“Deep breath in…and out. Again, deep breath in…and out.”

We tune in to patients’ breath sounds, seeking confirmation of a diagnosis - one more supporting piece of evidence to reassure anxious patients or to narrow the differential.

But since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic arrived, saying “deep breath in” has been replaced by the need to take one ourselves: before opening the morning news, before venturing out (or logging-on) to work each morning, and before ringing the next patient on your list with the ominous note alongside their name: “fever and cough for a week, now feeling breathless.”