Coronavirus: U.S. health care workers 'taking it one minute at a time' as deaths rise
Health care workers across the U.S. are facing increasingly difficult conditions amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
Over 22,000 people around the world have died from the coronavirus. In the U.S., there are over 69,000 cases, with over 1,000 deaths so far. Between shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators, along with an influx of patients, the workers are quickly becoming overwhelmed.
“We are taking it one minute at a time, which is what you really need to do in these situations in order to accomplish a task and maintain your own resiliency,” Glenn Raup, who works at a hospital in California, told Yahoo Finance. “Here in the county, as well as at our facility, we have seen increases in cases now (both positive and negative cases) and our rates are mirroring other parts of the country as well.”
Raup is the executive director of Emergency Behavioral and Operation Services at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif. California is one of the country’s “hot spots” for coronavirus cases, with nearly 3,000 confirmed cases and 56 deaths so far. Orange County has seen 187 cases so far, with one death. Although Raup could not confirm the number of cases at his hospital, St. Joseph has reportedly treated several patients with the virus so far.
‘Absolutely no way to protect myself’
The situation is even more dire in New York, which has become the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic.
One surgeon described it to the New York Times as being “at war with no ammo.” Other doctors fear getting themselves or other patients sick. “There’s absolutely no way to protect myself,” Dr. Faezah A. Bux told the Times. “Not only can I not protect myself, I can’t protect my patients.”
Despite conducting the highest number of COVID-19 tests in the country, there is still a testing shortage in New York hospitals and emergency workers who have been exposed on the job can’t get testing unless they display major symptoms.
At Mount Sinai West Hospital in New York City, a nursing manager at the hospital died from the coronavirus. At Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, 13 people died in the span of 24 hours, and a refrigerated truck sits outside the hospital to hold the deceased to prevent morgues from being overwhelmed as well.
“It’s apocalyptic,” Dr. Ashley Bray told the Times.
‘It is growing tougher’
For Raup and his staff, his priorities are keeping them healthy and positive in such an environment.
“It is growing tougher across the world and U.S. for many of the health care workers to maintain their focus simply due to the fact that when they are done with handling their ‘disaster shift,’ they get to go home to ‘disaster news/social media coverage or other public and family coronavirus-related conversations,’” he said.