As the holidays approach – and some health workers contract Covid – experts warn of an unmanageable crush of patients.

On her fourth day of Covid symptoms, Ruth woke up in the worst pain of her life. It felt like her joints were filled with broken glass; she couldn’t walk, couldn’t move. “It was worse than childbirth,” she said.

When friends texted to check on her, she couldn’t hold the phone or move her fingers to write back. Her doctor called in medication, and it took Ruth 40 minutes to shuffle to the pharmacy half a block away.

Ruth is certain that if she weren’t vaccinated and boosted, she would be in the intensive care unit or worse right now. But while she’s recovering from this “mild” case, she’s unable to work even as cases surge in her region. Read more at the Guardian.