Naked and afraid: Nude doctors show off the lack of PPE for coronavirus in Germany
They’re not asking for your money or your masks.
But these German doctors want the world to know about the lack of protective equipment available to medical professionals during the coronavirus pandemic — by getting naked.
The movement is called “Blanke Bedenken,” or Bare Concern. Doctors submit pictures of themselves naked at work, whether it’s treating patients or posing in a lawn chair on the front stoop.
“Blanke” can also mean naked.
“The nudity should symbolize that we are vulnerable without protection,” Dr. Ruben Bernau told ÄrzteZeitung, a German newspaper for medical professionals.
Germany has more than 159,000 reported cases of COVID-19 and at least 6,100 deaths as of Tuesday, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. Despite being praise for keeping its death rate low by testing early and often, Germany’s response has not been without problems.
“Medical professionals in respiratory and intensive care report being massively overworked, and there is a risk of running out of protective equipment,” Deutsche Welle reported in early April.
That’s how Blanke Bedenken got started.
According to its website, the group was inspired by Alain Coloumbié, a doctor in France who previously posed nude in his office to highlight the lack of PPE during the pandemic.
They created a Twitter page on April 21 to promote their website, where doctors are encouraged to submit their own photos and sign a petition urging health ministers to provide more protective equipment and better consultation with medical professionals when instituting new regulations to combat the virus.
In its first tweet, Blanke Bedenken shared a photo of a naked doctor clad only in a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff.
“We are your general practitioners. To treat you safely, we need protective equipment. When we run out of what little we have, we look like this,” the caption reads.
The pictures are striking — if not startling.
In lieu of clothing, some doctors covered themselves with toilet paper, gauze, pieces of paper or medical journals. Others are completely naked — with only a well-placed chair or a cross of the legs to cover the essentials.
A few hold signs. One reads, “I learned to sew wounds. Why do I now need to know how to sew masks?” in German. Another asks “Is this enough?”
Some show their faces, others don’t.
But the message is clear: “We are all vulnerable.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 12:57 PM with the headline "Naked and afraid: Nude doctors show off the lack of PPE for coronavirus in Germany."
