficulty breathing — floored Gouel in March. “It was very tough for three, four days,” she told The Associated Press.
But as soon as she felt well enough, she plunged straight back to work at her Paris hospital that treated Europe's first fatal case. “It