Pandemic Voices sheds light on previously unheard or overlooked international perspectives of patients and health care and community services workers through unprecedented access to some of the most challenging moments of the COVID-19 pandemic: the innovations, the stories of lives saved, those of lives lost, and the prices paid.

Divided into seven thematic sections, the collection chronicles the experiences from the front lines of the pandemic. It highlights the disruptions faced by medical systems and the innovative adaptations that emerged to simply keep them functioning, as well as the pandemic impacts from locations overlooked by global media. The book delves into the profound effects on health care workers and reveals insights into strain on health care systems. It amplifies the voices of individuals who faced unique struggles during the pandemic, such as caregivers for children with special needs or individuals battling addiction, in times when resources were basically non-existent in a chaotic landscape. The collection concludes with a reflection on how history will judge our pandemic-era actions, alongside the hard lessons learned on truth, science, and advocacy throughout these challenging years.

In sharing the heartbreaks, the triumphs, and the scars that left none of us untouched, Pandemic Voices assesses what we have been through – what went well, what did not – in order to learn and, in time, hopefully to heal.

Laura A. Hawryluck, MD, is a professor of critical care medicine in the Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine Program at the University of Toronto.

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Nathan D. Nielsen, MD, is an associate professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pathology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

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