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WASHINGTON – The woman needed a tracheostomy, which is a surgical procedure performed when she cannot breathe and a hole was cut in her throat to insert a rubber tube to supply oxygen to her lungs and heart.
Next to her, at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center at the University of Maryland, nurse Alie Cavey, 28, held an iPad so the woman with Covid-19, between 60 and 70 years old, could talk with her daughter. . “Let me die,” he tried to say repeatedly.
Finally, the woman recovered and was deeply grateful to the staff.
She was one of the lucky ones even though she may have to grapple with the long-term effects of Covid-19.
A bleak winter awaits the United States. Nearly 37,000 Americans died of Covid-19 in November, the most in any month since the wild spring of this year. Death rates lag behind hospitalization, which is rising again, leading experts to forecast that the country could soon see 2,000 or more deaths per day.
That would be the equivalent of a major natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (1,800 deaths), every day.
On Wednesday (December 2), the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Robert Redfield, warned: “In fact, I think this is going to be the most difficult times in the history of public health. of this nation. “
Hospitals fill up
Hospitalizations for coronavirus topped 100,000 on Thursday, more than double the number in early November. The total death toll as of Friday was 276,000.
“If you tell me that hospitalizations increased this week, I will tell you that in several weeks, deaths will increase,” Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told the New York Times.
And, unlike the spring, when cases were concentrated in a few states, this time they are nationwide, helped, epidemiologists say, by last weekend’s Thanksgiving holiday, which saw millions ignoring the pleas not to travel.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued new restrictions on the intensive care units (ICUs) of hospitals that fill up quickly.
Bay Area health officials plan to implement stay-at-home orders as early as Sunday, and keep them in place until after the Christmas and New Years vacation period.
“There is no reason to wait,” said Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith. “It’s like waiting to brake when you’re about to fall off the cliff. If you’re going to get the public health benefit, you have to do it now.”
On the other side of the nation, Washington, DC reported 316 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday, the city’s second straight day with more than 300, surpassing the spring peak.
The positivity rate, the number of positive total test results, was reported to be 5.3 percent, the highest since June, when the city had not yet moved toward gradual reopening.
The human tragedy is on the rise. The economic crisis caused by the pandemic is deepening as states mobilize to restrict gatherings again; reports say 26 million Americans do not have enough to eat and long lines can be seen at food banks. Churches are among those providing food aid.
Millions of Americans face the loss of support programs at the end of the month, as Congress has failed to agree on relief and stimulus measures; you have until the end of next week to do so.
Hospitals across the country are close to capacity and contingent on mobile refrigerated trucks to function as temporary morgues. Reports are accumulating from local authorities, from McLellan County in Texas to Cuyahoga and neighboring Stark County in Ohio, already ordering or using them.
Mental tension
Healthcare workers (TS) also face “aggravated psychological pressure and even mental illness,” concluded an October National Institute of Health (NIH) article after a review of data and reports.
The number of cases has steadily increased. Deaths have increased. “Health workers are expected to work long hours while under overwhelming pressure,” the NIH said.
“They are at risk of infection when treating sick patients. On the other hand, like other people, they are exposed to a considerable amount of false news and rumors, all of which increase their anxiety.”
“It’s definitely a mental fight,” Cavey, a mother of two boys, ages one and three, told The Straits Times.
“There’s really no way out because we worked too hard during this time. And honestly, we haven’t addressed our mental health as much as we should at this point because we haven’t rested.”
“People are struggling with their mental health. It’s scary to say it, but it’s true,” he said.
“It’s really difficult. We have to be strong for our patients because they don’t have bedside relatives due to all the restrictions. But when we walk a fine line with our own mental health, it’s hard to help them rain coat.
“There have been a lot of nurses who just couldn’t take it anymore,” Ms. Cavey said. “I don’t know the exact number, but we’ve had a significant amount of resignations at the hospital because … they can’t do it for much longer, so they go elsewhere.”
Different kind of fear
The fear now is different from that of spring. Then there was the fear of the unknown and the health workers didn’t have enough personal protective equipment; In the initial phase of the pandemic, 29 percent of all hospitalized patients were healthcare workers.
Now, even though the staff are better equipped and more experienced caring for Covid-19 patients, the fear is that they won’t be able to cope with the flood.
“The spread is so massive at this point; it overwhelms systems everywhere,” Bob Atlas, president and CEO of the Maryland Hospital Association, told ST.
“The tension is real right now. And we really have to expect people to back off, if not voluntarily, as is happening in some other states, with more restrictions … of movement in public spaces and things like that.”
Ms Cavey told ST: “Currently, we have been quite full or over capacity for the last two weeks. It is difficult to get an ICU bed.
“And it’s scary to think that if the peak is going to get worse, where are we going to put all these patients? Who will take care of all these patients?”
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