The virus now has the potential to kill a patient – even if it is not infected.
Hours ago, 47-year-old mother and wife Terry suffered a heart attack at her home in Harriman, Utah. According to his sister, he had to be revived four times in an ambulance on his way to a nearby hospital.
Once there, the medical staff and her doctor quickly determined that Terry could die if she did not receive more sophisticated life-saving treatment in the intensive care unit of a larger hospital.
“He (the doctor) immediately told us, ‘We will try to find a hospital that can take L. Rey and we will not be able to find one,'” said Terry’s sister, Stephanie Deere.
“If you could see the look on that doctor’s face, it was unbelievable. He couldn’t believe he was telling us this.”
The deer and its sister are not alone.
Utah Governor Gary Herbert said Tuesday that the state has the worst (coronavirus) outbreak in the country.
As a result, patients suffering from other fatal medical events – non-covid related – are in dangerous competition for limited specialized medical care.
The state’s total ICU usage was about 70%, Herbert said Tuesday, and about 16% of the state’s ICU beds are used to treat covid-19 patients.
On Friday, the University of Utah Hospital’s ICU was at 104% capacity.
Covid bounces taking toll on Utah doctors
Dr. Emily Spivak, a doctor who helps treat covid patients in Utah, is frustrated and upset by the increase in cases – because she said she knows this shouldn’t happen. Coronavirus can be prevented by washing hands, social distance and wearing a mask.
She reached her breaking point in the parking lot outside the Level One Trauma Center where she works in Salt Lake City.
“Well, I was trying so hard,” she said, referring to her tears. “I mean, this is just too frustrating.”
Spivak said he has publicly asked many people about the U.S. guidelines for disease control and prevention. Centers don’t follow – and believe they’re just cheerful.
“I don’t see an end. No one is doing anything to stop what is happening.” “It’s kind of like people just going out and living their lives not realizing they’re emptying our healthcare system.”
Deer said she is the first witness to the doctors’ frustration.
“I saw those nurses calling for hours, trying other systems, doing everything they could, I mean desperate.” She said.
“I don’t know how the cutters and nurses and things will be able to keep this when this is your whole life, your whole business is dedicated to saving people’s lives and you can’t afford to take care of a patient’s medical care.”
And it shares the frustrations of health care professionals.
She and her sister carefully followed every Kovid precaution, the deer said. Yet his sister could die as a result of the virus anyway.
He is angered by those who ignore science.
“They don’t understand how vague their own lives and the lives of everyone they choose … this can happen to anyone.” “They need to wear masks,” Deer said. “They need to take care of their neighbors, their families, their children and they need to do it right now.”
Eventually Terry was able to be taken to the hospital with the opening and the special care she needed. But Deer said his condition has worsened.
CNN’s Theresa and Wal Ladrop contributed to this report.
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