In years to come, when you think back on 2020, what moments will stand out?
Perhaps you will remember watching the news, as stories about the coronavirus pandemic increased in volume and severity. 也许你下班回家了，或者你不得不帮助你的孩子在线学习. 你可能会在杂货店里排着长队等待人们囤积卫生纸. Or maybe you got the call that a loved one had fallen ill or even died.
奥比·奥斯汀(M.S.N. ’99), 护理与健康研究学院的毕业生兼UMKC学生健康与保健主任, knows one moment he’ll never forget.
那是三月底. Mayor Quinton Lucas had just announced a stay-at-home order for Kansas City, 密苏里州, 关闭非必要的企业，并要求许多堪萨斯人将他们的行动限制在杂货店购物或医疗等必要活动上.
As he often does in times of stress or uncertainty, Austin started walking.
He walked for nearly three hours, crisscrossing downtown Kansas City. 在一个阳光明媚的星期六下午——春天的第三天——他只看到了三个人. 他看到的那些人似乎很害怕，好像他们“不想呼吸和他一样的空气”.
The stay-at-home order didn’t take effect for several days. 没关系
“It was an eerie, catastrophic feeling,他说. “To be in an area that’s the bustling pride of the city, and it was shut down.”
对奥斯汀来说，这只是一年中一个越来越像科幻电影的时刻.
“We are in a war for the health of our world. It’s a call to service.”
开始铃声
Early in the pandemic, 奥斯汀不禁想起了近十年前美国爆发的H1N1流感大流行, in the spring of 2009. 不过，他很快意识到冠状病毒将是一种完全不同的经历.
“To me, (H1N1) never became scary,他说. “This (pandemic) became scary very quickly. I felt like we were living in something we’d only ever read about.”
While the virus spread rapidly through places like New York, Texas and California, Austin could often be found in his office reading. He spent countless hours on the CDC website, trying to stay on top of a virus that is, 就其本质而言, nearly impossible to stay on top of.
In early February, 奥斯汀处理了他第一次真正的流行病危机:决定如何支持一名最近去过中国的密苏里大学堪萨斯分校学生. Did they need to quarantine? 如果有，在哪里?? 他们如何获得食物、洗漱用品和互联网等基本用品?
数小时的研究、数十次的谈话和无数的后勤工作——都是为了一个学生. One quarantine plan. Though the student never developed symptoms, 正如奥斯汀所说, “that (first) weekend went on forever.”
“That’s the moment that it clicked for me — this is the beginning,他说. “And it was just a race from that point on.”
Once the virus reached the Kansas City area, 奥斯汀和他的团队在大学的流行病应对工作中发挥了更为重要的作用. Their work became all hands on deck, pulling in faculty, 工作人员甚至校园内的学生帮助追踪病例，并为被感染和暴露的学生提供支持.
“Things were changing every day ... It was just a whirlwind,奥斯汀说. “我们只是想，‘这不能永远持续下去……我不知道我们如何保持这种节奏.’ That was a year ago.”
Then, the Navy called. 他们希望奥斯丁——一个在海军和陆军都服役过的老兵——能在纽约的前线作战.
立即, he began preparing his family, 他的工作人员和UMKC新冠肺炎特别工作组，了解他被部署的可能性. He didn’t know when he’d be called up — in a few days, 几个星期，或者根本没有——给已经很紧张的局面增加不确定性.
“Everything in me wanted to go,奥斯汀说, but his obligations at work and at home were also top of mind. “My wife was very scared of me going to New York, and she’s lived through me going away to a combat zone,他说. “I felt this overwhelming sense of responsibility and guilt at the same time.”
In the end, Austin was never deployed. 看着医护人员在第一线苦苦挣扎，我感到很难过, Austin didn’t yet realize how much he would be needed at home, both personally and professionally.
A sprint becomes a marathon
随着春季进入夏季，很明显，疫情正在恶化，而不是好转. 奥斯汀和他的团队夜以继日地追踪病例，并为需要隔离的学生提供支持. On team calls, he began to notice the fatigue on his colleagues’ faces.
与此同时，和其他人一样，奥斯汀也感受到了疫情对他个人生活的影响. 他看着女儿的高中活动一个接一个被取消. 访问s to his mother changed drastically, reduced to a masked exchange of groceries and supplies outside her apartment.
警察杀害乔治·弗洛伊德(George Floyd)引发的愤怒加剧了骚乱情绪. 在全国范围内，人们参加了抗议弗洛伊德被杀和系统性种族主义的活动. Blocks from Austin’s office, protesters and police engaged in a nightly standoff, 催泪瓦斯弥漫在堪萨斯市民更习惯在历史纪录片中看到的场景，而不是在当地的新闻广播中看到.
对奥斯汀来说，这一切似乎都在向某种未知的压力点发展.
“It’s like the year that just kept giving,奥斯汀说. “实际上，我想说的是，这一年我们一直在索取，没有给予任何东西.”
即使在医疗行业工作了30年，并多次参加军事部署，他也无法为这次经历做好充分准备. And as a former critical-care nurse, 他只能想象在第一线的医护人员正在经历什么.
“I’ve worked in environments where people die a lot. I understand the toll that even one death can have,他说. “所以想象一下，所有这些人都在努力让人们活着，但他们仍然在死去……我可以理解其中的无助和绝望。.”
当被问及在军事部署期间与流行病作斗争与面对实际战斗相比如何时, Austin cites one major similarity: In both the pandemic and military combat, people die without their families holding their hands.
“我希望我们能更加尊重人际关系和他人生命的重要性……我认为我们会变得更好。. 我们一直都是.”
最后一击
Despite the collective trauma and fatigue caused by the pandemic, Austin says there is still much room for hope. At the time of this interview at the beginning of 2021, 数百万剂COVID-19疫苗被送往全国各地的社区. 他的一些员工已经接种了疫苗，他计划在未来几周内接种疫苗.
,奥斯丁, 接种疫苗不仅仅是一个简单的健康决定——这是他所做的军事和医疗誓言的自然延伸.
“We are in a war for the health of our world,他说. “对我来说, 接种疫苗是一种服务召唤，因为我觉得我有责任确保这场大流行得到控制.”
Though the road to recovery will be long, 奥斯汀并没有忽视这段经历带来的好处. He’s watched students support their peers who’ve come down with COVID-19. 他目睹了对医疗保健和其他重要工作者的大量支持. He’s been able to spend more time with his daughter.
When COVID-19 is finally in the rearview, he hopes it will have taught us to take better care of each other.
他说:“我希望我们对人际关系和他人生命的重要性有更多的尊重。. “I think we’ll be better. 我们一直都是.”