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Google tells us what we searched for during the crisis and to thank our healthcare workers
We searched about the virus, precautions to take, and how to help our healthcare workers during these difficult times.
India's healthcare workers are facing a three-headed enemy right now: risk of contracting the virus while treating patients, lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), and the risk of being attacked while doing their job.
Despite these risks, doctors, nurses, and all healthcare workers are working to the best of their ability.
Google India has released a video thanking them. It was needed. After all, they are putting their lives at risk while treating Coronavirus infected patients day in and out.
The video is eerily similar in treatment to Google's annual 'Year in Search' videos where the tech giant tells us what the world searched for on the search engine in that year.
In this video, like the 'Year in Search' ones, Google India details what we searched for during the crisis and the questions help us understand the psyche of people during this time.
In this case, the questions make it clear that while everybody is concerned about the virus, and want to understand it and take precautions they also want to help in some way or the other. Some of the questions being:
How to help medical workers?
How to wash hands?
What is social distancing?
How to help doctors?
How can I help hospitals?
Where can I donate medical supplies?
The video shows a montage of clips which detail the crisis timeline: a healthcare worker telling us that it is the time we come together as a country and stay calm, a kid washing her hands, people practising social distancing outside a grocery store, hospital staff wheeling in a patient, face masks being packed and donated, people applauding healthcare workers from their homes, and finally clips of people thanking them.
Google has also released an international version thanking healthcare workers
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare says that India has 11,201 active cases as of April 17, 2020.
An April 12, 2020, report from The Economic Times says that the doctor-patient ratio in India is 1:1,445 which is lower than the WHO recommended ratio of 1:1,000. On the other hand, the nurse to patient ratio is 1.7:1,000 compared to WHO's recommendation of 3: 1,000. It's not surprising then that Google has released this video thanking our healthcare workers.