{"id":20833,"date":"2021-04-08T14:30:12","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T18:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/?p=20833"},"modified":"2023-03-17T16:20:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T20:20:05","slug":"pictures-of-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2021\/04\/08\/pictures-of-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Pictures of the Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ginny A. Roth ~<\/em><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Dr. Anthony Fauci Throws the First Pitch On Opening Day of the 2020 Baseball Season at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. on July 23<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

July 23rd, 2020, was a typical hot, humid day in Washington, D.C., but unlike other summer days in the Nation’s capital there were no crowds gathering in Southeast D.C along the Capitol Riverfront, home of National’s Park. That was especially unusual because the New York Yankees were in town to play the Washington Nationals, one of the most popular east-coast rivalries<\/a> in Major League Baseball’s interleague play, a regular-season game between an American League team and a National League team. But that wasn’t the most unusual thing going on that day in July.<\/p>\n

July 2020 marked the 5th month of the COVID-19<\/a> pandemic in the United States that had relegated people to their homes, restricting socialization to telephones and social media. It stands to reason that ESPN reported that a record 4 million viewers<\/a> on cable had watched the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases<\/a> and foremost infectious disease expert in the world, Dr. Anthony Fauci<\/a>, throw the first pitch at this delayed opening day game, wearing a protective face mask, against the backdrop of an empty stadium. This iconic image ran on a limited edition Topps baseball card.<\/p>\n

The National Library of Medicine acquired one of these cards along with many other visual COVID-19 narratives it is actively collecting that tell stories of isolation, quarantine, and confusion in what has become known as A Pandemic Era:<\/a><\/p>\n

“A little over a year ago the word pandemic was, for most people, associated with disaster movies and history books. Despite repeated warnings about the very real risk of occurrence from infectious disease experts, it felt remote and distant, not something for most people to worry about day to day. Needless to say, that experience has now been transformed almost everywhere.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 The Lancet Planetary Health, volume 5, issue 1,\u00a0<\/span>January 1, 2021<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"The<\/a>
Caption on the back of limited edition Topps baseball card featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci throwing first pitch at the delayed opening of the 2020 baseball season.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. Anthony Fauci, given his intense media exposure during the pandemic, has been the topic of many visual narratives including caricatures, comics, and posters. David Stokes, a graphic designer and illustrator based in Chicago, Illinois, created a set of ten Fauci trading cards in the form of traditional baseball cards to honor him as a “national hero.”\u00a0 Stokes says:<\/p>\n

“…these cards offer an illuminating synopsis of Dr. Fauci’s distinguished career and provide a little levity during these challenging times, and perhaps they will reinforce the position of scientists and health care workers as the heroes of tomorrow.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n