Minam, a nurse at a COVID hospital in Mumbai was under a dilemma and couldn't think straight or make a decision for herself. She said, "I have been experiencing a few respiratory symptoms. I have pain in my throat but I haven’t mentioned anything to any of my colleagues..I am hoping it is just a seasonal allergy and nothing more. Though I don't come in direct contact with the COVID patients, I think I may have been exposed to the virus somehow. I genuinely don't want to be infected with the virus but who am I to decide? And the worry of the near future is just getting onto me every time I breathe."

Many frontline personnel have been infected by the virus and this news has made all the other workers anxious about their own health. When Minam was asked what troubled her she said, "My test reports are awaited but I don't know if I should open up about my symptoms and then be quarantined at home. If I do so,  I'd be risking my social and workplace life. I would be discriminated against not just at the workplace but also by my neighbours  and other people around me."

Her dilemma was not just limited to social concerns but also about her financial situation "If I stay back at home and my report is negative, the hospital will cut my salary for those many days. If I am positive, then I will get the sick leave with pay. So, I don’t know anymore what to wish for--to be COVID positive and still get my money, or to be COVID negative and lost my salary?

With the current situation, I cannot risk letting any extra cash go by. "

"I know I should be home--away from my colleagues and people to keep them safe but what about my monetary requirements? Who'd look after that? 

This is the right thing to do morally but do morales matter when you need each penny to survive?

But if I infect anyone, will I be able to live with the guilt of it?

What if a senior citizen contracts the infection from me and loses his life.

But then is it not fair to think that I need to earn for the senior citizens in my life--my parents.

Are their lives any less important than a strangers?