Training in the COVID Era

Today is the beginning of a new year for those of us who work in academic medicine.  I have been on this calendar, the July-June annual calendar since I was in medical school, going back to the early 1980's.  As a resident and then a residency training director, it was the only calendar that mattered for my professional life.
The pandemic has made this a challenging year to start your residency.  For one thing, in all likelihood, you haven't seen a patient in months.  That is often the case, as most senior medical students finish their required rotations in the spring and spend the enduing weeks before July doing things that they will be unable to do for years to come.  Like travel, which did not happen this year.  Then there is the act that they are starting just as the country is revving up with what constitutes the most COVID cases we have seen, and so their lives will be consumed with the pandemic and the consequences of a country where people can actually politicize illness prevention.  I pray we all get through this.